Thoughts from the Group

When I worked at Disney, I learned a lot about creating extraordinary experiences. But one of the most powerful lessons learned had nothing to do with parades, character breakfasts, or fireworks. It had everything to do with how to make change and how to handle complaints when you do. At Disney, we had what we called the 10% rule. If we made a change: say we swapped out a menu item, rerouted a parade, or redesigned an attraction it was never done on a whim. Teams of experts h

I know we preach it often, but donor reporting is one of the most critical areas of your donor relations program. Donors must be informed about the impact of their giving if you want them to give again. But having a reporting structure alone does not necessarily make your program effective. That’s why it is important to assess whether your reporting is meeting your organization’s goals and needs. So, how do you know if your reporting is actually working? Well first, it starts

For nearly four decades, I’ve worked on donor events. When I started, conferences and professional development didn’t teach us how to design meaningful experiences—they taught us how to plan great parties. The formula was predictable: a large gathering, a long program, multiple speakers, and a clear fundraising goal. And for a long time, it worked. But over the past decade—accelerated by how people now engage with information and shifting expectations—that model hasn’t simply

Nonprofit fundraising and subscription-based businesses may seem like very different worlds at first glance. One is driven by mission and impact; the other by recurring revenue. But if you dig deeper, the strategies that top subscription companies use to build predictable, long-term engagement – and dramatically reduce churn – offer powerful lessons for donor relations professionals. In fact, keeping a donor engaged over the long term is essentially a retention problem, and

Penelope Burk, the surveying sage and author of Donor Centered Fundraising , has verified through countless iterations of her research that 93% of individual donors would definitely or probably give again the next time they were asked if a charity did two simple things: Thanked them promptly in a personal way, and Followed up later with a meaningful report on the program they had funded. If you’re looking for the keys to donor retention…look no further! The real challenge, o

Let me tell you something you already know deep down, but maybe don’t want to say out loud: we all mess up. Yup. Every last one of us in donor relations and fundraising has, at some point, hit “send” on an email with the wrong salutation , mailed a thank-you letter to a donor who passed away months ago, or cheerfully invited a “valued donor” to a stewardship event...that they already RSVP’d to—and declined. I’ve been there. You’ve been there. Anyone who’s done this work longe

Artificial intelligence is no longer just theoretical. It’s here. It’s being used. And in many cases, it’s being used without policy. Recent sector conversations and institutional case studies show a clear trend: while many nonprofit and higher education organizations say they are “not officially using generative AI,” staff members are already experimenting on their own. As one higher education leader described it, when asked whether institutions are using generative AI, most

A few years ago, we asked a group of alumni board members to do something simple before our next meeting. We asked them to bring every piece of mail and donor communication they had received from the university over a three-month period. These were not one-time donors but deeply engaged alumni who supported multiple schools, programs, and priorities across campus and consistently showed up by attending events, volunteering their time, answering our calls, and investing deeply

Donor relations teams know this truth well: impact reporting works best when it follows a plan. And yet, too often, organizations jump straight to creating the reports. They may be beautiful. They may be thoughtful. They may take weeks (or months) to produce. But many times, we create them without first answering the all important question: What is this report meant to do in the donor relationship? When engagement planning comes first, impact reporting becomes intentional, s