Posts by Jeff Brooks

Fundraisingologist at Moceanic

Jeff Brooks is a Fundraisingologist at Moceanic. He has more than 30 years of experience in fundraising, worked as a writer and creative director on behalf of top nonprofits around the world, including CARE, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Feeding America, and many others. Jeff is the author of three books about fundraising and blogs at Future Fundraising Now. Moceanic blog readers can benefit from his experience by reading his articles or by joining his on-demand fundraising courses. He is also a coach and available for bookings in the Coaching+ program to help with your fundraising project and work hands-on directly with you.

Pop Art Help

Fundraiser Asks: How Do I Tell Compelling Stories When Our Cause Has No “Happy Endings”?

Storytelling
Question from the inbox: Do you have any tips on storytelling when there is no happy ending? The disease that I fundraise for is terminal, aggressive, and traumatic. Every diagnosis is a death sentence, and the average life span from…
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Pop art Donor Advised Funds

Donor Advised Funds Are a Potential Fundraising Goldmine – If You Do the Right Things

Major and Mid Value Donors
Donor Advised Funds (DAF) in the USA and UK (called PAFs in Australia)  are a very big deal, and getting bigger. They have gone from being a sort of fringe way some donors gave, to a massive and important donation…
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Pop Art halloween 1

Is This a Scary Monster for Halloween? Maybe Not So Much

Crises Fundraising, Maths of Fundraising
You’ve probably seen the panic. Numerous sources, including Giving USA, The Nonprofit Times, and others have pointed out the steep drop in fundraising revenue between 2021 and 2022. Adjusted for inflation, revenue dropped 10.5% in the US. We’ve only seen…
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Pop Art Clock

5 Time Management Gems for the Busy Season (and One Piece of Bad Advice)

Time Management
It’s the busy time for almost everyone in fundraising. The make-or-break time of year where you hit budget – or not. You’ve been going full speed for several weeks, and you have a few weeks to go before you can…
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Pop Art OOH

6 Top Tips for Landing Pages That Lead Donors to Action

Digital Fundraising
Your landing page is the make-or-break moment for your digital fundraising campaign. Get it wrong and you can lose a lot of money from would-be donors. The good news is that nonprofit landing pages have improved in recent years. Thanks…
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Pop Art lady with laptop

New Digital Workshop Is Taking People to New Places

Digital Fundraising, Fundraising Training Needs
You’ve seen this before: The digital hot-shot fires up his pitch for whatever it is he’s selling that promises to change the game for your fundraising. He talks fast and gives a lot of details that can be hard to…
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Pop Art To Do List

4 Ways to Reclaim Your Productivity from Negative Emotions

Productivity, Self-Care
Remember that old thought experiment where you imagine you have a choice: A job where the work is fulfilling and the pay is great, but all your work is destroyed every day. You make no impact on the world. A…
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Love

Just How “Different” Are Your Donors, Really?

Demographics
Here’s the most true and untrue statement in fundraising: “Our donors are different from other donors.” Yes, they really are different. And no, they are not! They are both unique and typical. Okay, it may sound like I’m talking out…
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Blow a kiss

The “Middle Siblings” of Fundraising, and How You Can Connect with Them

Major and Mid Value Donors
Mid-value donors are sometimes the “middle children” of donor files. Like the stereotypical middle child, they get less attention than the others. They can “fall through the cracks” and not get the focus and treatment they need. Nonprofits often have…
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Pop art punctuation

5 Things to Keep Fundraising Strong in Strange Times (like Now)

Crises Fundraising
Many fundraisers around the world are getting worse results now than they did during the height of the pandemic. The pandemic has not gone away, but the sense of crisis and community – that widespread feeling that something big is…
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