September week 1 1024x768 1

3 Easy Ways to Super-Charge Your Year-End Fundraising

Major and Mid Value Donors, Maths of Fundraising
In the USA around 40% of all charitable giving happens in the month of December*. It’s a time when many donors are in a giving mood. You already know that I’m sure. And you already have an awesome year-end campaign…
Read More
Pop Art Blue Yes

A Practical Lesson from Star Wars: How to Raise 2 to 5 Times as Much from Real-Life Donors

Bequests and Legacies, Maths of Fundraising
It may be the smartest “bad move” in the history of movies. Back in 1976, while he was negotiating his deal for making a new movie about heroes and villains zooming around in space, George Lucas said he’d take much…
Read More
Pop Art Black woman wow

The Easy Way to Raise More Money by Being Relevant to Each Donor

Maths of Fundraising
Want to know something about donors? A large majority of them (around 70%) will give the same amount (or very close to it) every time they donate. The percentage of donors who upgrade to meaningfully higher levels is small. (But…
Read More
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…
Read More
piechart

The Overhead Myth, and the Pie Chart Solution

Maths of Fundraising
There’s a monster stalking the halls of nonprofit organizations around the world. Every day it smashes, tears, and crushes organizations’ ability to do their mission. The monster is an attitude: The less a charity spends on overhead, the better! It’s…
Read More
Pop Art Clock

How to Respect Your Time, and Help Your Boss and Colleagues Respect It Too

Maths of Fundraising, Time Management
You are more valuable than you’ve ever imagined. I’m not talking about your value as a unique human being living on this planet. In that sense, you’re infinitely valuable. I’m talking about your value as a professional fundraiser, as measured…
Read More
Pop Art Halloween

Fundraisers: 3 Surprising Scary Halloween Monsters

Demographics, Maths of Fundraising
When I was a kid, the main point of your Halloween costume was to be scary. That’s why we were ghosts, vampires, werewolves, and Richard Nixon. The kids showing up at my door on Halloween these days seem to have…
Read More
Pop Art Numbers VS Stories

What Behavioral Science Tells Us about Stories and Math in Fundraising

Maths of Fundraising, Storytelling
Excerpted from The Storytelling Fundraiser by Professor Russell James. The full book (along with many other fundraising resources) is available for free at Encourage Generosity. For nonprofit managers, numbers are important. Numbers define success or failure. Numbers keep the lights…
Read More
Moceanic blog post

How to Measure What Matters in Fundraising

Fundraising, Maths of Fundraising
They say you get more of whatever you measure. It’s especially true in fundraising. But it’s easier said than done. There are a lot of things you could be measuring in fundraising. Not all of them are equally important. Some…
Read More
VIDEO How Focus on ROI Can Hobble Your Fundraising

VIDEO: How Focus on ROI Can Hobble Your Fundraising

Maths of Fundraising
I hate to admit it, but a lot of what it takes to be smart about fundraising means doing mathematics. Not my best subject. Fortunately, it’s not super-hard math. And fortunately, we have math geeks like Sean to help us…
Read More