Soapbox Engage Blog

Issue 42

This week’s Fundraising Weekly has me thinking about relationships, and how, at the end of the day, they are what fundraising is really all about. All nonprofit actions are interconnected and relate back to forging a relationship with a community. Improving your donor relationships can result in more funding. Meanwhile, improving your fundraising strategies will increase transparency, resulting in better donor relations.

As you read through this week’s curated articles, consider how relationships play a key role in each one. They are the foundation of peer-to-peer fundraising; they’re essential to adding influence to a campaign; and they are at the heart of donor care and appreciation.

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Great Fundraising Posts

3 Tips to Take Peer-to-Peer Fundraising to the Next Level

Maria Clark (Soapbox Engage)

How do you typically define success in peer-to-peer fundraising? Rather than focusing on financial goals or the number of participants, what if you pivot and emphasize building relationships with individual participants? After all, relationships are the foundation of all kinds of fundraising, including peer-to-peer campaigns. Head over to this blog to get some insights into how you can create a fantastic peer-to-peer experience and cultivate strong relationships with your donors.

Focus on Mission Impact Not Data Entry

Pat Farrell (NonProfit PRO)

Fundraisers must work harder than ever to get donor and gift data into CRM systems quickly and accurately so the organization can stay agile and accurate with fundraising and donor care. Great news! If you’re a Salesforce user, you can take advantage of some tools to boost donor data entry efficiency--so you can save valuable time keep your focus on the overall mission. Attend this webinar to learn things like how to prevent duplicate donor records, assigning record types based on values in your incoming data set, and much more.

8 Things Worth Knowing About Matching Fund Offers

Jeff Brooks (Future Fundraising Now)

Matching funds can be a powerful incentive for all kinds of fundraising strategies. Still, some nonprofits over-complicate matching gift campaigns. This blog has eight tips and insights to help you make your next matching gift campaign a slam dunk.

Planning a Campaign? Add Power and Influence

Gail Perry (Fired-Up Fundraising)

Do you have a great vision and you’re celebrating the impact of your work, but you’re feeling held back by your inability to raise the money you need? You’re not alone! With a little deliberate networking, you can bring individuals into your nonprofit who have strong connections and influence with major donors. Keep reading to get Gail’s insights on how to accomplish this!

How to Write an Effective Nonprofit Mission Statement

Guest Author (Get Fully Funded)

Mission statements are critical to nonprofits of any size. It serves as the heart of your fundraising strategy. Many nonprofits find writing mission statements a little tricky. Your mission statement has a big impact on how you interact with your donors and make asks. This blog has some resources and tips to help you begin writing your mission statement.

How to Make Good “Fundraising Bets”

Steven Screen (The Better Fundraising Company)

When you’re fundraising, you’re constantly making “bets” on which program or fund a donor will want to support. Each decision is like a “bet,” and the more you make, the more accurate you’ll get and the more money you’ll raise through your appeals, newsletters, and events. This blog has some insights about learning to talk to donors and make accurate “bets.”

How Fundraising is Like Strength Training

Ann Green (Ann Green)

There’s a lot in common between strength training and fundraising. For starters, it’s supposed to be hard but achievable and it’s ok to start small. In this blog, Ann shares bout the wisdom she’s learned from strength training over the last few years and applied it to her fundraising expertise.

In Post-Pandemic Stress, Keep Caring for Your Donors

Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels (Veritus Group)

Even though the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are beginning to fade, new stressors are entering our lives. People are figuring out how to re-enter society or choosing how they want their “new normal” to look. Additionally, families are divided over vaccine statuses, supply chain disruptions continue to impact some industries, and other stressors continue. It really is a lot to navigate. Our donors are experiencing various degrees of post-pandemic stress and your donors need a little extra care and TLC. This blog offers some wisdom about how to offer that donor TLC while also caring for your own health and wellbeing.