Soapbox Engage Blog

Issue 29

It’s a very special day for PICnet, the company behind Soapbox Engage… It’s our 20th anniversary! We’ve spent the last two decades advancing the world of nonprofit tech and serving the nonprofit community we deeply cherish. We’ve grown and evolved a lot over the years and it hasn’t always been easy, but we’ve loved every moment.

Thank you for being a part of this community. This newsletter and each subscriber is another reminder of why we love what we do. So, while we celebrate ourselves today and reminisce about laying ethernet cables in 2001, please know we are also celebrating you!

You can receive the Fundraising Weekly newsletter each Tuesday by subscribing today!

Great Fundraising Posts

10 Fundraising Ideas for Funerals and Memorial Funds

Tim Forbes (Soapbox Engage)

Planning a memorial service can seem like an insurmountable obstacle. Many people find the process of raising money to be part of their grieving and healing journey. Whether you’re planning a fundraiser to help cover funeral costs or to raise money in honor of your loved one, this article offers ten effective fundraising ideas to help get you started.

How to Save Time Cultivating Donors and Move to the Ask Quickly

Anne Guillen (Fired-Up Fundraising)

Do you ever get frustrated that you spent all that time nurturing a relationship with a potential donor who ends up never partnering financially? It really is possible to know your donor’s giving intentions much earlier in the process--we just have to ask! Anne offers some excellent insights and wisdom to help development professionals reduce the amount of time and resources spent “courting” potential donors who never end up giving.

A Fundraising Checklist

Simone Joyaux (Joyaux Associates)

In this short-and-sweet blog, Simone leads her readers through a bit of a thought exercise to help you create a few helpful checklists for fundraising. Not the typical checklists; more of a checklist for words to use or not use in your organization or a list of what you’ll do every year with donors no matter how exhausted you are or where you are with your fundraising goal. Head over to this blog to keep reading!

How to Identify Donor Communication Preferences

Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels (Veritus Group)

It may seem like a hassle, but taking the time to clarify how each of your donors would like to hear from you really matters. Not paying attention to these kinds of donor requests can become downright abusive in the donor-nonprofit relationship. If a donor specifies that they would not like to receive phone calls, it’s disrespectful (and undermines the relationship) to call that donor without first asking for special permission. Do you know your donor’s communication preferences?

Find a Way to Address A Monthly Donor’s Hesitation

Erica Waasdorp (NonProfit PRO)

One thing the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed is that a number of people in America either don’t have access to the internet or don’t feel comfortable using it. So, communities are turning to alternative communication methods to get people registered for vaccines and to communicate other important information. This is a relevant finding for nonprofits, too! Many potential donors may be just like these people who need alternative giving options. This blog offers a compelling case for why nonprofits need as many giving options as possible in order to make donors feel comfortable and able to partner.

Text Fundraising: Your 5 Keys to Success

Melaina Chromy (Joe Garecht Fundraising)

Text fundraising has quickly become a popular fundraising strategy, especially since the text message audience grew by 26% in 2019 and the click-through rate was 4.2% for fundraising messages--not bad at all! So, how can your organization leverage this growing fundraising strategy in the right way? This blog offers five keys to success to help you start off on the right foot.

Donor touches? Paper Is Still Your Best Bet

Mary Cahalane (Hands-On Fundraising)

The pandemic has changed a lot of things about how we communicate and work. Many of us were forced to move to more online and digital forms of communication and collaboration, but that’s not necessarily the way our communication with donors should go! Head over to this blog to learn why printed communication is still a critical way to engage your donors.

Analyzing Budgets and Saving Money At A Nonprofit

Guest Author (Get Fully Funded)

There’s a powerful line near the beginning of this blog, “After all, nonprofit is your tax status, it shouldn’t be your business model.” Mindful nonprofit leaders understand that it’s just as critical to save money and be financially responsible as it is to raise money. This blog offers eight effective ways most nonprofits can reduce overhead, cut costs, and save money.

6 Ways to Completely Sabotage A Major Gift

Amy Eisenstein (Amy Eisenstein)

It’s quite common for board members, development professionals, and other nonprofit leaders to avoid asking for a gift because they’re afraid of making a mistake and sabotaging a major gift. The truth is that fear of sabotaging a major gift is far greater than the chance you’ll actually mess up. To help calm your fears, Amy offers six ways you actually could sabotage a major gift and miss out. (Hint: the first one is not asking for a donation.)