Soapbox Engage Blog

Issue 84

Happy Tuesday! Ever wondered exactly how much your nonprofit should be spending on advertising? Or if you should consider using fundraising ambassadors? Not every org has the budget for these strategies, but they are always worth looking at. Peruse some tips in this Fundraising Weekly. Plus, keep things light and check out that blog post of different kinds of fundraising errors— you’ll laugh, you’ll cringe, you’ll learn how to keep it all in perspective.

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

Great Fundraising Posts

Reach Your Capital Campaign Goals with Matching Gifts

Tim Forbes (Soapbox Engage)

Matching gifts and major giving or capital campaigns are a winning combination for nonprofits. It's a practical strategy to raise more money without recruiting more donors. Including matching gifts in your fundraising strategy gives people the opportunity to create more impact with their contributions. This blog unpacks some of the features of matching gifts and wisdom from experts to help you add matching gifts to your capital campaign and fundraising strategies.

The Discovery Call Playbook

Jenn Shefcik (Fired-Up Fundraising)

The Fired-Up Fundraising team recently surveyed fundraising teams around the world and discovered that everyone's top challenge was in discovering and qualifying more major gift prospects. That's not very surprising since that's an understandably complex challenge. The great news is that Jenn Shefcik and Dr. Kathryn Gamble rely on their collective years of fundraising experience to develop a solid discovery process playbook that really does work.

LIST of What to “Repeat” to Save Time and Raise More Money

Steven Screen (The Better Fundraising Company)

Repeating is a tool that savvy fundraisers use to save time and actually raise more money. What is repeating in fundraising? It's when you do the same thing again, but in a slightly different way. For example, send the same letter but reword it slightly or use a slightly different design. This blog offers some ideas of when nonprofits can repeat in fundraising and how to do it effectively.

How Much Should Nonprofits Spend On Advertising?

Julia Claire Campbell (marketing for the modern nonprofit)

Nonprofits and businesses are more similar than many of us probably like to admit. Though many nonprofits don't see advertising as a necessity, it's actually quite important, especially as social media platforms continue to reduce organic reach. How do you determine the right advertising budget for your nonprofit? This blog and podcast offer wisdom from Samin Pogoff about how to structure an advertising budget for your organization.

Sign the Enclosed Placenta: The Weird Power of Errors in Fundraising

Jeff Brooks (Future Fundraising Now)

We all make mistakes–it's part of being human! Still, nobody likes making errors, especially ones that make you look or feel stupid. Some errors (like misspellings) are just awkward or funny. Other errors can damage relationships. While it's always worthwhile to apologize for errors, it's also important to keep errors in context. Check out this blog for real-life examples of different kinds of fundraising errors (funny, cringy, and potentially damaging) and some insights about how to navigate errors–because we all make them at one point or another.

Tell More Stories. Raise More Money.

Lori Jacobwith (Ignited Fundraising)

Time after time, studies reveal that telling more stories tends to raise more money. Lori's book, Boring2Brilliant helps nonprofit leaders share stories that lead people toward action. It's such a critical part of fundraising, that Lori updated her book to include more details and exercises to help development professionals tell a powerful story. This blog outlines some of the new content in the book and why every fundraiser should take the time to read it and improve their storytelling skills.

Spring Forward to Better Donor Retention

Ann Green (Ann Green)

Many nonprofits spend quite a bit of time and energy acquiring new donors with little concern for donor retention. If you're losing donors, it could be that you're not communicating enough or communicating the right things. Fortunately, this is something any nonprofit can improve! Ann shares some key insights and tips about how to develop good donor relations that lead to better retention.

Step-by-Step Plan for Activating Fundraising Ambassadors

Sandy Rees (Get Fully Funded)

Surprisingly, fundraising ambassadors don't have to be famous to be effective. Anyone who helps generate support for your nonprofit is an ambassador and it's surprisingly easy and effective to develop fundraising ambassadors for your cause. This blog unpacks some essential information and steps to help you harness the power of fundraising ambassadors that are already in your network.

How to Stop Leaving Money on the Table

Claire Axelrad (Clairification)

It can be frustrating to know you're leaving money on the table but not quite sure how to improve the problem. Sometimes it can be scary to try new strategies or change up fundraising practices that are making ends meet at the moment. But getting stuck in a system that "works for now" has its own long-term risks. Head over to this blog where Claire unpacks some of those risks and offers practical steps to make improvements to your fundraising!