Email Best Practices for Fundraising

whitePaper | January 9, 2020

Nonprofit organizations serve a critical role in today’s society by providing opportunities for advancing divested and underserved populations, facilitating volunteerism and civic engagement, and developing innovative approaches to solving complex issues--to name a few. In order to effectively serve the community, however, nonprofits must balance maintaining their commitment to excellence, equity, and accountability while successfully realizing their missions, managing resources, and executing proper governance. In order to help Illinois nonprofits strike this balance, set forth on the following pages are thirteen key principles of nonprofit governance, followed by best practices for consideration in effectuating on these principles.

whitePaper | December 19, 2019

Our complex, changing world continually challenges leaders to be flexible and innovative. At the heart of efforts to create change, nonprofits, agencies, communities, and funders are working to uncover the roots of some of our greatest social issues, so-called “wicked problems.” At the Center for Creative Leadership, we have had the privilege to work alongside many social sector partners as they invest in improving the health of entire populations, transforming education to serve all, and alleviating persistent, intergenerational poverty. These experiences have led us to an increased understanding of the aspects of leadership that propel these efforts to greater success.

whitePaper | February 26, 2021

Here’s an overview of fundraising technology, providing a roadmap for nonprofits seeking to make the most of these tools. This whitepaper also explores the critical balance of this technology evolution— carrying the potential for both incredible nonprofit advancement and critical ethical repercussions. Use the form here to have the whitepaper sent to your inbox!

whitePaper | November 26, 2019

Our dedicated team has delivered digital projects to over 100 customers in the charity and membership sector. Throughout these projects, as well as dedicated events, roundtables and partnerships, we have learnt a lot about what makes a successful CRM strategy. As part of our commitment to non-profits, we’ve taken some key learnings from our team, our customers and attendees at our events, and compiled this guide to help you in the planning, execution and maintenance of your digital strategy. Thank you to all of our contributors for sharing valuable insight and advice.

whitePaper | March 25, 2020

In their seminal article, "Nonprofit Starvation Cycle", Ann Goggins Gregory and Dan Howard exhort nonprofit finance professionals to report to funders the real costs of running nonprofit organizations. The authors explain that the popular trend to restrict funding to specific programs without accounting for infrastructure expenses leads to an unintended consequence, a "nonprofit starvation cycle", where charities cease to function because they can't pay for overhead costs, such as administrative employees, computers and electric bills. To break this unhealthy cycle, the article encourages nonprofits to recalibrate funder expectations by providing accurate financial reports and other supporting information to reflect the true costs of nonprofit operations.

whitePaper | March 4, 2020

The look on her face said it all. “You want me to create a strategy for every single one of the donors on my caseload? Are you kidding me?” This is usually the reaction our team at Veritus Group gets when we tell MGOs that this will be one of the first things they need to do if they want to become successful with us. After the initial shock wears off and denial turns to acceptance, we get to work. We don’t skirt the enormity of the task. It is HARD work. We realize that. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. But they are not. And this is one of the reasons that MGOs, and ultimately non-profits, struggle with their major gift programs… they don’t have a plan. In this paper, we’re going to share with you a step-by-step process on how to put together a strategic plan for each donor. This is the same process we use with our clients to help them overcome what they think is insurmountable. Once MGOs start working on this process, they realize that not only is it possible, but it’s necessary for them to stay on task and become successful.