Fundraising for Beginners

Welcome to Fundraising.

You came to the right place. Let’s explore the basics.

Fundraisers should use pride, not apology, when asking for a gift for a charity that is doing good work.

Henry Rosso

Who is this site for?

YOU CAN BE A FUNDRAISER.

YOU can be a fundraiser!

This site is for anyone with a passion for a cause. Perhaps you’ve just started out in the fundraising profession, or maybe you have been working in development but need to learn more about digital marketing, or even, perhaps, you have a passion for a cause and just want to learn how to help raise more money, if so, this site is for you.

We’ve created this site to teach you the art and science of fundraising. Articles and training videos are categorized and rated by level of experience, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. No matter your starting point, you will be able to learn how to be an excellent fundraiser. Discover great courses that will help you become the fundraiser you want to be.

Natural born fundraiser is a myth. You can learn the skill of fundraising and raise millions of dollars for your favorite cause. I want to show you how.

What skills will you learn?

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF FUNDRAISING.

Fundraising is similar to other industries: there are specific skills you will learn to become a great fundraiser.

From understanding the motivations to why people give to writing fundraising copy that converts, as someone new to fundraising, you’ll need to understand the psychology of the donor and how to present your fundraising campaign. You’ll also need technical skills for managing a donor database, analyzing results, and creating tests to optimize performance.

You will learn how direct mail differs from digital, how to perform direct mail donor acquisition programs and how we’ve adapted those acquisition programs online.

As you progress, you’ll learn different types of donors such as general, continuity, mid-level, major, legacy, corporation, foundation and more. Different types of donors will behave and give differently and understanding how they think will help you craft the perfect fundraising campaigns.

Find fundraising courses that will teach you how to become a world-class fundraiser.

What should I read first?

LEARN SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING.

The Story of the One

February 21, 2018

Nonprofit fundraising, at its core, is storytelling. Telling a story of how your organization has helped one beneficiary be transformed is the building block of telling the story of your organization. In nonprofit development, the story we use in fundraising is called the story of the one. It’s called the story of the one because you’re … Read more

Sample Phrases You Can Use to Thank Your Donors

February 5, 2018

Donors love it when you show appreciation for their support. So much so that 80% of donors say they would be motivated to make a second gift if the nonprofit thanked them. Unfortunately, many of us aren’t properly thanking nonprofit donors and this is negatively affecting our fundraising. It’s expensive to acquire a new donor. … Read more

3 Keys to Moving from Corporate America to a Nonprofit

August 15, 2017

In 2011, I was working as a social media consultant, primarily with nonprofits with Tim Smith approached me about joining him at Food for the Hungry. He had just accepted the role of Chief Development Officer and wanted to bring me along as his Digital Director. Though I had worked at a nonprofit and worked … Read more

Secrets to Being a Successful Storyteller

August 9, 2017

Liko loved school. He had dreams of graduating, getting a good job, helping to lift his family out of generations of poverty. But one day, tragedy struck. The village borehole water pump broke. Clean water was no longer available. The school’s feeding program shut down. The school itself closed. Village residents suddenly had to travel 13 … Read more

YOU Can Be a GREAT Fundraiser!

August 1, 2017

Fundraising has been one of the most fulfilling aspects of any job I’ve ever had. It’s not hard to be motivated to come to work every day knowing that what I’m doing is making a different in literally millions of people’s lives. I am motivated knowing that Nadine, a 9 year old, received deworming medication and … Read more

Painful Suggestions by People Who Don’t Understand Fundraising

July 9, 2017

Yes, it’s well intentioned. Yes, like many professions, people assume fundraising is easier than it actually is. And yes, it’s head-shakingly-funny some of the suggestions people make to fundraisers about how to do their jobs. Here’s a few of the funniest, unfortunately too common, suggestions people make to nonprofit development teams on how to improve … Read more

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