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Virtual Acquisition Strategy Forum

Virtual Acquisition Strategy Forum Virtual Acquisition Strategy Forum Earlier this month, several members of our team had the pleasure of attending the virtual DMAW Acquisition Strategy Forum. The forum was informative for anyone interested in developing multi-channel acquisition and covered all aspects of acquisition strategy, including audience development, creative strategy, analytics, and retention. If you…

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From Sacred Cows to Successful Campaigns — Real Life Victories

What happens after you tip your sacred cows?  In our previous blogs (one and two), we discussed how to identify your nonprofit’s specific sacred cows — those programs, events, campaigns, and practices that you perform religiously, often because that’s the way it’s always been done. Or sometimes our sacred cows are programs that represent too…

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Identifying the Sacred Cows That Are Holding You Back

Let’s say you’re committed to tipping some sacred cows. You are ready to challenge and evaluate everything: your mission, your approach, your revenue. How do you identify your organization’s specific sacred cows? In our first blog of this series, we discussed the various fundraising practices nonprofits perform religiously — often with the only strategy being…

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How Do You Tip a Sacred Cow? Strength and Patience.

Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We all tend to agree with this — but do we as nonprofits put it into practice? Particularly in our fundraising work? Echoing this same sentiment, management expert Tom Northrup once said, “All organizations are perfectly designed to get…

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You Win Some, You Lose More. Don’t’ Let Your Donors Walk Away: Make Retention Your New Acquisition

Did you know that most nonprofits are not currently measuring donor retention on a monthly basis? Do you know why it matters? According to The 2017 Fundraising Effectiveness Project report in 2016, every $100 gained in gifts was offset by $95 in losses through gift attrition. Let that sink in; for every dollar amount you…

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Fundraisers Face Significant Retention Decline

Retention matters. It is sometimes the greatest—but most profitable—challenge you may face as a fundraiser. And it’s getting harder. That’s why DMAW is hosting a Lunch & Learn to provide a Retention Roadmap—answering your top retention questions and putting you on a path to file growth. For the past 10 years, donor retention has been…

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Monthly or Bust: Creating a Sustainer Culture

  On his very first day as membership director, Dane Grams strove to make monthly donors the centerpiece to the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) sustainer strategy. Why? Well, as he convinced the HRC development team—and now the audience at the DMAW Lunch & Learn: Sustainer Recruitment and Engagement event—monthly sustainers give the most money over…

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5 Takeaways from DMAW Digital Day

By Angela Stoutenburgh This October I attended DMAW’s Digital Day Forum; to borrow from Cass Bailer of Slice Communications, the experience was different. If you have been around long enough you see the same faces and memorize the talking points. But while I saw some friendly faces this year, Digital Day was full of fresh ideas…

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