News & Events – Page 7 – Giving Tree Associates, Inc.

Guest Bloggers

Nine Tips for Your Next Mailing: Part I

There are many factors that can complicate a direct mail project. In this blog series, I’ve offered nine tips and tools to ensure your next mail appeal process runs smoothly, delivers on time and remains within budget. In the first of these four posts, I will discuss design tips. Consider…

Social Media

10 Blog Post Ideas for Nonprofits

Whether it is a link on your organization’s website or merely a quick click on a Facebook newsfeed, many nonprofits and individuals are taking advantage of blogging to share ideas and information through the written word. For nonprofits, blog posts represent a quick and easy opportunity to announce upcoming events,…

Capital/Endowment Campaign Management Guest Bloggers

Wall of Founders – A Donor Wall Tale

Following completion of a capital campaign, many organizations choose to recognize their most generous contributors by including their name on a donor wall. As anyone who has designed a donor wall can attest, this can be quite a challenge. Some donors enjoy seeing their name on a wall, while others…

Guest Bloggers

Turning Up the Volume

I commute about an hour and a half each day to and from our offices in suburban Chicago. I’m fortunate to live near an “El” subway station and have the choice between driving and taking the red line. Though they both take about the same amount of time, the experience…

Fundraising 101

Top 10 Tips for Direct Mail

Are you preparing to send a direct mail appeal? I bet every year you say, “next year we have to make sure we….”, but forget to write it down in a memorable place. Look no further. Here are ten tips that every development professional should keep handy during a direct…

Fundraising 101

Who is Behind You?

For the past eight months, I have helped my client, B’nai B’rith Beber Camp, raise money for their Annual Campaign for Scholarship. One of Beber Camp’s fundamental beliefs is that no child should be denied access to a summer experience based on financial need. The people I have met –…

Fundraising 101

Fundraising Time Management

The hardest part about our jobs is figuring out how to fit in everything we must accomplish. When faced with lean budgets and even leaner professional teams, nonprofit development pros have a harder time than most trying to do get it all done without sacrificing their personal lives or feeling…

Grant Writing

Steps to a Successful Corporate Grant

When I begin work with a new client on strengthening their grants program, one of the first steps is to look at past funders and explore opportunities for repeat funding. Secondly, I turn to current board members to identify their corporate contacts and see if there is a match. Once…

Guest Bloggers

Top 5 Signs Your Website May No Longer Be Working For Your Organization

1. Your website contact form has gone silent. When’s the last time that someone contacted you through your website form? Or made a donation or purchase? Or subscribed to your newsletter? Set a calendar reminder to regularly test your contact form or other key parts of your website’s functionality. You may…

Fundraising 101

Making a New Friend

I like to think of cultivation as the act of making a new friend. We learn from a very young age how to make friends. Beginning in preschool we learn to share, play nice and treat others the way we want to be treated. As we mature, so do our…

Social Media

Are you LinkedIn? Part 2

Last month I introduced you to LinkedIn. I hope you’ve had an opportunity to set up an account and explore the site. A few important reminders from the previous post: LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking website that launched in May of 2003…

Guest Bloggers

Turning Personal Tragedy into Triumph for Children

Three years ago, I decided to make a radical career shift. After spending 15 years building and growing corporate organizations, I felt compelled to find a role with a larger social mission and impact. During my search, I learned about Camp Kesem, a unique organization that not only served an…

Capital/Endowment Campaign Management

Passing the Reigns – Developing, Presenting, and Implementing an Annual Campaign Plan

I am in the final stage of work with a wonderful organization and had an opportunity for reflection during a new board member orientation. Goldie’s Place is a support center for people who are homeless, assisting them to become self – supporting and financially independent by providing confidence-building dental treatment,…

Fundraising 101

Planning for the Future

Definition: Endowment, specifically, is a gift of money or income producing property to an organization for general operating support or a specific purpose (such as research or scholarships). Generally, the endowed asset is kept intact and only the interest or earnings generated by it is consumed – 5% annually. An…

Guest Bloggers

Writing Right in 2014

In this Internet age, even the guy on the corner hawking his wares has a website. But merely having a website is not enough. Even if you’ve invested a significant amount of time and resources into building a state of the art site, driving traffic and remaining relevant depends on…

Guest Bloggers

Leadership Development – Really?

In response to frequently discussed crises in leadership, nonprofit organizations seem to have a particular focus of late on leadership development. Millions of dollars are expended annually for training sessions, retreats, and various projects purporting to train volunteer and professional “leaders.” As one who has been both student and teacher…

Capital/Endowment Campaign Management

The Psychology of Giving – Why People Give or Don’t Give

At the end of the day, fundraising is like life. Your best friends are the ones you can most count on to give back to you what you need. And so it goes with fundraising. People who are friends of your organization are the ones most likely to give back…

Capital/Endowment Campaign Management

Charitable Solicitation Registration – Part 2

It’s not about your nonprofit’s address. It’s about the addresses to which you send your appeals for support. In my last post, I introduced the topic of Charitable Solicitation Registration. As a reminder, Charitable Solicitation Registration is a way in which states protect their citizens by regulating who can solicit donations. …

Grant Writing

Unique Funder = Unique Application Process

Every Foundation is different and therefore every grant proposal you submit will be different, even if it is for the same program and requests the same dollar amount as the one before. Before you sit down to write a grant proposal, spend some time studying the prospective funder and their…

Social Media

Are you LinkedIn?

Welcome to the world of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. Globally, there are 250 million members “Linking In”. With LinkedIn becoming more popular every day, Giving Tree is learning to better utilize the site to share our expertise with the non-profit community and to strengthen our individual…