“Fundraising is Complicated.”
The Simplicity Hiding in Plain Sight
You’ve read the books. You’ve sat through the webinars. You’ve nodded along as a consultant walked you through a slide deck full of acronyms. But the core of fundraising is not complicated at all.
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“We Have to Give People Something in Return.”
The Transactional Trap That Shrinks Your Mission
The idea that you have to give people something in return for their support sounds reasonable. It even sounds polite. But it is built on a fundamental misunderstanding of why people give.
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“We Need a Big Event.”
The Gala That Ate Your Fundraising Program
It feels ambitious. It feels professional. It feels like what serious organizations do. It's also, for most small-to-medium nonprofits, one of the most expensive and least efficient ways to raise money.
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“If We Do Good Work, the Money Will Come.”
The Comforting Lie That Keeps Good Organizations Broke
The logic goes like this: if our programs are strong, our mission clear, and our work excellent, people will see the value and they will give. The brutal reality? They won't. Not without being asked.
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“Fundraising is Embarrassing.”
The Original Sin That Poisons Everything Else
If you believe fundraising is embarrassing, you won't get good at it. Full stop. You won't invest in learning how to do it well. You won't practice. And your donors will feel it.
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Everything You Believe About Fundraising is Wrong
10 Mistakes That Are Killing Your Results
A few years ago, I walked into a small-town charity that was convinced it had hit its ceiling. The board was exhausted. The volunteers were burnt out. Within a year, everything changed. Not the town. Not the cause. The beliefs.
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Everything You Believe About Fundraising is Wrong: 10 Mistakes That Are Killing Your Results
A ten-part series dismantling the beliefs that quietly destroy nonprofit fundraising, one at a time.
- 0 Introduction: Everything You Believe About Fundraising is Wrong
- 1 "Fundraising is an embarrassing, unfortunate necessity."
- 2 "If we do good work, the money will come."
- 3 "We need a big event."
- 4 "We have to give people something in return."
- 5 "Fundraising is complicated."
- 6 "We've already asked. We can't ask again."
- 7 "That's the development office's job."
- 8 "The ED has more important things to do."
- 9 "The board's job is governance, not fundraising."
- 10 "We shouldn't spend money on fundraising."