Think just a minute about what you are asking your donors to do. Of course, the obvious answer is “give.” And that’s the right answer. But why are you asking donors to give? You’re thinking, “because we have bills to pay.” That’s true, but not a terribly powerful motivator for most donors. What motivates a …
I was on the phone with the Executive Director of one of our clients last week. He’s leading a rescue mission in the thick of the COVID crisis. Our call was just a quick check-in. I wanted to see how he was doing and to make sure things were on track. Toward the end of …
Can you imagine all of the possible distractions your donors are experiencing right now? Maybe they’re following nausea-induced stock price fluctuations.Maybe they’re worried about the COVID-19 pandemic.Maybe they’re churning over the current election season.Maybe they’re distracted by other nonprofit organizations’ fundraising.Maybe they’re distracted by their own financial struggles. And that’s on top of the usual …
I’d forgotten about Tom Peters. He’s a business/leadership guru I followed from back in the DotCom glory days. He was famous for humongous PowerPoint decks (think 300+ slides), rapid-fire insights and high-flying strategies. He’s a sound-bite machine! In my reading this weekend, someone pointed me to Peters’ eNewsletter and a post from 2008 on how to …
“Donor-focused messaging” and “donor-focused culture” are a couple of descriptions that we use to describe Oneicity’s guiding principle in communicating with donors. Maya Angelou, poet, writer and civil rights activists has a quote that does a great job of explaining why this donor-focused thing works. She wrote, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you …
As we were landing in Austin on Tuesday, I took my phone off of airplane mode, and a voicemail and 3 texts popped in. The voicemail was my clue something was up. No one that knows me leaves me a voicemail, and this was from one of the Oneicity team. Something indeed was up. The …
You focus on your donor communication. Your donor doesn’t. Won’t. Can’t. The rookie mistake is to think that a single impact or a single email or a single phone call will connect powerfully enough with the donor for them to make a good giving decision. It won’t. The rookie mistake is to evaluate a single …
Sorry if that sounds like one of those clickbait posts. It’s not clickbait, it’s truth. Really it’s a 13-word sentence that will improve your fundraising. Not only will these 13 words improve your fundraising and development work, they could change your career, your relationships, really your life. And it explains a lot of the craziness …
When I was Executive Director/CEO of a nonprofit, I had the opportunity to make asks face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball with donors. I actually made a few six-figure asks. And a boatload of smaller asks. I can tell you in all modesty I was absolutely lousy at it. A miserable failure (as in “not successful” and “feeling lousy” …
2017 marks our 8th year of choosing a Word of the Year. We do that instead of resolutions or other ways to mark the beginning of a new year. Our “Word of the Year” is a focus point, a rallying cry, a commitment, a guide, a prayer. And it’s an interesting marker to look back …
A mid-30’s professional, I’ll call him “Phil,” told me about his experience with improper form. Phil and his wife enjoy giving. They’re exactly who you want to begin to draw into your work. They care about people and changing the world. They have some resources, and they’re committed to their community. Phil had noticed an …
Everyone gets stuck at some point. You can’t figure out how to proceed. You’re not sure how to solve a problem. You’re overwhelmed with too much to do . . . and then everything seems most important and nothing seems most important. Or there’s this one thing that’s not working. If only you could get …
Oneicity was born from our desire and passion to serve small- and medium-sized ministries and non-profits with affordable fundraising and marketing. We are a professional services firm that is unlike any you have ever worked with.