Posts Tagged ‘Grant writing’
Part 3: Where Donors Came From — And What Smart Organizations Did About It
This is the final installment of my three part series based on what I learned from the Gravyty webinar which unpacked Giving Tuesday 2025 data. If Part 1 was about infrastructure and Part 2 was about emotional clarity, then Part 3 is about amplification. What I’m calling: Discovery, Ambassadors & Managing Expectations Because even the…
Read MorePart 2: Giving Tuesday 2025 – What Actually Resonated
As I stated last week, preparation for Giving Tuesday starts before December. I recently participated in a webinar offered by Gravyty which unpacked Giving Tuesday 2025 data. I’m sharing what I learned with you through a 3-part series. If Part 1 was about infrastructure, then Part 2 is about emotion. What I’m calling: Campaign Themes,…
Read MoreWhat Giving Tuesday 2025 Taught Us (And What Smart Nonprofits Are Doing Next): A 3-Part Series
I realize that Giving Tuesday is MANY months away, but I recently participated in a workshop offered by Gravyty which unpacked Giving Tuesday 2025 data. Over the next three weeks, I want to share their insights with you. First up: Timing, Forms & Friction – The Infrastructure of a Winning Giving Tuesday Giving Tuesday is…
Read MoreReviewing & Adjusting Your Fundraising Plan: How Reflection Fuels Sustainability
A fundraising plan is not meant to be perfect. It’s meant to be useful. And the final step in effective fundraising planning—reviewing and adjusting your plan—is where usefulness turns into long-term sustainability. Too often, teams either avoid this step altogether or approach it only when something feels “off.” But regular reflection isn’t a sign that…
Read MoreTracking Progress & Measuring Success: How to Know Your Fundraising Is Working
By the time many organizations reach this stage of fundraising planning, they’ve already done a lot of hard work. Goals have been set. Activities have been chosen. Roles have been assigned. Now comes the step that turns effort into clarity: tracking progress and measuring success. For staff members, this step can feel intimidating—or even unnecessary—especially…
Read MoreFrom Good Intentions to Follow-Through: Assigning Roles & Responsibilities in Your Fundraising Plan
If you’ve ever created a fundraising plan that looked solid on paper, but it stalled out in practice, there’s a good chance the issue wasn’t strategy. It was ownership. This week we’re focusing on a step that is often rushed or skipped altogether: assigning clear roles and responsibilities. Because a fundraising plan doesn’t move forward…
Read MoreWho We Are, Why We Serve: The Story of Heart for the Community Consulting
Note: The blog in its original form was published in August 2025, but has been updated. It is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States—a federal holiday when some people take the day “off” from work, while others treat it as a day “on” for service and community engagement. Some of my clients…
Read MoreFrom Strategy to Structure: Building a Fundraising Calendar Your Team Will Actually Execute
In the last installment of this series, we focused on identifying which fundraising channels you plan to pursue in 2026 — grants, individual donors, events, corporate partners, appeals, and peer-to-peer efforts. But even the best strategy can fall apart without structure. Knowing what you want to do is important. Knowing when to do it —…
Read MoreFrom Goals to Growth: Building the Right Fundraising Channels for 2026
In our last newsletter, we focused on the importance of setting SMART fundraising goals — clear, measurable, and grounded in reality. That step is essential, but it’s only part of the work. Once you know what you need to raise, the next (and often trickier) question is, “How are we actually going to raise it?”…
Read MoreFrom Reflection to Results: Setting SMART Fundraising Goals That Actually Move the Needle
In the last step of fundraising planning, we focused on reflection—looking honestly at what happened in the previous year and using it to inform the new year. That work typically results in a simple 1–2 page summary that outlines: This reflection phase is powerful because it grounds your planning in reality—not wishful thinking. But reflection…
Read More