Last Blog Post... of 2013!

Holiday Greetings to each and every one of you near and far!
It's been an eventful year in my personal and professional life and I thank each and every one of you for joining me in the journey. Here are some quick hits I thought I would cover with you and then wish each of you a Merry Jolly Happy.

• There is now statistical proof that Tchotckes reduce giving, a present unto itself.
• Donor Relations Guru® is now officially trademarked by the US Patents and Trademark Office!
• We had quite a year with the webinars and over the holiday I will be building the schedule for the rest of 2014. For now, here's what we have: www.donorrelationsguru.com/webinars
• The Pulse of Donor Relations study had 915 respondents and was a huge success! Results can be found here and the study will now be done every two years: www.donorrelationsguru.com/pulse
• We have a thriving LinkedIn group here with over 1400 professionals and growing!
• The variety of resources for you continues to grow. If you need samples of anything, please check here, if I don't have it, send me an email and I'll go get it for you!
• I hope to see many of you in person as I have a robust travel schedule for the Spring:

• January 29-31, 2014 CASE I, Boston, MA
• February 12-14, 2014 CASE VIII, Vancouver, CA
• February 16-19, 2014 CASE III, Orlando, FL
• March 13, 2014, Northeastern Annual Giving Conference, Pleasantville, NY
• March 14, 2014 ADRP NYC, New York, NY
• March 18-21, 2014 TriState Camp Conference, Atlantic City, NJ
• March 23-24, 2014 AFP International, San Antonio, TX
• March 25, 2014 Big XII Development Conference, Austin, TX
• April 6-9, 2014 Ellucian Live!, Anaheim, CA
• April 9-12, 2014 NAYDO, San Antonio, TX

• Here are some blogs you may have missed, I think they are the highlights of 2013, there are more great thoughts in the works for 2014, I can't do it without you so if you have a topic you want  me to cover, please place it in the comments below!

• • Dear fundraiser, an open letter from your friend in donor relations

  • Leadership vs. Management

  • The best donor gift money can buy...

  • What does your gift receipt say about your organization? 

  • Spike Lee and Donor Relations

  • How to lose 250 million dollars- Ignore donor relations! 

     

  Thank you all so much for your readership and your dedication to the fundraising profession. I am so happy to provide resources and thought leadership to you. In 2014, be on the lookout for more, including the first ever DRG book!

  Happy Holidays!

  Cheers,

  Lynne

2013 #GivingTuesday Challenge

It’s that time of year again to be more charitable than normal! 

I have given all morning until my credit card coughed up some blood.

Here is last year’s challenge post and here is this year’s spreadsheet so far, updates will come as the day goes on!

Also I have some observations I’d like to share with you.

We STILL are not putting enough thought into our giving websites. 

Here's my post on why our online giving sites are failing and how we can fix them!

So I’ve some sceenshots from the gluttonous gving that should tell you a story:

The TRAGIC:

The MISSED OPPORTUNITIES:

The GOOD, BETTER, BEST:

 BRILLIANCE!!!

Who have you given to?  How were their online giving pages? 

How much did you spend shopping this past week or on decorations or on food? I challenge you, yes YOU to give at least 10-20% of that back to nonprofits today- It's ‪#‎GivingTuesday‬