diversify funding

Four tips for building a fundraising plan.

By Mary Moss, Founding Partner. “I just want to stay the same”…said no nonprofit leader ever. I have never worked with a nonprofit leader who said, “We just want to stay the same. Can you help us do that?” Every nonprofit leader I have known in this business is here because of their passion to want to be better, improve, serve, and engage more people. It’s who we are. The issue is HOW to improve. That is when moss+ross gets the call to help. Progress is measured on a three-legged stool that has withstood the test of time: annual, capital, and planned development programs. All three should be front and center and tracked annually. The most important program is the unrestricted annual fund. Leaders need money to operate, period. Capital campaigns catapult an organization’s mission and programs [...]

The Extraordinary Importance of Ordinary Donors

By Susan Ross. All donors, large and small, play an important role in charitable giving, yet recent data show that about half of US families today are not giving at all, and those that do are giving less than they did 15 years ago. Research from the Lilly School of Philanthropy at Indiana University shows that this is true across the board, among all organizations. The good news is that most nonprofit organizations are meeting fundraising goals, thanks to larger gifts from fewer donors. Pursuing the extraordinary opportunity means focusing on major gifts. But what about the “ordinary” – the small or medium-sized gift? The stakes are high: nonprofit independence and sustainability may be jeopardized when a few very generous, very wealthy donors have all the voice and clout. Such donors usually do not want all that responsibility [...]

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