I’m delighted to welcome you to a new year of exciting content from Asking Matters, as well as from our experts and friends.

We're starting off the year with an excellent Fundraising Masters session with Andy Robinson. Andy will be presenting Building Your Group: How to Effectively Recruit and Manage Fundraising Volunteers, on February 1st at 1:00pm ET for FREE!

It takes a village to fundraise, yet getting people to fundraise effectively is one of our most challenging tasks. At Asking Matters we talk a lot about training, but what about recruiting the right volunteers the right way? And what about managing them once you’ve got them signed up?

Do you struggle to develop your board’s resource development committee? How about an annual fund or benefit event committee? Are you having a hard time identifying and developing effective leadership?

Join Andy to learn how to find new fundraising volunteers and develop them into a team of committed leaders.

Nine Asking Resolutions for 2017

Ready to up your asking game in 2017? How about setting some New Year’s resolutions.

My Kindred Spirit intuitive side doesn’t lend itself to resolutions but my secondary Mission Controller analytic side helps me put some in place. So I always make resolutions for the New Year – some personal and some professional – and while I don’t fulfill them all, making them gives me a focus and a yardstick.

Read my nine recommended resolutions, select ONE resolution to set for yourself, and then see what your fellow fundraisers chose!  My number one is to write every contact report in 24 hours.  Boring, right?  But so important.

Do you even know who I am? How organizations shoot themselves in the foot.

Here’s my biggest pet peeve – organizations that act like I’ve never given when they ask me to give again. And I’m getting mighty tired of taking the high road. There are at least a dozen organizations to which I give between $50 and $250 a year.

As a fundraiser, I know not to expect much. I don’t want the organization spending time and money on what are modest gifts. But the way they conduct business you’d think I don’t exist at all, and that certainly doesn’t make me want to contribute again.

All I ask is this.  When you ask me for money, please acknowledge that I’ve given before.  Tell me what I gave and when I gave it.

Fundraising training at your own pace

Master the art of asking for donations at the speed that works for you. Follow along with our 16-week introductory course, or browse video trainings and guides when you have the time.

Countless resources at your fingertips

Get the tools you need to start raising more money – training videos, sample documents and guides, live webinars, and more.

Try it free for 30 days – no strings attached

I'm pretty sure you’ll love being a member at Asking Matters. That’s why I'm giving you a 30-day free trial to test it out for yourself!

Great to be back with the folks at the National Dance Institute. The board, under the able leadership of Helen Stambler Neuberger, is determined to be as effective as possible in spreading the word and raising funds for this amazing organization.

They face the same challenges every non-profit faces: avoiding the dreaded quid-pro-quo and trying to talk to their contacts in a way that sets NDI apart and makes their contacts want to support the mission. Sounds familiar, right?

We spent time talking about vision and impact – honing their cases for support.  I asked them key questions such as "how does dance transform the lives of children, impacting the communities around them?" and "what happens when children learn to communicate and express themselves through dance?" Their answers gave me chills!  

The board at NDI definitely gets vision and impact and the key for them is continuing to practice, as it is for most boards.  How can your organization carve out 15 minutes at every board meeting to talk about vision and impact?

Find out more about the National Dance Institute and how they've impacted the lives of more than two million children!

As we kick off 2017, I wish you a great year of fundraising,

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