5 best nonprofit fundraising posts of 2013

Happy New Year to all of our readers. We’re kicking off 2014 with our next (and last) look back at our most popular posts from 2013. I previously featured our top 5 social media posts from 2013.

Throughout the year we looked at nonprofit news about the industry as a whole and examined specific reports that could be useful to anyone involved in the philanthropic sector. Overall it was a year of progress for nonprofit fundraising with the industry continuing to recover from the difficulties experienced during the economic downturn a few years ago. Let’s look back at the 5 most popular fundraising posts from last year.

1. Nonprofit fundraising trends according to industry report  – An interesting report called the 2012 State of the Nonprofit Industry explored a series of trends after taking feedback from over 1,500 nonprofits. An undercurrent of optimism that looked at donor recruitment, the growth and difficulty in staffing along with the continued rise of special events. Well worth a read if you happened to miss it.
   

   Nonprofit fundraising events can take on any guise as shown here, the key is to have fun and encourage participation (image courtesy http://www.gable-events.co.uk/)

2. Communication trends in nonprofit fundraising according to report –  The 2013 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report was studied in this post back in January. A really worthwhile study that delves into how nonprofits match their budget to the methodology of how they raise funds, also important is how often social media should be used and which avenues are the most beneficial. Donor interaction of course is at the heart of all of this and I’d always suggest consider writing a regular blog to raise your online profile (spoken as a seasoned blogger of course).
3. 4 Nonprofit fundraising insights from 2013 donor survey  –  The 2013 Burk Donor Survey took the research of Penelope Burke to measure the pulse of the industry. The key points raised included donors supporting fewer causes overall, the importance of gift acknowledgement, donor preferences concerning nonprofit communication techniques and the future intention of donors. This industry leading survey is always worth watching for.
4. 4 tips for planning nonprofit fundraising events  – A great post written from the personal experiences here at Miratel whilst participating in two local team based fundraisers in the  WWF CN Tower Climb and the Boy & Girls Clubs of Toronto Race for Kids. The post looks at the growing trend towards peer-to-peer fundraising events and provides tips for planning one of your own.
5. 6 tips for end of year nonprofit fundraising email campaigns for stronger results –  This recent post from October provides a string of ideas that you can implement in the future to drive better results for your nonprofit. Reviewing data, results and past analytics are all pertinent tips each of which can assist in building future plans for fundraising.

It was great to see the interest in articles about trends and insights which goes to show that the sharing of information is a key matter for those in the industry and we’ll continue to share the most interesting news in 2014. If I had to sum up the overall trend for nonprofit fundraising today and as we start a new year it would be to try a develop or encourage a specialist or a team of them within your organization to devote time to research, measurements and planning. While there is often a will to attempt anything and everything in the spirit of fundraising it is with the focus that your specialists can bring you that the best results can be achieved.

I’d love to learn which of these five were most helpful for you along with your hope and expectations for the New Year.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.