Clear-eyed analysis of why nonprofit fundraising succeeds, why it fails, and who’s responsible.
-
Nobody Gives for the Deduction
The tax law changed the paperwork. It didn’t change why anyone gives. Somewhere right now, a development office is drafting an email that begins, “With the new tax law taking effect, we wanted to make sure you’re aware of how your 2026 giving may be affected.” It will explain the new floor. It will mention…
-
Special: The Growth Isn’t Sticking
The Q1 FEP report has a bright spot. Read one line further and it tells you why the sector keeps losing donors. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project’s Q1 2026 report landed this week, and the top line reads like relief. Dollars up 4.3% year over year. The donor count decline has shrunk from 2.3% a year…
-
Need, Plan, Benefit: The Case for Support in Three Parts
Your case for support is about you. It shouldn’t be. Somewhere on your shared drive there is a document called something like “Case for Support — FINAL v6.” Fourteen pages. It opens with the year you were founded. There’s a section on your theory of change, a paragraph on your executive director’s last three jobs,…
-
The Line Nobody Argues With
You’re not in the relationship business. You’re in the transaction business. Fundraising is a relationship business. It’s in the training, the keynote, the white paper, the job posting, the opening slide, the board retreat icebreaker, and the exit interview of every development director who was just told she wasn’t the right fit. Nobody argues with…
-
The Belonging Economy
The nonprofit sector broadcasts belonging instead of building it. It lost a decade of donors that way, and now sells the same performance back to the fundraisers. Somewhere in the last ten years, “community” stopped being something you build and became something you broadcast. That broadcast is a business. There is now an industry built…
-
The Hot Take Economy
The sector keeps rediscovering the same findings and calling it insight. Here’s how to tell the difference. This week, somewhere on LinkedIn, a consultant posted a hot take. It doesn’t matter which week. It is always this week. “Hot take: keeping the donors you already have matters more than chasing new ones.” Four hundred likes.…
-
Magical Thinking
The high cost of expecting miracles – and who pays the bill The sector just hit a record $617 billion in charitable giving. Donor participation fell again. Both of those things are true, yet most nonprofit leaders are paying attention to only one of them. That’s not an accident. That’s a choice. The Setup I’ve…
-
What’s in the Box?
The box has never been the problem The problem is the development director who hasn’t made a thank-you call in three weeks because she spent the afternoon in a meeting about a tool that costs more than her stewardship budget — a meeting she was in because her executive director wanted to know why they…