Motivation Monday: Great Fundraising Blogs to Follow

If you are a new advancement or non-profit professional, one of the best ways to grow and learn is to subscribe to blogs and follow consultants who know their stuff. Below you will find the short list of blogs that I recommend to those I have mentored. Each one communicates the information in digestible chunks and includes actionable steps to implement their concepts. They are in no particular order.

Donor Relations Guru – Lynne Wester
Lynne has a brash, down-to-earth approach to donor relations that is fiercely committed to creating positive experiences for donors. Always entertaining and relevant, Lynne also has hundreds of curated samples and resources on her website for you to find inspiration from.

Fired Up Fundraising – Gail Perry
I like Gail’s approach and the lists that she does on her blog. She has a wealth of information about hosting fundraising events and major gift fundraising. Gail is great for following trends in fundraising and for posts that tell you “things you can do right now” about certain issues.

Seth Godin
Although Seth Godin is a marketing guru and not a fundraiser, he has a unique and tremendous talent to make what he writes applicable to just about any industry you can imagine. Most of what he writes you can just substitute “prospects” or “donors” for “customers” and it is perfectly relevant. Seth is humorous, ultra-concise and nearly always on target for how to get an edge in our markets.

Future Fundraising Now – Jeff Brooks
When I was given the task of writing direct mail copy for the first time, I found Future Fundraising Now and it was formative in my approach to copy writing. Posts like this and this and this helped me to craft more emotional appeals in a concise format that pulled a strong response.

Amy Eisenstein
Much like when I began writing direct mail and sought out resources to teach myself this craft, I found Amy Eisenstein when I started working with fundraising boards and doing major gift work. She is a good teacher and her recommendations are clear and actionable. This post, on what to say to get your board members to give, is a great example of her style, which is truly practical and helpful.