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fundraising tips Archives | CCS Fundraising

The Importance of the Invitation: Using Events to Drive Capital Campaign Activity

Independent schools often rely heavily on one, large annual event to meet important fundraising goals. While these large-scale events can play an important role in community building, they are often costly and time-consuming. Moreover, by focusing on one event, schools are missing out on opportunities to interact with donors and prospective donors in meaningful ways. […]

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July 18, 2019

Betting Big to Drive Social Change

Since the publication of “Making Big Bets for Social Change” in Stanford Social Innovation Review just over three years ago, the topic of “big bet” philanthropy has been making headlines. According to The Bridgespan Group, a big bet is an individual or foundation grant of $10 million or more made to a single organization or […]

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May 23, 2019

Six Degrees of Cultivation: How Relationships Can Help Turn Prospects into Donors

Six degrees of separation is the idea that “friend of a friend” statements can be made to connect any two people in a maximum of six steps. Put into practice, the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game was invented as a play on the concept. Fun and addictive, the favorite past time demonstrates just how […]

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May 16, 2019

Transformative Gifts: Embracing the Potential for an Elevated Culture of Philanthropy

Big gifts – the kind of transformative philanthropic commitments that can positively redirect the trajectory of a program, project, or even an entire organization – are the types of gifts that many development professionals don’t just dream about but strategize for months or years to secure. Enormous amounts of discovery, cultivation, and solicitation go into […]

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May 2, 2019

Embracing Technology for Personal Parish Fundraising

When working with a 2,000-year-old institution, there is a tendency to think that there is nothing new under the sun. This way of thinking is often magnified in a parish setting where staff and volunteers have served for many years and are accustomed to working with limited and often antiquated resources. Many parishes still rely […]

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November 8, 2018

The New Storefront: Three Ways to Maximize Your Website for Campaign Success

In the days when brick-and-mortar shops ruled the retail landscape, the first chance a business had to grab attention was the storefront. In the display window of a store, where space is limited, a business must attract potential customers through showcasing its best and most striking products that speak to the needs of its customers. […]

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September 28, 2018

Building Momentum: How Small Wins Become Big Wins

It is often said that campaigns are meant to be a marathon, not a sprint. However, it is easy to get lost in the big picture or stuck in the weeds of daily tasks that suddenly make campaign goals seem too daunting or too visionary. It’s important to remember that campaign success is not only […]

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August 3, 2018

A Guide to Using Personality Research in Major Gift Fundraising

Fundraising is a personal business. For Major Gift Officers (MGOs), planning a one-hour gift request meeting can involve many hours of advance research and document creation. However, behind successful meetings lie truly meaningful donor relationships. Requesting charitable dollars necessitates more than sending a charismatic, energetic CEO or MGO. Every donor is a unique puzzle, as […]

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January 25, 2018

Giving to Religion: How data from Giving USA 2017 offers optimism and opportunity for further growth

On June 13, The Giving USA Foundation™ published The Annual Report on Philanthropy with the announcement that 2016 was the United States’ most philanthropic year to date. Approximately $390 billion was given to philanthropic causes, which equates to more than $1 billion per day in charitable giving! While this represents an overall increase of 2.7% […]

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August 31, 2017

A Quick Guide to Planning Year-End Appeals

It’s the end of summer and, for fundraisers, it’s a magical time of year. While the rest of the country is taking last minute vacations, back-to-school planning, and avoiding the heat that never seems to break, development teams are in the thick of planning for the end of the year. Over the last 10 years, […]

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August 25, 2017