A Special Appeal allows your organization to invite donors with a specific, timely, and important reason to consider an additional gift. New donors will appreciate the specificity of the request. Many of your regular donors will get excited about the appeal and take part. In this series, GSB Partner Pete Reuss walks through four steps fo special appeals.

Is your organization poised for a campaign? How can you use such an opportunity to advance your organization in multiple areas and accomplish various goals in the end? Campaigns can be powerful opportunities in the life of your organization or ministry when organized well. They require time, energy, and thoughtful planning, but can propel your organization in several ways. The first aspect we’ll explore is how your campaign should resource your vision and priorities/plan. This may sound obvious, but all too often organizations move into a campaign without clear vision and priorities or don’t really align their fundraising goals with their vision and priorities - a missed opportunity to enliven your vision and resource your strategic priorities.

Much of the time fundraisers ask, “How do we get more people to contribute?” Let’s start with a different question: “Why would anyone want to give money to us?” In this roundtable, we’ll talk about the critical foundation of knowing your own story and how to build the case for support in a way that will inspire people to join in. When you have a strong case for support, people catch the vision for the difference your work is making and they want to be part of it. This session is the first in a four-week series on Annual Funds.