All fundraisers know the importance of stewarding relationships with their donors, but many feel they are falling short. Many of our clients experience feeling over-worked and under-resourced. When that happens, essential activities, like donor stewardship, can often fall through the cracks.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. While it is commonplace to celebrate your loved ones on this day, more social sector organization are using this day to celebrate supporters and employees. For some inspiration, my friends and fellow consultants, Suzanne Smith of Social Impact Architects and Aimee Sheahan of Sheahan Communications, and I share our ideas and best practices on how to “show love” to these VIPs. For an added layer of fun, we have used The 5 Love Languages as a guide.

A successful annual campaign will bring in sustainable, unrestricted revenue and build long-term donor relationships.

When getting started writing grants, the whole idea can seem very overwhelming. There’s all kinds of coded language, weird requests, and (sometimes) a standoffish feeling from funders. Asking for money is not something that comes naturally to everyone. Luckily, there’s a few key tips that will get any grant writer off on the right foot.

“I Can’t Ask My Friends to Give” Have you said this before? Me, too.

Sometimes it sounds more like, “I am protective of my friendships.” Or, “If I ask my friends to give, then they will do the same and we’ll just be swapping donations.” [Insert other excuses about why you can’t introduce your giving opportunity to your friends here.]