Fundraising Voices From Ruffalo Noel Levitz

RNL's Autumn Horton and Brian Cass unveil the new way we're talking about and thinking about students who can now make contact via expanded, integrated methods like P2P texting, personalized video, and are doing much more than annual giving outreach. It's time to retire the term "student caller" and take our donor engagement to the next level! Find our more about about RNL Digital Engagement Centers

How do you reach the right donor at the right time with the right message? Advanced, predictive and prescriptive analytics can help you do that. Harnessing the data you have, with data available out there in the world can help you maximize your ROI, and provide a better donor experience. Don't worry if it sounds confusing - RNL's Josh Robertson breaks it down and shares what RNL Advanced Analytics can do for your results.

Communicating with supporters about social change initiatives takes planning, investment, and careful use of resources. Vanessa Wakeman, futurist, acclaimed speaker and CEO of the Wakeman Agency knows this. She's helping amplify the voices of mission-driven causes and the people that lead them every day. We talked with Vanessa about how to organize a communication plan, some of the short and long term strategies needed amidst the health crisis, and success she's had with virtual events. The Wakeman Agency

We’ve launched something big here at RNL. The RNL Digital Engagement Center combines advanced predictive analytics with calling, texting, personalized video and integrated email to create the first ever omnichannel solution that continues to leverage your engagement ambassadors to connect personally with donors. We've done this successfully for decades with student ambassadors. And now this outreach can be made and managed remotely, to keep our relationships growing without interruption. I RNL's Renee Vaillancourt, Autumn Horton and Shad Hanselman to talk about the Digital Engagement Center revolution and what it means for Advancement. Find out more about the RNL Digital Engagement Center

Making a strategic plan for your donor outreach that encompasses all levels of donors is really important. With resources tightening, that strategy has high stakes now more than ever. Our RNL consultants have been working on a daily basis with partners facing these challenges. One of them is Jay Finney, who has been doing this for decades across a wide range of charities. Jay grew up around philanthropy, and for decades now has helped organizations craft donor outreach strategy. I got on the line with Jay to talk about crafting a strategic engagement strategy, how to look at ROI, and the best ways to move forward with a tight or uncertain budget.

Making sure your books are clean, and that you can account for how gift resources were driven to your cause is a key part of engaging donors. We talk with with Tosha Anderson, founder of the Charity CFO, about what good non-profit and charitable accounting looks like, how it's more than just numbers, and how we can best serve supporters who want transparency and accountability. The Charity CFO

Pressure in higher education advancement offices is high right now. In part from the economy and how tough it is for many donors. And in part because the double whammy of economic issues and real enrollment concerns amidst this crisis are causing institutions to evaluate budgets. Motivating your team, especially when you can’t be with them physically during a difficult time is a key challenge. RNL’s Meg Weber has been through tough economic times before in her career and has successfully led teams through them. I got on the line with Meg to talk about how to be a good campus partner, maintain the morale of your team, and do what’s necessary to emerge from a crisis like this with strong donor engagement.

On this episode, Shaun Keister, Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Relations at the University of California, Davis talks to us just a few days before their annual giving day. We discuss maintaining relationship with donors amidst the COVID-19 crisis, how donors are responding, and what we've learned from previous financial crises.

Matching gifts can increase an annual giving total in the range of 10% and also can really help boost major gifts. But it’s a challenging time right now. I was wondering, are companies pulling back on this support during the challenges of this health crisis and economic slowdown? Teddy Callow at HEPData reports that corporate social responsibility through matching gifts are an important part of the philanthropic response to the crisis and numerous companies have increased their matches.

As we navigate uncertain times, a big question has arisen for many higher education fundraisers: What do we do with our spring or summer giving day? About half of higher education giving days are held between February and June, and they've really taken off in popularity. Many institutions rely on them for end of the year excitement, and to meet their important donor and dollar goals. In a recent RNL poll, most respondents told us that they have altered their giving day strategy due to the COVID-19 crisis. But that doesn't mean it's time to cancel your giving day. A number of recent giving day successes have shown that it is possible to host an engaging, exciting, and even record setting giving day even in this economy and amidst the crisis. RNL's Chad Warren and I sat down (virtually) with Lola Mauer, Associate Vice President of Strategy and two time alumnae of Ball State University on their record breaking “One Ball State Day” on April 7, which eclipsed over $511,000 from nearly 5,400 donors from all 50 s

Janice Cunning at FundraisingLeadership.org talks with us about investing in yourself as a leader, including with coaching, to help build and retain high performing teams, navigate challenge, and transform your organization. Find our more about Janice and Fundraising Leadership here.

Community Colleges are a key social, economic and educational engine in our communities. Jody Donaldson knows this and that's why she's dedicated to advancing Kirkwood Community College. I sat down with Jody live at this year's CASE VI conference to talk about community college donor engagement, her advice for working with a community of supporters, and how these special institutions help our communities. Find out more about the Kirkwood Foundation's work here.

RNL's Eric Billings and Kristin Demarco Carroll offer advice on #GivingTuesday now and COVID-19 funds in general. Included are discussions of AI-driven communications, setting up crowdfunding-based funds, and supporting efforts like emergency relief funds and medical research. RNL is waiving fees for new clients through June 30 for our crowdfunding platform powered by ScaleFunder. Get in touch today to get your campaign up and running for this important day.

Sara Wald from North Dakota State University and Eric Gentry from Northern Kentucky University join RNL's Chad Warren to talk about the incredible support for student emergency funds amidst the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis. We talk about: - Establishing a fund - How to market a fund and seek support - How to get a fund up quickly using platforms like RNL Crowdfunding powered by ScaleFunder - How funds bring a campus and donors together to meet immediate needs. NDSU's Student Emergency Fund NKU's Student Emergency Fund We're offering free access to RNL Crowdfunding through June 30 and we've seen over $3 million in donations since the crisis began. Contact us today to get on board and use this powerful tool to engage your donors, who want to help.

Martin Leifeld is a career fundraiser, speaker and author that has raised over $500M in his career. He's the author of Five Minutes for Fundraising, a great book that features leaders from across the fundraiser world. I talked with Martin about how fundraisers navigate the path of personal growth, and what he thinks is in store for the future of our profession. Check out all of Martin's great content at martinleifeld.com

Mazarine Treyz is a coach, speaker and best selling author of “The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising”, serving people in over 70 different countries. Besides writing over 1,000 articles at wildwomanfundraising.com and offering classes, conferences and training, she's a regular speaker at big conferences and events. She's the author of "Get the Job: Your Fundraising Empowerment Blog."Get the Job! Your Fundraising Career Empowerment Guide" In our chat, we cover topics like the world for women in fundraising, career strategy, developing leadership skills, and getting the resources you need to be successful. Check out Mazarine's blog and resources at Wild Woman Fundraising

Join RNL's Josh Robertson, Dayna Carpenter, Chris Bingley, Shad Hanselman and Greta Daniels as we talk about what the health crisis means for donor engagement, as well as our immediate and future strategy. Find more resources at: https://www.ruffalonl.com/category/fundraising/ And join our COVID-19 Higher Education LinkedIn group. And if you would like to utilize the RNL ScaleFunder platform at no cost through June to put up mobile-optimized campaigns for your supporters, let us know here. We recorded this podcast panel discussion the afternoon of Monday, March 16, just following the declaration of the national health emergency.

Bringing your supporters to a level of true investment is absolutely keep to meeting your goals of philanthropic support. Sherry Quam Taylor knows this and works with fundraisers every day to help them better engage donors to step up to a level of leadership investment. Check out Sherry at: https://www.quamtaylor.com/  

Industry estimates tell us that the average American receives at least 500 marketing messages a day, and 100 of them are digital. Modern charitable outreach contends with a lot of noise. And it’s hard to break through. Chris Knudson at Wartburg College knows this, and he’s doing a great job connecting with supporters in an authentic way. He’s also done something great and stepped up as the chair of next year’s CASE VI conference. I connected with him at this year’s conference in Kansas City and we talked about marketing, brand strategy, and also why he volunteers for CASE. Check out this live episode recorded right at the conference with audience questions. Wartburg College CASE VI CASE Conferences and Training Wartburg College    

The Crowdfunding and Giving Day Index presents insights and results from 6,116 charitable crowdfunding projects totaling more than $105 million in giving. Charitable crowdfunding has become the premier peer-to-peer online giving opportunity. The report includes key results and benchmarks such as: The types of campaigns institutions run, their average results by type, and the average duration Metrics for first-year results for campuses running their first crowdfunding campaigns The most popular terms used in naming crowdfunding campaigns The impact of custom giving pages for evergreen giving 8 best practices based on these results Eric Billings and Brian Gawor from RNL review the results and talk about key practices for success with charitable crowdfunding. Download the full report here And request a demo of RNL ScaleFunder today, and let the RNL experts show you how these key tactics can amplify your success!