Plan your thank you like you plan your ask. As fundraising professionals, we all know that donors need a thank you when they make a gift. But what we don’t always spend enough time on is how to make that thank you special to the donor. At Kennari Consulting, we...
Roundtable Roundup: Storytelling
What’s your story? Or rather – what’s your organization’s story? Are you utilizing storytelling in your fundraising? If not, you’re missing an opportunity to help donors get closer to your organization and the people or causes you serve. Here are a few simple...
Intern Spotlight – Jared Schmatz
Meet Jared Schmatz! Jared is a Junior at Cornerstone University and is studying Business Management. He is looking forward to applying what he learned at Kennari to other student organizations he is involved with at Cornerstone. 5 Lessons I Learned From My Summer...
Roundtable Round Up: Best Practices for Successful Year-End Appeals
It is still true that the month of December makes up the majority of your annual giving. In fact, according to the 2018 Blackbaud Charitable Giving Report and Charity Navigator, December and November combined bring in 25% of your annual gifts! Until we see a few more...
Giving USA 2019 – Summary and Analysis
Giving USA is the longest running annual philanthropy report published by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. This report is trusted by nonprofits across the country and helps them make decisions about fundraising for their organizations. It...
Training Table Hosts to Maximize Event Potential
Table hosted events continue to prove they can be a meaningful piece of an annual development plan. They can be a powerful tool in bringing donors closer to your mission. A table hosted event is pretty much just how it sounds – several engaged volunteers or donors...
Roundtable Round Up: Professional Development for You and Your Staff
Professional Development is a key part of success for organizations and their individual staff. The primary reason employees leave organizations for other jobs is NOT because of pay. Though compensation is important – and should be competitive – there are many other...
Roundtable Round Up: Your Community Foundation at Work
Your local community foundation is a tremendous resource for your organization. Specifically, in our last Roundtable, we had the privilege of hearing from Shaun Shira and Jonse Young who work at the Grand Rapids Community Foundation. In this blog post, we will answer...
Roundtable Round-Up: Best Practices in Developing Evaluation Plans
Now more than ever, grantmakers are focused on ensuring that every grant dollar has the greatest impact possible on people and communities. This means that the most competitive grant applications should incorporate strong evaluation plans, complete with goals,...
Using Your Executive Committee to Improve Board Engagement
Many nonprofit organizations strive to have healthy board engagement. An active and involved board often means strong fundraising support, mission-connectedness, and productive and meaningful board meetings. Unfortunately, as consultants, we regularly hear that board...
Catching Up With Kennari Internship Graduates
Kennari Consulting’s Internship Program is designed to inspire the next generation of nonprofit development professionals, by engaging participants in various steps of the nonprofit fundraising process. Main tasks involve directly shadowing our consultants as they...
Year End Appeal Findings
Recently, 21 Kennari Consulting clients shared results from their 2018 Year End Appeal. They represent organizations of various sizes and across several sectors. Though this data is not meant to be compared to an “official” study coming from Blackbaud or Network for...
Roundtable Round-Up: Top Prospects and Cultivation
Gift cultivation is just like growing your own garden: roses will need different attention than daisies. Just as donors become engaged with your organization through different channels, their needs are different in terms of stewardship and cultivation. This means...
Intern Spotlight – Emily Veldman
Meet Emily Veldman! Emily just finished up earning her Business degree from Hope College and is hoping to enter into the world of nonprofits by working on the development side of things. She is looking forward to staying in the Grand Rapids area, contributing to and...
Round Table Round-Up: Ways to Impact Giving at your Evening Event
Your evening event is an important element in your development program – and a rare opportunity to be face-to-face with your donors. Events are often costly and time consuming, so taking every opportunity to make the most of them is critical. Simply gathering donors...
Roundtable Round Up: Challenge & Match Gifts
How does Leverage work? As in physics, leverage is a simple tool to make your work more effective. It is loved by funders (those supplying the leverage), donors (those who meet the match), and of course, the organizations who receive them. Leverage uses a gift from a...
5 Tips For Choosing a New Donor Database
Every nonprofit makes a donor software decision at some point. Maybe you’re a small organization that has gotten by with spreadsheets to track contact information and have used your accounting tool for donations. Maybe you’ve been in a database for several years, but...
Campaign Completion: New Home Brings Grand Rapids Chamber Into the Future
When an organization determines their home doesn’t fit their work, it’s time to make a move! The Grand Rapids Chamber (Chamber) realized they needed an office space that could be a hub of activity and services for their members, so they reached out to Kennari...
Round Table Round Up: Lapsed Donors
While we tend to think of lapsed donors at the start of the new year, it really is a process that should be reviewed year-round. In fact, more than ever, lapsed donor strategies need to be in place to ensure the best retention rates possible. Did you know that donor...
Intern Spotlight – Quinn Kendra
Meet Quinn Kendra, a Senior at Grand Valley State University majoring in Public and Nonprofit Administration, with an emphasis in Community Development and Planning. Quinn interned with Kennari this fall and is anticipating graduation in the spring. 7 Things I...