Although corporate giving should not be the focus of fund development efforts for organizations overall, it can be an important component of the annual fund. And, some organizations lend themselves particularly well to a comprehensive program. Corporate, service...
Round Table Round Up: Board Manuals
Your Board Manual: A Training Tool and a Permanent Resource The Board Manual plays a key role in Board Orientation and Training, but it should also be an ongoing resource for members. Board members are often reluctant to fulfill their roles because they don’t feel...
Intern Spotlight – Claire Timmer
Meet Claire Timmer, a Senior at Aquinas College majoring in Business and Communication and minoring in Community Leadership. Claire spent both semesters of her Senior year interning at Kennari Consulting before graduating in May. What were you looking for in an...
Round Table Round Up: Planned Giving Basics
Individuals have traditionally comprised the largest donor segment (71% in 2015), so paying attention to this donor segment is important now – and for your long term future. Some key philanthropic developments impact how you work with individual donors: Fund...
Join Us March 29! Resources & Results – Get to Know Kennari Consulting
You're Invited! Kennari Consulting provides a combination of consulting services to help you learn and grow, as well as direct services to augment your internal capacity. Kennari Consulting is one of the largest full-service fundraising consulting firms in...
Celebrating 10 Years as Kennari Consulting
I can’t believe that we have already reached the 10-year mark. It seems like just yesterday that I started Kennari Consulting working by myself as a sole practitioner. Now here we are, a team of ten, having served almost 140 clients and helping them raise millions...
Round Table Round Up: How Are You Renewing Your Major Donors?
Donors renew at a predictable rate depending on the number of times they have provided the organization with a philanthropic gift. First time donor renewal rates should be 25-50%, second time donor renewal rates should be 50-75%, and multiple time donor renewal rates...
Key Take Aways: 2016 Burk Donor Survey
The seventh annual 2016 Burk Donor Survey, studying American's philanthropy and how fundraising practices affect non profit organizations, provided a few key take away points for Kennari Consulting. In 2015, donors responded most often -- 44% of the time -- to direct...
Planned Gifts Increase Annual Gifts, Study Finds
In a recent study, Dr. Russell James debunks the myth that Planned Giving erodes annual fund giving. In fact, the exact opposite is true. Pentera’s Planned Giving blog, PGBuzz, provides a nice overview of the findings: Planned gifts, rather than cannibalizing annual...
2015 EPIC Awards Finalist
Kennari Consulting is honored to be nominated for Small Business of the Year in the 2015 EPIC Awards! The EPIC Awards, presented by the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, celebrate local businesses and people who are doing greats things in the community by being...
Strategists • Catalysts • Teachers
Sometimes a company outgrows its name. So it is with Parrish Consulting. What started as the solo practice of Sandi Frost (Parrish) Steensma has evolved into a full-service firm staffed by a talented team of consultants offering a wide range of fundraising expertise....
e-Newsletters: Best Practices and What to Avoid
Donor communications should be intentional. They should validate the donor’s decision to contribute and build inclination for future gifts by demonstrating mission achievement. eNewsletters are a great way to communicate to your donors because they are low cost and...
New Year’s Data Resolution
We all know how a new year’s resolution works for the majority of people… You’re all for it on January 1, the first week goes off with ease. Week 2, not so easy, but you still manage. In week 3 other priorities take precedence, and then week 4…. Resolution? What...
2013 in Review
Parrish Consulting and our clients enjoyed a very successful 2013. Following are a few reflections as we begin our 8th year of service. As always, we continue to focus on our client partners’ achievements, and think about ways to continue improving our mutual...
Leveraging Your Marketing Dollars: Part 2
This is part 2 of 3 from our April Roundtable: Leveraging Your Marketing Dollars to Increase Fundraising Success) Building Your Walls: Marketing Tools When it comes to creating your marketing tools, it’s important to know your audience. The audience you serve is...
Leveraging Your Marketing Dollars: Part 1
(This is part 1 of 3 from our April Roundtable: Leveraging Your Marketing Dollars to Increase Fundraising Success) Building Your Foundation: The Case for Support The Case for Support is a document that explains the need for your work as an organization, the impact you...
Are your prospects casual observers? Or raving fans?
Before your board can work for you and help move your mission forward, you have to ensure the right people are on board. You need diversity of skill set, connectivity, experience, and demographics. Many Parrish Consulting clients are familiar with our board...
Leveraging Your Marketing Dollars: Part 3
This is part 3 of 3 from our April Roundtable: Leveraging Your Marketing Dollars to Increase Fundraising Success Decorating The Outside: Building a Cohesive Brand Identity What is a brand? It’s not just your logo, tagline, or a particular graphic. These items are all...
Chimp My Mail – 10 Tips For Your e-Newsletter
With printing and mailing costs continuing to soar, the value of email newsletters is also on the rise. Email newsletters are an easy way to quickly dispense news about your organization, incurring minimal costs. Colorful images, graphics and videos are a breeze to...
LYBUNT? What language is that?!
When it comes to knowing who your donors are in your database, you may have heard of the term LYBUNT. Just in case you haven’t, a LYBUNT is a donor who gave “Last Year But Unfortunately Not This” Year. If you’re looking at your donation reports for 2012 and want to...