Relationship-Focused Fundraising: Building Authentic Donor Connections
Fundraising jargon has to be translated before you can use it with a real person. That is the tell. Five concrete actions for building relationships that lead to giving.
Fundraising & Development
How do you diversify income, make the most of your budget and do right by your employees?
We understand this is the hard part. Guiding Good staff have many years of experience with fundraising, grant writing and securing diversified income without jeopardizing your tax-exempt status.
And underneath all of it: relationships. Not pipelines, not moves management — relationships with people who want to be asked, and who need to be thanked properly when they say yes.
Fundraising plans and diversified revenue
A written plan with targets, owners and a calendar, plus a serious look at where else money could come from without putting your status at risk.
- Fundraising proposals and annual development plans
- Sponsorship, unrelated business income, advertising and investment income
- Donor cycle and fundraising cycle design
- Change management planning
Donor stewardship and relationship-based fundraising
Acknowledgement programs that go out on time and sound like a person wrote them, plus coaching for the staff and board members who do the asking.
- Donor acknowledgement and stewardship programs
- Major gift strategy and solicitation coaching
- Board member fundraising training — including for the reluctant
- Retention strategy for everyday donors, not just major gifts
Planned giving
An unprecedented transfer of wealth between generations is underway, and most of it will go to large institutions unless smaller organizations actively pursue it. We help you start the conversations and build relationships with the local attorneys, accountants and financial planners who make legacy gifts happen.
- Planned giving program design for small organizations
- Legacy society structure and donor education
- Relationships with local legal and financial advisors
The data underneath it all
Twenty years of supporting frontline fundraisers taught us that the metrics and the database are not back-office concerns — they are the difference between a campaign that works and one that guesses.
- Database cleanup, deduplication and USPS address standardization
- Email hygiene and bounce management
- Setup guidance for a new database, or support for a migration
- Financial and fundraising reporting that boards can read
- Audit preparation and determination of whether you need one
Related reading
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How it works
The first conversation is on us.
We meet with your organization, walk you through our process, evaluate what you need and write a project proposal — including reasonable revisions to the scope right up until launch. No charge, no obligation.