Fuse Fundraising Group is pleased to announce the promotion of Madeline Ruffin-Thomas to Vice President of Fundraising Strategies.

The Fuse team participated in a lightening round survey this week asking about common missed opportunities we see online when it comes to simple ways that organizations can optimize their fundraising efforts.

It's that time of year again! No, not summer vacation – it's time to start planning for year-end! You may be thinking it’s much too early to prepare for the holiday season, but with 31% of all annual donations happening in the month of December alone, it’s never too soon to start strategizing for that lucrative year-end giving season!

Feeling like you’re out of testing ideas? We’ve all been there at some point and know the struggle is real! But we’ve got a few tips and tricks for you that will hopefully jumpstart the testing-idea-generation process!

When thinking of a direct response test, the first thing that comes to mind for many of us is a test within a single direct mail, email or paid digital effort. But tests are designed to answer specific questions and not everything we want to “ask” can be answered with the results of a single campaign. Sometimes we have questions with a scope that extends across multiple campaigns or even across our entire program. These are the types of questions that often require a test across more than one campaign to answer.

We’ve all done it. We’ve seen an interesting tactic used in a direct mail package or digital ad and immediately mentally slotted it in as the next promising test for our program. Sometimes these types of tests lead to great breakthroughs in a campaign (or even lead to program changing strategies!). But sometimes they can distract from what we truly need to learn, waste precious testing dollars and take up limited testing bandwidth.

The new Fuse Fundraising brand identity and website captures the agency’s full-service approach to direct response fundraising in an ever-changing industry.

Monthly giving programs, like other fundraising programs, require an intentional approach, focused on the details with the ultimate goal of creating a superior donor experience. And while these nuances can be overwhelming, the efforts taken in this area will pay dividends for your program in the future.

If the goal is keeping as many new donors as possible, beginning with business process is the place to be. As fundraisers who have been around the block a few times can attest, monthly giving programs are often the place where the smallest detail matters – and getting it ‘right’ most always starts with reviewing and optimizing organizational business processes.

Now that we can all agree on the great value of a healthy and robust sustainer program, let’s spend just a few moments talking about some popular myths as it relates to that coveted monthly donor.

Monthly giving programs are often viewed as complex puzzles, difficult to unlock, but with a reward well worth the upfront work. Today, some organizations seem to have unlocked the ‘monthly giving puzzle’, while others struggle with developing a plan to maximize their current program or even knowing where to start to develop a sustainer program.

Fundraising communications are typically a one-way street where we are regularly asking our donors to support our mission while providing them with the latest information about how that support makes a difference. But how often are we opening up that communication and giving our donors a voice?