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Annual Fund Inc.AFI is a partner, plain and simple.

Along with past consulting experience and this website, we have established a solid foundation for what we aspire, creating a rich resource community for annual giving professionals.

Check back often for updates, job postings, samples from our resource pages, and expanding services that will assist you in achieving your fundraising goals.

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What's New
ResearchSupportingadvancement.com Research Profile Template. March 18, 10
Good example of a comprehensive research profile template. Provided by Jennifer Filla, President of Aspire Research Group LLC. More Research.
Supportingadvancement.com Trends in Major Gifts. March 17, 10
What are the top 10 trends in major gift fundraising?
Terry Burton from Dig in Research. More news on the SupportingAdvancement blog.
ResearchSupportingadvancement.com Research Profile Templates. March 16, 10
Samples of research profile templates collected and forwarded by Emily Tedeschi, Senior Research Analyst at Meridian Health Affiliated Foundations. Template 1, Template 2, Template 3, Template 4, Template 5, Template 6, Template 7, Template 8, Template 9, Template 10. More Research.
Mainspring Media CommunicationsSupportingadvancement.com Happy Mothers Day. March 15, 10
Spelman College and MainSpring team up to create an e-card to celebrate Mother’s Day. The unique feature of this e-card is that when someone clicks to make a gift, they also have the opportunity to send their mother a Mother’s Day card which is sent directly from Spelman. Using a voiceover from the university’s Vice President, this appeal honors the women of Spelman. The e-card achieved a 28.9% email open rate and a 20.8% click through rate to the e-card! More e-solicitations.
RecordsSupportingadvancement.com Community Outreach. March 12, 10
As we engage prospects throughout our organizations, in a variety of ways, we need to utilize information they willingly share to build our databases and prospect pipelines. Growing our databases is a key element in establishing ourselves as venture philanthropists – by being creative and persistent in data acquisitions. Leveraging everything we know. Looking for hidden opportunities to capitalize on. Brian Dowling. More on records.
Supportingadvancement.com Best Practices. March 11, 10

The Best Practices Team of the Association of Advancement Services Professionals (AASP) is pleased to announce that the second round of draft best practices will be posted to the AASP wiki site during the third week of March. Recent postings from the AASP blog.

Matching GiftsSupportingadvancement.com Online Matching Gifts. March 10, 10
Free webinar from HEP Development Services. Maximizing matching gift revenue is more important than ever in these challenging times. In spite of our recent economic downturn many non profits according two recent surveys are actually growing matching gifts. One new trend is to include matching gifts right on the on line donation page. Making donors aware of the matching gift opportunity is one of the greatest challenges to nonprofits. More matching gifts.
ReportingSupportingadvancement.com Crystal Reports - 5 Tests. March 9, 10
5 tests for top performance for Crystal Reports contributed by Jason Dove from Scry Business Intelligence.
More reports.
RevenueSupportingadvancement.com Planned Giving. March 8, 10
Vendor resources on planned giving.
Crescendo on Facebook, Planned Giving Videos on YouTube, Crescendo Tweet, Blog on Planned Giving.
Matching GiftsSupportingadvancement.com Matching Gift Buckslip. March 5, 10
Matching gift buckslip used in mailings and annual report. Contributed by Trista S. Lowther from Boys Town.
More matching gifts.
Supportingadvancement.com Major Gifts Report. March 4, 10
February revealed a surge in new Major Gifts. From the first half of the month I tracked $154 million in major gifts that was surpassed in the last few weeks with $305 million more for a total of $459 million for February, 2010. This includes only those major gifts that I find in my day-to-day survey and is not the total amount of giving.  Take note of more evidence of what I refer to as Pockets of Philanthropy in 2009, when you review the campaign results from the Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's Healthcare in Louisville + the over goal report from the United Way in Roanoke, VA. Congrats all around.
Terry Burton from Dig in Research. More news on the SupportingAdvancement blog.
Mainspring Media CommunicationsSupportingadvancement.com Lessons Learned. March 3, 10
In the third in the Fordham series, David de la Fuente is introduced – a student leader on campus who benefits from scholarship and financial aid. He explains how none of this would be possible without the support of donors. To him, alumni giving is personal. This piece had an email open rate of 27.6%. More e-solicitations.
Mainspring Media CommunicationsSupportingadvancement.com Meet Mary Cline. March 2, 10
The second in the Fordham series, Mary shares her story of how Fordham helps students step out into the real world and make a difference. Mary realizes that none of this would be possible without the gifts from donors. To her, alumni giving is personal. This v-flash e-solicitation had an email open rate of 39.3% and click through rate to view the v-flash of 22.7%.
Mainspring Media CommunicationsSupportingadvancement.com It's Personal. March 1, 10
This Fordham University e-solicitation focuses on the importance of gifts to the annual fund. With upbeat music, voiceover and vibrant photographs, this appeal is interesting and engaging. The overall theme of the appeal is that gifts to the annual fund provide specific resources for students so “to them, it’s personal.” This e-solicitation achieved an email open rate of 36.1% and 21.7% click through rate to view the e-solicitation. More e-solicitations.
E-solicitationsSupportingadvancement.com EWU Needs You. February 26, 10
Good video showing the emotion behind and the reality of what funding cuts will do to the success of students. Contributed by Mike Westfall. More e-solicitations.
Web SightingsSupportingadvancement.com Web 2.0, 3.0 and Beyond. February 25, 10
Presentation and podcast with examples of what organizations are doing in the web 2.3, 3.0 and beyond environment. Brian Dowling.
Web SightingsSupportingadvancement.com Improving ePhilanthropy.  February 24, 10
Presentation on how to implement a plan and integrate best practices into your philanthropy strategy. Class exercise used in presentation for critiquing an ePhilanthropy plan. Brian Dowling.
Web SightingsSupportingadvancement.com Social Networking.  February 23, 10
Presentation and podcast on creative ways of doing Social Networking and Media Sharing with many different examples and best practices of how you should be doing this. Brian Dowling.
Supportingadvancement.com Ingenuity.  February 22, 10
We'll be attending CASE III in Tampa from February 21-24. Keep an eye on this space for copies of presentations and podcasts on Web 2.0, 3.0 and Beyond and Improving Your e-Philanthropy programs.
Mainspring Media CommunicationsSupportingadvancement.com PURL Appeal.  February 19, 10
This campaign was developed specifically to invite lybunts to renew their support early in FY09-10 and to give them an opportunity to join the Neenan Society at Boston College. MainSpring partnered with the Perrone Group on this project. A print mailer and email with a PURL directed recipients to go to the campaign. The click through rate to the PURLs was: mail recipients, 3.4% and email recipients, 28.1% with an overall click through rate of 26.8%.
Welcome email, thank you email and thank you page. More e-solicitations.
E-solicitationsSupportingadvancement.com Stewardship Video.  February 18, 10
NYU-Poly’s stewardship video. Forwarded by Lynne M. Wester, Associate Director of Donor Relations. More e-solicitations.

More resources available on the AFI Resource Pages and also @
SupportingAdvancement.Com, an AFI strategic partner.

 

AFI Consulting

The AFI Consulting Team consists of active practitioners within the field of annual giving.

They are in the trenches, just as you are, working to build and enhance their respective programs.

Possessing the benefit of years of experience, consulting, and conference presentations and participation, the AFI team is a valuable resource for the annual giving community within the higher education and non-profit worlds. (More on AFI's consulting team.)

Michael Westfall
Michael Westfall
 

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