The 20 Day Fundraising Challenge

Make a thank you call to donors or volunteers to build relationships, express gratitude, gather feedback, and update contact details, turning appreciation into future support.

As part of the 20-day fundraising challenge, mystery shop your organization to reveal donor experience on calls and emails, then create a cheat sheet to capture details and improve donations.

Learn to create powerful, authentic short videos by having a beneficiary or staff speak directly to the camera, sharing life before and after, and key messages for supporters.

Craft a concise, tangible pitch by articulating a clear problem, simple solution, and explicit ask, tailored to the listener and adaptable to conversations, emails, or social media.

Make an upgrade call to existing donors by thanking them, sharing impact, gathering feedback, and presenting a new problem and the solution to request a 10–30 percent donation increase.

learn to continuously build your fundraising leads by using surveys, website popups, and event signups to collect emails, phone numbers, and mailing addresses, then convert them to donors.

Explore how matched giving doubles donations by offering a company match, boosts donor commitment by about 20 percent, and taps existing corporate partners or major donors for collaboration.

Make reactivation and conversion calls to turn past or potential donors into monthly donors, using thanks, feedback, a sample script, and downloadable materials.

Craft a donor-centered mail or email that connects the donor to the beneficiary, using you and stories to show what a donation enables and prompting the ask.

Audit and personalize your thank you letter or email to acknowledge the gift, connect donors to beneficiaries, and strengthen the bridge to future donations without asking for money.

Speak with your accounts person to build trust, get a three-year accounts payable list, and align monthly donation processing to donors' pay cycles, making fundraising easier.

Reach out to a local business to build a trusted relationship—avoid cold calls by leveraging existing connections, seeking their advice, and guiding them toward becoming donors.

Use Google Grants and AdWords to drive free, keyword-driven ads that connect people with your nonprofit’s answers and capture leads for ongoing relationship building.

Reach out to your event participants and fundraisers with appreciation and coaching, check in regularly, and use social media prompts to boost donations.

Craft newsletters that connect donors with your work, share beneficiary stories, and demonstrate impact to motivate future giving, with simple updates you can start today.

Plot your supporter journeys by segment and map each touchpoint—from donation to seasonal updates—using templates to tailor communications for different donor groups.

Attend a networking event to meet entrepreneurs and show how your nonprofit helps them reach more customers, while collecting contacts and converting them into donors to raise money.

Master a face-to-face ask by presenting the problem and solution after building rapport, and invite others to become donors, recognizing face-to-face fundraising remains powerful.

Transparency builds nonprofit trust by sharing the CEO salary, fund allocation, and decision processes on your website. Create a transparency page and adopt codes of conduct to stand out.

Join the fundraising community by reading recommended blogs, joining groups, and subscribing to the blog. Connect on Twitter and LinkedIn to continue learning from experts.

Launch an affordable, self-paced online corporate fundraising course that teaches you to become a better fundraiser with step-by-step tips to attract private sector funding, plus a delight discount coupon.

Avoid unknown or unsupported proposals in fundraising, as illustrated by the caption about Awesomes company that found them for Google and promises tens of.