Explore the skills you need to become a successful nonprofit fundraiser. This course will provide a wealth of new nonprofit fundraising ideas and help you discover where the best corporate and foundation fundraising jobs are and how to apply for them.
Take your first step toward a rewarding career in fundraising for nonprofit organizations! In this course, you'll first explore the skills you'll need to become a successful fundraiser. After that, you'll discover where the best corporate and foundation fundraising jobs are and how to apply for them.
By the end of the course, you'll have a wealth of new nonprofit fundraising ideas, and you'll be well on your way to success in this exciting career field.
What you will learn
Delve into every area of nonprofit fundraising-annual funds, special events, corporate relations, foundation relations, major gifts, and planned giving
Learn about capital campaigns and why they're a crucial element of nonprofit fundraising
Hone your own writing skills
Explore fundraising software tools you can use to track your efforts and enhance your results
How you will benefit
Gain new ideas for successful nonprofit fundraising
Open the door to new opportunities as a fundraiser for nonprofit organizations
Learn how you can better help the causes you care about
How the course is taught
Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
6 Weeks or 3 Months access
24 course hours
Outline
In this lesson, you'll find out what fundraising is and the role it plays in the nonprofit world. You'll examine a variety of fundraising positions and learn what skills and experiences are needed to succeed in these roles. You'll also get prepared to find a fundraising job by looking at online job resources of particular value to aspiring fundraisers. By the time you've completed this lesson, you'll know how to conduct effective online job searches, understand how to set up email job alerts, and feel more confident about the interviewing process.
This lesson will start a discussion of the annual fund. You'll learn important differences between unrestricted, restricted, and in-kind gifts. After that, you'll find out how to get a handle on your organization's annual operating budget so you can communicate knowledgeably about needs with potential donors. You'll practice assembling an annual fund timeline using an interactive game, and then discuss the finer details of a typical 12-month campaign. By the end of the lesson, you'll be ready to develop a timeline that fits the needs of your organization, understand how to structure donor levels effectively, and be better prepared to communicate with donors as prospective volunteers.
This lesson continues the discussion of the annual fund. You'll learn how to draft an effective letter appeal, with an emphasis on nailing the author's voice and understanding your audience. You'll learn the process of mailing an appeal, including what to put in the envelope, what bulk mail permit to apply for, and how to set up credit card capability so you can accept annual fund gifts via credit card. You'll talk about the pros and cons of using email to solicit gifts. Then, you'll take a look at the phone-a-thon—how it works, what volunteers need from you, and the scenarios you should include in your phone-a-thon script. The lesson will wrap things up with a brief discussion of how to acknowledge a gift in writing.
This lesson will kick off a discussion of special events, which will cover two lessons. It will start by discussing the role of special events fundraisers within small and large nonprofits, and then you'll take a look at different organizational reporting structures so that you'll know what to expect and to whom you'll be reporting. After that, you'll learn about seven different types of special events used by nonprofits to gather supporters together, publicize their causes, and—hopefully, but not always—raise money. The lesson will wrap things up with a quick look at some of the tax implications of special events.
Even though they're great for publicizing the good work of your organization, special events aren't always such great moneymakers. For that reason, this lesson will discuss how to make the most of your event budget—and how to avoid ending up in the red. You'll start by costing out a gala event and scrutinizing a hotel contract for hidden fees related to everything from the use of audio-visual equipment to the trash left behind on banquet hall tables. You'll learn strategies for negotiating a hotel contract to protect the interests of your organization. The lesson will also talk about ways to recruit volunteers according to the type of nonprofit you work for.
This lesson will begin your exploration of foundation relations. You'll get to know the methods and online tools you can use to locate foundations likely to be interested in funding your organization's needs. You'll also learn how to analyze a foundation's tax return to determine whether it's likely to be a good match for your organization. You'll learn about opportunities available through challenge grants and non-grant-giving foundations and about how to translate your careful research into a cultivation plan designed to produce a proposal that's welcomed by a foundation.
In this lesson, you'll continue to learn about foundation relations by exploring how to further cultivate foundation prospects. You'll learn how to write a one-page query letter that allows you to assess a foundation's interest and also find out how to develop a full-fledged grant proposal. After that, you'll learn about post-award responsibilities, which include writing acknowledgment letters, coordinating publicity with the foundation, and preparing grant reports.
This lesson will talk about the work performed by the corporate relations fundraiser. You'll start by exploring what motivates corporate philanthropy and the importance of being a fundraiser who can think like someone involved in the business world. You'll learn how to develop a list of companies likely to want to support your organization and discover how to research those companies to determine whether they're worth cultivation. You'll also find out what corporate foundations and corporate giving programs are and why they're important. Finally, you'll learn about the role of the corporate advisory group.
The consultations surrounding a major gift donor's decision can take months or years. In this lesson, you'll learn the basics about major gifts, planned giving, and endowments. You'll find out why major gifts are so important, what activities or projects they support, and who major gift donors usually are. You'll find out how to determine and articulate your organization's major gift needs, how to plan a major gift program, and how to work with staff and volunteers to solicit major gifts. The lesson will also talk about what needs to happen after a major gift is received.
This lesson will talk about capital campaigns. You'll learn how a capital campaign differs from the annual fund, why they're so important to nonprofits, and what the campaign funds pay for. You'll discover why collaboration among development staff, volunteers, board members, and other staff within your organization is crucial to a campaign's success. You'll also find out how a campaign's goals are formulated and the kind of planning involved to put it all together.
In this lesson, you'll learn about Web 2.0 fundraising opportunities, including how to improve your organization's website to make it easier for supporters to donate to your cause. You'll explore how to use social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace to connect with prospective donors and members. You'll also find out why your CEO should be blogging and tweeting and about the ways that you can use multimedia to document and share events with an online community.
In the final lesson, you'll explore the ways fundraising software can help you to become a more effective and efficient fundraiser by helping you to manage contacts and track fundraising relationships. Gift tracking, generating reports, storing notes, automating correspondence—all of these tasks are made substantially easier with the right program. You'll learn the difference between customer relationship management (CRM) and fundraising-specific software. You'll also look at some of the top players in the contact management market and discuss their pros and cons.
Instructors & Support
Janet Levine
Janet Levine has been involved with grant writing and fund raising since 1988. Prior to starting her consulting company in 2007, she was the Vice President for University Advancement at a public, urban university. Levine has been a fundraiser and administrator at a number of colleges, universities and other non-profit organizations. She holds a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University and a B.A. from Hofstra University.
Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.
Requirements
Prerequisites:
There are no prerequisites to take this course.
Requirements:
Hardware Requirements:
This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.
Software Requirements:
PC: Windows 8 or later.
Mac: macOS 10.6 or later.
Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.
Other:
Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.
Instructional Material Requirements:
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
FAQ
Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.
Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.
Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.
Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.
Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.
Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.
Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.
Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.
Reviews
I felt this course was really important to give a broad approach to stepping into the fundraising arena. I work on documentary films and currently have a film in progress on Urban Agriculture…I have to admit this course has made me feel more confident to approach funding for my work in the spring.
This course was a good one. I needed to learn more about fundraising because I am involved in an organization that operates on a single grant. We get this grant every year, but I don’t believe we will always be getting this grant in the future, so we need to be able to do more varied fundraising than we have in the past. This course helped me on the way to find other sources of funding.
Thank you very much for this course. I really enjoyed the way you presented the material. There is a lot to learn about fundraising. The way you presented the material helped me to stay focused, kept my interest, and made the course fun. I enjoyed lesson 11 dealing with the internet. I myself have had success using Facebook and Twitter in sharing my web site/ministry. I also enjoyed the information in lesson 12 dealing with data bases and different kinds of software.
I have been following the discussions and I have been enjoying the class. I have been doing nonprofit fundraising for 15+ years. This class has been very valuable for me and a wealth of information. I'm currently working for a Professor who is doing a grant funded medical study at a local Medical School. I want to transition back to nonprofit fundraising (Annual Fund or Major Gifts). My goal is to create a nonprofit.
I really learned a lot from this course. I plan to make great use of your suggestions for non-profit fundraising. I am getting some fundamentals under my belt
for my ministry. Thank you so much, you have no idea how you have helped me.
Thank you so much for this enlightening course. My organization is very small and our members are in 13 different states. However, I now have several ideas we can use to raise funds for our cause thanks to this course. Our President also took the grant writing course. So we'll now be able to present many fresh ideas to our Board of Directors.
Thank you Professor Kachinske! Your class was very informative. Your assignments were particularly helpful in getting a complete grasp of the information presented. I enjoyed your teaching and writing style.
This course has a wealth of information for one who wants to begin a career in nonprofit fundraising or expand one’s current nonprofit fundraising skills. I have 15 plus years experience of nonprofit fundraising in mostly small nonprofits. This class teaches the different aspects of nonprofit fundraising for both small and large nonprofits.
This course has been life and career changing for me. Without it, I would not be on the current track I am on. I loved this course and would take another like it again from this instructor. I learned a great deal.
After spending 25 years in management in the corporate world, I am starting my own home based business. Nonprofit will not be my sole involvement but it will be a large part of it, and your class was very informative…I stuck with it and enjoyed the class and all the great information you shared. You broke various topics into understandable lessons. I just wrapped up my final with 100% and have put all my lesson plans in a binder which I know I will use for reference in the future.
I felt this course was really important to give a broad approach to stepping into the fundraising arena. I work on documentary films and currently have a film in progress on Urban Agriculture…I have to admit this course has made me feel more confident to approach funding for my work in the spring.
This course was a good one. I needed to learn more about fundraising because I am involved in an organization that operates on a single grant. We get this grant every year, but I don’t believe we will always be getting this grant in the future, so we need to be able to do more varied fundraising than we have in the past. This course helped me on the way to find other sources of funding.
Thank you very much for this course. I really enjoyed the way you presented the material. There is a lot to learn about fundraising. The way you presented the material helped me to stay focused, kept my interest, and made the course fun. I enjoyed lesson 11 dealing with the internet. I myself have had success using Facebook and Twitter in sharing my web site/ministry. I also enjoyed the information in lesson 12 dealing with data bases and different kinds of software.
I have been following the discussions and I have been enjoying the class. I have been doing nonprofit fundraising for 15+ years. This class has been very valuable for me and a wealth of information. I'm currently working for a Professor who is doing a grant funded medical study at a local Medical School. I want to transition back to nonprofit fundraising (Annual Fund or Major Gifts). My goal is to create a nonprofit.
I really learned a lot from this course. I plan to make great use of your suggestions for non-profit fundraising. I am getting some fundamentals under my belt
for my ministry. Thank you so much, you have no idea how you have helped me.
Thank you so much for this enlightening course. My organization is very small and our members are in 13 different states. However, I now have several ideas we can use to raise funds for our cause thanks to this course. Our President also took the grant writing course. So we'll now be able to present many fresh ideas to our Board of Directors.
Thank you Professor Kachinske! Your class was very informative. Your assignments were particularly helpful in getting a complete grasp of the information presented. I enjoyed your teaching and writing style.
This course has a wealth of information for one who wants to begin a career in nonprofit fundraising or expand one’s current nonprofit fundraising skills. I have 15 plus years experience of nonprofit fundraising in mostly small nonprofits. This class teaches the different aspects of nonprofit fundraising for both small and large nonprofits.
This course has been life and career changing for me. Without it, I would not be on the current track I am on. I loved this course and would take another like it again from this instructor. I learned a great deal.
After spending 25 years in management in the corporate world, I am starting my own home based business. Nonprofit will not be my sole involvement but it will be a large part of it, and your class was very informative…I stuck with it and enjoyed the class and all the great information you shared. You broke various topics into understandable lessons. I just wrapped up my final with 100% and have put all my lesson plans in a binder which I know I will use for reference in the future.