When I joined Food for the Hungry just over 6 years ago, there was a lot I needed to learn about fundraising. In this special episode, I reflect on the lessons I've learn over these years and share the five secrets successful fundraisers know. You'll learn how to demonstrate urgency, how to be more direct with your ask, a mistake you're likely making in how you talk to donors, a lesson on using facts to motivate donors, and key insights into showing gratitude. These lessons, learned over the course of raising tens of millions of dollars, will help propel you forward as a nonprofit fundraiser.

Storytelling is the foundation of excellent nonprofit marketing. Jeremy is frequently asked, "how do I effectively tell our story?" In this special episode, Jeremy Reis explores effective nonprofit storytelling that produces results. You'll learn the tips and tricks to writing great nonprofit stories that raise funds and builds relationships with your donors and stakeholders.

Read the full transcript at http://nonprofitdonor.com/episode16

In this episode, Gary asks what, if anything, should we email major donors? This isn't an either/or answer, it isn't whether or not you send major and midlevel donors emails, but which emails and how often. Jeremy teaches you how to define a major partner email communication strategy and recommends which emails to send based on which segment the donor is in. This is a "can't miss" episode for major donor teams.

Read the full transcript at http://nonprofitdonor.com/episode15

Have a major donor fundraising question? Submit it at http://nonprofitanswers.org. 

Growing your email list is an essential part of digital marketing for your nonprofit. You will be able to create a new source of donors through adding people who have an affinity for your cause. Naturally, you're going to lose a percentage of email subscribes to attrition. Adding new emails will help keep your email file fresh. Additionally, it's a great source for new donors. In this episode, Jeremy explores several ways you can add new names to your email list.

Read the full transcript at http://nonprofitdonor.com/episode14

Have a nonprofit marketing or fundraising question? Want to hear more episodes? Find us at http://nonprofitanswers.org. 

Your donor is the hero. This is one of the hardest concepts for nonprofit staff to accept. They want their frontline staff to be the heros. They want to recognize the beneficiaries as the heros. Both are true, but in the context of fundraising, your donor is the hero. In this episode, Jeremy answers a question about how to position the donor as the hero in your nonprofit communications. Using examples, Jeremy teaches you how to write active copy that presents an appeal from the point of view of a donor.

Read the full transcript: http://nonprofitdonor.com/episode13

Do you have a question about nonprofit marketing and fundraising? Ask here: http://nonprofitanswers.org

Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a technology to show ads to a warm audience. In this episode, Jeremy discusses what retargeting is, how it works, two different types of retargeting, and how your nonprofit organization can use retargeting to get more supporters and deepen your relationship with existing donors. Read the full transcript at http://nonprofitdonor.com/episode12

Do you have a question about digital advertising or how to convert more warm contacts into donors? Ask your question at http://nonprofitanswers.org

Blogging is not dead. Far from it. In today's episode, Jeremy answers a question from a nonprofit executive about how much blogging is right for his organization. This executive is being told by his team to blog every day, but doesn't understand why. Jeremy explores the types of posts we should write, how to measure the effectiveness of each one, and addresses the frequency of blogging. How do you decide how many times to blog a week or a month? For a full transcript of this episode, visit http://nonprofitdonor.com/episode11

Do you have a pressing nonprofit marketing or fundraising question? We'd love to answer them! Please visit http://nonprofitanswers.org to submit your question.

In this special edition of Nonprofit Answers, Jeremy is live at the Christian Leadership Alliance with a timely question. At the conference, a nonprofit leader asked Jeremy how to properly give internal credit for income without causing problems with attribution and to reduce internal fighting over "credit" for donations. Jeremy explains the problem with internal sourcing of income and how they resolved the problem at Food for the Hungry.

Do you have a question about nonprofit marketing? Ask your question at http://nonprofitanswers.org.

Do you have a lot of email addresses on your file that aren't responding? Speaking from personal experience, Jeremy explains to Grant the steps to re-engage email subscribers and what to do if they continue to be unresponsive. For the health of your email file, you need to listen to this episode! Read the full transcript: http://nonprofitdonor.com/episode9

Do you have questions about email marketing or how to grow your email list? Submit your question today! Visit http://nonprofitanswers.org to submit your nonprofit marketing question.

Creating a sense of urgency in your appeal messaging will help move readers to become donors. What if you have a difficult time creating a sense of urgency? In episode 8 of Nonprofit Answers, Rob asks a question about how to create urgency in his appeals for a women's shelter. Jeremy explores why you want to create urgency and how to do it. Read the full transcript at: http://nonprofitdonor.com/episode8

Do you have a question about nonprofit marketing or fundraising? Ask now at http://nonprofitanswers.org.