From Scratch Fundraising

Hear from our founder, Kelly McLaughlin, about why From Scratch Fundraising exists. (And also how we got such a delicious name.)

Are you a nonprofit at a point where you think you could hire a Director of Development, but you don’t know where to start? Or you know you need a Director of Development, but you can’t offer a competitive enough salary to entice someone with the experience your mission needs? From Scratch’s Nurture & Grow program allows you to bring us in as your fractional Director of Development. We get your individual giving strategy put together, we build your foundation, and then we launch your individual giving program, for a fraction of the cost of a full-time staff fundraiser. We even offer an off-boarding service that helps you find and train your first on-staff Director of Development, so that when you do hire, your first hire is set up to succeed! We have crafted a twelve-month program that builds your individual giving program from the ground up. Whether you don’t have a single individual donor or have a haphazard program that you know can be optimized, we can build you an effective and efficient strategy and implementation program that will make your individual giving program soar—and we keep your mission and community at the heart of everything we do. Our services start at $3,500/month and scale to $10,000/month, depending on the level of implementation support you need. You would be a fit if you: 🚀Keep trying to get an individual giving program off the ground, but can’t seem to get any traction. ✍️Know that your mission resonates with the community, but you’re not sure how to start asking. 💸Need the unrestricted resources that individual giving programs can create, but you only have experience with grant funding.

Do you ever wish that the phone a friend button existed in real life, and actually connected you to a fundraising expert? Well now, it can, live, on our Fridays 4 Fundraising Focus Session! You still have time to register for our upcoming session on November 15! Our CEO and fundraiser extraordinaire @Kelly McLaughlin is going to make herself available to troubleshoot your problems with your year-end campaign, thanks to our friends at @Donorbox! You can register here: https://lnkd.in/ev6BSumJ

Are all of the t's crossed and your i's dotted for your year-end campaign? No? Well we've got a checklist to help you make sure everything is taken care of. Read the full checklist on our blog here: https://lnkd.in/eK-ZCFr9

Running a nonprofit can feel a lot like making up a recipe as you’re baking. You’re moving so fast, you’re just flinging ingredients in the bowl and hoping you didn’t miss anything. This is largely because there’s one ingredient almost every nonprofit doesn’t include: professional development. But professional development is like the yeast in a nice bread, nothing will rise if you’re not getting some extra help with the lift. One thing I always tell my kiddo when she gets frustrated learning a new math or reading concept: you don’t have to know things you haven’t learned yet. And when she gets frustrated with my instruction, I ask her how she plans to figure it out if she doesn’t have someone experienced to explain it to her. I see this all the time with nonprofits. Executive Directors with no experience in management feel they should “just know” how to manage people. New founders copycat the visible actions of other organizations without understanding the context and back-end work involved in fundraising efforts. We try to re-create viral campaign strategies without considering that a lot of those viral campaigns were crafted by professionals who have decades of experience and A/B tested the life out of the content, and we think we can…what…hack our way to it? No! If you want to have a professional operation, you have to treat your people like the professionals they are. You have to invest in their growth and development. You can learn more by reading my full blog post here: https://lnkd.in/eYjpyyJ7

This is your chance to get some expert help and essentially test out what it’s like to be a member of our Sustain & Thrive program! In our November Focus sessions we are tackling all things year end fundraising. Lots of people can tell you how to get your year end fundraising going, but where do you turn when plans go awry?! We are your friendly ear! Come on down to the November Focus Session, where I'm going to make myself available to troubleshoot your problems with your year-end campaign, thanks to my friends at Donorbox! The fundraising engine of choice for 80,000 organizations in 96 countries, Donorbox both amplifies your growth and grows with you—from hitting that first campaign goal to increasing your reach through a comprehensive suite of fundraising tools. And I’m teaming up with them to bring you a series of Focus Sessions to take your fall fundraising up a notch. Friday, November 15 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm ET Bring me your challenges, your failed plans, your missed deadlines, and we'll figure out how to get you back on track before Giving Tuesday! Register here: https://lnkd.in/ev6BSumJ

👻 The Tale of The Mission Creeper and Other Scary Board Members! 👻 As fundraisers, we’re no strangers to the spooky side of board relations—especially those board members who (knowingly or not) veer off course, creating *frights* in fundraising meetings and sometimes even derailing the mission. In this classic Halloween blog post, we break down some of the *scariest* board member archetypes that every nonprofit professional encounters. From the “Mission Creeper” to the "Toxic Swamp Thing," there’s a little something here to help you feel seen (and hopefully laugh a bit too)! And we've got tips to help you bust them right off your board! 🎃 Read on and share if you’ve had a run-in with any of these spine-tingling board members! It’s all in good fun—and maybe even a little therapeutic! 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dqvzaSp3 #NonprofitLife #Fundraising #BoardRelations

This Fridays 4 Fundraising post is all about the details for year end fundraising. You can plan a great overall campaign, but the deliciousness is in the details. There are some little things you can do to lift your response rates that make a huge difference, and you might not have thought of them. https://lnkd.in/eeXe5rxz Like these tips? Have some of your own? Share them in the comments!

Want an expert eye looking over your year-end campaign? We can help! Join us on Friday, November 15 at 2:00 pm ET for a Focus Session that's focused on YOUR year-end campaign. Bring your plans, bring your questions, and we'll help you knock this year out of the park. https://lnkd.in/ev6BSumJ

We're about to hit November, and we know that this is one of the busiest times of year for nonprofit leaders. So we're checking in. What are you doing today to make sure you don't burn out by December 31? #WellnessWednesday