From GivingTuesday Campaign to Growth Opportunity
Has GivingTuesday lost its fundraising power?
With crowded inboxes and year-end campaigns starting earlier every year, it’s easy to see why some nonprofits are asking the question.
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The Math of Showing Up
Every year, we bring back some good old-fashioned competition in the form of an annual walking challenge. It’s simple: the person with the most miles at the end of 8 weeks takes home the prize. Thirty of us logged miles, with Dr. Jim—our staff data scientist—helping us track everything. We grab our Smart Watch, Fitbit, Fitness app, Strava, step counter . . . whatever works . . . and we start pounding the pavement!
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Are You Ready (in July) for GivingTuesday (in December)?
Some $4 billion was donated during GivingTuesday in 2025[1], bringing total donations since 2012 to $22.5 billion. This demonstrates the incredible power of this global day of giving. But the organizations that see the strongest results aren’t scrambling to draft emails or build donation pages the week before. They’re planning, testing, storytelling, and building momentum months in advance.
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5 Digital Fundraising Fixes Faith-Based Nonprofits Should Revisit Now
Faith-based nonprofits experienced remarkable growth in online fundraising for years—much of that momentum accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when digital engagement became a necessity rather than an option.
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AI Summaries Are Changing Search. What Should Nonprofits Do Next?
Digital channels are notorious for changing quickly—and right now there’s a huge change hitting Google advertising. In more searches, users are now seeing AI-powered summaries before they reach traditional search results, and, in some cases, before they engage with paid ads.
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Why Good Missions Still Fail
In Why Good Missions Still Fail, Brittané Dodwell (Creative Director at Douglas Shaw & Associates) explores a reality many nonprofits and ministries face: Good missions can still fail to inspire donor response when the fundraising offer itself is unclear, not urgent, or overly organization focused.
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We Don’t Get to Make the Rules
In We Don’t Get to Make the Rules, Isabelle Muñoz (Consultant for Client Services at Douglas Shaw & Associates) explains that while the mission itself may be deeply meaningful and eternal, donor behavior is still shaped by very human patterns of emotion, connection, and invitation.
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Six Essentials of Rapidly Growing Nonprofits
In this fast-paced workshop, based on Doug Shaw’s book, Six Essentials of Rapidly Growing Nonprofits, Mindy Sherfy (Senior VP of Partnership Development & Marketing at Douglas Shaw & Associates) unpacks key patterns in organizations that thrive.
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The Most Dangerous Stories in Fundraising
The stories that raise the most money often start in the hardest places. If you work in direct response fundraising, you know this already.
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Earning a Donor’s Trust Through Small, Strategic Steps
New donors generally make the choice to give because they believe the organization is in a position to fulfill a specific need. But they continue to give because they have built confidence in the organization.
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