Fundraising Campaigns

New VC fund managers do not know that these things they are doing are completely ILLEGAL… ❌ There are very strict rules around fundraising. Yet many new GPs copy what they see others doing — even when it’s illegal. The risk? Trouble today, or 5–10 years down the line when regulators or LPs look closer. Sophisticated LPs know the legal lines — and crossing them exposes both liability and inexperience. Here are the 3 most common fundraising violations (and how to avoid them): 1️⃣ PERFORMANCE-BASED FUNDRAISING COMPENSATION 👩🏾⚖️ Many “Vendors” often say: - “I’ll be a venture partner — give me carry for LPs I bring.” - “We’ll raise for you — just pay a % of capital committed.” 🚫 Illegal without a broker-dealer license ($50K–$150K+ + ongoing compliance). Even employee bonuses tied to fundraising can trigger violations. ✅ Legal way: Pay fixed fees or salaries unrelated to fundraising. Compensate with cash, equity or carry — but not tied to capital raised. 👉 Reality check: As a new manager, it’s extremely unlikely that anyone else can fundraise for you without a track record. You’ll almost always need to do the hard work yourself. 2️⃣ GENERAL SOLICITATION 👨🏻⚖️ New managers assume LPs will roll in if they “go public.” Tactics include: • LinkedIn posts about fundraising • Cold DMs to people • Podcasts/webinars about your fund • “Contact us to invest” buttons on websites 🚫 All illegal — unless you’ve structured under narrow exemptions. Even cold outreach counts as solicitation. ✅ Legal way: You can only pitch people you have pre-existing relationships with who are accredited investors. Network authentically, vuild relationships, then pitch one-on-one. 👉 Reality check: Public fundraising isn’t just illegal — it looks cheap. LPs won’t trust someone blasting cold posts with no track record. VC is trust-based. Public asks scream inexperience. 3️⃣ RAISING FROM EU LPS WITHOUT COMPLIANCE 🧑🏿⚖️ Many assume: • “If a European LP wants in, I can accept the money.” • “Everyone else does it — must be fine.” 🚫 Wrong. The EU regulates under AIFMD (Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive) and MiFID II (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive). Even one EU LP can trigger filings. Regulators act quickly. ✅ Legal way: Work with EU securities counsel. File required notifications in each jurisdiction before accepting European LPs. 👉 Reality check: European LPs expect compliance. Skip it, and you lose credibility. Worse — a violation can come back years later and jeopardize your fund. Breaking the rules — even by accident — is the fastest way to undermine your credibility. And “everyone else does it” is not a defense. The managers who win are the ones who know the rules, build real relationships, and raise the right way. ⚖️ Know the rules. Follow them. Your fund' future depends on it.

Here's how I would raise $5,000 a month, every month, if I were a small charity: No galas. No grants. No huge donor base required. Just a simple, repeatable system that actually works. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟭: 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁. 50 donors at $25/month = $1,250 in predictable revenue. That's your foundation. Name it something meaningful. Make joining feel like belonging to something bigger. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟮: 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸. Yes, every week. Not a newsletter—an ask tied to a specific need or a story that connects them to your organization. Most small nonprofits under-ask and under communicate by a mile. Your donors WANT to help. Let them. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟯: 𝗧𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝟱𝟬 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵. A simple "thank you" or quick impact update. No ask. Just connection. These texts take 30 minutes and keep your best supporters feeling seen. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟰: 𝗥𝘂𝗻 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶-𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗿. A 3-day push with a clear goal and deadline. "Help us raise $2,000 by Friday to fund summer camp scholarships." Urgency + specificity = action. 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽 𝟱: 𝗔𝘀𝗸 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗼 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆. Within 48 hours of their first gift. The conversion rate will surprise you. This isn't complicated. It's consistent. The charities hitting their goals month after month aren't doing anything fancy. They're just showing up in the inbox, telling great stories, and making it easy to give. What would you add to this list?

6 insights from 18 months (and hundreds) of donor conversations + and what they mean for your 2026 fundraising plans 👇🏽 In our November Fundraising Innovation leaders Breakfast Club our fabulous qual researcher Rachael Millar shared 6 key insights all fundraisers should be thinking about going into 2026 plans. 1. Negative News Fatigue People are turning away from bad news - wars, climate crisis, economic instability - because it feels overwhelming. Many feel powerless or “numbed” by negativity. Opportunity: Focus on hope, progress, and solutions over problems. Localise stories - show small, tangible actions that make an impact. Give supporters agency and control See Hope not Hate mobilisation over the last 2 months against the far-right flag movement for evidence of this. 2. Trust & The “Single Source of Truth” People struggle to know who or what to trust. Conflicting information is everywhere - TV and radio are losing credibility. Opportunity: Charities are more trusted than the government — leverage this. Curate and simplify information for your audience. Offer actionable steps and expert guidance to build trust. Position your charity as the go-to source for reliable insight in your field. Every charity should increase its TikTok & YT output. Countering misinformation should be an organisational objective. 3. Digital Fatigue & Offline Connection Audiences (especially under 50) are questioning screen-heavy lifestyles and craving offline experiences. Reducing screen time has measurable benefits for well-being. Opportunity: Offer offline or hybrid activities connecting people IRL. Tap into nostalgia (e.g., pre-digital hobbies, traditional games, events) Promote wellbeing through community and experience, not just messaging 4. Community & Connection People crave belonging and shared purpose — “finding my people.” Community works across all fundraising areas, not just events. Opportunity: Build community elements into supporter journeys (e.g. peer groups, shared challenges). Encourage participation and collaboration rather than solo giving. Highlight kindness, togetherness, and shared values. Charities need to curate their own fandoms - there is a huge opportunity to double down in this area. 5.  Escapism & Joy Escapism is a major emotional driver - people want “holiday feelings,” daydreams, and light relief. Opportunity: Design experiences that feel immersive, fun, or transportive. Lotteries and competitions tap into “imaginative optimism.” Use joyful storytelling to offset fatigue and re-engage audiences. 6. Boldness Builds Trust Supporters respect authenticity and bravery. The RNLI’s success defending its migrant rescue work shows standing firm on values increases support. Opportunity: Be clear about what your organisation stands for. Don’t shy away from controversy when aligned with your mission. If you want the full write-up, just shout - we’re digging into these themes across all our 2026 product development work.

Google Ads just ended the "black box" era of Performance Max. 📦 This week, Google rolled out Channel Performance Reporting for PMax campaigns. Until now, PMax has been a blended-metric campaign. We had to analyze performance as a whole, making it difficult to isolate which assets were working on which channels. We can now see metrics like cost, conversions, and conversion value broken down by the specific channel: YouTube, Display, Search, Discover, Gmail, and Maps. Why This Matters: This new data allows us to be surgical. 🎯 The biggest win is for creative strategy. We can now definitively see: - Video vs. Static Performance: Is our video asset driving conversions on YouTube, or is it ineffectively spending budget on the Display network? - Asset Allocation: We can now analyze if creative built for YouTube is outperforming creative built for Display and refine our asset mix accordingly. - Strategic Budgeting: If we see Search is driving 90% of the conversions, we can now have a data-backed discussion about creative resourcing and budget, rather than relying on blended CPAs. This transparency is a major development. It moves PMax from a "trust the algorithm" campaign to a strategically manageable one. We're already analyzing this new report for all our clients to refine holiday creative.

If I'm in charge of revenue at a large nonprofit, I can't ignore these realities 👇 -Donors giving below $100 are down ~9% (and have been trending down) -Donors giving below $500 are down 4% (and have been trending down) -Slower income growth & less disposable income for most -Middle-class households under economic pressure -The rapid decline of religion (that has giving as a core tenet) -Decline in institutional trust -Not only is charitable giving largely stagnant as a % of the GDP, but we also haven't been able to grow share of wallet -Donors giving $5k-$50k are up 1% -Donors giving $50k+ are up ~3% And if I look around at what other nonprofits are doing, I might see 👇 -Marketing getting louder -Frequency cranked to 11 -Tired tactics with little differentiation And if strategy is about how an organization applies strength against the most promising opportunity or the most critical challenge, I need to address the problem head on. Three ideas... 1) Instead of getting louder, get closer to donors. -Jeffersonian dinners -"Jobs To Be Done" interviews -Measuring donor satisfaction -Rating the donor experience -Cross train across the org on how to listen to donors -More thoughtful prioritization and segmentation -Do things that don't scale; you will likely not "scale" anyways (but you'll very likely grow!) 2) Focus more energy on the people who *can* give more. That doesn't mean you should ignore the $100 donor. Two things can be true at the same time: most of your limited human hours are best spent on people who can give >$10,000, AND, you can treat the $100 donor like they're an important part of the team (because they are). -Create tiered caseloads (A, B, C, D donors) -Develop a donor engagement plan for each tier -Treat mid-major donors like true partners: frequent report backs, project proposals, town halls, feedback loops, in-the-moment updates -Focus your work in the 'mass' file to identify the best prospects for a mid-major treatment, and work to move as many OTGs to recurring (monthly) or re-occuring revenue (quarterly, yearly, etc.) 3) Promote giving from assets across the donor file—and make it easy to do so Russell James taught me this. When people give from their assets, the gift is likely to be larger. And they are more likely to give again. Giving from assets (like stocks and shares, tax-savings accounts, retirement accounts, DAFs, gifts of life insurance, etc.) is often the smartest way for donors to give—no matter the size of gift. But many donors simply don't know it's an option. -- We're partnering with growth-minded nonprofits to implement all of these ideas, and more. If you think it's time you create a solid midlevel giving strategy (not just a standard appeal with an open ask), give me a shout.

It's about time you know when your Meta Campaign is not working 1- Consistently Poor Results ↳ Metrics like CTR, engagement, or conversions show no improvement despite adjustments. Tip: Audit your campaign's performance. Review pixel setup, landing page experience, and ad frequency. Small tweaks might save the campaign if issues are technical. 2- Irrelevant Targeting ↳ Ads fail to connect with the right audience, leading to low relevance scores and wasted impressions. Tip: Refine your audience using Custom or Lookalike Audiences. Leverage insights from past campaigns to better align with your target demographic. 3- Creative Fatigue ↳ Users ignore ads due to repetitive visuals and messaging. Even refreshed creatives fail to regain attention. Tip: Test entirely new ad formats, such as carousel or video ads, and focus on storytelling that resonates emotionally with your audience. 4- Low ROI ↳ The campaign’s cost outweighs its returns, even after budget adjustments. Tip: Analyze high-performing placements and allocate your budget strategically. If performance remains poor, shift to channels with better potential for ROI. 5- Changed Business Focus" ↳ Campaign goals no longer align with the brand’s evolving objectives or market conditions. Tip: Reassess your broader strategy. Ensure that future campaigns align closely with your updated business goals and utilize A/B testing to validate new directions. Sometimes, the best move is to pause, regroup, and rebuild your campaign strategy. Meta’s dynamic platform rewards adaptability and a data-driven approach.

Could social media help raise $5.5M in just 24 hours? The The University of Georgia's annual Dawg Day of Giving campaign rallies students, alumni, and supporters to donate in a single day. High stakes, 100+ social posts to manage, and a small team of three strategists covering 400,000+ people. This year, they 5x'd their social-attributed revenue. How? They listened before they posted. Using social intelligence, they tracked real-time conversations across the Georgia Bulldogs community - fan-generated content, emotional alumni moments, trending topics they would've missed otherwise. They turned those insights into content that resonated. Their analytics revealed something counterintuitive: static image carousels were outperforming video. So they stopped pouring resources into video production and doubled down on what was working. Data killed their initial assumptions. And they were able to generate better results with less effort. The outcome: → $5.5M raised in 24 hours → 522% increase in revenue attributed to social → 54% YoY increase in digital giving revenue → 1M+ Instagram views on a single campaign Social isn't just a brand awareness play. When you combine listening with data-driven content, it becomes a revenue engine. What business impact could your organization be driving with social?

Did you catch this article on the plunge in digital giving in April? Especially for larger gifts? Do you want to know a big exception they didn't cover? 👀 Digital DAF giving! 🙌 The platforms interviewed (Zeffy, DonorBox, Bloomerang) saw double digit declines in fundraising volume after the Trump Tariffs were announced & financial markets took a nosedive - which was most prominent among donors giving over $500 😔 Well, we saw the opposite in April for DAFpay - the only way to pay with your Donor Advised Fund in online giving forms ✅ March 2025 Average DAFpay Gift Size across thousands of gifts: $900 April 2025 Average DAFpay Gift Size across thousands of gifts: $1,200 While the month-over-month or year-over-year total volume comparisons aren't as indicative for DAFpay given the exponential growth we're seeing from rapidly expanding utilization, I do think it's fair and useful to look at changes in average gift size in this context 📈 The theory presented in this article is that market declines made donors less likely to give, and less likely to make large gifts 😬 But for folks with DAFs, they aren't thinking about their general investment account or monthly credit card bill when using their DAF 😁 DAF funds have already been set aside in a dedicated fund that can only ever be used for donations. It's insulated from those more emotional responses to market fluctuations 🛡️ The mental barriers to giving are significantly lowered because of the phenomenon of pre-commitment - people can actually turn to their DAF to make increased gifts in times of heightened need 💰 That is what we saw in 2009, when DAF giving was the only channel that grew year over year. The DAF world is at a significantly larger scale now, and will be interesting to see if this phenomenon continues in 2024 with all this economic turbulence 🔮 My view? Early signs are that DAFs are going to be a lifeline for nonprofit support this year, and DAFpay helps lower the functional hurdles to DAF usage even further ⚡ #nonprofit #philanthropy #fundraising https://lnkd.in/erHcJaci

Welcome to the Future of Fundraising. The best question you can ask yourself when evaluating AI is “Will this directly drive revenue or will this create efficiencies?” If your answer is revenue, you're probably looking at Autonomous AI. If your answer is efficiency, you’re looking at AI Enablement. Developing a clear grasp of Autonomous AI versus AI Enablement is a skill all fundraising leaders need to develop now, because today’s choices will drive tomorrow’s growth. When I co-founded Gravyty almost a decade ago, I was a frontline fundraiser who needed to operate more efficiently to reach more of the donors in my portfolio. What we created was the first AI Enablement tool for fundraisers that could self-write emails for me to edit and send to keep me on top of outreach. This is a great example of AI Enablement, tools that draft emails, summarize insights, predict giving potential, analyze CRM data, or prioritize donor outreach lists. Those key words–draft, summarize, predict, analyze, prioritize–are often akin to AI Enablement. AI Enablement tools are measured in the efficiencies that they produce, essentially helping employees do their current job well. Autonomous AI is an entirely different category. Unlike AI-enabled tools, Autonomous AI is responsible for an entire job from start to finish, independent of its human colleagues, as a standalone solution. In fundraising, this critical difference means that it is accountable for the same outcomes as a staff member. Unlike AI Enablement, in our industry, Autonomous AI can be measured on direct revenue generation and pipeline growth. Autonomous Fundraising, and the work of the Virtual Engagement Officer, exemplifies this difference. Bucknell University’s VEO, Lauren, manages a 1,000 donor portfolio and has raised $450,000 while outperforming a control group on every metric: dollars raised, renewals, participation, and gift increases. The VEO operates just as a traditional gift officer would, using cultivation activities that lead donors to give. For this reason, we can measure the VEO by the same revenue-generating standards as every other fundraiser on the team. Rather than focusing on doing the current scope of work well, Autonomous AI has the unique ability to be applied to scale areas of growth that were previously thought impossible. As we evaluate AI and bring it into our organizations to improve fundraising, the donor experience, and ultimately our missions, asking critical questions about outcomes will become increasingly important.

Most donor segmentation is cosmetic. Different ask amounts. Different names on the letter. Same message. Same mistake. Here’s the truth: A $25 donor isn’t a junior major donor. They’re motivated by different things. They need a different experience. Here’s how smart fundraisers segment: 𝗚𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 They give because it feels good. So show them what their gift did—fast. 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 They’ve said, “I’m with you.” Now treat them like insiders. 𝗠𝗶𝗱𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 They’re testing you with that gift. What happens next decides everything. 𝗠𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 They don’t fund programs. They fund outcomes that match their values. 𝗟𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 Not guilt-tripped. Just reminded why they gave in the first place. Segmentation isn’t about slicing a list. It’s about shaping the experience. The best fundraising strategies don’t just know who gave. They know why. How are you speaking differently to each type of giver?