Writing & research.
Technical deep-dives, research findings, and perspectives on nonprofit fundraising and AI donor intelligence.
The Donor Nobody Owns
Too big for the mail machine, too small for the major-gifts officer — your mid-level donors are the people your file was built to overlook. A short letter on the missing middle, and the donors quietly waiting to be claimed.
The First Gift Is a Question
Roughly four out of five first-time donors never give a second time. We call that a retention problem. It's really a manners problem. A short letter on the bravest gift a person ever makes — the first one, given on the least information — and the welcome it almost never gets.
On Asking Too Little
We brace for the no and never learn to be suspicious of the yes that comes too fast. A short letter on the most expensive mistake in fundraising — asking too little — and the sourced number that lets you ask like you actually see someone.
The Room Was the Point
The morning after the gala, the math looks like a verdict: a year of work, a netted-out spreadsheet, and the quiet feeling you failed. A short letter on the most expensive first date in town — and the donors you actually met, who don't show up in the total.
The Volunteer You Never Looked Up
She has folded your newsletters for fourteen years and never made a major gift, so nobody ever researched her. A short letter on the warmest prospect in your building — the one wearing a name tag — and the currency your database refuses to count.
The Donor Who Outlasted Four of You
The average development director stays under two years. The average loyal donor stays for twenty. Which means your best supporters get handed, again and again, to a stranger who starts by not knowing them. A short letter on turnover, institutional amnesia, and the quiet thing a donor is really asking when she says, 'Is Carol still there?'
The Trustee Who Said She'd Make Calls
Every small-shop development director has the same quietly aching folder: the board members who promised, in March, to host the salon, write the letter, make the calls — and didn't. A short letter on what the board is actually for, the warm thing they could realistically say yes to, and the four-line email that finally gets the introduction.
The Kid Who Waved
The forty-five-minute in-person tour is the highest-converting asset your nonprofit owns, and almost nobody on your team treats it like one. A short letter on the back hallway, the unscripted hello, and the gift that closes itself before you've finished the talking points.
The Name on the Gift Line
A check arrives in memory of someone the development office never knew. The donor is the name on the line. The honoree is the whole relationship. A short letter on the saddest field in your CRM — and the love letter we keep mailing to the wrong person.
The Daughter Was in the Room
The single largest transfer of wealth in human history is happening right now — through living rooms full of adult children whose names nobody at the nonprofit wrote down. A short letter on the cultivation visit, the heir on the couch, and the next thirty years of the relationship we are not, currently, having.
The Sixteen-Month Job
The average nonprofit fundraiser stays about sixteen months — and when they leave, the donor relationships leave with them. A short letter on the job that lives in one person's head, the context nobody had time to write down, and the file that should outlive the fundraiser.
The Donor Who Went Quiet
Donors almost never quit. They drift. A short letter on silent attrition — the largest, kindest, most fixable leak in American fundraising — and the November phone call that brings them home.
On Being Told No
The wrongest thing in fundraising is the way we hear no. We hear it as a period. The donor heard it as a comma. A short letter on the ask that didn't land — and the slow, kind work of the second visit.
Earn the Second Meeting
The goal of the first donor meeting is the second one. A short letter on the coffee that doesn't close anything, the brochure that should stay in the bag, and the one question that quietly turns a polite stranger into a lifetime giver.
Her First Ask
Most of the people doing major-gift work in small shops are twenty-four years old, terrified, and quietly carrying the entire program. A short letter on the asymmetry across the table — and the file that closes it.
On Being Named in the Will
The wrongest sentence in fundraising is the planned-giving ask, because by the time the donor is on the phone the decision was made decades ago. A short letter on the four minutes you weren't trained for, the file you wish was open, and how to receive a gift you didn't know was coming.
The Eleven-Year Yes
The most important gift of your career is probably already in motion — you just won't see it for a decade. A short letter on the long, slow, beautiful timeline of major giving, and how to keep faith with it on a Tuesday in May.
The Thank-You Note Is the Whole Job
Most thank-yous in fundraising are receipts. Receipts are necessary. They are not a thank-you note. A short letter on the cheapest acquisition channel in your office, and the four sentences that quietly turn $50 donors into $500,000 ones.
The Donor Your Wealth Screen Will Miss
Quiet wealth is real wealth — and the woman in the cardigan is sitting in your CRM right now, waiting to be noticed. A short letter on the donors a screen can't see.
Your Next Major Gift Is Already in Your CRM
You don't have a sourcing problem. You have a forgetting problem. A short letter on the most overlooked move in fundraising — calling back the prospect you already met.
Permission to Have an Evening
Fundraising shouldn't cost you your Sunday nights. A short letter on the donor research grind that's quietly going extinct — and the calmer kind of work taking its place.
Major Gifts Aren't a Wealth Problem. They're a Timing Problem.
Capacity gets a prospect on the list. Timing wins the gift. The reason most fundraising operations underperform isn't bad lists — it's stale calendars.
How We Built a Donor Intelligence Engine Starting at $0.10 per Prospect
Enterprise wealth screening has been locked behind five-figure contracts for decades. We rebuilt the unit economics from scratch — here's the real cost breakdown.
What Actually Predicts Giving Capacity — and How Rōmy Scores It
Not all wealth signals predict giving. We built a scoring framework that separates capacity from inclination — and saves fundraisers hours of manual assessment.
The Small Nonprofit Fundraising Gap — and How to Close It
Organizations with budgets under $2M can't afford the $15K-$50K/year tools that large nonprofits rely on. The information asymmetry is the real problem.
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