Len Iaquinta's Blog

Most not-for-profits short-circuit their effectiveness by failing to strive for excellence in fund raising in all the available avenues for realistic support.  Rarely are best practices followed throughout the funding planning of the organization.

For example, few organizations realize the full short- and long-term benefits of their newsletter mailing list, open houses, special fund raising events, periodic mail or phone solicitation campaigns, gift shop customers, friends and social networks, et al.

The quality of personal contacts is generally taken for granted.  Oddly, this would not be tolerated with respect to delivery of the agency’s program services.

It’s a fact.  Agencies which follow the best practices of the RDS curriculum outperform their peers.  The next recovery is beginning.  Will your organization be ready to take advantage of it?

My next post is a checklist to examine the health of your agency’s fund raising.

Len Iaquinta, a member of the Alliance for Children and Families’ Resource Development Advisory Commitee and Executive Consultant Select Group, is a career fundraiser of millions of dollars in major gifts, grants, and annual funds. He is recognized as a strategic and tactical thinker, often contributing to professional practice journals and presenting at professional meetings. He has created successful fundraising programs at public and private institutions from New York City to Milwaukee and Chicago. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism from Northwestern University (Medill School) and Columbia University in the City of New York (Pulitzer School), respectively.

Len is president of Excellence in Communications Inc.