For most of history charitable organizations have been providing resources and support for the disadvantaged – starting with churches in biblical times, expanding in the late 1800s due to Josephine Shaw Lowell and the Charitable Organization Movement, and now exploding to over 1.5 million charities in the US alone. But for all the different types of causes that are benefiting, each of these organizations has one thing in common: FUNDRAISING.

Now more than ever charities and non-profits are having to compete for a piece of the donor pie. With the frequency of new 501(c)(3) organizations being created – think how many were set up after Hurricane Katrina or the earthquake in Haiti – your non-profit may get lost in the mix and potentially lose its donor base. Read the rest of this entry »