By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

Inflow must be greater than outflow.

When it comes to setting a budget, this fact is obvious.

When preparing the budget for a nonprofit organization, though, many fundraisers find that the process seems to happen backwards.

Your experience may reso...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

Planned giving is a powerful way for donors to support causes they care about while also leaving a legacy that lasts beyond their lifetime. 

Nonprofit organizations rely on thoughtful contributions like these to continue their vital work and make a diff...

By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

When we think of fundraising events, we may picture galas with sponsorships, lots of guests, food, drink, auctions, and entertainment. 

Smaller events are a way to raise funds that let you connect with benefactors at a personal level. These events ar...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

As you explore the possibility of embarking on a transformative capital campaign for your nonprofit, one of the most critical factors for success is strategic staffing. 

With the right team in place, you can navigate the complexities of fundraising with...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

Catholic nonprofits are quickly realizing that the future of their ministry relies on building a self-sustaining fundraising program.

In a time of shrinking Catholic demographics, relying on your budget to come from an organization like your diocese does n...

Happy Easter!

This Sunday morning, I was sitting with my four young kids and praying for a calm and peaceful time at Mass. As I was doing that, God brought it to my mind that there are seasons for everything. There are seasons for calm and peaceful times at Mass, and there are seasons for chaos,...

By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

“If a man has a 100 sheep and one of them goes astray,

will he not leave the 99 in the hills and go in search of the stray?”

(Matthew 18:12)

When the shepherd left the 99 sheep to go after the stray, he had confidence that the ones left behin...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

I'm often asked, “Why would I spend time and money to go meet donors for coffee when I can just send them an email or letter?”

Or, “Wouldn’t it be easier and cheaper to put a little time into grant writing, rather than meeting with people and hoping some o...

By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

I love the late winter —the time when football season isn’t quite over, and basketball season is ramping up. There are WAY MORE games on TV than are good for me to watch! 

On any team, players have “basic” responsibilities, but are also specialists. Eac...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

Every so often, it becomes necessary for a nonprofit to abandon their existing donor database system and move to a new one. 

The existing system may be too complicated for staff to use, or perhaps it's not sophisticated enough to keep up with the growing o...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

Have you ever had a donor call and thank you for thanking them so well?

Believe it or not, it does happen. It should be your goal to earn one of those calls this year.

Here is one simple, often-overlooked way to make it happen.

Just One Per Day

Th...

By Rhen Hoehn, Director of Marketing

Setting appropriate goals for a fundraiser can be overwhelming. Fundraisers have many different responsibilities, but they all lead to the same end goal - dollars raised.

Should we boil a fundraiser’s goals down to just the dollars raised for the year?