Here at Wastyn & Associates, we do our best to stay current with these trends so we can provide you with the most relevant advice for today’s world, grounded in well-established elements of human nature, human motivation, and basic economics.

Today, we share with you 9 trends that you and your organization might consider embracing – or at least monitoring.

Because it costs so much more to recruit new donor than to retain a current donor, how you treat new donors can make a significant difference in your bottom line. These three strategies can help you retain more donors … and raise more money.

2025 has certainly been a stress filled year so far. Nonprofit professionals have born a lot of the brunt of that stress. Try some of these tips that I have found help me reduce my stress in my days and weeks. I hope you can find something that works for you as well.

The last two blog posts talked about why you should use data to prioritize your development work and where you can find that data. This one outlines 6 ways in which you can use that data to work smarter, not harder, and raise more money in the process.

The broader environment in which nonprofits operate has become uncertain at best, downright scary at worse. Many of our donors also exist in this environment. Should you continue to ask for money and, if so, how? (HINT: YES!!)

The first and best place to find data to support your development work sits in your donor database. Once you have examined the data from your database, today's blog post offers 3 strategies to help you dig deeper to find hidden giving potential.

How do you know which donors you should spend time cultivating and soliciting for a major gift? The answer lies in your database; you just need to know what to look for and how to use that information.

When people think of lobbying, they often envision well-funded interest groups, not local nonprofits fighting for community change. But nonprofits often serve on the front lines, helping our most vulnerable populations and deeply understanding the issues that hold people back and let them thrive. Nonprofits have every right to lobby legislators—and they should.

These examples demonstrate the importance of taking the time and effort to assure that you have good, up-to-date data upon which to base your fund development plan and decisions as it will save you time – and raise more money – in the long run. 

Do you know the difference between capacity and propensity? Just because a person has money does not mean he or she will give it to your organization. Likewise, just because they love your organization does not mean they will make a major gift.