Nobody goes to college to learn how to be a fundraiser. So many times, development professionals tend to end up in the field almost by accident.

Without that educational background, the best practices for raising substantial money for a nonprofit are not always obvious or intuitive.

Many ...

That’s a great question! What do fundraisers do anyway? Meet for coffees at high-end coffee shops, wine and dine prospective donors, rounds of golf on the best golf courses around the world, etc. You name it, I’ve heard it! 

I think a lot of folks think fundraisers are the non-profit’s sleazy us...

By Chris Scroggin, Petrus Consultant

Have you ever wondered what art and science have in common? 

Art draws on emotions.

Science uses rational thought.

But, science and art both demand creativity and excellent observational skills. 

Most techniques used by artists even have interesting scient...

 By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

When a ministry starts to look at fundraising in a systematic, and dare I say disciplined way, one of the first steps is to develop a Case for Support, also known as a Case Statement. 

If you are embarking on a capital campaign or want to increase a...

In this episode, Andrew chats with Dr. Scott Grant, pediatrician and creator and host of the Docs2Dads podcast.  Andrew and Scott discuss generosity, and they delve into how we, as parents and family members, cultivate a lifelong spirit of generosity in our children.  They speak specifically about r...

One of the non-profits I worked for didn’t have a database; they had an Excel spreadsheet for their donor information. It wasn’t very organized, and I had no idea how accurate it was. 

There was information everywhere - on spreadsheets, in the executive director’s notebooks, and in the heads ...

In this episode, Andrew interviews Karen Houghton, founder and CEO of Infinite Giving.  Together, Andrew and Karen discuss Infinite Giving’s mission as an investment adviser for nonprofit organizations.  Karen shares her expertise in nonprofit financial management, and she and Andrew discuss ways th...

In this episode, Andrew interviews brothers Tom and Dan Thimons.  Together, Tom and Dan founded My Catholic Will, the only online Catholic will-writing platform.  Andrew invites Tom and Dan to share about My Catholic Will, how they got it started, and what they hope it will become in the future.  Th...

By Rhen Hoehn, Petrus Director of Marketing

Welcome back!  In part one of this two-part series, we discussed three steps that must be taken to position an organization for undertaking a capital campaign.   In this article, we look at three more steps to kick off the process of a campaign.

Th...

In this episode, Andrew chats with Evan Woolsoncroft, vice president of philanthropy for Heroic Media.  Andrew invites Evan to share about his work at Heroic Media, and the two discuss the need for proactiveness, innovation, and smart modeling in ministry.  

Listen to "122- The Push for Creative Ac...

 By Mary Walker, Petrus Blog Contributor

A group of people are sitting around a table. There are probably some snacks. A leader speaks with passion about some great need in the parish, Church, or community. The leader shares her vision of how major change can come about. She invites those arou...

In this episode, Andrew interviews Jack Ziegler, financial advisor for Northwestern Mutual.  Andrew and Jack discuss how we, as individuals, can improve our relationship with money.  They also chat about how we, as fundraising professionals, can better serve our donors by connecting them with the sp...