Closing Date: 19 April 2024 Job Location: Candidate to be based out of our Ottawa office, which operates with a hybrid model Years of Experience: 2+ Salary Range: $53,400 to $66,800 Reports To: Manager Creative People & Systems The Digital Fundraiser supports the work of our client service teams to establish, develop, enhance and execute digital fundraising programs using a variety of platforms and tools for our charity partners. This role requires strategic development, execution and coordination, project management, and individual contribution as part of a multi-faceted team, based on cl ..read more

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in my 10+ years working in the charitable sector, it is: You are not your donor. It can be a hard truth, I know! But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what I like, what you like, or what your CEO likes; it matters what donors respond to. And if there’s another thing I’ve learned, it’s that donors will often surprise you! What works for one organization (or even one group of donors within an organization) may totally bomb for another. So, how do you figure out what makes your donors tick? Simple: you test it! If you’ve read my blog, “3 Helpful Tip ..read more

Even though this blog about how to build a fundraising story bank is coming up on five years old, it’s still as relevant as ever. I believe that stories are the most persuasive tool in our box when we tell them right. It’s also been our experience at Good Works that our clients who can generate the best stories often get the best results – especially in legacy giving. So, have a read (or a re-read if you were following us in 2019) and use this method to generate more donors and more revenue! – Fraser Green Didn’t you love it when you were little and your mom or dad read you bedtime stor ..read more

It’s time: we’re headed into the calendar year-end. If you’re anything like us, the chaos is in full swing! So, let us bring some calm to the chaos. Here are some insights and practical year-end fundraising tips from across our team to make your year-end a little less stressful. Trust your strategic fundraising schedule. You made it for a reason. When talking about the scheduling of year-end fundraising, our Director Client Experience, Jenn, had this to say: “I think sometimes when we’re in the thick of it at year-end we start to question our plan. I always say: the second guessing is an exhau ..read more

Your integrated fundraising campaign is like a puzzle. Each piece – the great story, the channels you choose to deliver that story, the clear and compelling call to donate; all of that and more – comes together to create a big picture (that is, a powerful giving experience for your donors!). But there’s another ‘big picture’ that your fundraising puzzle shows you – and it can be a trickier one to see. When you mix together mail, email, search, social, website, video, phone, and any other channels to create a multi-channel donor journey, you will also need to look at the results in a multi-chan ..read more

Have you recently run a Facebook campaign using a lookalike audience? Did it make you doubt whether or not they’re effective? No need to stress out, in this blog we’ll take a deep dive into the world of Facebook targeting. Lookalike audiences in a nutshell For years, organizations have used Facebook’s lookalike audiences to connect with a laser-targeted groups of people who “look like” their current supporters – meaning these people are more likely to take action. Facebook lookalike audiences use data from your source email list to create an audience group that matches the characteristics of y ..read more

It has been a little while since I last reported on the state of direct mail production. In that time, direct mail has continued to endure a host of challenges: COVID-19, supply chain issues, labour and resource shortages, natural disasters, rising fuel prices, inflation, paper producer strikes, and paper mill closures – to name a few. But, at the risk of jinxing things, I think those of us who love and live direct mail are starting to find our way out of the darkness. Over the past few months, we have started to see positive signs Paper availability is improving as supply chains are stabilizi ..read more

In a bit of insight often attributed to both Hemingway and Banksy (but probably originating from neither artist), there’s an idea that we die three times – not once. The first death occurs when you take your last breath. The second death happens when your funeral or celebration of life takes place. The third – and final – death doesn’t come until someone speaks your name for the last time. As someone in life’s third act, I’m very aware of my desire to be remembered after I’m gone – especially by my daughter, granddaughter, and stepdaughters. I really do want my name to be spoken long after I ..read more

In the 2023 edition of our Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report we cover a lot of ground. Along the way, we tackle the questions stuck in your fundraising head like 2000s pop songs. How? Our research team used data from participant organizations to uncover key takeaways and sector-defining insights. I’ve spent a lot of time with this report. I’ve continued to be wowed more than I ever expected about the direct mail landscape in Canada: direct mail continues to be a powerful fundraising tool. A couple key takeaways In terms of the year-over-year trends, many of the key benchmarks are down fro ..read more

Soon my fellow Good Workers and I will be releasing this year’s Canadian Direct Mail Benchmarks Report. As I was looking a draft of the report, two questions came to mind: Why are benchmarks important in the first place? Do fundraisers like you and me use benchmarks as much as we could (and should)? Today, professionals of all types rely heavily on benchmarks to do their work as well as possible. How would my doctor monitor my health if he wasn’t regularly measuring and keeping track of my blood pressure reading, cholesterol count, and blood glucose level? How would my mechanic fix my car ..read more