Successful nonprofits know that consistent, dependable revenue is increasingly valuable—that’s why fundraisers work to sustain monthly giving. But how do you activate and power up a strong monthly giving program that lifts your net revenue?

RKD Group recently formed a task force to study the data around what drives donors to give monthly. They’ll share the findings in this webinar, and provide examples of how to step up to an “always on” approach to sustainer conversion.

Presenters:    tba

Sponsored by   

This session is the third in a 2022 Strength Training for Fundraisers series hosted by RKD Group. Register for the other sessions:

9/14/22 A Bigger, Stronger Pipeline to Major Gifts

9/21/22 Breaking Down Resistance: Convincing Animal Lovers to Give to People

Recorded Webinars with RKD: Future-focused Fundraising (2021)

This live and recorded program is approved for 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit and pending approval for:

• 1.0 CFRE CE
• 1 CE towards ACO CE requirements per Ch. 829 of the Texas Health and Safety Code by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)

Read these blogs from RKD:

Don't Let Inflation Slow You Down

4 Simple Stewardship Practices 

Major Donors: Your Secret to a Successful Year-End in 2020 -- includes link to their ebook Donors and Data: where do we draw the line?

Learn about our two fundraising certificate programs:

The Association Fundraising Professional Certificate Program  For individuals with less than 2 years of professional fundraising experience. 

The Association Fundraising Executive Certificate Program  For individuals with more than 2 years of professional fundraising experience.

Technical Issues During a Live Webinar?

For the last two decades, the field has diligently asked people to spay, neuter, and adopt pets to reduce the homeless pet population. Now, a new message centered around trust and keeping pets and people together is gaining traction.

In this webinar, we’ll sculpt and transform this shift into a fundraising offer. RKD Group will discuss the potential challenges of convincing a group of animal lovers to give money to people to help animals, and share what they’ve learned so far about this culture shift.

Presenters:    tba

Sponsored by   

This session is the second in a 2022 Strength Training for Fundraisers series hosted by RKD Group. Register for the other sessions:

9/14/22 A Bigger, Stronger Pipeline to Major Gifts

9/28 Sticking to the Plan: Monthly Giving Doesn’t Happen by Chance

Recorded Webinars with RKD: Future-focused Fundraising (2021)

This live and recorded program is approved for 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit and pending approval for:

• 1.0 CFRE CE
• 1 CE towards ACO CE requirements per Ch. 829 of the Texas Health and Safety Code by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)

Read these blogs from RKD:

Don't Let Inflation Slow You Down

4 Simple Stewardship Practices 

Major Donors: Your Secret to a Successful Year-End in 2020 -- includes link to their ebook Donors and Data: where do we draw the line?

Learn about our two fundraising certificate programs:

The Association Fundraising Professional Certificate Program  For individuals with less than 2 years of professional fundraising experience. 

The Association Fundraising Executive Certificate Program  For individuals with more than 2 years of professional fundraising experience.

Technical Issues During a Live Webinar?

Can we be happy all the time?  Should we be?  

Psychologically and physiologically, we can’t be happy all the time -- our brains aren’t built that way. And the desire to buck that nature is harming us in immense ways. There’s a healthier way to be, where we replace the pursuit of happiness with the pursuit of well-being.

This three-hour live, interactive session presented by Josh Vaisman will introduce participants to positive psychology, the scientific study of human flourishing.  We’ll explore the challenges of the "Cult of Happiness" and lay out an evidence-based approach for a more nuanced, psychologically healthier path to well-being.

Attendees will leave inspired and equipped to cultivate their own well-being as animal welfare professionals and leaders. Learn how to:

• • Understand the cult of happiness and the destination dilemma
• • Recognize why feeling bad is often normal… and healthy!
• • Explore a variety of evidence-based practices we can use to build a resilient, sustainable mindset for ourselves and our team

This course is approved for 3 hours of CEs for both CAWA and NACA.

Watch this invitation from Josh Vaisman.

This live course is limited to 50 participants. Once the course is full we will open a waitlist.

Sponsored by   

The Strength Training for Fundraisers series hosted by RKD Group will give you valuable tools to build your funding pipeline; build deeper relationships with donors; and develop timely messaging to entice current, past, and new donors.

Click on the Register button to be enrolled in all three sessions or use the links below to register for individual webinars:

9/14/22 A Bigger, Stronger Pipeline to Major Gifts 

9/21/22 Breaking Down Resistance: Convincing Animal Lovers to Give to People

9/28 Sticking to the Plan: Monthly Giving Doesn’t Happen by Chance

These live and recorded programs are each approved for 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit and pending approval for:

• 1.0 CFRE CE
• 1 CE towards ACO CE requirements per Ch. 829 of the Texas Health and Safety Code by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)

In today’s economic climate, pipeline development is one of the most important fundraising trends facing animal welfare organizations. The key to enhancing your upward migration is by cultivating the right prospects into deeper relationships—but where do you begin?

In this webinar, we’ll discuss:

• Using analytics and modeling to reveal the wealth in your file
• Crafting a communication strategy that speaks to mid and major donors
• Combining structure and energy to steward these donors properly

Presenters:    tba

Sponsored by   

This session is the first in a 2022 Strength Training for Fundraisers series hosted by RKD Group. Register for the other sessions:

9/21/22 Breaking Down Resistance: Convincing Animal Lovers to Give to People

9/28 Sticking to the Plan: Monthly Giving Doesn’t Happen by Chance

Recorded Webinars with RKD: Future-focused Fundraising (2021)

This live and recorded program is approved for 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit and pending approval for:

• 1.0 CFRE CE
• 1 CE towards ACO CE requirements per Ch. 829 of the Texas Health and Safety Code by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)

Read these blogs from RKD:

Don't Let Inflation Slow You Down

4 Simple Stewardship Practices 

Major Donors: Your Secret to a Successful Year-End in 2020 -- includes link to their ebook Donors and Data: where do we draw the line?

Learn about our two fundraising certificate programs:

The Association Fundraising Professional Certificate Program  For individuals with less than 2 years of professional fundraising experience. 

The Association Fundraising Executive Certificate Program  For individuals with more than 2 years of professional fundraising experience.

Technical Issues During a Live Webinar?

The data from Shelter Animals Count tells us shelters are full right now because there have been more animals entering shelters than leaving them for the past 5 months straight. Traditional methods for alleviating shelter crowding, including transport, are proving difficult to implement due to staffing and volunteer shortages, decreased funding, and other roadblocks. 

Animal transport, at its most basic level, is a supply and demand equation. However, there is much more to consider when establishing a successful transport program that benefits communities, adopters, over-crowded source organizations, destination organizations, and most importantly, companion animals. This exclusive roundtable conversation will explore the current challenges of companion animal transport and discuss how shelters are adapting in a COVID world. Questions from the audience will follow the roundtable discussion. 

Moderated by Jim Tedford, CAWA, CEO & President, The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement

The Roundtable Panel:

• CJ Bentley, Vice President for Animal Welfare, Atlanta Humane Society, Georgia
• Jillian Sergio, Executive Director, Companion Animal Alliance, Louisiana
• Karen Walsh, CAWA, Senior Director, Animal Relocation, ASPCA
• Matt Witte, Vice President of Operations/COO, Wisconsin Humane Society, Wisconsin

Note the special time: Wednesday August 17 at 4pm Eastern.

This roundtable has been pre-approved for 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit.

Sponsored by  

* Designed for individuals with more than 2 years of professional fundraising experience. These six self-paced courses provide an advanced level of fundraising knowledge to animal welfare leaders, especially Executive Directors and development team leaders.

Modules in the Fundraising Executive Program:

I. Program Evaluation
II. Planned Giving
III. Effective Boards
IV. Prospect Research
V. Major Donors & Campaigns
VI. Grant Writing 

Each module contains:

• A training video which runs 40-65 minutes
• 2-3 relevant articles to read in advance of watching each module’s video.  These articles will be referenced and discussed during each video. 
• A few questions to answer in your course workbook *
• 1-5 activities to complete ** 

** Optional but highly recommended!

Upon completion of the course, participants will be provided with two hours of virtual coaching with the course developer, Mike Buckley, to review an in-depth evaluation of their program, discuss the major takeaways, and answer any additional questions the participants may have.

Plan to spend at least 8 hours on this program. You may earn 8 hours of CAWA CE upon successful completion of the Fundraising Professional Certificate Program. This program has also been approved by CFRE for 8 CEs.

Professional Members and Industry Partner rate: $199  (Learn about Membership) Learning Member rate: $325 

BULK REGISTRATION: Enroll 5 or more of your staff/volunteers for the program at once and save $50 per person. Not valid with other discounts. Contact learning@theaawa.org for instructions.

Less than two years of fundraising experience? See The Association Fundraising Professional Certificate Program

Modules in the Fundraising Executive Program:

I. Program Evaluation

There are multiple ways to evaluate the health of your fundraising program beyond your total dollars raised.  Often times, organizations are focused solely on achieving a dollar goal that they 
are not paying close enough attention to other important metrics within their program. Review the top ten indicators every organization should know; discuss strategies to have a positive impact on these metrics; and integrate metrics into staff evaluation 

II. Planned Giving

Planned Gifts are an uptapped opportunity for most animal welfare non-profits. Review simple will bequest language and effective marketing strategies; discuss creation of a Planned Giving Advisors committee and a Gift Acceptance Policy; and discuss donor advised funds and additional complex planned giving vehicles. 

III. Effective Boards

An effective board of directors for any non-profit organization must be willing to share their time, talent, and treasure. Boards of Directors have a fiduciary responsibly to the organization 
and play a critical role in advancing the mission of the organization. Review strategies for board member recruitment and retention plus how to handle departures; consider common expectations for board members; and discuss effective board governance. 

IV. Prospect Research 

Prospect research is an important tool that empowers staff to learn more about their current donors and communicate with them more effectively. Discover cost-effective tools for prospect research; develop individual donor profiles for prospects; and develop individual donor cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship plans 

V. Major Donors & Campaigns

Major Gift and\or Capital Campaigns are monumental opportunities for non-profit organizations. These efforts are significant undertakings and should be entered into only after careful planning and evaluation.  A successful campaign effort will raise funds, exposure, and capacity for the organization. Discover basic components of a campaign effort, including feasibility studies; discuss important fundamental steps to take leading up to campaign efforts; and discuss hiring outside counsel, attracting and retaining staff and board member involvement.  

VI. Grant Writing 

Grant writing is both an art and a science and requires planning, data collection, and data-based projected outcomes. Grants are also important opportunities to support current programs 
within your organization. Learn how to research grant opportunities; discuss data gathering; and understand project evaluation techniques.

Sponsored by  

We are currently facing a historic talent shortage that will only get worse. With competition for employees fierce, employee retention is more difficult and important than ever. As the old saying goes, “You can choose to focus proactively on employee retention, or you can react to employee turnover.” 

Tom Erb, nationally renowned recruiting expert, will provide you with practical, impactful takeaways that you can implement immediately for improved employee satisfaction and retention. We will discuss:

• The economic and societal factors that are driving the “great resignation”
• How to attract employees who will want to stay
• How to create a culture that establishes you as a destination employer where employees work long term

 This session, both live and the recording, has been approved for:

• 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit 
• 1 NACA CE 
• 1 CE towards ACO CE requirements per Ch. 829 of the Texas Health and Safety Code by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)

This webinar is part 5 in the 5-part A Great Place to Work series.

Read this Tip of the Week from the webinar.

Learn about the Certificate in Whole Leader Development, developed by WiLD Leaders.

Does your staff enjoy coming to work—in person or remotely—every day? Are there paths in place for all individuals to grow their skills and move up through the ranks? Who do you consider your leaders to be? With the Great Resignation and staffing shortages impacting all industries and sectors, organizations are looking for tools and resources to build and maintain positive workplace culture. It’s not easy, but the stakes are high and the rewards so worth it. This 5-part series will provide inspiration, some science and stats, and actionable takeaways to support your efforts. We’ll look at recognizing and cultivating leaders at every level, developing intentional feedback and insight, succession planning, and science-informed ways to engage staff. 

The live webinars and their recordings are each are approved for:

• 1 Certified Animal Welfare Administrator continuing education credit 
• 1 NACA CE 
• 1 CE towards ACO CE requirements per Ch. 829 of the Texas Health and Safety Code by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS)

The Series includes:

5/04/22 Building a Leadership Culture, Tracy Elliott, The Anti-Cruelty Society

5/11/22 Investing in Your People, Rob McKenna & Daniel Hallak, WiLD Leaders

5/18/22 How Can Science Help You Engage Your Workforce? Jonathan Flinchum & Natalie Wilde, UNC-Charlotte

6/08/22 Strategic Talent Development & Succession Planning Brian August, Oregon Humane Society

6/29/22 Maximizing Employee Retention in a Highly Competitive Labor Market, Tom Erb, Tallann Resources

 + a bonus recording of Employee Onboarding: The Secret for Boosting Productivity, Engagement, & Retention, Katherine Shenar, CAWA, The Association for Animal Welfare Advancement (not approved for TX DSHS CEs)