RaiseMN
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2025 Intensives

Presenting our 2025 Intensive Calendar!

RaiseMN Fundraising Intensives are deep-dive training sessions designed to help nonprofit leaders tackle specific fundraising challenges and opportunities.

A new RaiseMN offering for 2025, these sessions provide expert guidance, practical tools, and tailored strategies to elevate your organization’s fundraising efforts.

From donor acquisition to crafting compelling appeals, each intensive equips you with actionable plans and resources to drive meaningful results. Perfect for small-to-medium-sized nonprofits, our Intensives are your step-by-step guide to fundraising success.

Register for individual sessions below, or purchase a 4-pack to attend all four in-person sessions at a savings of $500!

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Intensive 1: New Donor Acquisition


  • Beehive Strategic Communications 550 Vandalia St Suite 233 St Paul, MN 55114 United States (map)

One of the most important yet often mystifying parts of fundraising is new donor acquisition. Especially when your organization is just starting to invest in acquisition strategies, many questions come up: Where do we find new donors? How do we convince them to support our organization? How do we keep them as long-term supporters? What channels do we use to communicate with people who are new to our mission?

In this crash course on donor acquisition, we’ll walk through all the major components in this first step of the donor cycle. From a broad overview of different types of acquisition such as direct mail, digital ads, and peer-to-peer fundraising, participants will walk away understanding the options available to them and how to determine which strategies are right for their mission.

Using a blend of theory and practical tips, this fundraising intensive is designed to kickstart your acquisition program to ensure that your organization always has a healthy pipeline of new supporters. This opportunity is best suited for nonprofit leaders of small-to-medium size organizations with a basic understanding of the donor cycle and individual fundraising tactics.

About the Facilitator:
In this fundraising intensive, you’ll be guided through the steps of donor acquisition by GiveMN’s Senior Director of Community Impact, Courtney Backen. Courtney (she/her) has over a decade of experience in individual fundraising for various causes including public libraries and public media, environmental protection, youth homelessness, and more. One of her fundraising superpowers includes direct mail donor acquisition and working with list brokers and mail houses to execute comprehensive fundraising campaigns. As Membership Manager at Friends of the Hennepin County Library, Courtney leveraged direct mail acquisition to grow their membership program from 7,500 households to 10,000+ in under five years.

Format: Two small-group, in-person sessions: Thursday, February 20, 9 am–4 pm (1-hour self-provided lunch break), and Friday, February 21, 8 am–12 pm.
Price: $1,500 per person
Accessibility note: RaiseMN is committed to providing accessible learning and development services for nonprofits and schools. Accommodations are available upon request by reaching out to info@givemn.org.

Later Event: March 20
Intensive 2: Fundraising Events