I hope you have had a productive and successful 2024. Ongoing research, community-building, communications, and critical infrastructure work for the nonprofit I am supporting this year dominated my time. As the nonprofit with which I am working gears up for major gift fundraising, I have full confidence we will be unstoppable in 2025 and beyond. Stay tuned!

I want to thank those who visited Carolyn’s Nonprofit Blog this year. I have enjoyed 15,825 views by some 11,700 unique visitors. When I launched this website back in 2011, I was surprised but delighted to attract people from across the world. Among this year’s top nations are:

United States
Canada
United Kingdom
India
Germany
Australia
Philippines
Sweden
France
Netherlands
South Africa
Ireland
Spain

Welcome, everyone!

My top ten most-read development articles overall this year included: Grant Writing: A Reality Check; How to Launch Your Grant Writing Career; Grant Writing and Storytelling; Giving Awards | Do Your Research; Meeting Them Where They Are; Building Relationships with Professional Advisors; Statistics Inspire New Insights; Charity Lotteries; and Importance of Nonprofit Research and a New Discovery.

This year, I updated my website’s format completely to a more modern style, and I reorganized its contents. I also added the Jetpack AI function (I do hope that is helpful). Many changes! As always, if you have questions, use the secure contact form to reach me.

On a personal note, this fall I moved my home and home office over from West Austin to North Austin. My new location affords me easy access to the Capital Metro light rail, with a station just a short walk away, and strong built-in Internet. I am enjoying my new environment and easy access to downtown Austin very much.

On a volunteering note, I continued my support for Citizens’ Climate Lobby, ONE Campaign and TechSoup. These roles are not fundraising in focus, but rather, advocacy.

Citizen’s Climate Lobby has a busy fall, as we left X.com and moved to Bluesky @cclatx.bsky.social. Join us there! We were being barraged by some unsavory characters on X, and now we feel right at home on Bluesky. In the first week, we attracted more than 300 followers, which is a good sign. The website I created for the organization, Voices of Austin, continues forward, lending an online voice to our growing community of climate action advocates. I authored a few articles on Voices of Austin as well. #ElectrifyEverything

With ONE Campaign, I enjoyed hosting World AIDS Day at the end of November at RichesArt Gallery on East Sixth Street. You can read and watch more on my photo portfolio on this website. I was also pleased to receive a supportive letter from U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett about federal support for global health programs, and I posted an audio recording in response on Facebook. This year, I discovered the recording option available via Adobe Express, and I will probably make more use of it in 2025. My thanks go to the Austin American-Statesman for sharing my letter to the editor, “I’ll vote for candidates favoring U.S. foreign aid that saves lives” in October.

Please do follow me on Facebook at facebook.com/carolynmappletonfornonprofits

I continued as a TechSoup Ambassador, and during two networking webinars hosted by Apra: Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement this year, I mentioned that notably. Earlier this year, I joined Apra, and I have to say, if there’s any group focused on using research technology for social good research, that’s Apra. Please do make use of TechSoup. You can join for free, and avail yourself of many discounted products and services. The TechSoup channel on YouTube offers a deep dive into many topics, and I visit it often.

I wish to thank Daniel Lindley and the Wiley Online Library | Major Gifts Report for interviewing me this year about securing major gifts with the help of virtual reality. You can read the text of that conversation on my ISSUU page. I was an early advocate for virtual presentations, when it comes to visualizing what the future could be if significant funding is applied to worthy capital projects. It truly does work!

Last but not least, this year I jumped in with both feet to Linktr.ee. It is such a convenient way to share multiple links on one online platform! Below is the holiday version of my page @carolynmappleton. You can also now subscribe for updates.

My own charitable donations this year are listed on Linktr.ee, as well as products under, “Carolyn Recommends.” I know these companies well, and should you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask. I can also link you up with most of them on LinkedIn.

Very best wishes for your fundraising success. I will see you online in 2025!