Posts Tagged ‘nonprofit fundraising’
Posted by Gayle Gifford on August 10, 2010 in Fundraising
Below the fold in Monday morning’s Providence Journal was a lovely story about Ram and Nishi Nehra, a retired couple from Middletown, Rhode Island, who have been supporting an educational NGO in their native India since 2001.
I know that their story is not unique, that each day there are millions, probably billions, of philanthropic acts across the globe.
But what made me smile over my morning tea was the way that Ram described his philanthropy:
“I get so much satisfaction, so much pleasure out of this — I can’t tell you in words. You have to experience this. This is full of life.”
Demonstrating again the principle of “giving till you feel good” that my departed colleague, Herb Kaplan, always espoused.
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Posted by Jon Howard on June 17, 2010 in Communicating, Fundraising
At first glance, I don’t welcome the email from Christina Wellington Traister. The body reminds me that I haven’t sent in my pledge to Bates. Not a word about what amount I had pledged, which I’ve long forgotten. Righteous annoyance almost cancels appropriate guilt.
But the PS grabbed me. (And yes, I read the PS first. I quickly see that the main message holds bad news for me).
“P.S. Have you heard the Bates parking meter story? It’s two minutes and guaranteed to make you smile…this was sent to alumni (who hadn’t made a Bates Fund gift or pledge) two weeks ago.”
I can’t imagine a parking meter on the leafy Bates quad of my memory, nor even on the surrounding streets of sleepy Lewiston, Maine, so “the parking meter story” monicker raises a question I can’t answer without clicking on the link, a classic teaser trope. Christina promises to answer the question in two minutes or less and amuse me in the process.
I like the quick and indirect way Christina clues me in that this is not just a funny story. She tells me this story was sent to non-contributing alums a couple of weeks ago. That truth-in-advertising builds vital trust and gently reminds me that I’m a delinquent, too. I click on the link. Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on February 23, 2010 in Fundraising
Dear Gayle and Jon,
I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for the Workshop “Getting the Most from your Annual Appeal” that you gave on Oct. 8th for the Land and Water Partnership at the Audubon Society of RI. I think that our letter was not as good as what you had presented, but it was a big improvement from previous ventures.
But the proof is in the pudding, right?!
So, the bottom line, proof of the pudding is that last year we raised $31,365 through 88 gifts with our single page, tear off and send back approach.
This year, we received 173 gifts for a total of $62,570 for our two page, bulleted, story telling approach to support stewardship with the envelope provided!
So, we are giving you a ’soft’ credit (as they say in our business!) for doubling our gifts! We are so grateful!
I think Jon got me when he said he knew there were some people who just threw these letters in the trash, but for those who really care and want to know, give them something worth reading. I know many of our members in the land trust are the latter types, and I appreciate so much that you brought this to my attention.
I truly appreciate a good teacher, and this deserves recognition all its own. Many heartfelt thanks from the South Kingstown Land Trust!
Ever,
Claudia E. Swain
Director of Development
South Kingstown Land Trust
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Claudia, We’re blushing! But how could anyone resist those gorgeous Scottish Highlander cattle!
Thank you so for sharing this with us and letting us share your letter with our readers. You can read the full letter here.
And continued good fundraising for the South Kingstown Land Trust. Local land trusts like yours absolutely prove the Margaret Mead quote:
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on February 10, 2010 in 100 Things We've Learned, Fundraising
In How we got the grant – Part I, I started telling you the story of how one organization overcame a long history of rejections to finally receive a grant from a very desired funder.
To quickly summarize:
The international child sponsorshop and development organization I worked for had tried and failed many times to receive a development education grant from the US Agency for International Development.
We learned that one of the reasons for this was that our donor-to-sponsored child and family communications were not taken seriously by the funder and undercut our credibility.
We initiated a process to explain the theory and practice behind our communications program to USAID. As a result of that, the door opened a crack.
Our first three lessons learned:
- Get involved with your colleagues
- Find out what funders think about you
- You have to have and discuss a theory of change
That’s were I left off. On to the next set of lessons.
So, I now had the task of designing a development education program that would win funding and achieve our desired mission impact.
Lesson Four: Build your new program on your existing assets
Because our experience showed that people-to-people contact helped North Americans care about other parts of the world, we knew our development education program could take advantage of our 50 year history of direct communications. Our office was rich with the stories, photos, drawings and reports from sponsored children, their families, our international staff and town or village leaders. Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on February 3, 2010 in 100 Things We've Learned, Fundraising
Back in the 80s, I was director of development and communications for the US affiliate of an international child sponsorship organization.
Keeping the advertising, invoicing, fundraising, and donor stewardship running was an expensive investment for an organization that relied primarily on monthly giving from tens of thousands of donors.
While that funding model was clearly our strength, it also lost us donors who determined which organization they chose to support solely on the basis of overhead ratios. Because we didn’t have lots of low-fundraising-cost government grants and commodities passing through our books, our overhead costs were already slightly higher than our colleague agencies that did.
(Note: Why overhead ratios tell only a tiny part of the story).
In particular, we had our eye on “development education” grant funds awarded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Those funds supported programs that taught US audiences about global issues, especially those facing the world’s most poor and vulnerable people. We wanted to expand our outreach in this area but those tight overhead ratios were stopping us.
We also saw that those agencies that received USAID development education grants seemed to have a “more favored” status than those of us who didn’t. We wanted to be in the “in crowd.” Being “in” often led to more media exposure, more opportunity for partnerships with our colleagues, and, ultimately, more donors and more funding to support our programs overseas.
But year after year (before I arrived), our proposals kept getting rejected. And we couldn’t understand why.
And to put the frosting on the cake, we kept hearing the funder and our non-sponsorship colleagues talk about the need to personalize international development for US citizens by sharing the stories of communities and families overseas.
But but but… each and every day, we were sending very real and personalized stories about those very same communities and families to tens of thousands of donors in the US.
What were we doing wrong?
Lesson One: Get involved with your colleagues
Luckily, my boss was determined to shift the perception of our agency in the eyes of his international colleagues. So he became very active in the US international development community. He joined committees in strategic networks. He lobbied our international program staff to participate in the US as well. He brought onto our Board of Directors individuals with international development expertise and got them involved in those networks as well.
Through those activities, he also got to work with and come to know the staff in the development education division at USAID. And that’s how we learned what was wrong with us.
Lesson Two: Find out what funders think about you.
Without getting into too much detail, suffice it to say that child sponsorship organizations like ours — the ones that invested in active communications between donors here in the US and their sponsored families overseas — were not seen by many of their colleagues as serious international development organizations. Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on January 11, 2010 in Fundraising
I was just re-reading the report released last January this time “Call to Service Assessment 2008: Community Volunteer Service Needs and Opportunities; July – September 2008″ of Serve Rhode Island (the RI Commission on National and Community Service). 
Among other things, I was struck by the data on where volunteers spend their time. According to statistics gathered by the US Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics and reported here:
Main Activities of Volunteers (2005-2007)
Fundraise 29.7% (RI) 27.9% (US)
Collect/Distribute Food 19.5% (RI) 24.5% (US)
Professional/Management 16.6% (RI) 17.4% (US)
Tutor/Teach 15.7% (RI) 20.5% (US)
At first glance I was somewhat surprised that fundraising was at the top of the volunteer activity list given the number of complaints I hear from organizations about their inability to recruit volunteers to help them raise funds. (Don’t the choices of volunteer activities seem pretty limited.)
But when activities are matched against the top places where volunteers serve — overwhelmingly education and religious groups — the numbers made much more sense.
If you think about the legions of parents who raise money for their kids’ schools, or run events and raise money for their religious congregations, it’s not too surprising that fundraising might come out on top.
Unfortunately, what the study doesn’t tell us is the relationship of the volunteering to the amount of funds raised. Now that would be a number worth gathering.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on December 21, 2009 in Fundraising
I’m always curious about donor thinking and like to explore the why’s of giving. As there is one donor I know pretty well, I thought I’d dissect her giving. 
Taking stock
Before the year draws to an end, I review my all my charitable contributions to see how I’m doing and to be sure I’ve haven’t forgotten any of my favorite causes.
I can do this pretty quickly because throughout the year as I make gifts I’ve been recording them on my “Contributions” spreadsheet. That way, I can see at a glance who I remembered and who I forgot. I find this a lot easier than my old system of searching through my canceled checks and credit card statements. The spreadsheet also helps me remember when I receive a new appeal if I’ve already reached my giving target for that organization. And it has really helped speed up my tax preparation.
Giving schedules
The end of year is a real cash crunch for me as our house insurance, car insurance, life insurance are all due. There are also holiday gifts and plane tickets to get my sons back from college. So it’s not a great time for me to be making donations.
I’ve been trying to spread my giving out throughout the year. Larger gifts I’ve been doing in installments or at times that I’m feeling more cash flush. I really don’t love putting gifts on credit cards as I’d rather all my giving went to the organizations I support.
But at the end of the year, if I’ve missed an important cause, out comes the credit card.
Giving Benchmarks
One of my speculations about giving is that people would be more generous if they had better benchmarks.
A few days ago my daughter shared that she was going to set a person tithing formula for her giving. Many faiths have a “tithing requirement” that sets a benchmark for personal support. States that have high percentages of their population in faiths that tithe seem to report higher overall giving. Yet most of us don’t view our charitable giving in this way.
In 1987 Independent Sector launched a campaign to Give Five, encouraging individuals to give 5% of their income and five hours a week to the causes they cared about.
Today, the average US donor gives to charity in these amounts:
- Low income households give about 4.5% of their income
- Middle class households give about 2.5%
- Higher income households give about 3%
So how does our household compare? Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on November 23, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Fundraising
How often have you heard excuses for why a potential donor couldn’t possibly give to your organization or project … before they’ve even been approached!
A typical conversation might sound like this:
Volunteer 1: What about Mr. Potential Donor? I think he might be capable of a larger gift than he’s been giving.
Volunteer 2: Oh no. He’s got a son in college (or substitute another reason such as “just remodeled their house,” or “bought a new boat”) and couldn’t possibly do more right now.
I was reminded of the lost opportunity when we make assumptions of what our donors will or won’t do when browsing through my Sunday newspaper a few weeks ago.
A photo caption caught my eye:
“Home Sweet Home Gala raises $400,000”
Whoa! I had to look again. Yes. It said $400,000. I figured the newspaper must have added an extra zero.
If you live in New York City, raising $400,000 probably sounds like no big deal for a charitable event. But the paper I was reading was the Providence Sunday Journal. The organization was Crossroads Rhode Island, formerly Travelers Aid of Rhode Island, the largest nonprofit provider of homeless services organization in our state.
To put this fundraising total into perspective for you, you’ll need a bit more data about Rhode Island.
- The total state population is just over 1 million, making up just over 400,000 households.
- The largest city, Providence, has a population of just 174,000.
- There are only two Fortune 500 companies in the whole state. And one community foundation.
- The unemployment rate, at 13% in September 2009, is one of the highest in the nation.
Even in a booming economy, $400,000 is a huge fundraising gross for an event in Rhode Island. If I had to guess, it’s probably in the 10 top events in total funds raised.
Very impressed, I had to learn more. So I went straight to the top and called Karen Santilli, the Vice President for Marketing and Development at Crossroads.
“Yes, our September gala raised just over $400,000.” Karen informed me.
No, they didn’t have a Hollywood celebrity or famous speaker, which the other events that raise the biggest money often have.
Seven Years and a Winning Formula
This event started seven years ago when Travelers Aid of Rhode Island changed its name to Crossroads Rhode Island. “The event chair at the time felt strongly we had to do something unique to celebrate the name change and help people remember who we were,” said Karen.
So they put their heads together to create a truly WOW event that would keep people talking and eager to see what they’d do the next year.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on September 28, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Communicating, Fundraising, Strategic Thinking
What do kaleidoscopes and successful fundraisers have in common?
I hadn’t thought about kaleidoscopes in years until I received one as a gift for presenting a workshop at a fundraising conference. Instead of creating designs from shapes embedded in the kaleidoscope itself, this one made fascinating patterns out of whatever you were looking at.
So what do kaleidoscopes and great fundraisers have in common?
Both are really good at creating many beautiful new designs from one starting point.
In this challenging economic climate, nonprofit fundraisers have to be as resourcesful as they possibly can be to make better and stronger connections with donors. As fundraisers, we are always on the lookout for donors whose dreams and desires are a perfect match with our organization.
Sometimes that match is pretty straightforward, as when a loved one is stricken by a disease and family members give to the organization that is working to find a cure. Or the guidelines of a foundation are a perfect fit with our programs.
Often, however, the match isn’t immediately obvious and requires us to do some mental stretching. A very philanthropic individual I knew gave money to a figure skating association, a community service organization, a library, and other seemingly unrelated institutions. Was there a common thread? Yes, he loved young people and gave to programs that helped them flourish.
Resourceful development professionals have the uncanny talent of making lots of successful matches – from the easy fits to the mental stretches. The ability to see the many facets of our organization and our donor’s interests – like looking through a kaleidoscope – can open many more donor checkbooks.
Here are a few tips for developing your own kaleidoscope vision.
1. Listen to see what your donors care about.
I can’t say enough about listening. When we get too wrapped up in pitching our organization, we can’t hear what a donor wants.
The executive director of a youth service organization wanted to upgrade a corporate donor from a modest in-kind gift to a major sponsorship. At an exploratory meeting with the CEO, the executive director spent the better part of five minutes pitching the organization and one particular sponsorship opportunity.
He wasn’t igniting any interest.
The development director then asked this corporate CEO a simple question: “What community projects are you working on?”
The CEO opened up. He explained how his company was exploring the idea of building playgrounds in inner city neighborhoods – something the youth service organization had a history of doing, but hadn’t mentioned. Suddenly, a match seemed inevitable. The company was excited to provide a corporate sponsorship that included building a city playground – and eventually went on to become one of the organization’s biggest supporters.
2. Look deep into your existing programs.
Just like a prospective donor, you’ll be more passionate about your organization if you see the work first hand. You’ll be better informed too. It’s hard to comprehend the complexity of your organization if you don’t get up close and personal with your program staff, your projects, and especially the people you serve.
A successful fundraiser I know recently took a position as the major gifts director for a hospital. In her first few weeks on the job, she arranged an intensive training program for herself:
“I wanted to meet everyone and see EVERYTHING: operations, autopsies, the emergency room, even the kitchen. I asked hundreds of questions so I could know how we made a difference and what our needs were. Not only did I feel more confident I could explain our work to a prospective donor, but I also knew I’d be better at finding giving matches. An added benefit — because I showed that I cared, I made lots of friends on our staff who are now willing to help in fundraising when I need them.”
3. Look beyond the usual funding suspects.
Arts groups look for arts funders. Senior groups for donors to the elderly. But sometimes it makes sense to look beyond the category in which your organization falls.
A small neighborhood organization heard that the Environmental Protection Agency had funding available for urban environmental projects. As they weren’t an environmental group, they easily might have dismissed this particular funder.
But with some research, the group discovered the EPA had funded vacant lot clean-ups similar to the programs they were already running. With a bit more detective work they discovered that garbage dumped in vacant lots frequently contained materials that the EPA would consider pollutants or even hazardous waste.
By understanding that vacant lot dumping was as much an environmental problem as it was a community development one, they were able to get funding from EPA to develop a more comprehensive program to prevent illegal dumping and clean up vacant lots.
4. Be creative about seeing the connections.
If your vision is too narrow, it’s easy to overlook opportunities.
A statewide organization located in the capital city ran a number of fee-based education programs for school kids. A prospective business donor only funded projects in the northern town in which it was located.
At first glance, there didn’t seem to be the opportunity for a match. But with a little more exploration, the business was pleased to donate the program fee and busing costs of a local school so that three fifth-grade classrooms were able to participate in this education program.
5. See where you fit in the big picture.
Locally-based organizations and nonprofits in small population states often have a hard time attracting regional or national funders. But if you can put your work into a much bigger framework, you may open doors that looked closed at first.
For example, an AIDS service organization from a small east coast city was alerted to a request for proposals from the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Five grants would be awarded nationwide for prevention work with young people in minority communities.
At first this organization didn’t think they had a chance competing with major population centers like San Francisco or New York. But they knew they had one of the highest HIV infection rates in the U.S. and that many immigrants from countries with high incidences of AIDS settled there first before heading to big cities like NYC. By articulating their connection to the bigger picture, they were able to win one of the five grants.
6. Look at yourself through someone else’s eyes.
Have you seen the optical illusion of two faces and the vase? If you look at the image in black, it forms two profiles looking at one another. But if you look at the white space between the faces, you can see a vase. Some people see the faces right away but have a hard time seeing the vase. For others, it’s just the opposite.
A senior center had a small, drab thrift shop that didn’t raise much money. While it was located in a college town, the center never really considered it would be of interest to college students so it never bothered to connect.
When a new director was hired, she was able to see the possibilities in the thrift shop. She approached the fashion merchandising program at a local college and offered the thrift shop as a class project. The students were excited at the chance to gain some real merchandising experience and volunteered their time to design attractive new window and floor displays for the shop. (And of course, college students love second hand bargains.)
Not only did the thrift shop start raising a lot more money, but the students recruited their friends for other volunteer work at the senior center.
7. But don’t make it up.
While I urge you to be creative about finding new connections between potential donors and your organization, don’t try to turn a silk purse into a sow’s ear. It never benefits your organization, your donor or philanthropy to misrepresent the work you do. Don’t try to pass a program off as something it is not.
Your success in fundraising ultimately depends on your reputation as being worthy and trustworthy of support.
So get out those kaleidoscopes to start finding the possibility in your organization.
We invite you to share you stories of how you successfully reimagined your giving opportunities.
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You can find an email or printer ready version of this post in the Articles Section of our Tools for Change library. Just click here.
A version of this article first appeared in Contributions Magazine.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on September 18, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Communicating, Fundraising
Friday. 4 pm.
Fifty young people dressed in puffy red jackets, white t-shirts, khaki pants, and work boots were swapping partners in a crazy reinterpretation of ballroom dancing and musical chairs – and my prospective donor (also a prospective Advisory Board member) was right in there with them.
I’m at community meeting at one of the sites of City Year, the national youth service organization. During this end-of-week event, the youth service corps and professional staff reflect on their service work using City Year’s unique form, complete with its own language.
When the dancing stopped, Alicia rose to tell us her Ripple about a child she was tutoring who came up to her today to show off the first ‘A’ he had ever received.
After that, Sam shared a Moccasin, his edgy original poem about racism and poverty.
Jane and Lekisa proudly introduced their community hero, Anthony, the owner of a tiny neighborhood diner, who made sure the three men living on the street nearby got lunch and a hot cup of coffee every day.
By the time that Thuan told his life’s work about his journey from a street gang to his work on a community garden in the neighborhood, my prospective donor was salivating to learn how he could get involved.
Reframing fundraising
For most of our history, humans have relied on stories, rituals and symbols to make sense of the chaos and unpredictability of our world. Our creation stories illuminate the unexplainable. Fables and parables convey moral lessons. Rituals mark important life passages.
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