Posts Tagged ‘nonprofit fundraising’
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.
Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on September 16, 2009 in Upcoming Events, Speaking and Training
Check out the nonprofit workshops we’re giving around New England this Fall. We hope you’ll join us.
- Wednesday, Sept 30th: Gayle will be co-presenting on Annual Giving Campaigns at the Boston Fundraising Summit at Simmons College. Our session runs from 9:30-10:45 am.
- Thursday, Oct 8th: Jon and Gayle will be presenting “How to make the most of your year end appeal” for the RI Land & Water Partnership from 5:30-8:30 pm. The session will take place at Audubon Society of RI headquarters in Smithfield, RI. While the session is open to all, first dibs go to watershed associations and land trusts.
- Tuesday, Nov 3rd: Gayle will be leading a lively discussion “Building Board Leadership: The role of board officers” at TDC’s downtown headquarters in Boston, Mass.
- Monday, Nov 9th: Gayle will be presenting “Funding your work in these times” at the YES WE WILL Conference at the Crowne Plaza, Warwick RI. Her workshop is from 2:45-4:15.
- Friday Nov 13th: Dig deep into board self-assessment at Gayle’s workshop “How are we Doing? Using Self- Assessment to Jumpstart Your Board Improvement Plan” at the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network/Associated Grantmaker’s Conference at the Sheraton Framingham in Framingham, Massachusetts. Session runs from 1:45-3:00 pm.
- Thursday, Dec 3: “Strategic Planning and Succession Planning” will run for the last time in 2009 at the Rhode Island Foundation/ Fidelity Investments Board Development Program. This one is an early morning session from 8:30-11:00 at Fidelity’s Smithfield, RI campus.
See you there.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on September 9, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Effectiveness, Fundraising
My Top 10 Worst Reasons for Choosing a Development Director
It seems one of the hardest assignments in any organization is hiring the right person for the job. Many organizations report that finding a great director of development seems a daunting challenge.
Executive Directors or board members often confide to me that their last development director didn’t work out as well as they hoped. When I probe a little deeper into how they came to select that individual, I’m not surprised. Predictably, the decisions to hire the unsuccessful individuals were based on reasons that had little to do with the competencies for successful fundraisers.
As a cautionary service, I thought I’d share with you my top ten list of tempting, but ill-advised reasons for selecting your director of development.
Reason # 10. They wore a really nice suit.
Yes, a well-pulled together physical appearance is usually an indication that the candidate took the interview and the job seriously. But just because they dressed nice and sounded great, don’t rely on appearances. It is essential both in your interviewing and your reference checking that you verify they can do what they said they will.
Reason # 9. They showed up.
Don’t hire the best of the worst. If you haven’t found the right candidate yet, keep looking. Like any other industry, the job market for fundraising professionals expands and contracts. Sometimes it’s just a matter of timing. Try sending out your search materials again. If you continue to have trouble attracting good candidates, do some investigating to find out why. Is the job underpaid? Does your nonprofit have a poor reputation for the way it treats staff? Word gets around. If you are repelling good candidates, you’ve got to fix the problems before you’ll ever find the best person.
Reason # 8. They were referred by your cousin Selma.
While I would certainly give cousin Selma the courtesy of interviewing her referral, I wouldn’t base my hiring decisions on Selma’s say so. I wouldn’t use Selma as my only reference either — even if Selma was a big donor. It is absolutely essential that you put the needs of the nonprofit first in your recruiting effort. Can this person do the job? Take the time to find good candidates, interview well, and check many references.
Reason # 7. They worked at a bank.
I don’t know how this started, but there seems to be a belief in the nonprofit world that people who work around money automatically know how to raise money. (See also Reason #3).While your development director certainly needs to be financially savvy, that doesn’t necessarily mean a good financial manager is a good fundraiser. Often, it’s just the opposite — while we want our money managers to be on the conservative side, we want our fundraisers to be people-center individuals who will take some risks (within reason) in their drive to turn straw into gold.
Reason # 6. They used to sell real estate…or boats, or insurance or whatever.
Yes, one of the earmarks of a good director of development is the love of the “sale.” You should be looking for someone who isn’t afraid of cold calls, meeting new people, building relationships, closing gifts and keeping donors connected. But, don’t expect that someone with good sales skills can just walk into the job of a development director without technical training and support. There is a lot to know about fund development in the nonprofit world — the legal and tax laws of fundraising, proven fund development techniques, managing volunteers, budgeting and planning, and negotiating the complex relationships between program and fund development, to name a few.
Reason # 5. They are related to the Board president.
(Refer back to Reason # 8.) If you think Selma is tough, hiring the boss’s son or daughter is sure to muck up the distinctions between governance and management — no matter what side of that fence you sit on. To prevent this problem, many organizations have conflict of interest policies that prohibit the family of board members from seeking employment with them. Only you can decide if that’s the right Read More >>
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on July 8, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Communicating, Fundraising
To paraphrase the Golden Rule: Do onto your donors as you would have some organization do onto you.
Fundraisers attend lots of workshops to find the magic technique that will attract and retain donors. But really, don’t most of us already know what it takes to get and keep donors?
At a workshop I facilitated last month for small environmental organizations, I asked these as the starting questions:
- Thinking about an organization that really matters to you, what makes you donate to it?
- What keeps you donating?
- Why wouldn’t you donate to an organization?
Here’s what people said.
Why I donated:
- I had a personal connection or involvement with the organization.
- My family is connected to the organization and its mission.
- The organization makes me feel good.
- Giving makes me feel that I’m doing good – that my contributions matter.
- I want others to experience what I have.
- I have a sense of obligation – payback.
- The organization does work (eg. advocacy) that I know is important but that I can not do myself at this point.
- I wouldn’t want the organization to go away!
What keeps me donating:
- I know that most of the money goes to the mission.
- The group has an important mission that matters to me.
- The group takes time to help me understand the whys.
- They deliver results.
- They tell me what they are doing.
- There is honesty and transparency – even about challenges and failure.
- The web site has lots of good information.
- The group is doing a lot including activities I can participate in.
- The organization has a local connection – I can SEE what they are doing.
- The organization makes me feel valued.
- They personalize their connections with me.
- They are responsive – they speak to me and respond if I connect.
- They do what I ask them to do (especially around their solicitation of my support).
- They model my values.
What I don’t like:
- The organization has no idea who I am or what I care about.
- I get too much information and it’s not useful.
- The organization only wants my money and nothing else.
- Publications are not well matched to mission.
- They use too much guilt.
- We are sent products (mailing labels) that we don’t want.
- The organization is not transparent, or we hear of scandals.
- The materials raise doubts about the financial management of the organization.
- We are concerned that our name was sold or traded without our permission.
- The organization has no website or a poor website.
Now, while not every single donor will respond exactly the way that you respond to some approach from an organization, overall, must of like to be treated as if we matter, we appreciate honesty and we want to give to something that makes a difference about an issue that we truly care about. So why is this so hard to get right?
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on June 23, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Fundraising
A donor is a gift.
Millions of times a day, all around the world, the same simple transaction takes place. A call for help is issued. An individual, moved by that plea, responds with a donation.
Behind all the complex mechanics of a well-rounded annual giving program — the recruitment, renewals, acknowledgment, recognition, upgrades and special events — lies this simple statement.
Let’s say it again, together now:
A donor is a gift.
When you cradle that belief, you can’t help but improve your annual giving program. If you think of each gift as a demonstration of trust, you’ll craft a program worthy of your donor’s belief in you.
When you treat each donor as they gift they are, indifference has no place in your annual giving program.
- Each donor will be thanked for their commitment — today, not tomorrow.
- No donor will have to ask whether their gift was received.
- Each donor will know how their gift has been used.
Your donors will know about the real changes you’ve accomplished — smarter kids, cleaner air, an act of beauty. They’ll even come to understand the challenges in your quest. They’ll become passionate advocates for your cause.
Donors who are treated as gifts consider renewal donations as a joyful obligation. They respond to special appeals. They make bequests.
Their enthusiasm for your cause and your organization is infectious. Their resounding testimonials to your good work are echoed by their friends and neighbors.
When you see your donors as a gift, you’ll take the time to understand who they are, what they care about and what they need from you.
The more you learn about each donor, the easier it will be find and recruit new donors just like them. When you understand and respect a donor’s motivation for giving, you’ll be able to design the right approach to convince others to join your community of giving.
Do the technical aspects of annual giving matter? Absolutely! But good technique won’t mask arrogance or indifference. Authenticity rings true.
So, as you look to redesign your giving program, especially in these uncertain economic times, put this motto at the core of your program:
A donor is a gift.
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on April 20, 2009 in 100 Things We've Learned, Fundraising, Good reads
How do you get donors to give unrestricted gifts? This is a huge challenge for most nonprofits.
Unrestricted gifts are those given by donors with no strings attached. Nonprofits love them because they can use the funds anywhere in their organization. Unrestricted gifts are critical for funding ongoing operations — the stuff you do day in and day out that institutional funders are loathe to give to.
Unrestricted gifts are used to fund back office operations like administration, fund development and finance. While not particularly sexy, these core functions are extremely important to ensuring good management and future sustainability for your organization.
Donors are more likely to give directly to programs, or to anything that feels concrete. That’s why the local land trust can raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to purchase a critical piece of land, but barely can scrape together enough funding to get its newsletter sent on time. Or why many an organization has completed a successful capital campaign to purchase and renovate a new building, only to find it can’t meet the annual costs of operating its shiny new space.
So how do you get donors to give unrestricted gifts? To paraphrase Elizabeth Barrett Browning, let’s count three ways:
- Membership. Though not my favorite, I’ve placed membership at the top of the list because it is the tactic most frequently used. Membership programs imply ongoing affinity for your organization. They suggest giving year after year and donor usually know that the giving supports the basic functions of your organization. The downside of membership is its ability to get in the way of fundraising (Yes. It’s true. More about that in a future post).
- Build donor loyalty. In her book, Donor Centered Fundraising, author researcher Penelope Burk argues that you’d be more successful in pitching designated gifts to your new or more recent donors who haven’t yet learned that your organization delivers on its promises. As you build your relationship and your reputation for results, your donors will be more comfortable investing directly in your organization, without feeling the need to control their gifts.
- Help your donors visualize their investment. While nothing is more important than building donor loyalty, I strongly suggest this approach for both new and long-standing donors. Here is how it works.
Make your case for support just as solid as a bricks and mortar campaign. Look forward three or five years (this is where having a long-term vision really makes a difference). Once you’ve quantified what societal outcomes you are trying to achieve, then add up all the costs of getting there. Add together your direct program costs, your program-related overhead costs, and the cost of the new capacity you need to build to reach your goal. What’s the total? Build your fundraising case around that amount.
You can find an example of this concept in our free Toolbox. Check out “Major Gifts are not Just for Bricks and Mortar.”
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Posted by Gayle Gifford on February 26, 2009 in Communicating, Fundraising, Good reads
I’m already a fan of For Impact/The Suddes Group but they just stole my heart with their wonderful little post today “9 TIps to Help you get to the ask.”
Over and over again I hear from staff and volunteers of nonprofits “I could never ask someone for money.”
Nick Fellers at The Suddes Group has just given anyone involved in raising money an amazing present with his simple and “be authentic” (tip 3) approach.
Tip 9 – “Don’t make decisions for your prospects” is a conversation I have over and over again with nonprofit staff or voluneers who spend way too much time thinking up all the reasons that someone can’t give to them and then use it as the reason to never ask.
I think you’ll really appreciate this tip sheet. Bottom line, or Tip 1, says Fellers, “Always ask.”
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