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.

They found a winning formula. The event is always held in a distinctive place, like the top deck of a parking garage, or an airplane hanger, and on the unfinished 3rd floor of a factory under renovation.

The theme – while based on the concept of “home” to remind everyone of Crossroads mission – inspires or is inspired by the event location.

The production formula

“Our event is quite a production,” Karen explained. “Costumed actors from the community theatre RISE on Broadway donate their time to help create the theme. Our incredible designer, Richard Pascarelli, creates the most extraordinary setting.

“For example, this year’s theme ‘Home Sweet Home’ was designed around the book, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Guests signed in at a candy shop and truly felt like they were in the book. It’s hard to describe just how creative everything is but you can see a slideshow of this year’s event at Home Sweet Home.

“We have about 60 volunteers who help Richard and Crossroads’ special event manager, Pat Campellone, create the decorations, arrange the tables, set up the space and keep things flowing throughout the evening. That includes many of our staff that get a paid day off in exchange for their service. Staff like the event so much they recruit friends and family members to volunteer that night.”

The event has great food, a sit down dinner, and a live band and dancing. The speaking program, limited to the CEO and the Board Chair, is “very, very brief,” Karen explained.

The fundraising formula

The event has always been targeted to RI businesses and corporations. “This year we had two top corporate sponsors at $30,000 and four at $25,000, all the way down to $2,500 for sponsors,” said Karen.

She told me the event tickets in demand because companies use them to reward their top employees. Earlier this year, when she asked a friend who had been at the 2008 event if he’d be there again this year, he lamented how hard it is to get invited to the company table.

Because you can’t count on having your boss invite you, Karen said, Crossroads has sold more and more individual tickets at $150 each. Individual sales totaled about $35,000 in 2009.

“We had 625 people at the event this year … so many that we had to stop selling tickets because there wasn’t enough room for everyone,” Karen said.

Karen explained that there is also a raffle – they start selling raffle tickets in advance and continue through the night of the event. There are only three raffle prizes, all pretty big, and all donated. This year, the top prize was The Ultimate Chocolate Lovers Dream: A Trip to Switzerland. “We raised $23,000 between the raffle and the 300 wonka bars in which were hidden 5 golden tickets for smaller prizes. We sold all 300 of those during the cocktail hour.”

The solicitation plan

I asked Karen how they solicited for tickets.

“This year, because the economy was bad, we sent our sponsorship pledge letters in January, which was earlier than usual. In late May, we hand-delivered a sponsorship confirmation package to secure our sponsors’ pledges for the event. Those packages are a tease to get everyone excited … their design hints at the theme without ever disclosing it. This year, the packages were based around top hats filled with candy.

“After that package is delivered, a team made up of our CEO, Anne Nolan, our board chair Howard Sutton and his wife Kim, our special events manager, and myself call or personally connect with each of the sponsors on our list.”

Karen told me that the event invitation is mailed in July. This past year it was a really sparkly package with top hat and candy wrapper designs. Last year’s invitation looked like a travel packet.

I wondered if they used any electronic media to support the event. Because Crossroads sends out an eNewsletter every week or every other week or so, they are able to include “save the date” notices promoting the event.

About a third of the individual tickets were sold online this year.

Thoughts of canceling

Some of you might wonder about the decision to hold such an event in this economic climate.

Karen told me that they, too, had reservations about running the event this year, given its joyful themes and the bad economy. All around them, other organizations were canceling their events.

At one point, Crossroads even considered switching this year’s event to one of those non-event events where people just send money but don’t come to anything. “You can only do that kind of thing once,” Karen said.

“In the end, canceling or changing the event simply was a bigger risk. Our work depends on the money we raise.”

Proceeds of this event make up about 20 percent of Crossroads’ total annual fund of $2 million.

So, they forged ahead, expecting corporate sponsorships to be down this year, which they were. But what they didn’t expect, and it was a wonderful surprise, was the strength of the individual ticket sales. The growth in individual tickets made up for the drop in corporate sponsorship, and then some.

A friend raiser too

Karen told me that this event introduces a lot of new potential supporters to Crossroads. Everyone who comes is always wowed by the event and can’t stop talking about it. First timers are interested to learn more about Crossroads’ mission and programs. They spread the message to their friends and family.

This year, Crossroads acquired 400 new names and emails as a result of door prizes and other sign ups at the event.

And in a small state that seems to have at least two charity events on any given night, this is an event that people actually look forward to from year to year.

And next year?

“Of course, it’s a surprise” Karen reminded me. “But it will be fabulous and we hope that you’ll come.”

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A version of this article Thinking Big with your Special Event recently appeared in Gayle’s column in Contributions Magazine

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.

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”

During the ceremony, we had the opportunity for silent reflection. It occurred to me then that, in a strange way, marriage is this incredibly defiant act. Defiant? you ask? Why that word.

Without much effort, we can see only problems and turmoil in the future. Global climate change. Ongoing genocide. Torture condoned in our own country. State budgets in crisis, with dramatic budget cuts on the most vulnerable of our citizens. What is an ordinary person to do?

Amanda and Ben, both school teachers, have decided not to give in to hopelessness. Their marriage was a celebration of life, of possibility, of belief in a future, grounded in love, life, and hope.

So our quote today is from Pearl S. Buck:

To eat bread without hope is still slowly to starve to death.

Manga! With hope

Gayle