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How to ensure a successful new nonprofit fundraising year

Now that it is January, you may think that it is time to relax a bit after that hectic holiday season. However, now is the time to ensure that you have strong follow-up to your calendar year-end appeal. 

If you have closed out one fundraising year completely by doing the needed follow-up, you have established a strong base and set your organization up well for success in the upcoming calendar year’s fundraising efforts. As they say, it is not over until it is over! And so, I have outlined several steps below that you can take this month to ensure that you have appropriate follow-up to maximize your calendar year-end efforts.

  1. Examine your largest donors who gave in 2018 and ensure that they made their gift by calendar year-end. If they have not yet made their gift, then it is time to contact them. You do not want your largest donors to lapse, as this will significantly impact the results of your campaign. Time to pick up the telephone or visit in person.
  2. Consider sending out a follow-up mail and/or email to those who did not respond to the year-end appeal. You should send this appeal out no later than late January. Perhaps your direct mail appeal got lost in all the holiday mail or in the flurry of appeals that were sent in. Now, as things have quieted down, is the time to send out one last appeal. Be sure to segment out all those who did give, whether doing mail or email or even both.
  3. Be sure that you send out all of your acknowledgements. Ensure that these acknowledgements are donor-centric and include the necessary updates and impact statements to demonstrate the impact a donor has had through their giving. Please do not mention that they helped you to reach your fundraising goal. This kind of wording will not inspire donors to give!
  4. Begin to assemble a late winter/early spring edition of your newsletter. As we all know, fundraising cannot be all about asking. We must share important updates, especially on the impact that a donor’s gift has made. Now is the time to get this newsletter ready. I urge that you send out both a print and online version. Many donors still read print!
  5. Prepare a Valentine’s or other such stewardship greeting to be sent sometime between now and the next appeal. Valentine’s Day is the perfect day to send a simple greeting of thanks “from the heart” to all of your donors, letting them know what they have made possible. This is a great way to engage clients in creating messaging for donors, whether it is through video, handmade cards, or notes. Use your creativity and be sure to connect messaging to your mission.
  6. Consider holding a phone bank around Valentine’s Day to call donors who have given to your calendar year-end appeal to thank them for their support. Again, “major” holidays are important stewardship times that you can use to have a significant stewardship impact.

So, while your thoughts may be on the new year ahead, let’s not forget the importance of doing a thorough clean-up job on last year’s appeal efforts. Now is the time, when mailboxes have “cooled down” and donors are back from their holidays, to ensure that you have maximized your efforts. Follow these steps above and you will set your organization’s development up for success in the coming year.

For a free, 30-minute consultation, or to learn more about our “Survive and Thrive” professional coaching services, visit us here at www.hireacfre.com or book your fundraising coaching session at http://calendly.com/developmentconsultingsolutions/30min.

Join my new nonprofit “tribe” who are surviving and thriving! Click HERE to join my private Facebook group: Nonprofit Survive and Thrive Mastermind and receive support and inspiration to drive your results.

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How to raise more money this Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday, the Global Day of Philanthropy is on Tuesday, November 28.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is partnering with Facebook again this year to provide a  match up to $2 million to donors who give during that day.

Here are the specifics of this match:

Donations made to participating nonprofit organizations through Facebook’s charitable giving tools beginning at 8:00 am EST on November 28 will be matched — up to $50,000 per nonprofit, or $1,000 per fundraiser or donate button — until the matching funds run out. Facebook and the Gates Foundation are contributing $1 million each for the campaign, and all matched funds will be paid out to nonprofits through Network for Good’s donor-advised fund.

So, what can your organization do to prepare?

Here are some simple steps that I have been recommending to nonprofits to take advantage of this match:

1 – Determine what your Giving Tuesday monetary and non-monetary goals are.  How much do you want to raise?  How many new donors do you want to attract?

2 – Ensure that you have activated your Facebook “Donate” button first and foremost.  Ensure that you are using Facebook’s full scope of charitable giving tools. Otherwise, you will not be eligible for the match.  You also want to ensure that your pages are branded so that folks can recognize the Giving Tuesday campaign.

3 – Ensure that your website and online donation portal are up-to-speed and ready to go.  Make sure that you rigorously test them.  Your website and donation portal should be easy for a donor to use and navigate.  Donating should not be difficult.

4 – If you have work to do on your donor lists, now is the time.  Make sure that they all get uploaded into your Donor Management System, particularly your email addresses.

5 – Draft your social media and email messaging now.  You will want to announce this match opportunity in advance as well as send out reminders the day before, the day of, and an acknowledgement the day after.  Use key days such as “Black Friday” as messaging points.  Be sure to use photos, videos, and testimonials.  Consider integrating into your current calendar year-end campaign.

6 – Be sure to recruit ambassadors as social media messengers for your cause during this campaign.  You may want to enlist your Board, staff, and volunteers to help spread the word about your GIving Tuesday by sharing your social media messages with their family and friends.  If you are using Peer-to-Peer Fundraising, then get your folks set-up and engaged in advance of the actual day.

7 – Develop a plan to steward these Giving Tuesday donors once Giving Tuesday is complete, and you begin marching into December.

These are some simple steps that you can take to begin to plan for your Giving Tuesday campaign.

Now, I want to hear from you.  What steps is organization taking to prepare for this day of giving?

Post your thoughts in the comments below.

 

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How to re-engage lapsed donors in your organization

A lapsed donor is one who has lapsed from giving at least a calendar year.  They are the most significant donors to focus your efforts on re-engaging since they have already demonstrated an interest in your organization.

There are several ways to re-engage these lapsed donors.  Here are some suggestions that you can implement within your organization.

  1. Identify those donors who gave last year and yet have to donate this year.  Those are your lapsed donors.
  2. Add up the total giving from these lapsed donors.  Surely after seeing this number, you will want to spend some time trying to recapture them.
  3. Segment out the major donors from this list.  A major donor giving level will vary from organization to organization i.e. $250, $500, $1,000, or even more.
  4. Share this list with your Development Committee of the Board and discuss the plan of action.
  5. Have Board members identify those major donors that they can personally call on.
  6. Intend to call on these donors either through personal visits or telephone to secure a gift commitment.
  7. Plan to send a specialized segmented direct mail letter to all others not identified as major donors.

You could also use this same strategy for each appeal that you send out to be proactively trying to prevent lapsing from occurring in the first place.

For more a strategy on how to do this, visit this link here.  And, for a sample copy of a lapsing donor direct mail appeal letter, email me here.

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How to ensure the success of your next fundraising campaign

Often, I get asked, “What is the magic behind a successful fundraising campaign?”

Well, it is not all magic.  There is some science.  And, with over twenty years of experience, I am going to share the top tips that have made it all “seem” like magic so that you can too.

How to ensure a successful fundraising campaign

I am going to share with you step-by-step the formula that I use with all of my clients to ensure that fundraising campaigns are as successful as can be.

#1 – Ensure that you have the best fundraising team possible.  Be selective in whom you choose, develop expectations and responsibilities in advance, and seek the chair of your fundraising effort first.

#2 – Once the Chair is in place, then have them assist you in the search for the rest of your fundraising team.  Be sure that you only select folks who do what they say they are going to do. Test them with small tasks first.  Be sure to select high-performing people to have a high-performing team.  And, don’t be afraid to say “no” to someone who just can’t meet the expectations or pass the “test!”  Never recruit as a group – always person to person.  Ensure you have a good mix of influential and effective candidates.

#3 – Divide up your fundraising team into different divisions i.e. events, mail, personal solicitation, phone, prospect rating, etc.

#4 – Create a fundraising goal that includes the costs of the campaign in the total.  It costs money to raise money so be sure that you calculate those costs into the overall campaign goal.  You can estimate campaign costs at 10% of the fundraising goal i.e. materials, staff, events, donor recognition, etc.

#5 – Create a gift chart to outline the number of gifts and prospects needed to reach your fundraising goal. Custom tailor the gift chart to your organization. It is not a one size fits all approach.  Email me for a copy of a campaign gift chart example.

# 6 – Develop a prospective donor list from both your current donors as well as by conducting overall research to find new ones.  Once you have your prospective donor list, then you will need to rate and rank them.  Get a committee together who will focus on rating prospects according to capacity, affinity, and interest.

#7 – Once you have rated your prospects, then you can tier them into an “A List,” “B List,” etc.  This ranking will allow you to focus your efforts on those who have the greatest capacity and interest in your cause.

#8 – Modify the gift chart as your campaign progresses depending on the level of gifts that come in.  If you have fewer major donors than expected than you need to adjust your lower tier of donors, etc.

# 9 – Employ a sequential model of fundraising.  Classify prospects according to assessed giving potential and start solicitation with the Top Giving Levels and move down.

#10 – Start with your “Family/Nucleus” gifts first.  Your Board, staff, and volunteers must demonstrate a commitment to the mission before you begin asking anyone else.  If they are not committed, how can you expect anyone else to be committed?  You should conduct all Top Giving and Family/Nucleus levels by personal solicitation.

#11 – Develop strategies to solicit the lower level donors i.e. direct mail, events, telephone, etc.

#12 – Be sure to develop a realistic month-by-month timeline to ensure that you keep the momentum of the campaign fresh and have key benchmarks to meet.

#13 – Develop ways to recognize donors of all giving levels to the campaign.  Donor recognition levels can inspire donors to give more than they may usually give.

Sequential fundraising is THAT important.  Once you violate the “Top Gift” solicitation sequence, your entire fundraising campaign is in jeopardy.  Failure to follow this approach lowers giving standards across the Board.

If I could choose the number one reason why most campaigns fail, it would be that they did not follow this sequential model of fundraising including asking their “family” first.  In fact, I have seen campaigns languish for years never reaching their goal.

And, if you need help developing your next fundraising campaign, let us help you! 

 

 

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How to create donor recognition opportunities for your fundraising campaign

An important part of any fundraising campaign is how you plan on recognizing your donors at different giving levels. While donor recognition opportunities do not motivate all donors, the fact is that some are. And, you need to be prepared to offer this valuable tool to inspire the sights of your donors who are motivated by public forms of recognition. Different things motivate different donors. So, always begin by knowing your donor.

Below I share with you a step-by-step method to creating Donor Recognition Opportunities that will inspire your donors to set their sights higher. And, public recognition inspires all donors from big to small and for all kinds of fundraising campaigns, not just capital ones.

There are several important guidelines that one should consider first before actually coming up with the recognition opportunities.

First, it is important that you have several recognition opportunities available for your donors to select.

Second, the top-level gift should be larger than the largest gift projected during the fundraising campaign.

Third, the cumulative values of the donor recognition opportunities should add up to significantly greater than the overall fundraising goal.

And, lastly, the donor recognition opportunity should be two to three times the costs of construction, furnishings, or overall costs of the opportunity.

Once you have given these guidelines consideration, here is how you can establish your donor recognition opportunities step-by-step.

Step #1 – Invite key staff and volunteers to a Donor Recognition Planning Meeting and review your building plans or fundraising campaign outline.

Step #2 – Brainstorm all of the possible named gift opportunity “places” or “things” i.e. main lobby, flag pole, endowed department, scholarships, staff positions, etc. Think expansively and creatively remembering that nothing is off limits.

Step #3 – Write each possible brainstormed building place on a sticky note and put them on the wall in random order.

Step #4 – Look at your campaign gift range chart and determine how many gifts are needed at each level to reach your goal.

Step #5 – Determine the “Curb Appeal” gifts. These gifts are those that provide value for the opportunity and are not necessarily just based on gift size. For instance, a lobby will hold more “curb appeal” than say a large industrial kitchen located in the back of a facility hardly ever seen by the general public.

Step #6 – Match the top “Curb Appeal” gift with naming opportunity that is the largest on the list, etc.

Step #7 – Be sure to present this Donor Recognition Plan to the Board to ensure that they approve of your plans. Ensure that the Board votes to approve this plan. Don’t skip over this step! You need the Board’s support.

There are also other ways that you can recognize your donors. For instance, you can recognize mid-level to lower-level givers with a group plaque, listing in the print donor honor roll, or on the organization’s website. You may also choose to run brick and pavers or wall tile program. And, inevitably, you will recognize all of your donors at a post-campaign celebratory event.

If you would like to see a sample Donor Recognition Plan, email me!

One thing that you do need to ensure is that you are consistent with how you recognize your donors. Everyone needs to be treated equally regarding what his or her gift will afford in a named gift opportunity.

And, now the organization is ready to begin asking for gifts from donors using these different named gift opportunities as a way to motivate donors to step up their giving to the campaign.

And, if you need help developing your fundraising campaign donor recognition opportunities, let us help you! 

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How to calculate your key fundraising metrics

Now that it is development planning season for many with the start of a new fiscal year looming, I am often asked, where do you start first when putting together your development plan and calendar.

Well, for me, I start at the beginning. I tend to look at the key metrics and how past Return on Investment (ROI) has been for each fundraising activity including events, appeals, major gifts, etc., etc., etc.  By looking at ROI, you will determine whether or not a particular activity is effective or not.  It prevents that “well we have always done it this way” or “we hold this event every year, so we can’t stop it now.”  It allows you to keep the proverbial “winners” while deciding to eliminate those activities that are not as effective or are not meeting best practices.

I should add a disclaimer before I go on that – not all activities have a sole purpose of raising money!  So, specific metrics would need to be developed for those particular activities.

So what are some of those key metrics and how do you calculate them?

I start by gathering:

# of pieces – # of pieces mailed to select group of the database or number of direct requests

# of gifts – # of gifts received by mailing or number of donors responding with gifts

Gross income – Income without expenses calculated or values of gifts and contributions received

Expenses – expenses of mailing including copywriting, design, mailing services and postage or amount of fundraising budget spent

Then I calculate:

Net income – Expenses minus gross income

Participation rate – # of participants divided by total solicitations

Average gift – Divide revenue received by participants

Average cost per gift – Divide expenses by participants

Cost of fundraising – Expenses divided by revenue

Net ROI – Net income divided by expenses; multiplied by 100 for percentage rate of return

I put this all in a spreadsheet document with like appeals spanning a number of years together i.e. Spring Appeal 2012, 2013, 2014, 2105, etc.  So that ROI comparisons can be easily made.  If you would like a sample copy of this Appeal Comparison spreadsheet to use for your purposes, email me here!

Then from there, I evaluate all of this data against Industry Best Practices in terms of Solicitation Activity Reasonable Cost Guidelines as found below.

Solicitation Activity Reasonable Cost Guidelines

Direct mail (acquisition) $1.00 to $1.25 per $1.00 raised
Direct mail (renewal) $0.20 to $0.25 per $1.00 raised
Special events $0.50 per $1.00 raised
Volunteer-led personal solicitation $0.10 to $0.20 per $1.00 raised
Corporation and Foundation Grants $0.20 per $1.00 raised
Capital campaigns/ Major Gifts $0.05 to $0.10 per $1.00 raised
Planned Giving $0.20 to $0.30 per $1.00 raised

If an activity meets the Reasonable Cost Guidelines then it is a keeper, if not, then it is time to evaluate why.  Don’t throw an activity out solely on not meeting these guidelines, especially if you have other “goals” in mind for the particular strategy, but do be conscious of this in your planning process.

Sometimes a strategy such as an event may provide great public relations or offer a possible donor cultivation moment.  Keep these things in mind as you plan.  And, if you need help evaluating your ROI and putting together a fundraising plan, let us help you! 

Follow Robin on LinkedIn, on Twitter: @HIREACFRE!, and Facebook.

 

Enjoy my work? Share & comment below and I’ll connect with you to further the conversation.

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How to engage your Board in fundraising before the ask or the thank you call.

Just this week, I was working with a client, and we were discussing Board member engagement in fund development. The assumption was, ho hum, “they just won’t participate.”  It was then that I came across a blog article outlining all of the wonderful ways that you can engage your Board in fundraising.  You know things like, make thank you calls, write notecards, etc., etc., etc.

To be honest, we have heard these over and over again.  The reality is that even though you can talk about all the different ways that Board members can participate in the process of raising philanthropic dollars, it still doesn’t cause engagement.

So, my client and I stepped back and bit and talked about how some successful organizations ARE engaging their Boards in fundraising.  And, what we noticed is that with very successful organizations, it all begins with how you recruit, screen, and bring on new Board members to your organization. And, here based on that evaluation are some simple steps that you can take to revolutionize your Board engagement.

Here is what I recommend:

  • As a fundraiser, become a member of the Board nominating or preferably governance committee, if not already a member.  And, as an executive, advocate for your fundraiser’s participation on this important committee.  It all starts here.
  • Develop a formally written and adopted Board recruitment process and procedure.
  • One you have identified an appropriate Board member candidate, schedule a screening interview. (Yes, a screening interview!  Why would you not screen for one of the most important jobs in your organization?)
  • Send the prospective candidate information in advance i.e. things like your brochure, a list of volunteer opportunities, committee listings, relevant Board policies, etc., etc.
  • At the interview, first, review the process and purpose of the meeting i.e. “getting-to-know” each other interview.
  • Then review with the candidate the organization’s values, mission, and services seeking alignment.  If the candidate does not align with those core elements of your organization’s identity that is a “red flag.”
  • Share with the candidate the major issues facing the organization both opportunities and challenges.
  • Share with the candidate the different ways that the organization uses volunteers i.e. committees, policies, meeting schedule, etc., etc.
  • Review skills, experiences, diversity, and network needs that the organization has identified.  Discuss with the candidate which of these they desire using on behalf of the organization. Seek alignment.
  • Review Board member responsibilities and expectation, particularly around fund development seeking commitment to them
  • Close the meeting but don’t make any decisions yet.
  • Bring all of this information back to the nominating/governance committee to discuss and make recommendations.  Remember the fundraiser must sit on this committee.
  • Once the candidate is voted on and accepted, bring them on and into an orientation process reviewing the organization’s values, mission, services, and goals.  At this time, provide training on a “Culture of Philanthropy” and further reiterate the Board expectations around engagement in development.
  • Have all Board members sign a Board Member Contract agreeing to uphold this commitment regarding responsibilities and expectation and develop a Board Fund Development Expectation Form that the Board member must sign and date indicating how exactly what they explicitly commit to upholding.  Email me for a sample Board Fund Development Expectation Form.
  • Board Chair reviews Board member’s performance throughout the year to ensure performance meets expectations and outlined contract. If the Board member’s performance does not meet expectations, the Board Chair MUST “thank and release” the Board member.  Yes, this MUST happen for the whole process to maintain its credence. You must “thank and attrition” poor performers.

The key to Board engagement is truly about setting and managing Board member’s expectations BEFORE they even join your Board of Directors. This way, they know right up front what is expected of them as they perform their role.  What I often hear from client’s Board members, is that “I had no idea that was what I was supposed to be doing.”  So, out of fear of the unknown, Board members are hesitant about ever committing to fund development because the importance has never been relayed to them, training never provided, and the expectations never set.

So, while all these great articles can espouse how to engage your Board members in making telephone calls and writing note cards, you can’t even hope for them to begin to participate in your fundraising efforts if they are unsure of what you expect from them.  This engagement all starts before they officially come onboard.

Follow the above recommended “How To’s” and watch your Board member engagement in fundraising and your organization soar!

And, if you need help creating a custom Board Recruitment Process, let us help you! Email me today to schedule an hour to get your Board engagement in shape!

 

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How to turn your fundraising event attendees into supportive donors

Spring is the season of Galas or so it seems.

And, rightly so, the weather is turning warmer and everyone’s thoughts seem to be on getting out after a long winter.

I am often asked by organizations who are holding galas or other fundraising events, what is the key to turning event attendees into loyal donors?

I do have to say that this is not an easy feat in and of itself.  Most folks who attend a fundraising event are doing so because they have either been invited, they are attending because it is a social night out, or for a host of other reasons that are not necessarily about a measure of donor commitment or loyalty.

I believe that there are a number of things that you can do to stimulate interest both pre, during, and post-event to at least begin to develop a relationship with some donors who may be interested in supporting your charity in a more transformative way.

I will outline several steps below that you can take to steward your event attendees after the event.

Here is a possible post-event stewardship plan:

New attendees – Call preferred for all by Board member with a relationship or other assigned designee.  Mention donation made, how the money will be used, and learn about their possible interest in the organization.

Repeat attendees that did NOT donate – Handwritten note by Board member with a relationship or Executive Director.  Thank for continued support of the event and ask about their interest in learning more about the organization.

Repeat attendees that did donate – Call if a relationship or donated more than $1,000, note for everyone else.  Mention donation made, how the money will be used, and learn about their possible interest in the organization.

Donated but did not attend – Call if a relationship or if donated more than $1,000.  Mention success of the event and how the money donated will be used.  Ask about their interest in learning more about the organization.

People who donated significant auction items – Personal call by the person with a relationship and letter of acknowledgment.  Executive Director and/or Board Chair may send a note as well.  Mention how the money will be used and ask about their interest in learning more about the organization.

While you don’t have to follow this post-event stewardship plan to an exact science, the one thing that you need to do is to have already developed your post-event stewardship plan before the event even happens so that immediately after the event, you can put this plan into action.

Think expansively and creatively about how you can recognize your donors.  But, the important part is to put some thought in it, to begin with.

Key things to think about:

  • Who?  To what categories of event attendees?  For instance, Silent auction and raffle donors? First-time attendees, etc.  And, who will be doing the follow-up?  Board members with relationships, staff with relationships, etc.
  • What?  What vehicle will you use to steward your donors?  Will it be a hand-written note, a telephone call, or a visit, etc?  Will you use e-mail and social media?  And, how?  What is the message?  What do you intend to share with them?
  • When?  When will this stewardship take place?  Immediately after the event?  A week or so later?
  • Other follow-up and planned engagement?  What planned follow-up after the initial engagement will you schedule in?

The key piece again, please do not wait until it is too late.  Think through your post-event stewardship plan, seek buy-in and ownership from the Board, and be ready to implement fairly soon after your event concludes.

While these are some of the hardest folks to take from transactional to transformative, it can be done with a bit of thoughtful planning and strategy.

Don’t let your event, just be an event. Use it as a way to cultivate potential new donors who may be interested in who you are and what you do.

And, if you need help creating a custom post-event stewardship plan, let us help you!  Email me today to schedule an hour to get your event stewardship plan in shape!v

 

 

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How to create a quick and easy fundraising plan to help you reach your goals

So, maybe you have been operating without a plan up until now.  And, that is ok, but it is not strategic, and to meet your goals, you need to have a plan that you follow, monitor, and correct if needed.

Here are some simple instructions on how you can quickly create a development plan if you have been operating without one.

  1.  Develop a gift table.  A gift table outlines the number of gifts needed for you to reach your fundraising goals.  And, yes, even small fundraising goals should have a gift table created.  So, for instance, if you have a goal of $50,000, you would need a top gift of $12,500.  I have another article on how to use a gift chart to guide your fundraising effort.
  2. Once you have your gift chart created, it will guide your strategies.  Take that gift table and think about how you are going to raise your top gifts.
  3. Then break out all the possible fundraising strategies into key categories.  Those key categories may be major donors, individual donors, Board giving, special events, corporation and businesses, private grants, government grants, and earned revenue.
  4. Plan on how many you are going to solicit from each category and how i.e. individual donors you may send out a lapsed donor appeal, an annual renewal appeal, and perhaps a prospective donors appeal using direct mail appeal and maybe phone follow-up.  Your complete mail out will be close to 1,000.  You can even go a step further and calculate the average gift amount if you are able.
  5. From the numbers that you will be soliciting and the calculated average gift amount determine what your estimated income will be.  Know or have any expenses, calculate those and subtract them from your expected income, and you have a net income number.
  6. Then the last key element of this plan is to determine when you will complete each strategy by and who is responsible for the strategy i.e. development staff, executive direct, Board of Directors, etc.
  7. Then implement your plan. But, most importantly use this plan as a monthly monitoring tool.  Share it at your Management Staff meetings and with your Development Committee or the Board of Directors.  If it appears as if you are “off” on projections, make mid-course corrections and adjust your budget.
  8. But, don’t let this sit on a shelf.  Get it in action.

You may want to consider putting all of the key plan information in a spreadsheet to have it all in one place.  Or you can use a Word document table.  Whatever format you use, start with the gift table, develop the plan, keep this plan in a prominent place, share it and monitor it, and make mid-course corrections.

You can’t operate successfully without a plan in place to drive and focus your effort

Then you will be on your way to reaching your yearly fundraising goals.

And, if you need help creating this development plan, let us help you!  Email me today to schedule an hour to get your development plan in shape!

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How you can find prospective donors for even your small nonprofit

One may think that there are only a limited number of donors to go around, but think again.

In my work, I assist small to mid-sized organizations in running their first capital campaigns. Many do not have established donor bases to tap into for an already existing pool of major donors. So, I assist. And, I am here to say that yes, you too can, even in your small nonprofit, develop a list of 25 or more possible major donors to your organization.

I am going to take you step by step on how to begin establishing that prospect list for your nonprofit organization and then share with you some next steps on how to prioritize that list.

Here are the steps you can take to develop your prospect master list:

  • Use informal organizational networks including organizational friends and family members i.e. Board members, staff, volunteers, etc. to identify prospects within their respective networks who have both wealth and affinity for the cause.
  • Ask your current donors when meeting with them if they know of anyone else who may support the cause.
  • Research prominent donors to other similar organizations who may be making small gifts to your organizations. It is helpful to obtain copies of their annual reports, newsletters, and even event programs to see the giving levels of the prospective donors. Annual reports may be found online or hard copy by request.
  • Research who has been attending your events. There are folks here who already know of your mission and may be willing to deepen their relationship with you.
  • Research others who live in your community who might give to you using voter, property (Grand), the local chamber of commerce, houses of worship, and other lists.

So now what do you do when you have all this information?

Here is what I recommend:

Cull through all these lists to create a Master List of prospects whom you think “make the cut” regarding any possibility of capacity, affinity, or connection.r

Let me define these for you.

  • Capacity – ability to give
  • Affinity – philanthropic to a similar cause or interest
  • Connection – involvement in your organization

Once you have this Master List developed then work with the fundraising/development committee, Board of Directors, or other volunteers (they should know folks in the community) to rate and rank each donor during a rating session to determine potential giving capacity, interest, and affinity.

Then, organize lists of donors into tiers of giving to decide who is approachable first, those needing further cultivation, etc.  I just happen to like this worksheet right here!

And, from there you have a Master List of the top 20-25 prospective donors to your organization.  Even the smallest of non-profit organizations should be able to come up with a Master List of at least 25 potential donors after following these steps.

And, if you need someone to help build your prospect list for your next fundraising campaign, Development Consulting Solutions is always here for YOU!

 

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How a gift range chart can help you raise more money even in your small nonprofit

One might think that gift range charts are just for large projects such as capital campaigns or for significant fundraising efforts.  And, while, yes, there is some truth to that, gift range charts can be used effectively in even the smallest of fundraising shops.

A gift range chart will tell you exactly how many gifts AND prospects you need at each giving level to reach your goal. And, it also shows you the potential to reach your fundraising goal.

So, first, how do you create one?

  • Well, you can use any online calculator to do so.  I highly recommend the simple and easy to use Blackbaud gift range calculator.  You can find that tool here.
  • A gift range chart calculator is only going to provide you with an estimate. If you want to be more accurate, you may want to create the chart on your own using the given realities of your organization.  So, how do you go about creating your own?  Well, you will want to identify the highest level gift to your fundraising efforts.  That will probably be somewhere in the area of 20% of goal.  Estimate 3-5 prospective donors per gift.  Fill in your chart downwards based on what you know about your donors and their capacity.  Gift amounts go down, and the number of donors increases.

So, here is what a $100,000 fundraising goal would look like: https://www.blackbaud.com/nonprofit-resources/gift-range-calculator

How do you now use this information to inform your strategy?

  1. I would first look at the top gifts needed.  Here in this example, you would need 1 – $10K, 1 – 7.5K, 2 – $5K, and 3 – $3.5K for a total of $38K.  There are several options, right? You could write several grants.  In this case, you would need 28 grant possibilities, or you could approach a few major donors.
  2. Then if you look at your next tier of gifts, you would need $34K in gifts.  Perhaps you have a fundraising event, or maybe a direct mail campaign or a series of direct mail campaigns.  Or perhaps you continue to ask for gifts at this level.
  3. Maybe you look even further down and realize that you have a series of direct mail appeals, or that one appeal will do it for the remainder of the $28K or so.

The fact of the matter is that any possibility of a strategy will work, as long as it is realistic and fits for your organization. The key thing to remember is that you want to secure the top gifts first.  If you don’t raise those, then you need to readjust all the lower levels of the gift range chart below to “make up” for the difference.

Then, you can use this gift range chart as a monitoring and reporting tool. Let’s say that you are not hitting your “lead” gift targets.  Well, you can certainly adjust this gift range chart mid-course and make the necessary adjustments to your strategy BEFORE your fundraising efforts get too far off track.  And, this would be a great tool to share with your Board of Directors to educate them on the process of raising money and how your particular efforts are progressing towards projections.

So, though you may think that gift range charts are for the “big shops,” think again, a gift range chart can provide even the smallest campaign with focus and goals based on actualities and realities.

So, this next fiscal year why don’t you first start by creating a realistic gift range chart for your annual fund campaign and develop strategies to get you to your goal.

 

 

 

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What’s next after your capital campaign feasibility study?

So, your consultant has just finished your capital campaign feasibility study.  The report is sitting on your desk, and you are wondering, where do I go from here?

Here are some possibilities:

The report may recommend that the organization takes some time to prepare its fundraising infrastructure before going into full campaign mode. Preparation may include things such as strengthening volunteer leadership, identifying campaign chairs, enhancing their fund development office, etc.  The organization should take the time to heed these recommendations and work either internally or with the/a consultant to strengthen some of the key identified areas before mounting a full capital campaign effort.

In some cases, the report may recommend that the organization move into full capital campaign mode.  In that case, the agency should seek to hire outside counsel either the firm that conducted the feasibility study process or another fundraising firm specializing in capital campaign management.

This report should be presented to the Feasibility Study Committee for review and once accepted by this committee; the committee should then give the report to the organization’s full Board of Directors for approval.  Once the Board approves, it should move to act on the recommendation found in the study.

In no shape or form, should this study be allowed to slip away or be placed on a shelf somewhere.  Time for action is now.  You do not want to lose the interest of donors and other key community members who have been part of the process and in some senses cultivated for a capital campaign effort.

In fact, the organization should share an abbreviated format of the study with these key donors and community members, and seek their opinions and possible engagement in the findings and campaign next steps.  The worst thing that can happen is that momentum is built through the study process and then grinds to a halt.

Accept the report, begin recommendation implementation, and engage key stakeholders throughout the process.

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