Archive for the ‘Fundraising Planning’ Category

With any big project (and especially fundraising), it’s critical that you start with a plan. Let me share a non-fundraising example to illustrate that point.

I spent last week with a group of friends at a quilting retreat. It was a blast! We laughed and ate and sewed to our hearts’ content. Here’s one of the quilts I finished:

 

 

To create a quilt like this, you have to start with a plan, or at least an idea of what you want the finished quilt to look like.  If you just randomly bounced through your sewing space sewing first one fabric then another, the result would be fairly hideous. You have to think about the colors you want to use and the blocks you want to include. Will your quilt have borders?  Decorative finishes? Will you hand quilt or machine quilt?  The answers to all these questions impact the end result.

In fundraising, it’s very similar. You need to begin with the end in mind. Will you be successful in reaching your goal or not?  Will you include grants? Direct response?  Will you give people the opportunity to give online, in person or both? How will you communicate with them to build relationships?  How will you thank your donors? The answers to these questions (and more) form your plan.

If you are like most, you don’t have a written fundraising plan and it’s holding you back. Yep, that one simple document will make ALL the difference in your success. That’s one reason why I’m hosting a very special training this Thursday, April 26th to walk you through a series of simple steps to put together a written fundraising plan for your nonoprofit. The coolest thing about this training is that it will be livestreamed, which means you can watch and participate live through video on the internet. No travel (and no travel expense!). In just 3 short hours, we’ll put together a roadmap for you to guide you through the rest of 2012 so that you can raise all the money you want. Check out all the details at www.getfullyfunded.com/livestream-workshop.

You can also catch a series of videos I recorded about the need for planning at http://getfullyfunded.com/create-a-fundraising-plan/.

 

You know you need a fundraising plan, but if you’re like most, you don’t know where to start. 

Although planning can seem overwhelming, it’s not really a difficult process, yet it makes all the difference in the world in the success you will enjoy in raising big money. You want that, right?

Let me make it simple for you and share the 9 steps to creating a powerful fundraising plan.

Step 1. Start where you are. Before you can create goals to work toward, you need to know where you are. Anytime you look at a map, you first have to find your starting point. Do a quick inventory of what’s working and what isn’t in your fundraising efforts. An honest assessment of your current situation can lay the foundation for moving forward.

Step 2. Identify your assets. What have you got to work with?  Great name recognition? Compelling mission? Something else? Once you know your organization’s strengths, you’ll know what you have that you can leverage.

Step 3. Set your targets. There are 3 fundraising targets that you need to shoot for – raising money, renewing current donors, and acquiring new donors.  No matter which fundraising techniques you use, you need to include these three targets.

Step 4. Choose your strategies. Pick out the fundraising strategies you want to use that will get you the most donations for the least investment of time, energy, and money, for the greatest long-term gain. Be very purposeful in your choices.Make sure they will work for your organization and support your targets.

Step 5 Set your goals. Once you know which strategies you’ll choose, set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.

Step 6. Create a plan of action.  This may be the most important step!  The action plan gives you detailed steps that must be taken in order to reach your goals. It tells you who will do each step, when it will be done, and any resources that are needed.

Step 7. Work the plan.  Taking action is the difference between wildly successful nonprofits and those than languish.  You want to be a successful nonprofit? Implement. Do stuff. Take action on your plan.

Step 8. Monitor the plan. Review your plan frequently to see how things are going. If you don’t ever evaluate your plan, there’s no point in creating one in the first place.

Step 9. Refine as needed. Your plan should not be carved in stone. Things change. Adjust your plan as often as necessary to achieve your goals and hit your targets.

These 9 steps are from the new version of my book “Simple Success Fundraising Plan.“  On Thursday, April 26, 2012, I’ll be leading a one-of-a-kind livestream workshop to walk you through these 9 steps.  Get all the details at http://getfullyfunded.com/livestream-workshop/.

I recently led a webinar for AFP titled “6 Simple Steps to Creating a Wrriten Fundraising Plan.” Hundreds of people attended, and there were so many questions that didn’t get answered, that I offered to answer them here on my blog.  Even if you didn’t attend the webinar, you will likely glean some great info from my answers. 

By the way, the information I presented in the webinar came from my “Simple Success Fundraising Plan” which is available at http://getfullyfunded.com/get-fully-funded-books/books-audios/simple-success-fundraising-plan/.

 

How do you get your Board members to listen to you?

I know how frustrating it can be to work with a group of well-meaning Board members, especially when they don’t listen to you.  I can remember thinking “You pay me to be the resident expert and you pay to send me to training.  Why don’t you listen to what I have to say?”

I think it’s a matter of trust and respect.  Every time you interact with your Board, you’re either building trust and respect, or tearing it down.  Think of an emotional bank account.  Are you making deposits or withdrawals? Lots of deposits equals a healthy relationship based on trust.  That’s what you need in order for them to listen to you.

One way you can work on building trust is to set fundraising goals and reach them.  This shows your Board that you know what you’re doing and that you’re trustworthy.

If this doesn’t work, consider bringing in an outside person like a facilitator or consultant.  Many times, I’ve been the outside person to say things that the staff have been saying all along, and where they wouldn’t listen to the staff, they listen to me.  I’m not sure exactly why that is, but I’ve seen it happen time and time again.

  

How do you get other people to buy into your plan?  

The best way to get people to buy into a plan is to get them involved in it.  You may not want them involved in all the details, but find ways to ask for their opinion, advice, and feedback.  Involvement leads to ownership.  Without ownership, people won’t consider it “our” plan, they’ll consider it “your” plan.

If you’re a staff member and you want Board buy-in, start with one Board member, preferably your Fundraising Committee Chair or your Board Chair.  Get their buy-in first, then let them lead the charge to get the rest of the Board on board.  This peer-to-peer engagement usually works very well. On the Board that I sit on, I serve this role and I find my fellow Board members to pay more attention to me than to our fundraising staff.

 

How much time should you invest in planning and how much detail should you get into?

You need to spend enough time on planning and get into enough detail that you feel confident in your plan and your ability to accomplish it.  If you rush through it and slap it together, it probably won’t have enough detail to be helpful.  Remember you’ll get out of it what you put into it.  If you can’t dedicate a full day or two to creating a plan, carve out an hour a day for two weeks and see what you can accomplish.

  

To determine cost per unit of service, do you include all expenses, including salary, operating expenses, and overhead?

Knowing your cost per unit of service can be incredibly helpful to you as you tell your story.  Sometimes, this one fact can tell the story better than hundreds of words.  First, decide what your unit of service is.  It might be an hour of counseling, a single meal for a person, a night’s shelter, or something else depending on the services your organization provides.  Once you have this defined, look back at your total expenses from last year and the total number of units of service delivered last year.  In your expenses, include everything (salaries, overhead, etc.). Then simply divide the numbers to find your cost per unit of service.  For example, let’s say you work for a food bank and your organization handled 6 million pounds of food last year.  Your total expenses were $495,678.  Your cost per unit of service is 495,678/6,000,000 or $0.08.  Imagine the impact that would have on a donor when you tell them for every 8 cents they give, you can get a pound of food to a person in need!

 

What fundraising software do you recommend?

There are lots of great donor-tracking software programs out there.  Go to www.idealware.org to get a good comparison of them.  They will all do pretty much the same thing, so it’s about how much you want to spend and which one you like.  I suggest you download the free trial versions of several of the top ones and try them out to see what feels right for you. 

  

Should an organization fundraise for a Fundraiser (money to pay for a person to raise money)?

Yes.  There comes a point in the growth of every nonprofit where it makes sense to pay someone to join the staff as a professional fundraiser.  The important thing here is to get a professional because they will know what works and what doesn’t.  Don’t attempt to hire someone to work on commission.  It’s considered unethical among professional fundraisers and you won’t get anyone worth their salt. 

  

How do you track renewal rates?  Some donors skip a year.  Do you analyze annually?

First, you have to define an active donor for your organization.  The easiest way to do that is to consider an active donor anyone who has given in the past 12 months.  Then, compare last year to the year before to see which donors renewed their support.  A good donor-tracking software will help you do that.

If a donor skips a year, then I would question how engaged they are in your organization’s work.  Donors who feel connected will give every year and usually multiple times throughout the year. You don’t want donors to skip a year, because that can lead to their lapsing.  Do what you need to do to build relationship and engage them.

You need to look at renewal rates each year so that you can keep your finger on the pulse of your donor base.  You are likely to lose around 35% of your donors each year and you can’t afford to let this happen!  Analyzing your donor renewal rates regularly is a wise thing to do and you can bet the most successful nonprofits out there are doing it.

 

How do you find new donors?

Before you go out looking for new donors, you need to define your ideal donor prospect.  Who is the person who is most likely to want to support your organization?  The place to start is by looking at your current donors.  What do they have in common?  Be sure to answer this question in terms of both demographics and psychographics.  The more clearly you can define your ideal donor prospect, the more easily you can go out and find them.  For example, let’s say that through surveying and research, you discover that most of your donors are women, 55+, college graduates, and married.  They attend church regularly and are very active in the community.  You could then use this information to go find new donors.  You could find speaking opportunities at churches and women’s groups to target this particular group. If you want more info, grab my free CD “How to Attract All the Donors You Need” at www.GetFullyFunded.com.

  

What formula do you use to decide how many new donors you need to acquire each year?

It’s a good idea to constantly work to grow your donor base.  Your base of support is always growing or shrinking.  Here’s one way to think about targeting the number of donors you need to fully fund your nonprofit’s budget: 

• Start with the total amount of money you raised last year
• Subtract any earned income (interest on investments, thrift store revenue, etc)
• Subtract out grants, corporate income and special events

What you have left is the amount of money you raised from individuals.  Divide that number by the total number of individual donors who gave last year to figure out your average gift from individual donors.

Next, think about how much money you’d like to raise this year.  Dive that by the average gift size from last year and that will give you a ballpark idea of how many new donors you need to acquire.

Without doing any math, I can promise you that you need more!

  

What suggestions do you have for approaching lapsed donors?

The best thing to do is to prevent them from lapsing in the first place.  But if you have lapsed donors, sometimes you can renew them with a 1-2 punch of a letter followed up by a phone call.  The letter must be compelling and inviting in order for the donor to renew.  The phone call adds a personal element and often, the human contact is enough to encourage the renewal.

 

How do you calculate staff time costs for special events?

Ideally, you need to have each staff person who works on the event track the time they spend on the event, but an estimate will work.  Simply multiply the number of hours by the staff person’s hourly rate.  This will give you an idea of staff expense for your event.

  

What is the most successful fundraiser you’ve ever worked with?  How much did you raise and why do you think it was so successful?

The most successful fundraising event I’ve worked with was a fundraiser/friendraiser based on the Benevon model.  I’ve implemented it myself as a Development Director and I’ve helped several clients with it.  Results have ranged from $25,000 to $125,000.  I think the main reason it was so successful is that it was based on the donor and their interests and not all focused on the organization.  It was also well-planned and well-executed, down to the smallest detail.

  

How can an organization decide which kind of event would be the best fit for the most dollars?  Is there a best practice?

When you choose an event, be sure to choose one that fits with your organization’s mission and is scalable to grow each year.  It needs to be your organization’s signature event that the community will look forward to each year and associate with your organization. Choose an event that will help you leverage your organization’s assets – things like your compelling mission, any well-known staff or Board members, relationships with the media and so forth.  And execute the event as well as you possibly can.

  

What opinions do you have on rate of return for direct mail? And what tips do you have?

Despite what some are saying, direct mail is NOT dead. If your donors want to communicate and give through the mail, you can raise good money. The rate of return you can expect depends on your organization.  I’ve seen everything from 3% to 20% and it all depends on how well you do with all the little details that will make or break a direct mail piece.  My best tips are to plan out the entire production schedule well in advance, don’t let too many people in on the planning or the writing/editing of the letter, and make sure you mail to the right list.

  

What is the best strategy for recruiting volunteers when you are brand new?

Start with those people who are closest to your organization, like Board members, staff, and current volunteers.  Ask them who they know that might be interested in volunteering.  And branch out from there.  Take advantage of any local resources that connect prospective volunteers with opportunities, and don’t forget internet sites like volunteermatch.com. Before you do ANY recruiting, make sure you are crystal clear about the job(s) you have for volunteers, and be prepared for them.  Nothing is worse that recruiting a great volunteer, then them getting frustrated with you because you weren’t prepared.

 

 

Don’t you love the start of a new year?  It’s like having a crisp, clean page ready for you to create anything you can dream up.

I hope by now you’ve got some fundraising goals set for the year. (If not, you better get busy!).  Have you set BIG goals?  You should.  Nonprofits that will be successful in 2012 are thinking BIG.  They aren’t being dissuaded by the economy or negative Board members.  They are focused on what’s possible, not what’s impossible. And they WILL be successful!

So, what’s your BIG goal this year?  Try this exercise:  Write down the amount of money you want to raise this year (like $150,000).  Then add a zero at the end (now it’s $1,500,000).  What would you have to do different to raise that kind of money?  You’d sure have to think different, wouldn’t you?  You’d need to get serious about the systems in your office, organize your volunteers, and focus on some major donors.

Now apply that level of big-picture thinking to your goals for 2012.  Feel more doable?  I thought so.

If you need a word of encouragement, please leave a comment here on the blog or better yet, post on my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/getfullyfunded) and let me know how I can support you.   I’m happy to remind you of all the reasons why you CAN be successful this year and keep you thinking BIG!

As we look to a new year, it’s time to start thinking about what 2012 might hold for us. Will the new year hold more of the same or will things be different?

I don’t think it really matters what the new year brings. The more important question to ask is ‘what will you do?’

Over the past few years, many nonprofits have faced a withering economy, nervous Boards, and more demand for services. The organizations that are flourishing (and yes, some are doing great!) have been proactive and purposeful about fundraising. I have several clients who have had their best years ever in 2010 and 2011.

Here’s what I see vibrant nonprofits doing in 2012.

Take fundraising seriously. Nonprofits that will raise big money in 2012 will take fundraising seriously. They won’t put it on the back burner to deal with ‘more important things.’ They’ll have a written plan of how they’ll communicate with their donors and prospects, and they’ll treat their donors as partners in their work, not as ATMs. They’ll be proactive, not reactive. And they’ll be successful.

Invest in themselves. Nonprofits that will raise big money in 2012 will spend money on training. Even with tight budgets, they’ll find a way to send staff to workshops or webinars. They know that their organization is only as strong as their staff, and to keep their skills sharp, they’ll focus on continuing education.

Invest in their Board. Nonprofits that will raise seriously big money in 2012 will invest in training for their Board. They know that they’ll need their Board in tip-top shape to help reach more people in the community, especially key supporters. Without training, their Board might now be willing or have the know-how to make these important connections. Seriously successful organizations know that a little training can go a long way with a Board.

Unwilling to accept mediocrity. Nonprofits that will have their biggest year ever in 2012 will be unwilling to accept mediocrity. They will demand (and get) the best from their Board, their staff, and their volunteers. Together, they will improve their service delivery, they’ll learn to be excellent at telling their story, and they will engage people in their work. And they will be successful. They’ll help more people and they’ll raise more money than ever before. They’ll see themselves as a vital part of the community, changing lives for the better.

As you look forward into 2012, remember this: it doesn’t matter so much what the year brings. What matters is what you do with it.

I was at a fundraising committee meeting recently and we were talking about growing the organization’s donor base. This is a common goal for nonprofit organizations, right?  Well, I’m always delighted when folks who don’t have formal fundraising training get it, as happened that day.

As we were talking about strategies for growing the donor base, we talked about how minimizing the loss of donors would help increase our overall number of active donors.  That’s when one sweet man said “we need to put our picture on their piano.”  We giggled immediately knowing what he meant.

I remember when I was little, my Grandma had lots of photos of family and friends on her beautiful upright piano.  That was her way of keeping them close and remembering them often.  The suggestion of putting our picture on the donor’s piano was a perfect way to describe the importance we need to put on relationships with our donors.  Our donors are so much more to us than just the check they write.  Their gift is a vote of confidence in the work our organization is doing.  It’s their way of saying they support what we’re doing and they want to see us succeed.  They, too, want to see the change we’re after in the world.

And that kind of support deserves our attention and respect.  Maybe we should put their picture on our piano, too.

Missy is one of four cats that live here with us. We adopted her from a local shelter about 10 years ago and she’s a sweetie. She’s the oldest and the smallest of the pack and to help her keep weight on, we feed her canned cat food every afternoon about 4 pm.  She LOVES her “tuna” as we call it and eats every last bite.

Lately, I’ve been watching her and thinking that Missy might have something to teach us about fundraising.

She knows what her goal is. Missy knows what she wants and every afternoon, she waits in her usual spot for her dinner.

She’s hopeful. When anyone walks to the kitchen at any time in the afternoon, Missy goes too, just to see if she might get fed early.

She builds relationship. She gives out lots of love during the day to those who feed her.

She expresses appreciation. She purrs and gives out love to those who help her reach her goal.

This is all good, but sometimes she’s a pest.  In fact, we’ve started calling her “Pesty Cat” because she ALWAYS wants to be fed.  This is a danger for many nonprofit fundraising folks – always showing up with their hand out for money.

If that’s how you approach fundraising, your donors will likely get tired of it.  Make sure that you ask often enough for a gift, but not too often.  It’s a fine line to walk, but one your donors will appreciate if you can get it right. If you want to take it a step further, ask your donors how often and when they’d like to be asked for a gift.  It puts your donor in charge of the relationship and they’ll be much happier.  You’ll likely see your results go up and your expenses go down.  Wondering how to do that?  Survey your donors and simply ask them what they want.

Gotta go – Missy is ready for her dinner!

Happy New Year my friends! I hope your 2011 is off to a great start.

I’ve seen many blog posts recently about New Year’s resolutions and many bloggers are suggesting that you NOT create them. They say that too many people set resolutions that aren’t realistic, then fail quickly and beat themselves up. I think there’s some truth to that.

Here’s what I’m doing for myself this year. I’ve set a goal I want to work toward and I’m focused on the baby steps required to get me there. One goal I’m working on is weight loss. And instead of focusing on the 20 pounds I want to lose, I’m working on spending just 20 minutes a day exercising in some way and cutting down on my portions. It’s a baby step, but it’s much more doable to me that dropping 20 pounds. And I’m much more likely to stick with it because I can have a sense of completion every day.

How can you apply this principle to your fundraising office? Well, let’s say you have a goal to get 250 new donors by July 1. That’s roughly 45 new donors a month or 10 new donors a week. Depending on the strategy you choose, 10 new donors a week should be pretty easy. You should be able to talk to enough new people to gain that many. You see how this works?

Any big goal becomes doable when you break it down into baby steps. You’ve probably heard the saying that you eat an elephant one bite at a time. Same thing.

So whether you’re creating resolutions or just setting goals for the year, be sure to break them down into manageable pieces to ensure your success!

Step one in the Simple Success Fundraising Plan is to identify your assets.  What are your organization’s assets?  They are things that you have going for you that you can leverage in your plan.  Here are some examples of nonprofit organizational assets: 

• Compelling mission (like feeding the hungry or housing the homeless)
• Large donor base
• Incredible organization name recognition (like Habitat for Humanity)
• Well-known staff or Board members
• Facility that lends itself well to a tour (like a clinic, shelter, or food pantry)
• Organizational vehicles that are driven around town regularly
• Website with LOTS of daily visitors
• Opportunity for earned income (like a thrift store or gift shop)
• Well-known local, regional, or national celebrity who supports your organization
• Something else?

What are your nonprofit organization’s assets?

Want more info on the Simple Success Fundraising Plan?  Click here: www.getfullyfunded.com/simple-success-retreat.

Join me next Friday, Feb 19, as I lead a virtual retreat to help you create a detailed fundraising plan for 2010.

A virtual retreat is just what it sounds like – a time to step back and plan, but you can do it from home or your office.  You just need a phone and internet access.  We’ll be on the phone for a while, then I’ll give you an assignment and you’ll hang up and work on it.  Then we’ll get back on the phone together and do the next part.  I think you’ll really enjoy this format!

I’ll be taking you through the creation of goals, objectives, and action plans for your fundraising program this year.  We’ll talk about everything from special events to major donors, and I’ll share nearly a dozen templates and tools that I’ve developed and used over the years to help me raise money more effectively.

To read more or to sign up, visit http://getfullyfunded.com/simple-success-retreat