Social Entrepreneur blog for the world changers
Campaigns & Solicitations
Mental Follow-up Games
Sep 22nd
Our minds play games with us about making follow-up calls. It is really easy to talk yourself out of following up with a donor. I’ll often hear myself thinking, “I just talked with them last week,” or “If he really wanted to hear from me, he’d have called me back.” But as the development staff members, if we do not make follow-up a priority, nobody will. You’ve probably heard the mantra that you will never get a gift unless you ask for it. We could probably even extend that mantra to include follow-up.
If you don’t follow-up on your solicitations, then you will never get a gift. Donors, on occasion, will play games with development staff. Sometimes donors play these games intentionally and sometimes they are accidental. Unless a donor has thought and planned long and hard about a gift to your organization they will often procrastinate about making that decision, especially if it is a large gift. It is our phone calls, emails, and physical visits that remind them of the urgency of our organization’s needs.
Many donors will wait for an organization to follow up with them in a specific way or to see if they are going to follow up at all before they will make their gift. It helps a donor to know how serious the organization is and how valuable they really are. I have to force myself to remember the importance of follow-up; sometimes I’ll even write a note to myself that I can have right next to me at the beginning of each day reminding me to make a call or send an email.
Related posts:
- This Thing Called Follow-up
- The Art of Phone Follow Up
- Characteristics of a Model Board Member
- How to ASSURE a Gift
- Gentle Persistence
This Thing Called Follow-up
Sep 20th
We always like to hear a “yes” immediately after a solicitation. One of the most exciting things about fundraising is successfully asking for a gift. But often times the answer you will get from your donor prospect will not be an immediate yes. Many people like to take a couple of days to think about the solicitation. In this case, it is absolutely essential that you take the time to follow through.
After a solicitation has taken place, make sure that everyone knows what the next step is going to be in order to close the ask. If the donor prospect needs time, then make sure you have let him know you have a specific time that follow-up will take place. Sometimes follow-up can take as much time or more than preparing for the solicitation.
Follow-up is one of the easiest components to forget or to postpone. After all of the preparation time and scheduling, it feels like the solicitation meeting is what everything is being prepared for. But, unless you follow through on the solicitation, your first meeting is in vain. So much can get in the way of good follow-up, so be diligent and proactive.
If you are using board members, volunteers, or executive staff, make sure they understand the value of follow-up. Make sure they have time on their calendars for a meeting or phone call to the donor prospect after the meeting. It can be helpful to even have 15 minutes pre-scheduled before you go into the solicitation on the calendar to make sure your follow-up gets done.
Do you have any stories illustrating the value of follow-up? What tricks do you use to ensure that you connect with your donor prospects after a solicitation?
Related posts:
- Mental Follow-up Games
- The Art of Phone Follow Up
- How to ASSURE a Gift
- Characteristics of a Model Board Member
- The Multi-Year Cultivation
How to Get Your Donors More Engaged
Sep 1st
Every development professional I know spends a lot of time thinking about how they can get their current donors more engaged with their fundraising efforts. We ask questions like, “How can I get our donors to get involved on an event committee?” And, “How can we get Mr. Smith to introduce us to his colleagues in the legal profession?”
Generally, the answer on how to get a particular donor, or group of donors, more engaged isn’t a one shot ask, meeting, or phone call. Instead, the best way to get your donors more engaged is to develop a strong, organization-wide donor cultivation program that keeps your supporters informed and energized about your mission and current initiatives.
Your donor engagement plan should focus on the following five components:
1. Motivation
First and foremost, you should keep your donors energized about your mission. Donors can forget a lot of things and still stay interested in supporting a non-profit… what they can’t lose sight of is the reason your organization exists: your mission. Spend time making sure your donors hear stories about the people you help, see pictures of the work that you do, and understand why your work is vital and necessary in today’s world.
2. Information
Your donors want to feel like they are part of your team. The best way to ensure that they do feel like a part of your team is to keep them informed. Let your supporters know what your latest successes and initiatives are. Make sure they understand recent changes at your organization, know where to go for more information, and have a contact person they can reach for help or answers. In short: communicate with your donors, often (but not too often). Regular e-mail newsletters, the occasional snail mail letter, and social networks all should be a part of your communications mix.
3. Small Asks
Engaged donors are active donors. Help your donors become active in your organization by making a series of small asks. Not all of these asks should be for money. Ask your donors for their advice and insight, for their time (as volunteers), for their leadership (on committees and boards), for their voice (in advocating for your cause and helping you find new supporters), and for their financial support. Start with small asks, and get people involved in a way that makes them feel comfortable and appreciated.
4. Recognition
Constantly recognize your supporters for their work on your behalf. Let volunteers and donors know how much you rely on their support. Tell them what their support has meant for the people your non-profit serves. Publish lists of your volunteers, donors, committee members and friends. Your supporters (usually) aren’t helping you because they want to be recognized, but it sure does help them stay engaged when they know you appreciate their work.
5. Organization
As your non-profit engages more and more supporters, donors, and volunteers, it will become increasingly difficult to motivate and communicate with your network. Successfully engaging with a large group of donors and prospects will require a highly organized, well-planned effort. My best advice is to write out your donor engagement plan and specify which team members will be responsible for the tactics it includes. Set up a system for regular donor communication and recognition. Plan what asks you will make, and when. Ideally, once your plan is in place, you will simply be able to place new prospects into the appropriate point in your strategy and let the system take over.
*Joe Garecht is the founder of The Fundraising Authority (http://www.thefundraisingauthority.com), which provides free articles and how-to information on fundraising for small and medium-sized non-profits.
Related posts:
- All Donors as Major Donors
- More on All Donors as Major Donors
- Organizing Your Donors
- Cultivating Supporters
- Prospecting New and Existing Donors
Endowments… A Reflection in a Mirror?
Aug 23rd
While working on a proposal for a significant merit-based endowment, a co-worker made an insightful comment. He said donors who set up endowments picture themselves as the individual receiving it. We can’t quite make this a rule of thumb, but it does give us a glimpse into the mind of the donor. If you’re creating a merit-based endowment, think about the specific values that made your donor successful. What path did he take to success? What obstacles did she have to overcome? Did he have a unique set of skills, training, or talents that made him successful?
Building a merit-based endowment allows donors an opportunity to highlight a trait in another person or program that they value a great deal. Maybe that trait is hard work, and they want to create a scholarship for students who are doing a double major. Maybe the trait is excellence, and they want to create a scholarship for 4.0 GPA students. This kind of endowment allows a donor to carry on a legacy that was started at the organization, in the community, or in connection with a special issue. If they have given to your organization for a long time what is it that they believe in the very most or have encouraged you to change the very most? If they are community-driven, think about their reputation and what they have done to sustain or encourage that reputation.
This is an interesting exercise to think about when building a merit-based endowment. When an endowment fits with donors’ personal core values and supports what they believe in, it can strengthen their interest and generosity in giving.
Related posts:
Tips on Building Good Proposals
Aug 4th
Most significant six-figure asks include a proposal of some kind. Proposals can also take the tension out of a conversation by redirecting attention to a picture or statistic that connects with your conversation. You don’t have to have every question answered in your proposal, and it doesn’t always need to be four-color and on glossy paper. Here are a few useful tips I’ve found for building good proposals.
- Try to put yourself in the mind of the donor and think through the proposal from his or her perspective.
- Keep it short. You don’t have to write a long proposal. One page is often a good length for a proposal or report. If you need to, don’t go more than two pages. You may have other support materials and packet materials that are longer, but your basic idea should be concise enough to fit in two pages.
- Including a story or picture can add a lot. Pictures can say a lot more than words, and stories can reveal an attitude or philosophy often better than facts and figures.
- Include measurable outcomes. If their funding will do something specific, illustrate what that specific something is.
- Recognition details. If you have a special plan to recognize a donor’s gift, explain what you are going to do.
- Include statistics about your organization and the people you serve. Support your stories and your vision for the donor’s gift with some statistics.
What do you always include in your proposals to major donors? Any tips or tricks you use to create a good proposal or in integrating a proposal into a solicitation?
Related posts:
- Measuring the Un-measurable
- Ratios Versus Results
- Donor Flavors
- To Measure or Not to Measure
- The Pre-Emptive Gift
Thinking Critically, Thinking Differently
Aug 2nd
A while ago I had a number of high-dollar amount solicitations all within a few weeks of each other. I was struck by a number of thoughtful questions that our volunteer solicitation teams had about the proposal and the solicitation plan. Many of their questions helped us to take a step back and rethink some of our initial presuppositions and ideas. This conversation re-enforced the value of thinking critically.
Going into a solicitation, we do not need to have every single question answered, but we should be able to defend why we are asking donors for funding. Many of our volunteers’ questions included educating them about the mechanics of the organization and the industry. Some of the terms we used were different than the terms they used, and it helped to talk from both perspectives. We changed our terms to reflect language that the donor would better understand.
As nonprofit professionals, we have unique and sometimes different perspectives because we are inside the organization. We often know what the actual obstacles are to making a difference, not just the perceived obstacles. The above conversation gave me and my co-workers a chance to discuss ideas and strategies we had not yet thought about. We also had a chance to explain why the areas of proposed funding were important to ongoing success which changed volunteers’ perspectives on the needs of the organization.
The plan and proposals we developed benefited because of this give and take conversation. This was a great experience for the organization and for the volunteers involved. Our organizations should do this more often. Do you have a story of a conversation that provided you with perspective on your organization?
Related posts:
- Talking About Religion: Going Deeper
- Ask Out Loud
- Interdisciplinary Work
- What Motivates Giving?
- Donor Flavors
Do You Talk or Do You Listen?
Jul 26th
I have met a lot of extroverted fundraisers; they are people who like to talk and be listened to and can often speak eloquently and persuasively about the causes of their organization. However, I’ve always enjoyed listening more than talking. I have found that many donors want to talk about themselves, why they do or do not give, and what they do.
One of the most valuable lessons that I’ve learned is that a person feels a lot more of an affinity with your organization if it feels like they have been able to share about themselves. This has left me with a question inside. Which is a more valuable trait for a development officer to have– to be able to speak with charisma and eloquence. or to ask good questions and be a good listener? We obviously cannot have one without the other. In fact, a good relationship is built on give and take, on two way conversation. It is important to be able to make your case and persuasively tell your organization’s story. But, it is equally as valuable to be able to understand what a donor’s interests truly are and how the organization links to them.
How do you go into a donor visit? Do you go in with questions or with answers and a presentation? I imagine that you probably do both depending on what stage of the solicitation process you are in. I know quite a few outgoing development professionals but not nearly as many introverted ones. What kind of development professional are you? Any introverts out there that share my story?
Related posts:
- Small Talk, Big Value
- All Talk And No Give
- Donor-Centered Solicitation Plans
- Prospecting and Asking the Right Questions
- How to ASSURE a Gift
Donor Flavors
Jul 19th
There seem to be three distinct kinds of discussions that I have with donors: story-based, fact-based, and recognition-based. Many solicitations will have one or two of these themes in them, but one of them always comes out on top. Each of the below strategies are built around how a donor would best respond to a solicitation proposal.
Story-based. This kind of donor conversation centers on a current or past donor story. Most of my solicitations are story-based as I find that people like to hear examples of how money has changed lives even if it is not what their money will specifically do. I’ve often found that if an organization is raising money for greatest needs this can be a good strategy to get unrestricted giving.
Fact-based. A donor who responds to a fact-based proposal wants to know exactly what his or her gift is going to do. These donors often view their giving as an investment in social good. They will want to know answers to questions like how many people will this serve, why do you do what you do this way, how much of what I’m funding is staff? Many of these proposals become restricted or designated gifts. This kind of donor wants to ensure that his or her money goes to a specific exact need.
Recognition-based. Some donors want people to know about their giving or their on-going contributions to an organization. These donors want to know how their gifts will be recognized. Getting a big gift from these individuals will mean you need to give big recognition. Sometimes this giving will be tied to a specific project in a building. But, often a recognition-gift discussion talks more about the legacy of a donor and how you can recognize that legacy and the money can be used in some form to greatest needs.
Have you seen any patterns like this when you’ve worked with donors? Many solicitations will often pair strategies together. Does your style of fundraising lean towards one of these themes over another?
Related posts:
- Tips on Building Good Proposals
- Donor-Centered Solicitation Plans
- Solicitor Center Donor Plans
- Whom Do You Serve: Donor or Organization?
- To Be or Not To Be- Donor Loyalty
Matching Gifts
Jun 28th
I’ve spoken about matching gifts before, but I recently saw the power of matching and thought I’d share. I’ve often been skeptical about matching gifts because many nonprofits often have the funding already wrapped up by the time the match starts. I often wonder how much of my gift is really going to make a difference with matching, so it has not been a motivator for me personally.
We recently ran an employee campaign with a match from a community member and I was shocked at how well it worked. Everyone loved the idea that their gift would be matched dollar for dollar and that they could double their impact. One of our contributing factors to success was that we set a deadline with the match. We ran an event and told everyone that if they made a pledge that day it would be matched. As a result we were flooded with gifts. Everyone wanted to get their gift in before the timeline was up, and everyone wanted to double their support.
We asked employees who were not a part of the development team to make announcements about the match and the status of everyone’s giving. The response was overwhelming. In fact we had staff coming up to us just so they could make announcements of how much money we had raised without us even asking.
Have you used a matching gifts challenge? How successful was it? The challenge above went out to the employee community where I work but I have also run challenges with other stakeholder groups with less success. Have you found some groups to be more motivated by a match than others?
Related posts:
- Matching Gifts
- Major Gifts or Middle Giving
- Sample Solicitation Semantics
- A Day in the Life of a Major Gifts Officer
- The Major Gifts Fundraising Myth
What Do You Track?
Jun 16th
In an earlier post, Tracking is More Than a Name, I mentioned the importance of tracking donor information. That’s just a quick snapshot of some of the key areas we are keeping track. I’d love to hear your feedback regarding what your organization tracks.
There is some information that is important for every organization to track. Below are some of these key pieces of data.
- Name
- Email/Phone Number
- Partner/Spouse (relationship with spouse – divorced, married, etc.)
- Alive or deceased
- Mailing Address
- Giving History
The larger your database, the harder it becomes to keep information relevant and accurate. Be diligent about fixing return mail. I know of some organizations where they have a staff member who regularly reads the obituaries.
Other tremendously helpful data that we are keeping include the following:
- Donor Rating: This is often created by the organization based on conversations that you’ve had with that donor and individuals who know them. This helps segment and keep track of donors in your database.
- Last/Next Action: Having the ability to track an action plan with a donor is invaluable and extremely helpful to keep everyone on the same page and to keep track of your cultivation plans from year to year. As you begin to do more 1-to-1 cultivations and solicitations, it is helpful to use your database to help you track your upcoming engagements.
Related posts:
- Power of a Clean Database
- Action Reports
- How Well Do You Know Your Database?
- Keeping Info in Your Donor Database
- Key Pieces of Database Info
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