Archive for December, 2009

The Agitator Blog this morning has a thoughtful and poweful discussion of what “cultivation” really looks like. And they totally nail the key to developing a long term funding relationship with a foundation.

Andrew Kramer, of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) in Houston, wrote in a long comment about his strategies for developing deep relationships with his donors.  He focuses a lot on foundations because he raises a large amount of his revenue from  these types of funders.

He says “I’ve learned that most foundations treat honesty and candid feedback about what happened as their primary form of involvement in our organization. They’ve never come to us and said that we should run our program a certain way, they just ask us to think about what happened and there is tremendous value in that since most individual donors never do that.

“Even with our foundations, the objective is never just to look at them as pools of cash for our benefit–the real value is in the fact that they require us to think about our programs and offerings, and then again that throughout the year they require us–sometimes in very thoughtful ways–to measure and assess what we’re doing.”

Now here’s a fundraiser who knows what he’s doing!

How refreshing to hear that the foundations are not being considered as just “pools of cash”  – but they also bring an added benefit to the orgaization.

How refreshing again to hear that he does not consider the reporting back to foundation funders as a drag – but instead as a benefit, because thinking deeply about outcomes, and measuring what they are doing is USEFUL!

How many organizaitons are prepared to offer frank  and candid feedback about what happened to their funders? Are you willing to be so transparent? Or do you sugarcoat things when you report back?

It’s really hard to be totally frank with a funder.

Funded projects almost always have breakdowns and challenges – that’s part of trying to change the world! And during a project, sometimes we have to change course because the landscape has changed on us.

But I have found over the years that if you go back with frank and candid feedback about the project, what you learned, what you’d do differently, what worked, what the challenges were – funders love this kind of honesty and realism.  And they will trust you when you come back to ask again.

I hope you are in the full swing of the holiday season! And I do hope you’re pulling in LOTS and LOTS Of year-end gifts!

Here’s some coaching I gave a colleague this morning.  She is working on some last-minute email appeals for her new job. The first draft of the note talks about the great things this group has done in the past year and asks for a gift. She asked me to give her an edit.

“No!” I said, “this won’t work! Here’s what your donors want to hear:”

1. What, specifically, do you want to accomplish this coming year? Tell your donors EXACTLY what you are raising money for.  This means you are NOT making a generic appeal. You are making a very specific appeal. You are asking your donors to contribute to some specific goals and projects.

Remember, NEVER, EVER make a generic appeal. It will kill the energy of your letter. You’ve got to be as specific as possible.

2. How much money will it take to accomplish this? Donors want to know if you are actually planning. If you tell them you need $25k or $100 or $2 million, that gives them some benchmark for their own gift.  They want to know what part they might be playing in the effort to get the job done.

And telling them how much money it will take shows that you are well-run. You have made your plans and you’re deliberately planning to execute them.

I have found that just the act of naming an amount helps the money to actually come in.  The word gets around town that this group needs xxxx and sometimes foundations or special donors show up and make that last gift to meet the goal.

There’s lots of power in driving a stake in the ground and setting a goal.

So many organizations are afraid to set a goal because they need as much money as possible, and they want to raise as much as possible.

But I strongly recommend nailing down some goals and a dollar figure. I promise it will help you raise more money!

Today’s Chronicle of Philanthropy identified 10 trends that are a bit unnerving.  These are outside forces that are making life a challenge to put it lightly for anyone trying to carry out a nonprofit mission.

These trends are worrisome at best. They point out warning signs and potholes on the road to a nonprofit’s success.

I’d much rather see the pundits give us some good news coming down the pike for 2010.  Listen, I’m the eternal optimist.  There’s got to be a way to find something to be hopeful about! : )

Here are the trends that the Chronicle has pointed out:

10 Trends – Emerging Forces for 2010

1) Governments in Crisis – this means that we won’t be seeing grants and support from the governmental sector come back anytime soon. Let’s just hope that your nonprofit has not over-relied on government support!

2) Strains in the Safety Net – yes, this is troubling. Nonprofits are being asked to fill the gaps in the safety net. Can they do it?

3) A Full-Court Press for Modest Gifts – the mega gifts are really declining. And smart organizations are focusing on smaller gifts from generous donors.

4) Grim Grants Outlook – since foundations’ endowments lost so much in the stock market, the funds available for grantees has shrunk considerably for 2010.

5) A Weakened Charity Work Force – ok, so there have been alot of layoffs in our sector and people are straining to do more with less. We can handle it temporarily until things bounce back.

6) A Sharpened Eye on Charity Pay – oversight, transparency, scruitiny – it’s all there when examining nonprofit perks!

7) Rising Donor-Charity Tensions – donors are asking for more and more. They want to be able to control their gifts in ways we haven’t seen before.

Proving That Charity Works – outcomes, results, impact. That’s what everybody wants from us.

9) Volunteerism Becomes Cool – here’s a bright spot. Helping others is now the new cool. Yes!

10) A Stalled Online Revolution – I don’t agree with this one. The online world offers nonprofits incredible tools. We just need to learn how to use it.

I don’t want to hear words like: grim, stalled, weakened, tensions, strains and crisis, I am currently overdosed on the dark side.

Let’s look at the opportunities for us all – even in the midst of a challenging year. Last year, I published “7 Reasons for Fundraisers to be Optimistic in 09″ in the international AFP newsletter. I promise you that I’ll create an even longer list for 2010!

A friend and client sent me this email last week:

“I am a development director so am particularly sensitive to these things, but I have to say I was appalled yesterday to received a long typed thank you yesterday for a small donation I gave 10 weeks ago at a fundraising breakfast.

“I went to the breakfast at the behest of two friends who serve on the board of directors.  I also know another board member and the executive director, who gave a fabulous short speech at the event.

“The event was packed with enthusiastic people.  All was done just right, except for the follow-up.

“Why not have thank you envelopes pre-addressed ahead of time so the table captains can quickly jot a note after the event?

“Why not call everybody who attended, say thank you, what did you learn, and how would you like to get involved?

“My donation was miniscule.  What these people don’t know about me, however, is that if I don’t spend it all ahead of time I stand to inherit a nice chunk of change in the next couple of decades.

“They don’t need to spend a lot of time thanking me, but an impersonal 10 weeks later is abysmal.

What can we learn from this? So many of us are using “ask events” successfully. These types of events are becoming more and more frequent. They can be wonderful fundraising tools.

But a 10-week old thank you? This is how to drive your donors away – and FAST!

Just think of all the work that went in to the ask event. And how little work went into the followup.  Isn’t that like so much of what we do in fundraising?