Be intentionally personal with your non-profit donors

January 11, 2013 erik Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising

Welcome to O.D. Fridays at DonorDreams blog. Every Friday for the foreseeable future we will be looking more closely at a recent post from John Greco’s blog called “johnponders ~ about life at work, mostly” and applying his organizational development messages to the non-profit community.

In a post titled “Just a Note; Just a Phone Call!” John talks about the power of a simple handwritten note or well-timed phone call.

After reading John’s post, I couldn’t stop obsessing about how many emails and texts I now get and how few phone calls and handwritten notes there now seem to be. For example, I went on a road trip on Wednesday of this week, which meant being in a car for six hours and away from my email inbox. I spent tons of time talking to clients on the phone, but when I arrived at my destination and looked at my email inbox . . . OMG!

Maybe it is just that I am getting older, but the world seems to be moving at an insane pace. I’m also not smart enough to know if our communications tools (e.g. text, email, etc) are fueling this speed or if it is just a necessity or symptom of this acceleration. However, I am smart enough to know that people who donate to non-profit organizations are special people who deserve a little more attention than a form letter generated from your donor database, a simple text or quick email.

In my experience, being intentional and personal gets you and your organization noticed.

I believe Penelope Burk, author of Donor Centered Fundraising and CEO of Cynus Applied Research, says it better than could:

“A handwritten letter is the ultimate in personal recognition because it proves that someone in your organization spent at least a few moments thinking specifically about that donor.”

As many of you know, Penelope does a ton of survey research and looks specifically at donor and organizational behaviors. According to the research in her book, the following reasons were cited by agencies as to when they compose a handwritten letter to a donor:

the donor is well-known to the writer;
the gift is of exceptional value;
the donor is a leadership volunteer;
the donor has been giving for a long time; or
the donor is prominent in the community.

A very dear friend of mine, who is the former executive director of one of my favorite local charities, used to employ handwritten note techniques with me all the time. Here is what I saw her doing:

I would receive a handwritten note on my donor database, computer generated gift acknowledgement letter;
On my birthday, I would receive a card with a handwritten note wishing me well and thanking me for my longtime support;
When a donor’s name shows up in the newspaper or someplace public, she would clip it or copy it, attach a nice handwritten note of congratulations and send it to them.

Phone calls are also super effective, but I believe you need to be very careful with who you put on the phone.

For example, one local charity likes to conduct “thank-a-thon” events during the Thanksgiving season. I cannot tell you how upset I get as one of their donor when I pick-up the phone and there is a client at the other end telling me how much they appreciate my donation.

What? Huh? You’re probably wondering “Where did THAT just come from?” or “What is wrong with THAT?”

For me, it goes back to Penelope Burk’s research and the number one reason why non-profit agencies get more personal in their acknowledgement and thanks:

“. . . the donor is well-known to the writer . . .”

Do I know the client making that thank-a-thon phone call? No.
Did I get solicited by the client? Nope.
Do I want to make the client feel uncomfortable? Definitely not.
Does a client, who is “obviously reading from a script,” come across to me as “personal” and “heartfelt”? Absolutely not!

Am I opposed to thanks-a-thons as a donor stewardship tactic? No . . . but speaking personally as a donor I can honestly say that an informal, unscripted, personal phone call from the person who had originally asked me for money would’ve been something special and memorable.

What is your organization’s policy, procedure or practice around handwritten notes or phone calls to donors? What has been your personal experience as a donor? Any thoughts on what appears to be a trend around using more and more forms of impersonal communication (e.g. text and email) and what can be done to guard against its overuse? Please use the comment box below to share your thoughts, opinions and experiences.

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
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http://www.linkedin.com/in/erikanderson847

Follow-up: Is ePhilanthropy the future of charitable giving?

January 10, 2013 erik Fundraising, technology

At the end of 2011, I predicted in a year-end blog post that we would see an “increased focus by non-profit organizations on pursuing and securing charitable contributions by using online strategies and tactics resources“. Last week, I thought it would be fun to look back and determine if my prognostications where off-the-mark and by how much.

Here is some of what I found:

online giving continues to climb . . . in fact, the growth numbers continue to be double digit;
more people are turning to online ways to donate at the end of the year; and
according to surveys more non-profit leaders are saying they believe online is the future.

In reality, I didn’t need to do much clicking around to find evidence that ePhilanthropy is a real long-term trend. All you need to do is open your eyes and look around. In just the last few days, this is some of what I saw:

A St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital billboard driving home last night, and it simply told me to go online and make a contribution.
An advertisement in a city bus vestibule for the Red Cross, and it simply told me to go online and give.
My email inbox continually gives me stuff from non-profit organizations, and everything I read simply says “click here and donate now”.

If you trust your eyes, you know that online giving is a trend and will go on to become a very important part of every fundraising professional’s toolbox.

However, you may want to take careful note of what I just said and how I said it.

I did not say that ePhilanthropy is the future. Nor did I say that ePhilanthropy is how we will fundraising in the future. I deliberately used the words “a very important part“.

Some of the data that I’ve seen indicates that online giving tools (e.g. email, website, social media, crowdfunding, etc) are simply an “acquisition strategy“. For example, Steve McLaughlin at Blackbaud, points out that one-third of donors who make a donation online actually go offline the next year to renew their support.

I believe we should all look at this data point and double-down on cross-channel communication and promotion of our fundraising efforts. Tell people online where to mail a check. Tell people in your direct mail letter how to go online and make a contribution. In both your emails and letters, tell donors who they can call to talk to a real person or set-up an appointment.

Are you interested in learning a lot more about online giving? The following are just a few links that I came across while clicking around online:

Blackbaud Index of Online Giving
5 Biggest Trends in Online Giving (Slide Share presentation by Steve McLaughlin at Blackbaud)
Online Fundraising Stats and Trends for Nonprofits (blog by Kivi Leroux Miller)

What do your eyes see around you in your community when it comes to online giving? Here is a fun game that you can play today. Keep your eyes open for evidence in the world around you for evidence of this ePhilanthropy trend. Make a mental note of it, and then circle back around to this blog post and share one or two examples of what you saw in the comment section below.

Here’s to your health!

Year-end non-profit predictions?

December 31, 2012 erik Fundraising

new year 2013 Happy New Years Eve! Are you ready for 2013?

As I wrote in one of my posts last week, my consulting practice has gotten really busy and the “holiday hop” is always tough. So, I decided to dial back my writing a little bit the last two weeks of the year and coast into the new year where I will start publishing Monday through Friday again. Besides, according to my blog analytics very few of you read blogs at this time of the year, and I’m guess that is because you’re running around just like me.

One of the things I was looking forward to doing this week with the DonorDreams blog was “Year-end Predictions for 2013” with regard to the non-profit sector. I did the same thing last year on the following topics:

I obviously missed my window of opportunity, but what I’ve decided to do instead is even more exciting. Starting next week (January 7-11), I will circle back around to last year’s predictions and recap what actually happened and what might still lie ahead.

There was one year-end post and prediction that I made last year that I believe applies every year. It is rooted in the wise words of Benjamin Franklin, who is the Father of American Philanthropy. So, my New Years gift to you is a re-post of the prediction that your non-profit organization will have a very prosperous 2013 if you simply start asking with reckless abandon.

I hope you enjoy this retread post, but I know you will see that it one of those timeless posts that are always applicable.

I look forward to seeing you in 2013!

===================================================================================================

The Final 2012 Non-Profit Prediction

This entire week we’ve been looking back upon 2011 for major trends, and then looking forward to 2012 with an eye towards making a few predictions. Today’s post speaks to a fundraising prediction that has been true every year since the birth of our country more than 235 years ago:

If you ask people to donate, then you will raise lots of money.

A few days after Christmas, a friend sent me an email with the following Benjamin Franklin quote from Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography and Other Writings:

“It was about this time that another projector, the Rev Gilbert Tennent, came to me with a request that I would assist him in procuring a subscription for erecting a new meeting-house. It was to be for the use of a congregation he had gathered among the Presbyterians, who were originally disciples of Mr. Whitehead.

Unwilling to make myself disagreeable to my fellow-citizens by too frequently soliciting their contributions, I absolutely refus’d.

He then desired I would furnish him with a list of the names of persons I knew by experience to be generous and public-spirited. I thought it would be unbecoming in me, after their kind compliance to me solicitations, to mark them out to be worried by other beggars, and therefore refus’d also to give such a list.

He then desir’d I would at least give him my advice. “That I would readily do,” said I; “and in the first place, I advise you to apply to all those whom you know will give something; next, to those whom you are uncertain whether they will give anything or not, and show them the list of those who have given; and, lastly, do not neglect those who you are sure will give nothing, for in some of them you may be mistaken.”

He laugh’d and thanked me, and said he would take my advice. He did so, for he ask’d of everybody, and he obtained a much larger sum than he expected, with which he erected the capacious and very elegant meeting-house that stands on Arch-street.”

Ben Franklin is considered by most people to be the “Father of American Philanthropy”. His advice is timeless and perfect for those non-profit executive directors and fundraising professionals who are stewing over what their 2012 new years resolution should be:

Don’t say “NO” for anyone.

Ask everyone if they want to support your mission
and invest in the outcomes and impact your agency produces.

Ask! Ask! Ask!

If you do this, then my 2012 prediction for you is that regardless of the economy and any other external influences your non-profit organization will thrive and you’ll exceed all of your fundraising goals.

Speaking of non-profit new years resolutions, do you have any? If so, please use the comment box below and share your thoughts because we can inspire each other.

Here’s to your health!

Solving the age-old battle between fundraising vs grantwriting

December 26, 2012 erik Board development, Fundraising, Planning

It is the end of the year and for many non-profit organizations it means:

constructing an agency budget for 2013, and
putting together a comprehensive resource development plan to add meaning and depth to the revenue side of the agency budget.

In the last few weeks as I’ve talked with various agencies about their resource development planning efforts, I’m reminded of age-old battle:

Fundraising vs. Grantwriting

Donors see government grants as “wealth redistribution” and a substitute for their charitable contributions. Fundraising volunteers (and even fundraising staff) get squeamish about asking other people for money, and they prefer asking government and private sector foundations over soliciting family, friends, co-workers and neighbors.

crowding1 This phenomenon is called the “crowding out effect” and I wrote about it in the following blog posts in 2011:

While I would love for you to go back and read those posts, I also encourage you to read an awesome 2009 research paper written by James Andreoni and A. Abigail Payne titled “Is Crowding Out Due Entirely to Fundraising? Evidence from a Panel of Charities“. They do an awesome job of looking at this from a data perspective, and they conclude the following:

Using instrumental variable techniques, we estimate total crowding is around 73 percent, and that this crowding out is almost exclusively is the result of reduced fund-raising. A $10,000 grant, for instance, reduces fund-raising expenses by $1370, which in turn reduces donations by $7271. Adding this $1370 savings in fund-raising expenses reduces the estimate of crowding out to 59 percent. If charities had maintained their fund-raising efforts, our estimates show that donations would have risen by the full amount of the grant.

hell2 The crowding out effect is real, and it is something non-profit organizations need to understand and deal with. If not, then I advise putting the following age-old expression in a frame above the boardroom door: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately about how to put the “crowding out effect” in check, and the following few paragraphs are just a few ideas. I think some are good thoughts and others are a little out there, but let’s work together on refining these ideas.

Planning – Planning – Planning

The planning process is not about the executive director putting stuff in writing and handing it over to volunteers for implementation. Planning is an engagement activity.

So, why not introduce volunteers who are involved in the resource development planning process to the research paper by James Andreoni and A. Abigail Payne and ask them: “What should we do about this? How should we accommodate for this in our plan?”

Simply stated . . . planning is the antidote for the crowding out effect.

Fundraising policies

I’ve always seen “policies” as a way of creating hard and fast rules for things that board volunteers and non-profit staff might otherwise find hard to implement if it weren’t “required“. Since so many people find grantwriting easier and preferable to fundraising, I started wondering if there weren’t some policies we could create that could put the “crowding out effect” in check. The following are just a few thoughts:

A written policy prohibiting government and private foundation grant revenue from exceeding a certain percentage of the agency’s overall revenue.
A written policy that commits board members to increasing their personal contributions by a certain percentage whenever grant revenue exceeds a certain level.
A written policy that commits board members to asking a certain number of new prospective donors whenever grant revenue exceeds a certain level.
A written policy that ties the agency’s annual campaign goal to the level of grant revenue. (e.g. every 1% increase in revenue goals from grant writing results in a 2% increase in qualified individual giving prospects and corresponding campaign infrastructure)

Truth be told . . . I’m not a huge fan of this approach, but I do think it is worth continued discussion and dialog.

Board development

I suspect that the best solution is the simplest solution — recruit the right board members.

Smart business people will understand a simple concept like the “crowding out effect”. Put this challenge in front of them and ask them to solve it.

I suspect they will simply conclude that more “fundraising-minded volunteers” need to be recruited to off-set the effects of grantwriting on the agency. After all, isn’t that what they’d probably conclude when it comes to their sales force staff and their business if confronted with the same challenge?

Are you in the middle of writing your 2013 resource development plan? Are you facing some of the same challenges with volunteers regarding the question of more fundraising versus more grantwriting? If so, how are you tackling this challenge? Do you have any suggestions on how to improve upon the recommendations I’m providing in this blog post? Please use the comment box below to weigh-in with your thoughts and suggestions.

Here’s to your health!

Non-profit fundraising giant dies at 69

December 19, 2012 erik Fundraising

Yesterday morning Jimmie Alford died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 69. This sad news started circulating slowly as the day unfolded, and then it snowballed into an online viral event and my email inbox is full of people sharing the news, their grief, and their disbelief.

For the last two years, Jimmie Alford has been my inspiration. As many of you know, I resigned from a great job at Boys & Girls Clubs of America almost two years ago to open my own small non-profit consulting practice. Making that decision was one of the hardest things I ever did, but it was Jimmie’s journey line, his bio, and his story that gave me the courage to chase my dream.

My favorite memory of Jimmie is sharing lunch with him at the University Club in downtown Chicago. He insisted that I take the seat with the best view of the Chicago skyline. We talked about our shared passion for philanthropy, and I remember the time slipping through my fingers like sand in an hour-glass.

I had another one of those lunches at the University Club scheduled with Jimmie for tomorrow on Thursday, December 20, 2013.

While I am profoundly saddened that we aren’t able to keep that appointment, I am so grateful for the lasting memory of our last lunch together. I will hold onto that memory forever and treasure it.

I am forever indebted to Jimmie for being a visionary leader and mentor. I have no doubt that he touched countless other fundraising professionals’ lives like he did mine.

Jimmie may be gone, but he won’t be forgotten.

Our collective challenge as fundraising professionals is to pick up the torch and carry Jimmie’s love of philanthropy upward and onward to greater heights.

Please use the comment box below to share one of your favorite memories of Jimmie Alford. If you don’t have one, I also invite you to share ways that you can “pay it forward” and light other people’s passion for philanthropy as Jimmie was famous for being able to do.

Additional obituary links:

With a heavy heart . . .

Cause related marketing 101: Educate, educate, educate!

December 18, 2012 erik Fundraising

CRM1 It is that time of the year when retailers are pulling out every stop in their little bag of tricks to get your attention and hopefully your holiday dollars. One of those shiny objects that some retailers use is called cause related marketing (CRM). Wikipedia does a nice job of explaining this phenomenon: “Cause marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a ‘for-profit’ business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit.”

Joanne Fritz at about.com recently wrote a blog post titled “Hasbro and Macy’s Invite Letters to Santa in Holiday Cause Marketing Campaigns“. She ended her post with this simple question: “Do you have a favorite holiday cause-marketing campaign? Let me know.”

As I sat here contemplating what my favorite CRM initiative has been throughout the years, I remembered that just last week my partner — John — returned from a business trip with a present for me from the Nashville airport. It was a new part of “Mens Lounge Pants” (or as I affectionately refer to them as: “Erik’s Comfortable Fat Pants”)

John purchased those pants for me because the tag said “Your purchase helps kids in need” and he knows that I love charities and for-profit business that help “those kids who need us most”. So, in his mind, this was a win-win because I needed a new pair of lounge pants and his retail purchase would also “help kids in need”.

When John went to check-out, he made an honest mistake and asked the cashier: “So, how does my purchase help kids in need? Which charities does your company support?” Unfortunately, the cashier’s response was less than inspiring. She shrugged and pointed to a point of purchase coin box sitting on the counter top.

Needless to say, John’s enthusiasm for the brand evaporated and when he gave me the present my “blogger curiosity” went through the roof.

As I sat here contemplating Joanne Fritz’s question, I decided to do a little more research on my lounge pants.

I visited the Lifeisgood.com website and clicked around.
I did a Google search.
I checked out Wikipedia.
I even read the Winter 2012 newsletter for the Life is Good Kids Foundation.

After a good hour of clicking around, I’ve come to the following conclusions:

This cause related marketing campaign is a little unusual because it benefits the company’s own corporate foundation and not an independently owned and operated charity. I liken this to McDonald’s supporting Ronald McDonald House.
I’m still not very sure what the foundation actually does . . . training? programming? advocacy? conferences?
This campaign is very glossy and slick. It is one heck of a “shiny object” that appeals to consumers.

However, Joanne Fritz hits the nail on the head in her blog post when she says that great cause related marketing campaigns focus more on the “cause” than they do the “marketing” (which does not mean that the marketing isn’t top-notch).

The big take away lesson for me from “Life is Good” is that effective CRM campaigns must focus on education:

Employees must be able to talk intelligently about the cause, and
Consumers must be able to understand what their retail dollars are supporting.

I’ll end today’s blog post the same way Joanne ended her’s by asking you: “Do you have a favorite holiday cause-marketing campaign? Let me know.” Please click over to Joanne’s site and share your thoughts or scroll down and do so in the comment box below. If you want to learn more about CRM, I suggest clicking over to RetailMarketingBlog.com.

Here’s to your health!

Your donors are impressionable. Are you impressing them?

December 14, 2012 erik Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising

In a recent post, John shared an experience he had 20 year ago with a housekeeping employee who helped him out as he prepared to facilitate a big meeting. This customer service oriented employee left a lasting impression on John so much so that he can’t shake the memory.

Of all the things we forget as humans, why do some things stick with us for a lifetime?

For this fundraising professional, I look at John’s blog post and my mind starts spinning on the following questions:

How can I leave a last impression on donors?
What techniques, strategies and best practices should use to increase the odds that I am leaving that indelible mark on a donor?

As a newly minted executive director way back in 2001, I made the decision to change the format of my agency’s annual dinner special event fundraiser. As part of the event format, we had our Youth of the Year recipient speak for a few minutes about how the agency impacted her life.

Her name was LaShaunda. As I recall, she was a junior in high school at the time, and she was a reluctant public speaker. Prior to the event, we polished and practiced her speech.

As she stepped to the podium, I paced the back of the room. I was nervous for LaShaunda and I was rooting her on because this was her big moment. What I didn’t realize at the time was that this wasn’t just her moment . . . it was also one of those “lasting and impressionable” moments for the agency and a group of very important donors.

LaShaunda spoke eloquently about her parent’s divorce, running with the wrong crowd, street violence, teen pregnancy and racism. Most importantly, she talked frankly about how the agency helped her through a tough time in her life.

indelible1 In that five-minute period of time as I paced the back of the banquet hall, there was a moment where I stopped listening and worrying about LaShaunda and I focused on what was happening in the room:

You could hear a pin drop. Everyone was locked-in on what this 16-year-old was saying.
I saw the former police chief, who helped found the agency, fighting back tears.
I saw a bank president and one of our biggest donors at the time, wiping tears from his cheek.
At the end of the dinner, the city manager made a bee-line across the room (she literally looked like a salmon fighting upstream as the room emptied) so that she could ask LaShaunda to take a picture with her.

I wish I could say that I was the evil genius who engineered that evening to unfold the way it did. I’d be over-stating things if I took that much credit.

I still periodically come across donors in my community who talk remember that special evening and talk about how moving LaShaunda’s five-minute speech was.

Truth be told . . . I learned a huge fundraising lesson that evening and it echoes what John is talking about in his OD blog:

Donors are people and they are impressionable.
Good fundraising professional should always be focused on how to leave that lasting impression.
This isn’t about manipulation. It is about showing people “how” we’re using their contribution, and “what” the return on investment actually is in human terms.
Facts and figures (e.g. program outcomes data and community impact statistics) are important, but people want to hear about those things as part of a story. Individuals give for emotional reasons. So, you need to connect with them on that emotional level if you want to leave a lasting impression.

What are you doing to make a lasting impression with your donors? The following are two interesting resources I found online that speak to the issue of “making an impression”:

Do you have a story to share with your fellow DonorDreams blog readers about a time you made a lasting impression (aka a transformative moment) with a donor? In sharing that story in the comment box below, would you also share what you think you did right to make it an impressionable moment?

Here’s to your health!

Do your donors think the non-profit sky is falling?

December 12, 2012 erik Fundraising

chicken little2 When I hear one donor say something once, I chalk it up to something interesting. When I hear two donors say the same thing, I usually think it is an interesting occurence. However, when three or more donors express the same sentiment, I sit up . . . take notice . . . and treat it like a potential trend.

Since the Presidential election was decided more than a month ago, I’ve more than three donors say alarming things about the state of philanthropy in this country. Here is some of what I am hearing:

“Congress and the President won’t agree on the fiscal cliff negotiations. We’re going off the fiscal cliff, and charitable contributions will go down.”
“Obama wants to get rid of people’s charitable tax deductions, and this will result in a reduction in donations.”
“The Bush tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans will be allowed to expire, which means wealthy Americans will stop giving to charities.”
“Congress and the President will go off of the fiscal cliff. Everyone’s taxes will go up. Another recession will surely result, and charitable giving will dip as a result.”

I am not exaggerating. There are a number of donors and non-profit board members with whom I have spoken in the last month that think the sky is falling.

At first, I thought this talk was the result of Republican donors being unhappy about a Obama re-election. However, I’m beginning to re-think this original opinion. I honestly think people are getting scared.

There are multiple reasons for this hysteria and probably include a 24-hour media cycle, political rhetoric, etc. Regardless, the ‘WHY’ doesn’t matter . . . non-profit professionals need to focus on ‘WHAT’ they should be doing and saying.

chicken little1 While fear is irrational, it definitely impacts human behavior. I believe most students learn this in Psychology 101. So, if people “think” the sky is falling, it is falling regardless of the facts.

You can passively sit by and let your donors and board members whip themselves into a frenzy, or you can be a responsible non-profit professional and do something about it.

I have always believed that an “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. In this instance, I believe that good non-profit professionals will inject a calm and reassuring voice into any local discussion being had with board members or donors.

Of course, being calm and reassuring is easier said than done, and it requires a firm grasp of facts. Unfortunately, the facts shift and change and are subject to interpretation. However, I was very encouraged when I saw that BoardSource is hosting a webinar featuring Tim Delaney, CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits. He will speak to the issue of fiscal cliff, capping deductions, etc.

THIS WEBINAR IS SCHEDULED FOR TODAY (WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2012) AT 2:30 PM CST, BUT IT LOOKS LIKE YOU CAN STILL REGISTER BY CLICKING HERE AND FOLLOWING THIS LINK.

Once you get some of the facts about the issues, you should feel more comfortable participating in these type of conversations when they come up with donors and volunteers.

chicken little3 Here are a few quick tips you may want to remember when jumping into these discussions:

Don’t express partisan opinions. Stick with the facts about what is being discussed. I encourage steering clear of expressing an opinion on what you think the impact will be. Put the crystal ball away!
Be reassuring and express confidence that these things always work themselves out in the end. History proves this to be true time-and-time-again.
Remind donors that tax considerations are rarely a motivating factor in most people’s charitable decisions. Donors give to good causes with good missions. Tax considerations (if they are even in the equation) are frequently a final factor and contribute to size of gift and rarely on whether or not to give.
No one can predict the future, and getting all worked up about something we can’t control is an exercise in futility. All we can control is our own actions .(e.g. who do we ask now, for how much as we asking, when are we asking, etc). Let’s remain focused so we don’t accidentally get swept up in something that doesn’t yet exist.

Are you hearing some of your donors and board members wring their hands over this policy debate in Washington D.C.? If so, what are you doing to make sure your year-end giving isn’t negatively impacts? Are you doing anything at all? Are you remaining silent?

If you end up attending the BoardSource webinar today, please circle back and share a few of the details in the comment box below. If you can’t attend, please weigh-in with your thoughts on the the questions I just posed or any of the ideas I just expressed.

Here’s to your health!

Does your non-profit organization have policies about grant writing?

December 11, 2012 erik Fundraising, Planning

grant writing1 This morning I am asking for your help with a small project I am working on. A few weeks ago I agreed to help one of my favorite non-profit organizations with a staff transition. Not only did their development director move on to greener pastures at the end of the summer, but their executive director also recently resigned. So, the board asked me to step into the void and help their management team with a variety of year-end miscellaneous projects (e.g. year-end holiday mailing, 2013 budget construction, resource development plan, etc).

One of the projects with which I provide a little assistance is grant writing. I am part of the review team that proofreads, edits and asks questions before any proposal is allowed to go out the door. I am not the only person involved in this agency’s grant writing process . . . there is a grant writer (who is an independent contractor), a program/operations person and a board member. I kind of like the process they’ve designed. It feels comprehensive, responsible and serious.

The other day someone brought another grant opportunity to the team. It was a RFP that would’ve brought $2,000 in the door that wouldn’t have supplemented existing programming . . . it was an “add-on” proposition. Here is a list of questions that the grant writing team started asking itself:

Is this grant opportunity “budget relieving”?
Are the program costs totally off-set by the grant? Or will the $2,000 grant only partially cover the expenses of the add-on programming?
Are there other reasons (e.g. political, relationship building, etc) for the agency to consider writing this proposal?

Somewhere in the middle of this discussion, the board member blurted out the following really good question:

“How many more $2,000 grants are we going to write?”

ROI This question was inspired by a string of two or three grants in a row that this organization had just written. As a businessman, he asked this question because he is accustom to looking at everything through a “return on investment” (ROI) lens. In hindsight, this is what he saw:

The grant writer was putting in three to six hours researching and writing the proposal.
The program/operations person was putting in a few hours pull together outcomes data and proofreading the final proposal to make sure we weren’t over-promising anything.
The board member, who serves on the management team as the agency searches for a new executive director, is investing a few hours in proofreading and asking tough questions to ensure the organization isn’t over-promising and under-delivering. This is essentially the same role that the executive director would play if there was one on the payroll.
I was back stopping the entire process and doing some same.

WOW! It shouldn’t be a surprise after a few small grant writing opportunities he’d ask such a question.

Of course, this touched off an interesting conversation on many different fronts including a discussion about non-profit fundraising policies.

I promised the group that I would blog about this topic and ask the readership of DonorDreams blog for their best possible world-class coaching and advice.

So, I have a holiday season favor to ask each of you this morning:

Would you please take a minute or two out of your busy schedule this morning and use the comment box below to do one of the following two things?

share your agency’s grant writing policy/policies, or
share how your organization makes decisions on when to write or pass on a grant writing opportunity.

Seriously, your feedback this morning will directly help another organization in its pursuit of developing fundraising best practices. Your participation will take all of a minute or two this morning. Please weigh-in. Your collective wisdom is massive and will bring tremendous value to this organization’s discussion. You can consider the few minutes that you invest in responding to this request as your “good turn” this holiday season. Please pay it forward!

Here’s to your health!

Use video to help volunteers polish their case for support

November 29, 2012 erik Board development, Fundraising, technology, volunteers

I am helping a friend run for city council in my town. He is a great guy, and he will make a great council member. He is personable, down to earth, genuine, and just an everyday kind of person. He is funny, and best of all he is a storyteller. While these might be good building blocks for a servant leader on the city council, I am coming to the conclusion that these traits might not be so great for a “candidate”.

For example, good candidates have their well-polished elevator speech down to science. They knock on your door, you answer it, and they very succinctly tell you in 30 to 60 seconds why they are running and why you should vote for them. However, a good storyteller knows how to stretch a story. They are the master of delivery and timing. They weave and spin and divert and then . . . BOOM. . . they hit you with the punchline or the point of their story.

Needless to say, I’ve been working with my friend on how to polish a powerful and compact elevator speech before he starts knocking on doors. Here is what that has looked like:

We wrote a case for support.
We reduced the case down to a written script.
We refined that script down to something even more simple.

However, none of this has really helped because at his heart, he is a storyteller. Each new tool we’ve developed becomes something new for him to add to the bigger story. LOL

So, last night I decided to try one last trick that I had up my sleeve.

In a room full of 30 of his friends, family, and supporters, I asked him to deliver his case for support (aka his elevator speech). I handed everyone a worksheet with five questions. A few questions dealt with delivery and others addressed content. I asked that everyone fill it out and do so anonymously. I then pulled out my Samsung pocket video camera (similar to the old Flip video cameras), and I videotaped him.

You can probably guess where this is going.

His 30 to 60 second elevator speech turned into an eight minute story. It was funny, and people laughed, but it wasn’t an elevator speech that he will be able to use.

Next steps for me will be sitting down with him to review the critique feedback forms and view the videotape. After digesting this information, it will be back to the grindstone to continue the work of forging a powerful case for support.

The reason I am blogging about this experience on a blog focused on non-profit issues such as board development, fundraising, etc-etc-etc, is because it dawned on me that this same process can be used in variety of ways at your non-profit agency.

Why not use it to help fundraising volunteers polish their approach?

I like this idea because:

It is hard for people to step outside of their bodies to see and hear what they look like. Video is a tool that helps us do exactly this (albeit many people hate seeing or hearing themselves on video)
Achieving this vantage point can create a moment of clarity and focus people on fixing something specific in their delivery or pitch.
People often end up “off script” and speak from the heart even though it isn’t part of the written case for support document. Recording them and capturing some of those impromptu comments can help you refine your case and incorporate it into an elevator speech.

Yes, I know that no one likes to do activities like this, but sometimes good things aren’t necessarily the easy things in life. Right?

I also recently used my little Samsung pocket video camera to interview board volunteers prior to a board retreat. I asked questions like:

Why did you agree to serve on this board?
Why are you so passionate about this organization’s mission?
Why do you think other people should join you in serving on this board?
In the end, what do you want your legacy to be on this board?

You wouldn’t believe what comes out of people’s mouths. In fact, I think they are surprised at what comes out of their mouths.

When you ask someone to speak from the bottom of their heart, amazing things can happen. When you capture it on video and replay it back to them, it becomes a powerful tool for accomplishing a number of different objectives (e.g. engagement, reflection, etc).

Have you ever used video as a tool to help board members or fundraising volunteers? If so, what was your experience? If not, what barriers do you see that stop you from doing so? Please use the comment box to share your thoughts and experiences.

Here’s to your health!