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It’s a party! Unique non-profit special event fundraisers: Part 2

February 22, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising

Welcome to non-profit special event season. At least that is the case where I live. So, my partner and I have been making the rounds, and I thought I’d share some of the more unique special event ideas I’ve seen throughout the week. Today, we’re talking about The Larkin Center’s Sweetheart Auction fundraiser.

I must admit upfront that I’ve never seen a non-profit fundraiser quite like this one; however, a Google search reveals that this event is a little more common than you might think. Regardless, it is very hard for me to put it into words. For this reason, I thought it best to simply provide the language provided in the event program from that evening:

“The Sweetheart Auction includes a variety of activities, including a live auction for date packages. Each date package is represented by an eligible single. Bachelors and bachelorette are community volunteers who have agreed to appear in the event on behalf of The Larkin Center. Bidding is for the entire date package and can be bid on by any of our guests with a bidding paddle. Each package includes dining certificates and tickets to an entertainment venue. People appearing in the auction are representing the date package only and are not required to participate in the date package.”

On the ride back south, my partner and I talked about what we saw, and I thought you might want me to share (please note that this is just the facts ma’am):

We purchased our tickets online via the agency’s website and were redirected to PayPal. An email was sent after completing the transaction informing me that my credit card had been billed. I received my two tickets at the door upon check-in and was asked to provide whatever contact information I felt comfortable giving the agency at that time (e.g. address, phone, email).
As with most non-profit fundraising events, there were many different revenue streams associated with the event. There were sponsors with ads in the event book. There was a silent auction that complimented the actual “sweetheart (live) auction”. There was even a heads-or-tails raffle.
One free alcoholic drink was offered to those who showed up during the first hour that the doors were open.
I saw a number of paid staff in attendance and working the event (e.g. check-in, bouncer, accounts reconciliation, possibly even someone in the auction, etc)
There weren’t any pictures of kids or mission-focused factoids. However, the absence of kid pictures could probably be attributed to HIPPA laws. There might have also been a decision to downplay mission-moments due to the adult-nature of the evening.
There was a disc jockey (are they really still called that nowadays) and dancing after the auction.
There were 10 bachelorette who got up on stage and “encouraged” bidding on a variety of date packages. There were also six bachelors who did the same (albeit with more machismo and gyrating).

Those were just the facts, ma’am. So, I bet many of you are probably wondering if I did any bidding. Well, I cannot tell a lie. I did bid on two of the available Bachelors. I even won both of those bids. One beau is none other than the almost-famous Jason Pawlowski, who is the Promotions Coordinator for Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA) in Elgin, Illinois.

If you can keep a secret, I have already been in contact with Jason and plan on taking him and his boss Tonya Hudson out on a lunch date in mid-March. Shhhhh! Please don’t tell my partner and the love of my life. AS you might guess, John is the jealous type.

Ok, ok, ok . . . truth be told, I did buy Jason … errrr . . . I mean to say that I purchased the AWESOME Chicago Blackhawks game package that he represented, but the mid-March lunch date is simply my attempt to slip Jason and Tonya some of my new business materials. 😉

So, this week I’m trying something different. Rather than spell out what I think the “lessons learned” and “best practices” (or not so best practices) are around special event fundraising, I thought I’d turn that opportunity over to you. What struck you as interesting? What takeaway lessons do you see? What best practices were used? Did anything about this event make you nervous? If you’re intimidated and don’t want to critique a fellow agency, please feel free to share best practices (or lessons learned) that your non-profit agency uses during the implementation of your events?

Please scroll down and use the comment box found below to answer any and all of the these questions.

Here’s to your health!

Erik Anderson
Founder & President, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC
www.thehealthynonprofit.com
erik@thehealthynonprofit.com
http://twitter.com/#!/eanderson847
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It’s a party! Unique non-profit special event fundraisers: Part 1

February 21, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising

Welcome to non-profit special event season. At least that is the case where I live. So, my partner and I have been making the rounds, and I thought I’d share some of the more unique special event ideas I’ve seen throughout the week. Today, we’re talking about the Boys & Girls Clubs of Dane County’s Hearts for Helping Wine & Cheese fundraiser.

This last Friday John and I climbed into our car for what we thought would be a “Thelma & Louise” moment. For those of you from outside of the Midwest, please understand that Illinois residents are not very welcome north of the border. It should go without saying that it was scary for two guys to cross that state line at night in search of a little wine and cheese. 😉

When it was all said and done, the Club ended up raising more than $100,000 that evening. We walked away slack-jawed, impressed, and with our Illinois tails between our legs. (Note: Cheeseheads call us FIBs . . . can you guess what the “F” stands for?)

I mean “come on” . . . how do you raise that much money with a little bit of wine and some cheese?

On the ride back south, John and I talked about what we saw, and I thought you might want me to share:

The event was held in a hotel in the shadow of the historic Wisconsin statehouse. I don’t know about you, but I love events staged in and around seats of power and influence. They always seem to set the stage for me.
We purchased our tickets online (just like you would for a music concert from Ticketmaster). We printed those tickets from our home computer, and the online ticketing system sent us reminder emails as we got closer to the day of event.
There were many opportunities to give your money over and over and over again. There was a special VIP reception ticket that could be purchased. There was a main event ticket. There were silent auction tables with fun little packages. There was a live auction with even bigger packages. The program book illustrated plenty of corporate sponsorship packages (of all sizes).
The media was there in force. Television cameras were filming and a local radio station provided emcee and auctioneer services. It felt like a place for important people.
Speaking of people . . . the room was packed! There might have been close to 500 people in a room that would’ve been better suited for 300 people. Before you wrinkle your nose and judge that as being bad, let me just say that the buzz and electricity that comes with being in an undersized room shouldn’t be under-estimated.
Miss Wisconsin was on site and anyone wanting their picture taken with the beauty queen was able to do so.
There were two different slide shows continuously cycling through pictures of kids and mission-focused factoids.
There was a live band in the background setting the mood and generating excitement.
The Wisconsin Attorney General showed up and briefly spoke about the importance of the Club and announced that he was giving all of the Clubs throughout the state a grant to help underwrite an internet safety program.
The U.S. Department of Education showed up and announced a huge multi-year federal grant to help underwrite educational programming and collaborations.
Various other donors periodically interrupted the wine and cheese tasting experience to share tidbits of good news and tell the packed room why they invest in the Club.

Wow! I never would’ve believed that a little wine and cheese could create so much magic. Congratulations to CEO Michael Johnson and his board on putting together such a great event!

Rather than spelling out for blog readers what I think the “lessons learned” and “best practices” are around special event fundraising, I thought I’d turn that opportunity over to you. What struck you as interesting? What takeaway lessons do you see? What best practices were used? Please also feel free to share best practices that your non-profit agency uses during the implementation of your events?

Where should you provide answers to these questions? Please scroll down and use the comment box found below.

Here’s to your health! Tomorrow, I talk about the “Sweetheart Auction” we attended on Saturday. (Oh yes I did) 😉

Non-profit fees for service and the smell test

February 17, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising

On Tuesday, I blogged about the idea of non-profit organizations looking in some non-traditional places to generate revenue such as “selling things” through unrelated business income efforts. Of course, I see non-profits also looking at “related” business income opportunities. Today, I’m turning my attention from external opportunities to “sell stuff” (e.g. thrift stores, eBay, amazon.com, etc) in an effort to create revenue streams and looking inward at internal opportunities to sell your services by charging fees.

It would be too easy for me to take the position that instituting fees to sell your non-profit services to your clients amounts to nothing more than selling your soul. However, as we discovered in Tuesday’s post titled “Should the new non-profit mantra be: Sell! Sell! Sell!” many non-profits are generating a lot of revenue from fees for service — 45 percent of the approximate $1.5 trillion in non-profit revenue comes from fees and services.

I think my blogger friend, Joanne Fritz of about.com, got it right in her post titled “Can a Nonprofit Charge Fees for Its Services?” when she suggested there is a “smell test” that needs to be passed before a non-profit should ask its clients to pay fees for the services it offers. Let’s have some fun with this smell test idea:

<<sniff>> I don’t think domestic violence victims should be asked to pay for a place to spend the night safe from their abuser.
<<sniff>> It seems reasonable to ask students at publicly subsidized universities to pay some tuition.
<<sniff>> It don’t think hungry people should be asked to pay for the food they’re given at a food bank.
<<sniff>> It seems reasonable to ask patients at a non-profit hospital to pay for care and medical attention

Well, that was easy wasn’t it? Hmmmmmm . . . not so fast! The reality is that this issue can put your agency on the proverbial “slippery slope”. Let’s take a closer look:

Why should YMCA’s be able to charge fees to access their fitness programs? Doesn’t their non-profit tax-exempt status give them an unfair competitive advantage over for-profit companies doing the exact same thing? If you ask Bally’s Total Fitness and the fitness center industry, they’d likely say YES . . . the trail of lawsuits throughout the years would seem to support this assertion.
Why should public universities continue to charge more and more for a college education when they can also fundraise and access other funding streams that for-profit institutions of higher education can’t touch? Doesn’t their non-profit tax-exempt status give them an unfair competitive advantage?

In this “New Normal” economic environment, I do think non-profit professionals are eyeing opportunities to “sell stuff” to enhance their revenue streams. However, discretion is the better part of valor when it comes to giving in to this emerging trend because it is one thing to look at the for-profit marketplace to sell stuff, but it can be a completely different issue when you start selling your services (and your soul).

Take the Boys & Girls Club movement as a great example. It is the mission of Boys & Girls Clubs to help “those kids who need us most,” which in most cases translates into providing services to kids from “economically disadvantaged circumstances”. There are a number of Clubs doing the math on charging fees for their services.

While it is true that Clubs have charged membership fees for more than a century, it has always been nominal . . . $1.00, $5.00, $25.00 . . . for a one year membership to the Club. This was done to create a “sense of ownership” because the value associated with something given away for free is NOTHING.

However, what happens to this organization’s soul when fees go from being a program tool to a revenue stream . . . $50.00, $100.00, $250.00, $500.00 per year? At what point are you soulless? At what point do your clients walk away? At what point does your mission collapse under the weight of fee for service”? At what point does the IRS enter the picture and revoke your non-profit status?

I’m not suggesting that fee for service isn’t an acceptable model for some non-profit organizations. What I am suggesting is that passing the smell test is more difficult than you may think, and it requires serious board room consideration.

So, here are a few questions I recommend board members ask themselves:

Are there for-profit corporations in your community providing similar services? If so, then why should you have a competitive tax advantage over them?
If your fees for comparable services are similar to other for-profit competitors, what differentiates you and makes you special enough to have a tax advantage?
What is stopping you (and I mean really stopping you) from doing a better job with more traditional revenue streams that are unique remedies to non-profit corporations (e.g. fundraising, foundation grant writing, and various other philanthropic opportunities)?
What will your donors think? And at what point will fees damage your philanthropic business model? (e.g. donors balking at giving you a charitable gift because they think you can just hike fees or go sell some more stuff)

So, before you leap I suggest you look. You might not have a revenue problem that needs to be fixed with a fee for service solution. You may have a human resources and staffing issue. You may have board development or volunteer issue. Of course, you may have a revenue model issue that needs to be tweaked with the addition of some fees for service.

Here is some unsolicited advice . . . If you want to “sell stuff” to generate revenue, it is far safer to open a store and weave your mission throughout its operation (e.g. Wednesday’s blog post about thrift stores or Thursday’s post about eBay and Amazon.com) than it is to look internally at selling your services and raising revenue on the backs of those you serve.

What is the going price for a soul today? I think is it PRICELESS.

Here’s to your health!

Should the new non-profit mantra be: Sell! Sell! Sell!

February 15, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising

Yesterday, I introduced the idea of non-profit organizations looking in some non-traditional places to generate revenue such as “selling things” through unrelated business income efforts. Of course, I see non-profits also looking at “related” business income opportunities. Regardless, we’ll be talking about this topic for the remainder of this week. Today, we’re doing a deeper dive on what I think is driving this way of thinking and providing a few tips to those looking at this opportunity.

In the majority of my blog posts, I’ve talked about charitable giving and the $300 billion dollars every year that Americans contribute to charities. The reality is that the non-profit sector reports approximately $1.5 trillion in revenues and $2.5 trillion in assets (source: Philanthropy Journal). In round numbers, the Paul Clarke Nonprofit Resource Center reported a number of years ago that nonprofit revenue shakes out in the following way:

20 percent private contributions (e.g. fundraising)
45 percent fees and services (e.g. tuition and health related fees for service)
32 percent government grants and purchase of service agreements (e.g. Medicare, Medicaid, etc)

However, the 45 percent slice of the pie can be really deceiving as it was pointed out by Amy Blackwood, Kennard T. Wing and Thomas H. Pollak in their white paper titled “The Nonprofit Sector in Brief“. When looking at fees and services, they reported:

“These distributions, however, are largely driven by hospitals and higher education institutions. If we exclude these organizations, the distribution of sources of revenue changes substantially. In contrast, the remaining organizations are less dependent on fees for services and goods and more dependent on private contributions and government grants.”

So, I relayed a conversation in yesterday’s post — “What’s the next new thing in non-profit fundraising” — that I had with a very dear non-profit friend over a cup of coffee. In that discussion, she hypothesized that the next new thing might involve non-profits “selling more things”. I’ve concluded that she may indeed be right for the following reasons:

As you can see from the aforementioned source of funds data, non-profit organizations have been selling services and charging fees for years. While this as primarily been healthcare and education related charities, I suspect that during tough economic times agencies start “looking around” at their fellow non-profits for ideas to “borrow”.
My blogger friend, Joanne Fritz at about.com, also captured some of what I’m seeing in her post titled “Recession Provides Bump to Thrift Shopping and Social Responsibility“.

For those entrepreneurial minded non-profit professionals out there who are intrigued by this possible trend, I have a few suggestions:

First things first . . . sit down and figure out upon which revenue model you’re building your non-profit agency. This is one of those foundational decisions that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The Stanford Social Innovation Review did a very nice job distilling this question into 10 different revenue models. Click here to read that article.
If you want to open a store and sell stuff, then you need to start thinking and acting like a for-profit business person. Being a non-profit in a for-profit environment might not work very well. While this single thought could (and probably should become a blog post unto itself), I will share the following few tips: take a few business courses; develop a written business plan; remember that it is all about location-location-location; figure out the “pricing points” thing quickly; and be prepared to do marketing in a very different way from what you’ve done for your non-profit services.
Be extra careful with the “unrelated business income” thing. You don’t want the IRS to take away your non-profit status.
Tie your income-oriented “business venture” into your mission. If done correctly, you might be able to generate income from sales AND cultivate a new base of donors who are ALSO willing to make charitable contributions to your private sector fundraising efforts. This could be done in a variety of ways including: employing clients to operate the store, selling items made by your clients, decorating the store with mission-focused messages, etc
Involve your donors. If you look throughout your donor database, you’ll find a diversity of people from many different walks of life that possess a variety of skill sets and experiences. You’re not in this thing alone . . . you have passionate supporters who love you. If you engage those donors the right way, you might just see their involvement impact how they see your mission and their support of it.

Lots and lots and lots of questions, and the answers can get very complicated. So, before leaping, make sure you take a very hard look at whether or not this is something that fits with your organizational culture.

Does your agency operate a store or business venture? Please share your successes and challenges. Maybe its not a store, but you’re starting to eye product sale opportunities (e.g. cookies, candy bars, popcorn, etc). If so, what are the considerations racing through your mind. Please scroll down and share some of your lessons and considerations in the comment box below.

Here’s to your health!

What’s the next “new thing” in non-profit fundraising?

February 14, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to share a cup of coffee with a dear friend of mine who runs a local non-profit organization in Elgin, Illinois. During the course of that conversation, she openly wondered what the “next new thing” in non-profit fundraising will be. It was a great conversation . . . so, I’ve decided to share and engage all of you in the discussion.

Our conversation started off innocent enough. She was reflecting on the state of the local non-profit community, and I was scribbling notes frantically in hopes of possibly finding a business lead or two or three. 😉

I think she hit upon something very interesting when she said, “I’ve never seen a time when ALL of the different sources of funding were down at the same time and under so much pressure.” For example, when her agency’s United Way funding seemed to start trending downward, she found alternative revenue streams from federal, state, and local government agencies. When foundation and corporate sources would dry up, she was able to rely on individual giving and special events.

In her experience, non-profit fundraising was like a lava lamp with funding streams going up and down and coming back again. The world she described felt sustainable to her because as a strategic thinker she always seemed to be able to identify THE “next new thing” and position her agency to take advantage of it. However, today’s “New Normal” feels very different from any other time she’s experienced, and she wondered out loud what the next new thing will be.

As my coffee cup was near empty, she appeared thunderstruck and then said, “I just wonder if non-profits need to start looking at selling things like our for-profit friends do, but doing so in a way that it can be wrapped around our non-profit mission.”

Of course, she is speaking to the issue of “unrelated business income“. However, it might not have to be “unrelated”.

The example she gave involved operating a thrift store. However, she wondered if the store couldn’t also be linked to her non-profit’s client base with job training and childcare opportunities infused throughout. This idea would involve donors donating items to the store. It would involve clients working at the shop, thus earning money, learning transferable skills, and becoming more self-reliant in life. It would involve subsidized childcare, which is a huge barrier to many single and working women trying to make ends meet. In the end, all of this would result in a revenue stream for the non-profit, and just possible THE “next new thing”.

I am intrigued by this idea and will spend the next few days blogging about unrelated business income and outside-the-box revenue ideas with which non-profits seem to be experimenting. I find this idea so interesting because many non-profit agencies haven’t had to think about business-related issues such as the marketplace, supply and demand, customers, pricing, etc etc etc.

So, please join me on this strangely curious trip and discussion.

Has your agency started examining the idea of “selling things” in an attempt to generate new revenue? If so, what have you tried and what was the result? What were some of the interesting disconnects you may have experienced when traveling down this road. Please share examples of other organizations in your community or nationally that have gotten into the unrelated business income game.

If you scroll down, you will see the comment box. You know what to do. 😉

Here’s to your health!

What do your donors value?

February 10, 2012 DonorDreams Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising

A few months ago, I had the privilege of facilitating a values exercise for an organization. I blogged about it weeks afterward in a post titled “Does your non-profit have a soul?” Yesterday, I had a similar privilege to facilitate a focus group with a different agency, and one of the questions I asked clients was “what values do you see the organization living?

Wow! If you ever want to know if you live your values, pull together a group of clients and ask them what they see. It can be an incredibly affirming exercise. I suspect it can also be eye-opening.

After yesterday’s focus group, I decided to spend a moment reflecting on the power of that exercise. I found my mind wandering back to the same question:

“I wonder how many non-profits know what values their donors hold close to their hearts and how that impacts their willingness to invest in their mission?”

For some dumb reason, I’ve never considered how a donor perceives an agency’s values, reconciles it with their own personal values, and factors it into their decision to donate or not. After thinking about it for a moment, it is as obvious as the nose on my face. However, I must admit that this never has consciously crossed my mind. <<Embarassing>> Additionally, this revelation has now trigger more questions:

Could fundraising ineffectiveness in part be caused by an organization that doesn’t have a well-defined set of organizational values?
Could an agency that only has values “on paper” and fails to live by them, negatively impact their fundraising program?
What can non-profits learn if they ask their donors what values they see the agency living?
How can a non-profit organization best ascertain what values their donors cherish?

Regardless of how you answer these questions, I suspect you will conclude as I have that it is important to figure out how to best communicate what your organizational values are throughout the cultivation, solicitation and stewardship processes.

However, first things first . . . what does your non-profit value? I will leave you with the following incomplete list of values and principles that I’ve seen some agencies embrace (e.g. the YMCA’s core values are in the graphic to the right of this paragraph):

Excellence
Honesty
Fun
Creativity
Respect for Others
Quality
Diversity
Innovation
Winning
Care for Others
Cooperation

Lots and lots of questions for a Friday. If you find yourself with some answers, please scroll down and share those thoughts in the comment box. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

Choo! Choo! All aboard the philanthropy train

February 9, 2012 DonorDreams Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising

On Tuesday of this week, I climbed aboard a train and made my way to downtown Chicago for a meeting with a former co-worker and current marketing consultant. It was on that train trip that I was thunderstruck by a revelation . . . trains are an amazing metaphor for non-profit organizations when it comes to resource development.

It starts at the train station. If you look around at those waiting for the train, you’ll observe people from all walks of life. There is a lot of diversity standing on that train platform, which also holds true for the average non-profit agency’s pool of prospective donors. Those who are interested in supporting your agency are young and old, white-collar and blue-collar, and rich and poor.

Non-profits who are successful at resource development recognize their mission is something everyone wants to climb aboard, and those agencies are very good at offering seats to everyone on that train.

Once the train pulls up to the platform, the doors open and the conductors come down out of the train onto the platform. They greet commuters, provide valuable information, and assist those who need help getting up into the train. After everyone is seemingly aboard, they look around and make sure there are no stragglers.

Successful fundraising organizations use fundraising professionals and fundraising volunteers to identify, cultivate, educate, inform and help prospective donors.

On the train, conductors are punching pre-purchased tickets as well as selling tickets to those who need them. Everyone pays to ride and no one goes without a solicitation. This all occur while the train is chugging along to its destination. After the solicitation period is over, the conductor stops and chats with passengers. They answer questions and talk about the “expected outcome,” which of course is arriving safely at your destination. The focus isn’t on the solicitation, it is on the outcomes (e.g. talk about the journey, reminders about safety, and the final announcement at the end of the trip that the ultimate outcome has been achieved).

Non-profits who make fundraising look effortless understand that fundraising isn’t the focus. They work hard to keep their donors and supporters focused on the journey, the outcomes and the impact. The message is never “we need your money” . . . it is always “we’re making a difference because of everything you do to support us.”

As the train pulls into Union Station, the conductor makes the following announcements:

We’ve arrived on time (e.g. we delivered on our promise)
Thank you for riding Metra (e.g. appreciation and acknowledgement)
Have a great day, watch your step getting off the train, and be safe
Remember to buy your ticket at the station for your return trip because you’ll save money

Stewardship is more than just thanking donors for their money. In addition to thanks and appreciation, the effective non-profits share return on investment information with their donors and take a genuine interest in their lives.

If you’re reading today’s blog post and think I’m exaggerating to make a point, then I think you need to take a train trip. For me, the proof is in the pudding when I see how many commuters appear to personally know their conductors and look happy to see them.

Non-profit organizations who want to improve their resource development programs and make them more donor-centered should climb aboard the philanthropy train and enjoy the ride. None of us are ever too old to learn a thing or two. 😉

Who are the “conductors” for your resource development program? No everyone is cut out for that job . . . how do you identify and recruit those individuals? Are you strategic in your efforts or is it more organic? What does your agency do to keep the focus off of fundraising and on the outcomes and impact (while ensuring donors are still contributing)? Does your fundraising program feel like a fun journey or is it just a series of unconnected stops?

Please use the comment box below to weigh-in. I promise that it is a warm and nurturing place. It will not bite you. 😉

Here’s to your health!

Wise words from a frog on donor recapture initiatives

February 2, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising

This week we’re looking for non-profit and fundraising advice from one of my favorite books — “It’s Not Easy Being Green: And Other Things to Consider” — written by Jim Henson, The Muppets, and Friends. In yesterday’s post, we examined song lyrics from Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem band and the importance of training your annual campaign volunteer solicitors. Today, we look at a quote from Kermit the Frog and the concept of re-engaging lapsed donors.

The following passage is something Kermit said in one of the muppet movies. I think these words are inspirational for non-profit and fundraising professionals who are looking at a long list of lapsed donors and contemplating how to re-engage them.

“Look at all those people out there. Lots of people. But my friends . . . my friends are all gone. Well, I’m, I’m going to get ’em back. I’m gonna get ’em back! ‘Cause the show’s not dead as long as I believe in it. And I’m gonna sell that show. And we’re all gonna be on Broadway. You hear me, New York? We’re gonna be on Broadway! Because, because I’m not giving up! I’m still here and I’m stayin’! You hear that, New York? I’m stayin’ right here. The frog is stayin’.”

While every non-profit organization’s donor recapture initiative will likely look a little different due to circumstances and available resources, they are all rooted in the following foundational approaches:

Identifying which lapsed donors are the best candidates for your recapture activities,
Assessment to determine if there were systemic reasons for the donor disengaging,
Developing a case for support specifically focused on why a donor should come back, and
Creating a plan that involves varied cultivation, solicitation, stewardship and testing strategies that uniquely speak to a family member who has been away from home for a while.

Doing all of this falls into the category of “good strategy,” but what Kermit speaks to is something entirely different — good attitude.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve opened a letter, taken a phone call or visited with a fundraising professional who wants to engage me in a conversation about renewing my lapsed financial support. For me, it is all about tone and energy. I can tell if you really care about me or if you just care about my dollars. I can tell if you believe in your heart that I’m a member of your non-profit family.

You can put together the most strategically sound donor recapture initiative and still fall short if you don’t take Kermit’s words to heart about:

Being perseverant and demonstrating sticktoitiveness,
Believing in a cause, and
Understanding the concept of salesmanship.

Jerry Juhl was a good friend of Jim Henson and a puppeteer associated with the muppets. He said, “Kermit is the eye in the middle of the hurricane. And, you know, he’s always in control. And the interesting thing about it, of course, is that he created the hurricane.”

Every fundraising professional should take these words to heart because: 1) you are at the center of your agency’s fundraising program, 2) you need to always exude a sense ofbeing calm, cool and collected, and 3) you likely created the situation that you’re currently dealing with.

Has your agency every created or invested in a donor recapture initiative? If so, please share what it looked like? If you created a special case for support, what were some of the messages and themes you hit upon? How did you infuse emotion into your efforts? Please scroll down and share your thoughts using the comment box below. We can all learn from each other.

Here’s to your health!

A parade of fundraising leaders and role models

January 27, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership

This week at DonorDreams we are talking about what it looks like to be a fundraising “LEADER”. Today, we cap the week off by looking at one smart teenager and a few organizations that provide “thought leadership” in the area of charitable giving. I hope this week’s series of blog posts on fundraising thought leadership inspired you to become a teacher in your little corner of the world when it comes to philanthropy.

I’ve spent most of my life working in the youth development field. If there is one thing I know, it is that kids know everything. Just ask them! LOL So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that at 14-years-old Freddi Zeiler wrote a book that “teaches us” how to: give time and money, donate goods, and organize charity events.

The book is titled “A Kids Guide to Giving“. I highly recommend that every fundraising professional secure a copy because we can all learn a lot as fundraising leaders from Freddi’s TPOV.

In Wednesday’s post titled “What is your teachable point of view around fundraising?” I talked about the importance of leaders developing their TPOV. Apparently, no one had to teach Freddi the importance of this idea because her TPOV came through loud and clear. To give you just a little taste, here are a few of the “ideas” she puts forth on fundraising:

Look into your heart.
Support a cause you love.
There are lots of ways to help!
You can make a difference.

It takes some non-profit professionals and volunteers a very long time to learn these inspirational and fundamental fundraising lessons.

As we talked about in Tuesday’s post titled “Are you and your non-profit agency fundraising leaders?” Noel Tichy believes that leaders are teachers. This aligns with what I think and how I end most of the posts here at the DonorDreams blog when I say: “we can all learn from each other”. It is for this reason I highlighted Freddi this morning as a fundraising leader. However, leaders don’t necessary have to be individuals . . . they can be organizations that embody and bring to life inspirational ideas, values and emotional energy and edge on the topic of philanthropy and fundraising.

Two such organizations in my mind are The Robin Hood Foundation and United Way of America.

The Robin Hood Foundation has been in operation since 1988 and focused on eliminating poverty in New York City. What I love about this foundation is their TPOV:

The foundation focuses on attacking the “roots” of poverty and not throwing money at alleviating the symptoms;
The foundation doesn’t just write a check and walk away from the project. They roll up their sleeves and partner with their grant recipients by providing and securing technical assistance to help maximize the potential of the program they just funded.
The foundation is results-oriented and helps their partners set goals, measure progress, collect data, and benchmark success. After working with their grantees on these parts of the project, they then hold them accountable to achieving all of it.

United Way of America is the grand-daddy of all philanthropic thought leaders in America. For the last 125 years, they have helped donors collectively find their philanthropic muscles and tackle difficult social problems in communities all across America.

I could spend hours talking about United Way’s workplace campaign. I could also spend days talking about their community impact model that focuses on big goals like improving education, helping people find financial stability during tough economic times, or promoting healthy lifestyles and communities. While all of this is inspirational, the thing that most inspires me as a fundraising professional is how United Way empowers many individuals with its message around giving, advocating and volunteering.

In my non-profit work throughout the years, I’ve bumped into too many people who are not wealthy and see themselves as tiny actors on the very large stage of life. These people have a hard time seeing themselves as philanthropists because they don’t think their ability to make a small charitable contribution will change anything. United Way works tirelessly as a “fundraising teacher” every year to empower donors.

The message that “even a few dollars per paycheck, when combined with everyone else’s few dollars, can change the world” is an empowering message and something we should all take to heart and learn to teach. We all need to dedicate ourselves to teaching donors how to make their money and time turn into something impactful. If every fundraising professional in America took this to heart, can you even imagine what those charitable giving pie charts published every year by Giving USA would look like? OH MY!

So, are you ready to embrace your professional calling as a non-profit fundraising professional or volunteer differently? What is your teachable point of view? What individuals (e.g. Bill Clinton or Freddi Zeiler) or organizations (e.g. Robin Hood Foundation or United Way) do you look to for inspiration to develop and inspire your TPOV?

Please scroll down and use the comment box to share your thoughts on these questions because we can all learn from each other”. 🙂

Here’s to your health!

Leader and philanthropist: Bill Clinton

January 26, 2012 DonorDreams Fundraising, leadership

This week at DonorDreams we are talking about what it looks like to be a fundraising “LEADER”. Today, we will continue our work by examining Bill Clinton’s teachable point of view around philanthropy, which he details in his 240 page book titled “Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World“. Tomorrow, we will cap the week off by looking at a variety of organizations that provide t”hought leadership” in the area of charitable giving.

Earlier this week I wrote blog posts titled “Are you and your non-profit agency a fundraising leader?” and “What is your teachable point of view around fundraising?“. If I had to capture these posts in a few words, it would be . . . leaders are teachers and they always have a teachable point of view (TPOV). After reading Bill Clinton’s book on “Giving,” regardless of whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, it would be impossible to argue that Clinton doesn’t has a TPOV on philanthropy and that he uses his book as a vehicle to teach us how to be more charitable.

Clinton shares a wealth of “Ideas” (remember this is one of the three elements of a TPOV) through his book including: much still needs to be done in our communities; everyone can giving; charitable giving doesn’t have to just be money but can also include time or things or skills; and we have an obligation to each other (which kind sounds like Hillary’s “it takes a village” mantra).

Identifying Clinton’s “Values” (remember this is the second of the three elements of a TPOV) and principles throughout his book isn’t difficult. A few of those values were: duty, service over self, compassion, life, and self-sufficiency.

Finally, his “emotional energy and edge” (remember this is the final piece of the three TPOV elements) is loud and clear in every chapter of the book. I think this quote from Clinton captures it best:

“I wrote this book to encourage you to give whatever you can, because everyone can give something. And there’s so much to be done, down the street and around the world. It’s never too late or too early to start.”

This call to action echoes Dr. Martin Luther King’s inspirational words: “Everyone can be great because everyone can serve.” Clinton’s book reads like a manual for the average person in America on how a private citizen doesn’t have to have an extraordinary Presidential life story in order to make a difference.

Bill Clinton as a philanthropic leader and teacher? ABSOLUTELY!!!! And he is someone we can all learn a lot from.

Perhaps, my favorite part of this book is where Clinton reminds us of why donors give of themselves.

“Why do some people give so much while others give the bare minimum or not at all? I’ve thought about this a lot, and it seems to me we all give for a combination of reasons, rooted in what we think about the world in which we live and what we think about ourselves. We give because we think it will help people today or give our children a better future; because we feel morally obligated to do so out of religious or ethical convictions; because someone we know and respect asked us; or because we find it more rewarding and more enjoyable than spending more money on material possessions or more time on recreation or work.

When people don’t give, I think the reasons are simply the reverse. They don’t believe what they could do would make a difference, either because their resources are limited or they’re convinced efforts to change other people’s lives and conditions are futile. They don’t feel morally obligated to give. No one has ever asked them to do so. And they believe they’ll enjoy life more if they keep their money and time for themselves and their families.”

Sorry for including such a long quote from Clinton, but I find these words to be truly inspiring. I also believe that EVERY non-profit organization can use this passage to evaluate their comprehensive resource development program by asking:

What are you doing to demonstrate to donors and the community at-large that your agency’s programs “make a difference”?
What are you doing to show both large and small donors that regardless of how small the contribution might be that it is important, valued, appreciated, and transformational?
How does your agency and your staff, board members, volunteers and donors model the morality-values-principles associated with philanthropy? And how do you do this in a way that inspires others to jump on the bandwagon?
How are you asking others to join you? Is it all about the impersonal email, newsletter, social media post, telephone call or snail-mail letter? Or are you and your volunteers getting out into the community and “pressing the flesh”?
Studies demonstrate that people who make philanthropic contributions (e.g. time, talent or treasure) are “happier” people. Do you and your volunteers look happy or are you making charitable giving and service look dreary and hard?

I encourage you to read Bill Clinton’s book because it reads like a love letter to the non-profit community and an instructional manual for donors as well as non-profit organizations!

Have you read the book? What were your impressions or lessons learned? If not a high-profile leader like Bill Clinton, who have you looked to as a philanthropic leader? What life lesson did you learn from that person?

Here’s to your health!