Tag: solicitation

August 19, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising, Uncategorized

Fundraising volunteers speak out: Wrap-up

For the last four days, we’ve heard unfiltered responses from real, live fundraising volunteers with regard to what they see as past successes and what it will take to keep them involved next year. So, the question now shifts to: “What are you going to do about it?”

I’ve had an opportunity to soak-up this week’s blog series, and here are a few ideas if you want to make this input/feedback actionable:

Organize a focus group of fundraising volunteers and ask their opinions on what needs to change in order for your resource development program to take the next step.
Identify former fundraising volunteers who used to help your organization but have since stopped. Call them, invite them out for coffee, and just listen (don’t ask for a thing).
Develop volunteer job descriptions for all of your fundraising volunteer positions and use them in 2012 . . . no more “soft selling” people . . . set realistic expectations from the beginning.
Commit yourself to sending out agendas and meeting materials to all fundraising volunteers at least 7 days before every meeting.
Figure out how to infuse a sense of “mission-focus” into every single meeting where fundraising volunteers are present.
Revisit your organizations “prospect assignment” practices and ask volunteers to weigh-in with suggestions on how to improve it . . . ensuring that volunteers are matched with prospects they feel confident soliciting.

OK … I’ve got the ball rolling with a few simple ideas. Now it is your turn! What are you planning to do to make this week’s blog series actionable so that your organization can become more donor-centered? Please use the comment box below to share your ideas because we can all learn from each other.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 18, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

Fundraising volunteers speak out: Part 4

After last week’s focus on donors and what they have to say about their charitable contributions, I’ve decided to change the focus and ask volunteer solicitors to talk about their most rewarding solicitation experience and what needs to happen to keep them involved next year. Similar to last week, this week’s respondents answered an anonymous online survey that they learned about on various social media channels and from blast emails. I’ve picked four really awesome responses to share with you this week that I think provide excellent lessons for non-profit and fundraising professionals. Enjoy!!!

Again … the survey was anonymous because I wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing up the truth. Here is what the today’s highlighted survey respondent said:

Question: Using the comment box below, please write a paragraph or two about your most rewarding solicitation experience (e.g. when you sat down eyeball-to-eyeball with someone else and asked them to consider making a charitable contribution). Why was it so rewarding for you? How did you feel going into the meeting? And what made you feel comfortable enough with doing such a solicitation?

Answer: I asked the Frye Foundation for money to create a four state event around domestic violence and homeless families. It was rewarding because they became a very interested, active participant in the process and the outcome.

Question: Understanding you are probably a very busy person, what does the charity that you’ve made some solicitation calls for need to do (or show you) in order to renew your commitment as a volunteer solicitor in the next fundraising campaign?

Answer: It needs to call to my ethics . . . it needs to be well run and respected . . . and it needs to show results.

OK … unlike last week when I couldn’t resist weighing in with my thoughts, I’m going to take a risk and ask YOU to weigh-in and share what you think the moral to the story is. And the risk I’m referring to is . . . no one is going to comment and all anyone will hear is the sound of crickets. Please use the comment box below and remember that we can all learn from each other. I also encourage you to share links to resources that you’ve found on the internet.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 17, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

Fundraising volunteers speak out: Part 3

Again … the survey was anonymous because I wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing up the truth. Here is what the today’s highlighted survey respondent said:

Question: Using the comment box below, please write a paragraph or two about your most rewarding solicitation experience (e.g. when you sat down eyeball-to-eyeball with someone else and asked them to consider making a charitable contribution). Why was it so rewarding for you? How did you feel going into the meeting? And what made you feel comfortable enough with doing such a solicitation?

Answer: I was asked by one of my favorite non-profit organizations to contact someone who I really didn’t consider a friend but knew casually through mutual friends. It took more than a month and many phone calls before she responded and I was able to get the meeting. While I was not expecting much, I did get a generous pledge from her. I’m not sure if it was the most “rewarding” solicitation I’ve ever done, but it is the hardest I ever had to work to secure a contribution. In hindsight, I can’t honestly say that I ever felt “comfortable” making that ask or being put in that situation.

Question: Understanding you are probably a very busy person, what does the charity that you’ve made some solicitation calls for need to do (or show you) in order to renew your commitment as a volunteer solicitor in the next fundraising campaign?

Answer: I don’t want to go out and bust my butt if the non-profit who has recruited me is seen as being in “poor standing” in the community. I am attaching my good name to this agency, and choosing to help a non-profit with a poor public opinion and bad management reflects poorly on me. I look for quality organizations that are dedicated to sustainable business practices.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 16, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

Fundraising volunteers speak out: Part 2

Again … the survey was anonymous because I wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing up the truth. Here is what the today’s highlighted survey respondent said:

Question: Using the comment box below, please write a paragraph or two about your most rewarding solicitation experience (e.g. when you sat down eyeball-to-eyeball with someone else and asked them to consider making a charitable contribution). Why was it so rewarding for you? How did you feel going into the meeting? And what made you feel comfortable enough with doing such a solicitation?

Answer: I don’t know if I have ever felt that making the actual ask was rewarding. Getting a check in hand feels rewarding. On the other hand, having someone not give you money is just as deflating. I think the feeling you get from having a face-to-face solicitation is not immediately rewarding. I believe it is when you “put it [the ask] in perspective” that you can feel rewarded. You went out there and stood up for something you believed in. If you can capture that feeling I think that is reward enough. As far as what makes you feel comfortable. It is the relationship with the person you are soliciting. The better the relationship, the easier it is to solicit.

Question: Understanding you are probably a very busy person, what does the charity that you’ve made some solicitation calls for need to do (or show you) in order to renew your commitment as a volunteer solicitor in the next fundraising campaign?

Answer: I think that the organization just needs to understand the challenge of asking people for money. I think it needs to be careful not too lean on people too heavily. Think of each volunteer differently, account for what might make certain asks hard. I think ultimately you want someone to appreciate you and the fact that you are really putting yourself out there.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 15, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

Fundraising volunteers speak out: Part 1

Again … the survey was anonymous because I wanted the truth, the whole truth and nothing up the truth. Here is what the today’s highlighted survey respondent said:

Question: Using the comment box below, please write a paragraph or two about your most rewarding solicitation experience (e.g. when you sat down eyeball-to-eyeball with someone else and asked them to consider making a charitable contribution). Why was it so rewarding for you? How did you feel going into the meeting? And what made you feel comfortable enough with doing such a solicitation?

Answer: A CEO of a local company reached out to me to learn more about our cause and how their involvement could benefit us. My initial meeting was a fact-finding session with their senior leadership team and was followed up by a personalized tour of our facility outlining all of the items we discussed in the initial meeting. The visit culminated with a comprehensive proposal that addressed their areas of interest. The outcome – score! They are now funding several different initiatives and we have developed a mutually beneficial long-term relationship.

Question: Understanding you are probably a very busy person, what does the charity that you’ve made some solicitation calls for need to do (or show you) in order to renew your commitment as a volunteer solicitor in the next fundraising campaign?

Answer: Provide me with the facts and outcomes of our program so that I am armed with answers to potential questions the funder will ask. And follow-through with the donor as requested after the solicitation . . . providing great stewardship.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 12, 2011 DonorDreams Fundraising

From the mouths of donors: Wrap-up

For the last four days, we’ve heard unfiltered responses from real, live donors with regard to who they give to and why they give as well as what they are looking for in order to continue giving. So, the question now shifts to: “What are you going to do about it?”

I’ve had an opportunity to soak-up this week’s blog series, and here are a few ideas if you want to make this input/feedback actionable:

Call a few board members and recruit them to go with you on face-to-face stewardship visits with your top 25 donors;
Call a few donors and ask permission to visit with them and videotape their story about why they give to your organization. Edit and replay these stories in your board room.
Organize a few donor focus groups on any number of different subjects. Click here to read a great online article about how and why to do this.
Develop and launch a donor survey. Penelope Burk has made a career out of asking donors why they give and what makes them tick. Click here to read the executive summary of Penelope’s 2011 donor survey results. Doing the same might just give you some insights you never had about your organization or your resource development program.
Start a volunteer management program and squirrel some money away in next year’s budget to hire a volunteer coordinator.
Start an alumni chapter and get the old gang back together. Remember that people don’t have time to belong to a “name only” group. So, make sure your alumni efforts have purpose and meaning (e.g. a stated project, etc).
Organize a storytelling project where you ask current clients and alumni to talk about how your organization made a difference in their life. Capture these stories either via digital audio or digital video and upload it to a special place on your organization’s website. Don’t know where to get started? No problem … click here and check-out NPR’s “StoryCorps” project for inspiration.
Create a training for volunteer solicitors that is designed to help them understand that asking for a charitable contribution is the “art of happiness” and an act of helping people’s vision for the world around them come true.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

August 5, 2011 DonorDreams Donor-centered fundraising, Fundraising

Friends With Benefits?

Have you ever read a blog post that bothered you so much that you saved it in your email inbox? It happens periodically for me, and this phenomenon occurred two weeks ago with a blog post from Jeff Brooks who writes Fundraising Future Now.

So, there I was drinking my morning coffee and clicking through emails on July 27th, when I came across Jeff’s blog titled “Not all donors are seeking a deeper connection“. Since I consider myself a “disciple” of Penelope Burk (thought leader behind donor-centered fundraising ^TMand author of Donor Centered Fundraising), my first response to the blog’s headline was “WTF?” Then I clicked open the email and read this:

“We should be prepared to admit that not all donors are as absorbed in our causes as we are. Some of them — maybe most of them — just want to give and be done with it.”

Looking back on the moment, I have to laugh at myself because I was genuinely disturbed and almost had the same reaction as the person in this YouTube video. However, I composed myself and hit the button titled “Mark as Unread” and stewed about it for this long.

I’ve come to this conclusion: Sometimes the human experience allows us to get swept up into an idea so much that it becomes a truism to us (much like Penelope Burk’s idea of donor-centered fundraising ^TMhas become for many fundraising professions).

Even though I’ve come to this conclusion, I still love Penelope Burk and all of the donor research she conducts and shares. I think I’ll even remain in her camp for a little while longer. However, I think I’m going to rent the DVD of Justin Timberlake’s movie “Friends with Benefits” and do some research over the course of the next year. I am open-minded to Jeff Brooks’ hypothesis about some (possibly many) donors only loving your non-profit mission enough to toss you a contribution from time-to-time.

Until I sort through this philosophical fundraising mess, I guess I am going back to the only truism that hasn’t steered me wrong, which is:

“KNOW THY DONOR”

Are you a Penelope Burk disciple? What is your reaction to Jeff Brooks’ blog post? If you run a non-profit organization or interact with donors on a daily basis, what are your thoughts? How do you walk the fine line between donors who want to get married and those who only want to be friends with benefits?

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 29, 2011 DonorDreams Uncategorized

Hooking fish but not landing them

I am dedicating this week’s blog posts to exploring ePhilanthropy related topics. Since this field of resource development is still cutting edge (or should I say bleeding edge), I encourage everyone who is dabbling, experimenting and playing with tools in this field to please weigh-in using the comment section of this blog. Today, I turn my attention to websites.

Well, here we are … back at square one — “The Beginning”. I can imagine that this entire ePhilanthropy thing started a long time ago at the start of the digital revolution when one resource development professional asked themselves: “Hmmm … my donors online are all hanging out online. I wonder how I can using my agency’s website to raise money?”

So, talking about websites seems like a very anti-climatic way to end the week. Right?

If you responded in the affirmative, then I beg to differ because the issue with ePhilanthropy is how quickly technology changes. In my opinion, there is a real danger is in forgetting about one of the most basic building blocks (e.g. website) and getting distracted by the new shiny objects (social media, online videos, etc).

Still skeptical? Think of it this way … your organization’s website is like “home base” for your entire ePhilanthropy program. Your social media, online video and email strategies are like a “fishing pole, line and hook” is to a fisherman.

Let’s take an example from my blog post yesterday about online videos. I posted a YouTube link to an online video solicitation from Chris Salvatore on behalf of the Gay American Heroes Foundation. I talked about the effectiveness of the video and admitted that immediately after viewing it, I had wanted to make a donation, but I never did. The reason I didn’t donate was because of the foundation’s website. Click here to check it out.

Do you see what I mean? Their website is a mess. It is full of emotion, but it was hard for me to quickly determine what they plan to do with my donation and what the “return on investment” would be.

Your organization’s website is your face on the information super-highway. You can hook all the fish you want using tools like Facebook, Twitter, online videos, and email; however, you will never land those fish if you cannot instill confidence and clearly communicate your case. Online donors turn to your website to find this info. If it looks like you just vomited a website into cyberspace, trust me when I tell you: “it kills the mood as well as the will to donate”.

Creating your organization’s website is complicated because it involves skill sets in the following areas: technology, marketing & communication, and internet practices (e.g. search engine optimization, etc). However, if you want to be “donor-centered” in an online environment, then you need to be really good at ALL of these things (or outsource some or all of it to professionals who can help you).

With that being said, I strongly believe in life-long learning. You might not able able to be an expert in all things pertaining to websites, but it is possible to become knowledgeable enough. This is important because only you can make the strategic decisions that are important to your resource development and ePhilanthropy programs. For this reason, I was so excited to find all sorts of free online resources (e.g. articles, trainings, etc) from Network for Good on their online learning center website. Click here to see all sorts of resources pertaining to websites.

I bit off more than I can chew with this topic, so I will carry it over into part of next week. Do you have any best practices to share with regards to your website? How do you fit your website into a comprehensive ePhilanthropy strategy? How does your ePhilanthropy strategy fit into your comprehensive resource development plan? In what ways have you exported the ideas of “Donor-Centered Fundraising ^TM”? We can learn from each other!

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC

July 28, 2011 DonorDreams Uncategorized

Places everyone! Online videos and fundraising

Some research indicates that people retain 5-percent of information communicated verbally compared to 20-percent when it is communicated both verbally and visually. I suspect this comes as no surprise to many of us. I know I’ve always told friends that I am more of a “visual person”. Moreover, this seems to be totally supported by the popularity of television and movie theater entertainment.

What was surprising to me was how biased and opposed I originally was when a colleague presented the idea of using an online video strategy to solicit donors for contributions. I was convinced that the only place online video should be in a comprehensive resource development plan is in prospect identification and possibly in cultivation and stewardship activities.

As with many of my hard held opinions on fundraising, they usually get challenged and I end up softening and reconsidering. In this case, I started changing my mind when a friend forwarded me this fundraising video for a foundation that fights bullying for LGBTQ youth. Check it out … click here.

OK … are there any dry eyes out there?

While I was moved, I still didn’t make a donation to that foundation because I wanted more information about programming and impact. However, I was persuaded to soften my position about the role online video might be able to play in the solicitation process.

Shortly after this experiece, my friends at Boys & Girl Clubs of Indianapolis partnered with Cantaloupe.TV and produced a series of online videos aimed at introduction, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. Here is one of the videos they produced … click here. You can check out their other online videos, which are posted on their webpage.

Perhaps most persuasive for me was an amazing online training I found online titled “Lights, Camera, Action!” by Elliott Greenberger and Davin Hutchins of See 3 Communications. I found the training on Network for Good’s fundraising123.org training website. Click here for the session description and access to additional audio and video links at the bottom of that screen.

So, I am still not totally convinced that online video is a super effective solicitation tool because I cannot find any good data that shows me how much money anyone has ever raised using this strategy. However, I can say that I am all ears and very open-minded to learning more. Please use the comment box below to share your experiences. Results? Strategies that worked or didn’t? What you plan on doing differently in the future? If you have a good example of an online video used for solicitation, please paste the link into the comment section so we can all see it.

Here is to your health!

Erik Anderson

Owner, The Healthy Non-Profit LLC