What Keeps You Too Busy to Fundraise?

Recently, I was preparing a workshop called (cleverly) Never Too Busy To Fundraise. It was geared for small shops and the original intent was to focus on those tried and true best practices that, if applied, almost guarantees some fundraising success. But that “if applied,” kept grabbing at me.

I realized that, for most of us, it’s not so much that we don’t know what to do, or even how to do it (though more of us suffer from the latter than the former). The real problem is that we are, literally, too busy to fundraise. There are too many things on our plate, too many competing priorities.

In my last two jobs I was always frustrated by the myriad meetings I had to attend. In one of these jobs, after I blocked out all my “required” meetings, I had about 35 minutes a week unscheduled. While my job description had 40% of my time dedicated to fundraising, in reality, I only had about .02% of the week available to focus on raising funds. Worse, whenever a meeting was cancelled and I miraculously found myself with an hour or so to spare, I found myself going into panic mode. What should I do? So many things to accomplish. Too little time. And before I knew it, 45 minutes were gone, and I hadn’t gotten anything done.

As I thought about these jobs, and the upcoming workshop, I realized that there were two things that were vital to a successful fundraising program.

The first is a commitment by you, your board, your boss to the fact that fundraising is an significant part of your job. Note that something written in your job description does not equal a commitment. A commitment means that time for fund development is carved out and some of your responsibilities may have to be delegated elsewhere.

The second is a plan to incorporate fundraising into all those other elements and to fit in the time you’re dedicating to this function.

At my workshop, I asked the students to write down the things that kept them from fundraising, how important those things were to the success of their job, and what they might be able to do about those things. If you are consistently too busy to fundraise, try this exercise. And be honest. You don’t have to show this list to anyone. In fact, several of the people who took that particular workshop later confessed that if they were truthful, the biggest impediment to fundraising was their fear. Sometimes one person told me, she actually booked staff meetings in order to avoid making a phone call or writing an email to a prospective donor.

There’s no shame in that. Just understand what your barriers are, and then look at ways to overcome them.

Janet Levine is a fundraising consultant. She can be reached at jlevine@levinemorton.com. Her online grantwriting class is available at www.levinemorton.com/classes.html.

Capacity and Need

”How big a gift can we ask for?” The volunteer looked at me and I wanted to say, “As much as we dare.” But that really wasn’t what he was asking and, as so often is the case, the answer was far more complex than my flippant would-be retort showed.

Judging capacity is not something that can be done by simple formulae in a white room. How much someone can give and how much that person will give are not always easily related. Ability to give, desire to give to your organization and yes, how the ask is made and for how much all play huge roles.

As always, large organizations with resources often have a better shot at getting it right. But they don’t necessarily have a better shot at getting the gift. Beyond research, more than data, sometimes just asking the prospect, “What kind of a gift do you see yourself making” will get you closer to capacity than anything.

And then there is always the issue of your organization’s needs at this time.

As I write, many organizations are facing serious shortfalls. Unless you are an ostrich, you know the economy is beyond bad. Organizations’ traditional fundraising methods are falling short. New techniques aren’t quite taking off. What to do?

If you are facing a shortfall, your immediate needs are short-term. Quick gifts that will help to bridge the gap. If you are lucky enough to have a pool of donors, you may want to look at your likely large donors and ask them for a not-so-large gift. What you want here is a quick yes and an equally quick check.

When I first got into fundraising, my boss told me that if a prospect reached into his or her pocket(book) and wrote out a check for the amount asked, I probably asked for too little. In recent years, that so-called wisdom has changed somewhat and now the idea is if that happens add “A year, for N years,” to your ask. It plays well in the telling, but not always in the asking. A bird in the hand and all that may be where you are now. In today’s market, take the gift and say thank you. And then use that gift as the starting point for the next gift.

In addition to your need is the very real need of the donor. With the economy in such a tailspin your donor may be leery of committing too much. And, just as you are wondering about the donor’s capacity, she may be wondering as well. Keeping the ask to a do-able gift now may not get a listing in the Chronicle’s fundraising pages, but it very well might beef up your bottom line.

Janet Levine is a fundraising consultant. She can be reached at jlevine@levinemorton.com. Her online grantwriting class is available at www.levinemorton.com/classes.html.

Keeping Us in Our Place

Not all that long ago, I found myself going from the security of a steady and fairly substantial paycheck to the vagaries of my own consulting business. Since I had no clue how long it would take—if ever—for me to make a reasonable living from this venture, I really pared down my life. As the end of the year loomed and those end of the year appeals starting coming in, one of the things I took a long, hard look at was my annual giving to a number of organizations.

There were several places I had been supporting for a number of years. My donations were not high. They ranged from $50 to $250 annually. In all cases, while I still believed in the work the organization was doing, I frankly didn’t feel much a part of that work. A few sent newsletters, but by and large, the only time I heard from them—and consequently thought about them—was when they were asking me for money.

I made an executive decision, and simply did not respond to any of the organizations’ appeals. Most the organizations took absolutely no action. I next heard from them in the normal course of events—when they sent out their next appeal. One organization sent a follow up letter reminding me that I hadn’t sent in my annual donation. It was as personal as the appeal, which is to say that beyond having my name and address on it, there was no difference from a “Dear Donor” letter. Not one organization made a personal call or sent a personal letter trying to find out why I—a long time supporter—had stopped supporting them.

Perhaps these are all organizations with thousands of supporters and losing one or two or three hundred donors doesn’t matter to them. Or perhaps they just don’t get that loyal donors are also likely larger donors, if only you would approach them in a different way.

There’s lots of research pointing to the fact that donors come to resent organizations who only contact them when they are being asked for a donation. Certainly that feeling of resentment factored into my decision to not send a year end check.

Had anyone at any one of the organizations called to say, “Hi, we noticed that you didn’t give this past year and we just wanted to know why. Is there anything we can do to change your mind?” I probably would have written a check. A handwritten note from someone asking the same questions would have made me at least think about my decision.

The point is that organizations seem to spend a great deal of time and money keeping donors where they are. That, in itself, is leads to ineffectual fundraising. That they do little or nothing to woo back (and note that among the synonyms for woo are persuade, encourage, entice) donors who become disaffected or simply do not respond to a very impersonal way of fundraising shows a basic lack of understanding about what fundraising is and why people support your organization in the first place.

Janet Levine is a fundraising consultant. She can be reached at jlevine@levinemorton.com. Her online grantwriting class is available at www.levinemorton.com/classes.html.

Less is More

Passion is a wonderful thing. But sometimes, a person is so passionate about another person, some toy, or a cause, that they become almost monomaniacal. They talk incessantly about the object of their passion, telling everyone more than anyone really wants to know.

No one is more passionate than people involved with nonprofit organizations. That creates the proverbial good news/bad news scenario. We love our organizations so much, and are so proud of everything we’ve ever done, that we want to tell everyone about it all.

But when you are out with a prospect, you really need to be listening more than you are talking . Find out what matters to that prospect. Especially, before you start telling someone about this thing your organization does, make sure this particular something is of interest or, at the very least, not something that is bound to upset them.

When writing grants, it is really important to understand that most of the time more is definitely less. If the guidelines ask you to describe the project for which you are requesting funds, describe the project. Don’t give them the entire history of your organization from founding until today. Don’t tell them of all your successes and the many, many things you do. There is a place for that information. It’s called the introduction and it is where you introduce your organization to the funder.

Even there, though, be circumspect. You don’t need to give them the encyclopedic version. Just tell them the information that will help them to understand why your organization is a good organization for this particular project.

Before you write or say anything to a possible supporter, think about what you are writing or saying. Does it add value? Are you sure (or as sure as you can be) that is on topic—topic being that which will move your prospect closer to supporting you.

Janet Levine is a fundraising consultant. She can be reached at jlevine@levinemorton.com. Her online grantwriting class is available at www.levinemorton.com/classes.html.

When the Going Gets Tough

The economy is in the tank, donations in every sector are drying up and “Not right now,” are words we are all hearing on a daily basis. “I may as well stop fundraising,” more than one professional has told me.

Nonsense. If anything, we should all look at this situation as an opportunity to do even more fundraising.

Before you start signing the papers to have me committed, let me explain. If you thnk that fundraising is only a matter of raising money, then yes, more fundraising would be counter-productive. But if you believe, as I do, that fundraising is all about building relationships, then you now have the perfect set of circumstances to do just that.

According to research by author and Cygnus Applied Research president, Penelope Burk, one thing that really turns donors off is organizations and fundraisers who only contact them when they are asking for money.

Since asking for money at this particular moment will only get a response you really don’t want, why not contact your prospects and donors and don’t ask for money. Don’t even think about getting a gift. Do think about ways you can connect these people more closely to your organization. As a colleague of mine frequently says, be creative:

Visit them just to thank them and tell them how their past giving has helped the organization.
Call and ask their advice on everything from new architectural drawings to a new program to some challenge facing your organization.
Tell them about a new initiative.
Introduce them to someone they don’t know at your organization or on your board.
Invite them to participate in a task force or committee.
Take them to an event (and no, it doesn’t have to be your event) as your guest. And, easiest of all,
Call just to introduce yourself.

Many times, when you are trying this for the first time, the lack of real cultivation comes back to haunt you. Donors don’t take your calls and they certainly don’t respond to your voicemail invitation to call you back. Understandable, if frustrating. What can you do?

The first thing is to try. Pick up that phone, make that call, leave that message. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised. But if you’re not, what then?

Try sending a handwritten note. “I was calling because I wanted to invite you to join me…” or, “we’ve never met, but I’d heard such wonderful things about you I wanted to rectify that oversight immediately.” Then tell them that you will be calling back in a week, and try again.

Not everyone, of course, will want to deepen the relationship with your organization. And yes, sometimes timing is bad. But I promise you, tough times will not last forever and at some point, people will signal their readiness to make a charitable gift. Just make sure that you have built solid relationships so that when that time comes, it is your organization who gets the gift.

Janet Levine is a fundraising consultant. She can be reached at jlevine@levinemorton.com. Her online grantwriting class is available at www.levinemorton.com/classes.html.

Direct Mail-less

When I first started in the fundraising racket, direct mail was not just de rigueur in order to reach out to large audiences; it was probably the most effective and efficient way to raise unrestricted, annual funds. I started direct mail programs at a number of the organizations where I worked, and to this day, I am convinced that those programs were the key to ultimately building a successful major gift program. So I was as surprised as anyone to discover in the past two or three years that I no longer have a strong faith in direct mail. In fact, if an organization doesn’t already have a strong direct mail presence, I think it is a mistake for them to begin one.

The most obvious, provable reason is the high cost of mail—direct, nonprofit, or otherwise. Where we used to say that direct mail costs between fifty cents and a dollar to raise a dollar (more if it is an acquisition mailing), those numbers have gone way, way up. You’d have to do a lot better than the average 4% response rate for a good (read regular donors) list to make this a worthwhile way to raise funds.

Less provable, more anecdotal is what people do with mail nowadays. Now, I am old enough to remember when the mailman was a pretty special person, and waiting for his (or, less often, her) arrival made up much of my time when I was a freelance writer. Today, I take the mail out of the mailbox, look for the odd bill I don’t pay online, pull out the few magazines we get, and the rest gets tossed. In the past, I would at least open direct mail appeals from a professional curiosity. I no longer even do that.

From what my friends and colleagues tell me, I am not atypical. That suggests to me that unless you have a core audience who cares enough about your organization that they will open up anything that comes with your logo, you are wasting precious resources with direct mail.

So what’s an organization to do? E-solicitations? Well, it’s more cost effective, but unless you have (a) a good list and (b) a real understanding of what will make someone not just open your email but click through to donate, the cost to raise a dollar may be low but so will the amount of dollars raised.

Before we talk about solutions, however, let’s step back a bit and talk about purposes. Not the purpose why someone would support you, but the purpose of a particular fund raising technique. Yes, yes, to raise money. But there is always something else.

That something else for direct mail was to help bring an awareness of your organization to those who might not otherwise know about you. From the large pool of annual givers often came the smaller pool of major donors. More importantly, most planned gifts tended to come from annual not major donors.

These are all important and worthy purposes. Technology has increased methods of awareness building, and I would argue that your money would be better spent on a great website (knowing who your audience for that site is), interesting blogs, and, if necessary, paper newsletters (that can certainly have a reply envelop inserted).

Building a pool of donors is another story, and requires, I believe, some new definitions. We used to talk about annual, special and major gifts, generally using a dollar amount to differentiate. I would argue that today we have to focus on personal solicitations, and that the issue each organization has to resolve is what is the baseline that makes an individual visit worthwhile.

Janet Levine is a fundraising consultant. She can be reached at jlevine@levinemorton.com. Her online grantwriting class is available at www.levinemorton.com/classes.html.

It's Not About You

Several years ago, when I was VP of Advancement at a university, one of my first official acts was to instruct our communications department to get rid of the tagline on the campus newsletter. The offending line?

It’s All About Us.

No, it’s not. It is about them: our clients and our donors. Our needs have to be their needs if we are to be successful in raising funds and getting grants to move our missions forward.

In virtually all of the grant writing and fundraising classes I teach, there is a discussion about why someone should support your particular nonprofit. In grant speak, that is the need; for individual fund raising it is the case. What I find interesting is that most of my students approach this from the point of view of the activities their organization undertakes.

Sometimes these activities are compelling. Who doesn’t want to feed the hungry, house the homeless, educate children? On the other hand, those admirable activities do nothing to show your uniqueness. There is no reason why, of all the organizations that feed, house or educate, yours is the one that deserves funding. Nor have you proven that there is urgency about what you do.

That requires a different perspective. You have to remember who it is about, and no, it still isn’t about us.

First and foremost, there are your clients. These are the people (or causes—like the environment, animals, peace) for whom (which) you exist. You must always make your case or state your need with an eye to what is currently happening to them, and then explain what you envision a more perfect situation to be. How will your clients benefit? What will change in their lives? How will the world, your clients’ world, be better?

Secondly, but of equal if different importance, are the people and organizations who support you or who you hope will support you. By all means, tell them about your clients and about their needs/problems. But then, as you are discussing their gift or grant you have to shift your vision a bit and focus on what these potential supporters want.

This is the essence of donor center fund raising. After you clear away all the fluff, it is looking at what we do as if we were the donor. Most donors don’t care about the logistics of how we accomplish our work. They simply want assurances that the work gets done. They want to hear about your successes, and learn about what you learned from your failures.

They want to be talked with, not to or at. And they want to feel that they are of importance and interest to you beyond their pocketbooks.

Call a donor when you want absolutely nothing except, perhaps, to share a great story about one of your clients. Or ask the donor what he or she thinks about something you are considering doing. Tell them what their support—and their interest—has meant to your organization and the people or causes it serves.

Try this. Call a donor or a prospect and ask them what they want from your organization and for your clients. And then work with them to figure out how you can make their hope and dream come true.

Janet Levine is a fundraising consultant. She can be reached at jlevine@levinemorton.com. Her online grantwriting class is available at www.levinemorton.com/classes.html.