Author: Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM

Share your message in an effective medium. Allow video to be used to get your message out there. How else can you let your audience in on the amazing things your organization does on a daily basis?

Let people know all about who you are, the impact you have on our world and the way you touch people’s lives. Show them – with personal stories from people on whom you’ve had a lasting effect; and, with images of what you do, everyday, to effect change in our world.

Use the technology to present your vision to groups or individuals, to share where their money is being used – in a direct and impactful way.

Thank your donors for providing the funds for the work you do everyday. Set the stage for a future ask and solicitation.

Videos can be shared in a multitude of ways – sent on DVD, emailed with a link, shared on YouTube, Facebook, etc. These videos can be used at events, conferences, and small meetings. You can use a video to introduce a new project, a new hire, and a new resource.

Videos can be produced with a low budget and a lot of creativity.

If you have questions as to how video can work for your fundraising efforts, donor appreciation, or to enhance your upcoming national meeting … just ask !!

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The first posting of this Fundraising Blog was back in March of 2010. This is the five-hundredth posting; and, to avoid repeating what we’ve already posted and what we’ve included in The Fundraising Series of Ebooks, this will be our last scheduled posting.

We will be responding to questions and comments; and, if you’ve found value in our postings and would like to receive any future postings, go to Sign Up For Email and enter your email address. Any other questions, please see the links below.

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Want to learn more about how a video can help your nonprofit?
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank

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The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)
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When was the last time you watched something that really moved you? Brought you to tears? Evoked the warm-and-fuzzies? Took you back to a life changing experience? Made you feel differently about an issue, an organization, a person or group of people? Last week’s posting discussed a vivid example of video as a development tool.

In this day, an age of abundant technology, social media and communication, the video is the best tool out there … to engage an audience; to educate your (potential) constituents and the media; to demonstrate the success of your programs; to show your potential donors how they can make a difference; and, to show your current donors the impact that their gifts have made and will continue to make.

Whether your audience is the hundreds/thousands of attendees at a special event or a conference, a single individual viewing your video on a large screen, on your website or from a DVD, or any size group in-between, they will SEE how they can have, and have had, a significant impact on the people your organization serves.

And, since honorees are a major draw for an event, and a stimulus to giving, the use of a video to highlight their lives and their service to the community, can show everyone why they are so deserving of their award, and how they have made a direct impact on the people you serve.

The time commitment required of an organization’s staff and board members is minimal. You would work with a “Producer” who, based on discussions with you, will put together a budget, timeline and an outline of what the content of the video could include – whether it will tell the story of your organization’s service to the community, provide a portrait of one-or-more individuals, say “thank you” to your donors and/or show potential donors how they can be recognized.

Your Producer can put together some storyboards and sample sound bytes, and will work with you to create interview questions. They will work with you to identify the individuals (board members, staff, constituents, honorees and their friends, family and colleagues, etc.) who should be interviewed.

The typical video created for your event or conference should run (a maximum of) two minutes, and the total “footage” (including what was gathered-but-not-used in the final version) can be used to make other videos for other purposes – a 30 or 60 second spot (public service announcement) about a particular program that you want to highlight; a series of videos that answer FAQ’s about who you are and what you do; or, a 10 minute (warm-and-fuzzy) piece that a donor will want to watch over and over again. You are limited only by your imagination and the creativity and experience of your Producer.

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Want to learn more about how a video can help your nonprofit?
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank

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Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)

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We welcome your questions/problems —
they are likely to engender further discussion.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
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A number of years ago, we used a video recording as part of the capital campaign solicitation of 14,000 prospects for a 1,200 student (150 year old) college. The “footage” was shot at various times during the school year and edited for various uses.

One application was as an introduction in the face-to-face solicitation of major gift prospects.

A second application was an 18-minute video that accompanied a pre-call letter for the solicitation of the majority of the (“lower-rated”) prospects of the school.

In that second application, 12,000 videos were sent to parents and alumni as part of that pre-call package — which was followed, within 4-5 days by a solicitation phone call from a student.

The students, with the support of the pre-call package, raised $6,000,000 in pledges.

It is interesting that, in conjunction with a capital campaign ten years earlier — at the same school, student callers (with the same training and supervision, but without the video) “only” raised $5,000,000 from the same number of parents and alumni.

The video was so successful that major gift prospects who had not yet been visited, and (therefore) had not yet seen/received their own video but had heard about it from classmates, demanded to get their copy.

The mass produced video was designed as a “warm and fuzzy.” It was narrated, both on and off screen, by a hollywood star who had attended the college. There was, of course, some discussion of the capital campaign — about 3 minutes of the 18, but most of the footage “took the alumni (and parents) back” to when they (or their children) experienced what was displayed on the screen — in chronological order — from the first day at school through graduation.

I must emphasize, however, that a video will be of little value in a capital campaign if it isn’t used properly: if the solicitors (face-to-face or otherwise) don’t know how to conduct The Ask — including the handling of prospect concerns and objections.

Where a video, by itself, can’t raise significant dollars, it can be a great adjunct to the process. People-asking-people is still the most effective solicitation technique; and, prefacing The Ask with a creatively produced video can significantly increase contributed income.

BTW. The third use of the video footage was an edited version for the admissions office.

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We continue the discussion of
Video in Development
in next week’s posting.

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The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
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This posting is a sample of what’s addressed in the series.

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We’ve been posting these pieces for the last five years,
and we welcome your questions/problems.
They are likely to engender further discussion.
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In considering the creation of a Corporate Solicitation Program (a CSP), the first questions I’d ask of a nonprofit is whether they realize that only five-percent of all “charitable” giving to nonprofits comes from corporations, and (considering “return-on-investment”) how much of their time, energy and assets do they want to dedicate to this effort? That means that you cannot try to get funding from every corporation that comes to mind.

Whether the NPO does or does not deal with that basic concept, the major issue in creating a CSP is evaluating whether the NPO can do it successfully.

The planning process begins with the questions: How do corporations view your organization? Do they see a history of good service to the community and good fiscal management? Do they see a history of other corporations supporting your NPO and getting the “quid pro quo” that they want? How do they know they’ll get what they want if they support you? Do you have a mission/program/service that dovetails with a corporation’s mission and/or product/service line?

Corporate fundraising is about the needs of the corporation, and a corporation’s needs are pretty much about their bottom line – many have stockholders they must satisfy.

If supporting an NPO gives them good visibility and good credibility, that would likely result in increased sales of their products/services. A corporation might give to be a good member of the community, or just to appear to be a good member of the community. But a corporation would certainly not give, if giving would hurt their bottom line.

Corporate fundraising is also about the needs of the corporate officers and board members – what will they (personally) get out of having their corporation support you!! That becomes more of an issue of individual cultivation – getting one or more of those people to see how supporting you will benefit them, and getting them, therefore, to become your advocate within the corporation.

So, the first step in the process is determining if a CSP can/would work for your NPO.
Once you’ve done the study to determine that, you’ll have a better idea of the kind of help you might need to implement/expand your Corporate Solicitation Program.

So, to begin the process, make a (wish) list of all those potential corporate donors, and then gather the material you need to determine which corporations are real prospects.

Some Corporate Annual Reports list the amount(s) they’ve given to nonprofit organizations, and often list those NPOs. Check to see if they give to organizations that do what you do. Look to see if there’s a statement of policy as to the types/locations of NPOs they support. Some corps give only to NPOs that their employees support – check that out.

Check to see if the corporation has an office/department/division of charitable giving … or whatever they may call it. Call them; ask for a copy of the corporation’s giving guidelines. Talk with a corporate giving officer, if they have such, and (come right out and) ask what you have to do to get the corporation to add you to their list of nonprofits they support. FYI, corporate giving officers are there to work with you to see if there’s a match – and sometimes work with you to create a match — between what you can do for them and what they can do for you.

Make a list of the officers and directors of the corporations and circulate that list to your board members, volunteers and major donors to see if anyone you know has a personal connection with a corporate board member or officer who can help you get corporate money.

That means that you must cultivate – build a relationship with – those corporate officers and directors … the same as you would with a prospective major donor.

Most corporations have been asked before. Don’t be bashful.

Sometimes the Ask can be as simple as a conversation with the right person, and sometimes as formal as a grant proposal to a foundation. You’ll find out which when you do your research.

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Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)

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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
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We welcome your questions/problems —
they are likely to engender further discussion.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
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Gift Tables/Pyramids are great fundraising tools, but their construction and usage are often very much misunderstood. They are most often associated with capital campaigns, but are also great tools for major gifts fundraising, for “fiscal year fundraising,” and even for major events.

Prior to the beginning of every fiscal year, an organization goes through its budgeting process and comes up with a (realistic, attainable) figure for how much money will be needed for operations/programs, and how much of that will be needed to be raised via charitable giving.

The latter figure must be based on prior experience and analysis of the likely giving of those currently in the organization’s database. If the figure obtained by that analysis is realistic, you should, then, be able to construct a comprehensive Gift Table that reflects that reality.

There is, however, no such thing as a standard gift table. You may find many examples of gift tables in texts and in articles on fundraising, but they are examples, and not to be assumed appropriate for every circumstance/situation.

An idealized Gift Table has as it’s top gift an amount that is 10-15% of the overall goal, and with the bottom gift being no less than 1% of the goal. For a million dollar goal, therefore, that’s a top gift of $100,000 to $150,000 and a bottom gift of $10,000.

BUT, what if there’s no one on your list of prospective donors who can give at the 10% (or more) level? Clearly, then, for your gift table to be a useful/useable tool, the top gift has to be less than 10%. In fact, the top gift can only be as high as the highest gift you’re likely to get when you’re working toward your fundraising goal; and, all of your fundraising efforts must be able to obtain the number of gifts specified at each level of the pyramid – and all of the levels on a Gift Table must represent reality.

So, how do you construct a realistic Gift Table?

You, and/or your (fundraising/development/major gifts/events) committee must sit down and take a serious look at all of your potential donors. Then, based on prior giving and on what other information you have about each prospect, you “attach” a dollar figure to each name on your list – said dollar figures to represent what you and the committee believes is a realistic likely gift from each listed person – assuming that each prospect is cultivated/educated/solicited “properly.”

Your Gift Table is constructed from those figures. The top and bottom numbers and the steps you pick for the various levels of your pyramid must be based on the committee’s discussions. You may wind up with a lopsided gift table but it will reflect reality.

One caution, if you can’t construct a Gift Table that will add up to your goal, it is likely that your goal isn’t realistic.

Also, having constructed your initial Gift Pyramid, you will need to update/revise it as additional information about your prospects becomes available. The Gift Table should represent the most up-to-date information/circumstances. What this suggests, then, is that the Gift Pyramid is an internal document – a tool that helps an organization stay focused on their fundraising goals, and appropriately allocate their resources (time, effort, personnel and finances).

Keeping the budgeting process in mind, you should create separate pyramids for your Major Gifts constituency and one for Special Events.

When constructed and used properly, the pyramid is a great time/effort/money saver.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
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We welcome your questions/problems —
they are likely to engender further discussion.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
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Continuing from last week’s posting….

As it will not always be appropriate to run down the prepared list of questions with every interviewee, the interviewer must be able to “read people,” must be able to know when to forget the prepared questionnaire and just chat with Mr./Ms. Jones about the NPO’s issues and possible futures.

Sample interview questions might be:
* On a scale of 0-10, how would you rate the importance to you
(and to your family) of “this” aspect of the NPO’s mission?
* On a scale of 0-10, how would you rate the importance to you
(and to your family) of “this” program?
* What would it take to get you to want to be part of the leadership
for a major fundraising effort?
* What would it take to get you to want to be a major donor for
such an effort?
* What should we do to get other potential leaders/donors enthusiastic
about the project/activity we’re considering?
• When might be the best time to kick-off the program/campaign? Why?

The two major objectives in conducting the interviews are: 1) determination how/if a program/project/activity should be implemented; and, 2) beginning the cultivation of those folks who could help make it happen,

Considering those objectives, it is essential, as with all serious development activities, that those interviews be face-to-face.

You can’t be taken very seriously and you can’t read body language over the phone; and, a mailed “survey” doesn’t give the option to ask follow-up questions nor allow the interviewer to digress and/or “pick the subject’s brain.”

Being face-to-face highlights the importance of the process and, thereby, suggests that the interviewee’s thoughts/comments/reactions are very important to that process.

To prepare for the interviews, each potential interviewee is sent a brief personal note to prepare them for the phone call arranging an interview appointment.

Having done this for almost forty years, I suggest that the best structure for a “Planning Study” is to have an outsider (an experienced study consultant) work with the NPO to design and plan the study and to conduct the interviews.

An outsider is perceived as being objective. S/he is seen (by the interviewees) as not having an “agenda” … not focused on a specific outcome. The objective outsider is “merely” gathering data that will help the NPO “plan for the future.”

And, after each interview: the interviewer should generate a report summarizing the respondent’s thoughts/attitudes, and suggesting what the next step(s) might be to further cultivate that person and get him/her to the point where s/he will want to be part of (and even support) the NPO’s projects, programs and/or activities; and, the organization should send a (snail mail) note to the interviewee thanking him/her for participating.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
We welcome your questions/problems —
they are likely to engender further discussion.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
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Want to create a Major Gifts Program, a Bequest Program, a Special Event, a Recognition Program, a Capital Campaign ??

The most important information you’d want to have is whether your (prospective) constituents/donors will agree with what you want to do, and what would motivate those folks to want to participate in and/or support your activity.

The best way to get the best answers to those questions would be to ask those (prospective) constituents/donors. And, the best way to ask would be by means of a “Planning Study.”

That the “Study” is for “Planning” purposes suggests that you’ve not committed to taking a particular action and/or to creating a specific kind of program – even though you may have!!

When you ask someone to participate in this kind of “Study,” you are asking for their advice and saying that what you do (or don’t do) will be impacted by what they say (or don’t say).

Unlike the obsolete “feasibility study,” with all its “baggage,” a “Planning Study” asks in-depth questions about a broad range of subjects. Then, based on the study’s findings, an organization will be able to proceed with programs/activities it knows will be supported by its constituents.

The “Planning Study” should almost always be the first step in the creation or expansion of a program because it is a strong means of cultivating the folks you hope will be your leaders and donors … when you do whatever it is that you’d like to do.

When you ask someone’s advice, they’re more likely to look upon you favorably … because you were smart enough to know to ask them ☺

To quote an old fundraising saying: “If you want advice, ask for money; if you want money, ask for advice.” And a “Planning Study” is a great way to ask for advice.

So, the first step in the planning study process is determining what it is that you want the study to accomplish.

The second step is the creation of a list of those folks you’d like to interview – a list that can be as long as you’d like … as long as you’re realistic. No one goes on that list unless you have or can get access to that person.

The people you want to interview are those folks who can and will likely have an impact on your ability to successfully implement the programs, campaigns and/or activities that you’re considering.

The third step is the creation of an extensive list of questions that relate to the NPO’s mission, programs, fundraising and what you want the study to accomplish. Questions must be designed/worded to avoid planting doubt as to the need for or likely success of any particular program or activity.

Next Week: The Planning Study: Implementation

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Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
We welcome your questions/problems —
they are likely to engender further discussion.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
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1. All Board Members Must Be Donors … to the best of their ability. Not all board members are wealthy, but everyone should give at the highest level possible for their circumstances. It is important to be able to say to the public that 100% of your board supports your mission to the best of their ability. If your board members won’t give, why should anyone else?

2. You must give people reasons that will make them want to give. That you need money is not one of those reasons. Show prospective donors how their giving will make a difference in people’s lives. And, more importantly, show them how their giving will make a difference in their own lives.

3. The best person-to-person fundraiser is a well-trained and well-motivated volunteer who solicits his/her peers, friends, family and colleagues. Professional fundraising staff or counsel can help you design and run your program and train your volunteers, but staff and counsel cannot usually do as good a job soliciting as can an impassioned volunteer. (And, remember, Board Members are volunteers.)

4. You must do Adequate Planning/Research before implementing any fundraising strategy — no matter the size of the gifts you’re soliciting or the goal you need to reach. And, you should, periodically, test variations of your methodology to ensure that your efforts are as (cost-)effective as possible.

5. You must have a means/method of tracking your fundraising and leadership prospects, your donors and your contacts with them. If you’re a very small organization and only have a few prospects/donors, you could probably use file folders and/or spreadsheets; but, once you have significant numbers of individuals to track, you must have the appropriate computer software.

There are many brands of such software, some are free, some are expensive, but don’t buy on the basis of cost. Select the software that will allow you the best use of the data you will collect. And don’t try to design your own — unless you’re a fundraising database expert, you don’t know what information to collect, how to arrange it, and how you’re going to use it.

6. Please, do not write your own fundraising materials … not until you have the required experience/expertise/perspective. And, if you insist on doing so, pay an experienced development professional to review and comment on your writing.

Writing for fundraising is an Art. Most fundraising letters, case statements, grant proposals, etc, are nowhere near as effective as they could be. Many fundraising letters (and you’ve probably gotten some of them) are really terrible.

7. You must diversify your sources of funding for your fundraising program to be successful over the long term. Every time the economy takes a hit, foundations, government and corporations reduce their funding of non-profits. The greater the number of individual major donors an organization has, the smaller the chance that an economic downturn will force you to reduce services to your community.

8. DO NOT assume that a special event will make everything better!! You can’t expect to create a special event and have it be instantaneously successful. An event most often requires a multi-year period to establish itself and begin generating enough income to do more than pay its own costs.

A great number of attendees at special events are paying for entertainment or to “honor” someone they care about. You can’t count on those people buying tickets every year. They may find an event that’s more entertaining or that has an “honoree” to whom they feel a greater connection.

9. All donors must be thanked/recognized for their gifts, but not every donor wants to be thanked/recognized in the same way. Some like seeing their names in print, some don’t; some like plaques, some don’t; some like old-fashioned letters, some prefer email; the better you know your donors, the more appropriately you can thank/recognize them.

10. A successful fundraising program should be designed based on the needs of your donors, not on the needs of the organization. Donors give to satisfy their own needs, and then, maybe yours.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating
or expanding your fundraising program?
AskHank
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
We welcome your questions/problems —
they are likely to engender further discussion.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=