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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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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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

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

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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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Have you heard about
The Fundraising Series of ebooks?
They’re easy to read, to the point, and inexpensive ($1.99-$4.99)
This posting is a sample of what’s addressed in the series.

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or expanding your fundraising program?
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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.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
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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
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
We welcome your questions/problems —
they are likely to engender further discussion.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Comments & Questions
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=