Category: Finance

Well… actually you can, if you’re asking your friends and relatives; but, if you ask foundations, corporations, major donors or the general public, you’d likely be wasting your time and resources.

Sometimes, especially with new nonprofits, people don’t realize that the mere existence of an organization is not sufficient justification to ask others for money. And, just because you think that your organization is worthy of support doesn’t mean that prospective donors will agree.

There are two prerequisites for the fundraising process – actually there are more than two, but these are bottom-line basic:
1.  A description/discussion of the services you are/will be providing,
why those services are needed, and by whom.
2.  An annotated budget, or some form of financial narrative that
describes/discusses your funding needs

There must be a clearly defined need before an organization can/should do any fundraising. The first step is to state/write your case for support in such a way that there is no doubt in the minds of any member of the Board or staff what it is that you intend to accomplish — all must agree, and speak with one voice.

You must discuss who you’re going to serve, what need(s) will be satisfied, why no other organization has addressed those needs or why you can do it better than any other organization.

Once you’ve agreed on what you want to accomplish, you must (specifically) define the resources you will need to pursue your mission – equipment, personnel, cash !!

A detailed budget can also help to focus potential donors on some aspect of your program/activities that has meaning for them.

You have to be able to show/tell a prospective donor where you’re going, how you’re going to get there, how s/he can help … and how s/he will benefit from helping your organization. (And that last element may well be the most important.)

There are too many nonprofits out there competing for the donated dollar. You have to give potential donors a reason to want to support you.

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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating or expanding your fundraising program? With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, I’ll be pleased to answer your questions. Contact me at [email protected]

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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

My previous posting discussed the planning and organizing processes. This time, we will address steps three and four – writing, reviewing and rewriting.

Write the first draft quickly
• Work from your notes and worksheet.
• Write heading and subheadings first and use them as a guide.
• Begin with the easiest parts of your sections. No proposal is ever written linearly, from first page to last!
• Write quickly, without concern for formatting, grammar, syntax and spelling.

Use your outline
• Focus on the funder’s hot buttons that you have identified.
• Focus on your organization’s solution.
• Validate, validate, validate! Do not make claims you cannot prove.

Use paragraphs effectively
• Limit your paragraphs to one main idea.
• Begin each paragraph with a thesis statement.
• Put the most important point first.
• Use plenty of bulleted and numbered lists.
• Put details at the middle and end of your paragraphs.
• Make sure that your paragraphs flow logically.
• Use transition sentences as your glue.

Following these steps, you should be able to produce a serviceable first draft of your grant proposal.

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Dr. Jayme Sokolow, founder and president of The Development Source, Inc.,
helps nonprofit organizations develop successful proposals to government agencies. Contact Jayme Sokolow.

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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

Some time ago, I got a note from a reader asking, pretty much, that question:

My question to you is — I have donated to a small organization, for a year, in my town to help poor children. I have never received an explanation on how the money is used. Should I expect that and if so how do I gracefully ask for that information?

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I responded:

There are no legal requirements for a nonprofit to provide that information to its donors; but not to do so is just dumb.

It’s bad donor relations, and it’s not the way to keep people interested in the organization, its mission and in ongoing giving !!

The ethics of fundraising (yes, Virginia, there is such a thing!) emphasize the right of donors to know how their contributions are used, and require that donors be kept informed….

You should contact the nonprofit and ask for a copy of their latest annual report. If they don’t do annual reports, you’d be right to wonder whether they are operated in a business-like manner and are worthy of your support.

I don’t know how/if “gracefully” relates to asking for information that should, in any case, be provided to you. If the nonprofit can’t or won’t provide that kind of information to its donors, maybe a local newspaper would be interested in “investigating” what that organization does with its donations.

Obviously, you touched on a sensitive subject. I’d be interested in what you do and in the results of your inquiries.

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To continue … thoughts off the top of my head:

There are lots of ways a nonprofit can keep their donors informed….

By Mail:
o The note thanking the donor for the gift can/should include some discussion about how
       the gift will make a difference
o A note from a second person saying thanks and giving more specific information about
       how the gift is being used
o A note from a person being served by the NPO discussion how they had been helped
o A “keep in touch” note; more about how the gift is being used
o A (one-page/quarterly) newsletter addressing one or two issues

By Email:
o A note thanking the donor for the gift that can/should include some discussion about
       how the gift will make a difference
o A note, “just to let you know how things are going”
o A note, with specific data about the number of people being helped
o A note, referring the donor to your website to get the latest info

By Phone:
o A call just to say thanks, and mention how the gift will help, or that it has made a
       difference – and be specific

On Your Website:
o A page (that is regularly updated) discussing current programs, the number of people
       being helped, and how those folks are being helped

All of that writing/communication should be in narrative/conversational format. None of it should be lists of facts/numbers. Make it easy to read, and people will read it. Make it too long, include too many statistics, make it preachy, and folks won’t want to read it.

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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating or expanding your fundraising program? With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, I’ll be pleased to answer your questions. Contact me at [email protected]

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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

It’s now spring, which is an interesting time for charities in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), because this is when the overlap of getting the results from the fall campaign and preparing for this fall’s solicitation period occurs. Even though the CFC solicitation periods occur each fall, the books on one year’s campaign don’t close until March 31st of the following year; and, since the CFC takes place everywhere in the world where there is a Federal installation (including all military installations and embassies), it takes a while to compile all the information.

Anonymous Donors Are Strong Supporters

The non-profits in the CFC first get the overall results of the amount of gifts that have been pledged to them, and then they will receive the names of the individual donors that have chosen to release their contact information.

One attitude change that many CFC charities need to undergo is to be thankful, not irritated, that they have a large pool of anonymous donors. What they don’t realize is that CFC anonymous donors are some of a nonprofit’s best supporters, and that a majority of CFC donors choose to be anonymous.

These donors care enough about your organization and its mission that they chose to donate to it. You’ll never know exactly why they chose to remain anonymous; and, even though they’re anonymous, they do deserve to be thanked in public forums – including your website, newsletters, and at recognition events.

Now is a good time to consider what messages will resonate the best with your Federal supporters, including, but not limited to your donors. Obviously, one of the messages should simply be, “Thank you for your gift.” Include what their gift means to your organization and what their gift can help you accomplish.

What comes next will vary depending upon what type of charity yours is (local, national or international) and the strategies you’ve chosen that best match the strengths of your non-profit.

If, for example, yours is a local non-profit that’s well known in your community, and you’ve chosen to pursue participating in charity fairs as one of your tactics, you should include mention of that practice in the thank you letters to your CFC donors … and ask them to let you know about charity fair opportunities. It also wouldn’t hurt to ask who will be the CFC campaign manager in their agency.

CFC Donors are Multi-Year Donors

One fact that is easily overlooked is that with the Combined Federal Campaign, your non-profit can-and-does develop multi-year donors.

The reality is that most CFC donors are multiple year donors, and once they start donating to their favorite CFC charities they become loyal supporters who support their favorite charities every year.

I have seen thousands of CFC pledge cards during my Federal career, and I’ve seen that most of donors make minimal changes from year to year – CFC donors are “loyal” to the charities they care about and support.

What are Your 7 Messages between now and the Fall?
Marketing experts will tell you that before anyone makes a decision about a purchase or a gift, they need to be reached at least 7 times before they will decide to buy or, for non-profits, give.

What are your messages and how are you going to deliver them to your Federal supporters by the time the fall solicitation period begins? Now is the time to start planting these seeds, don’t wait to do it all in September and October.

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During his 25-year career in the Federal sector, Bill Huddleston, The CFC Coach, served in many CFC roles. If you want to participate in the Combined Federal Campaign, maximize your nonprofit’s CFC revenues, or just ask a few questions, contact … Bill Huddleston

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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

I once was not even remotely considered as a candidate for a fundraising development job with a hospital. I came from another non-profit background, and no matter my credentials, I did not even get an interview.

The hospital’s “call for resumes” had an explicit condition that anyone applying for the job, “Must have at least five years experience in the medical sector.” Subsequently, when I was hired by The Cleveland Orchestra as its Development Director, I did not know one note of music from another. I had only been in the concert hall twice in my life. Twenty years later — when I left to go into consulting — as I was completing my last day at The Orchestra, I still did not know one note of music from another. Nothing to brag about, to be sure, but you get the idea.

I loved the art, but I did not need to be steeped in an artistic environment to appreciate it. I did not need a background in arts & culture to understand and believe in the Orchestra’s mission. More to the point of this little essay, the Orchestra management was far more enlightened than the hospital’s. It made no difference at all where I came from when it came to carrying out my duties and knowing the fundraising process, a process which is basically the same in any field.

Anyone having non-profit fundraising experience knows well that the only real difference affecting fundraising practices for social service, arts & culture, educational, religious, and health-related organizations is their financial support constituencies. We know that the concepts of fundraising can, and do, apply across the board for all of them. What is mostly different is where the money comes from.

Just look at listings of the thousands of books on fundraising, or note the countless presentations of fundraising workshops and seminars, and you will see they overwhelmingly appeal to the broad spectrum of non-profit organizations. And, where non-profit fundraising issues are addressed every day in Blogs and Internet discussion groups, far more often than not, the participants have no knowledge whatever regarding the types of organizations being discussed. They just want to know how to fund-raise.

Most any successful fundraising campaign for any type of organization is a straightforward, concise process of executing well-defined components arranged in a step-by-step progression. I know this to be so because I have seen it done over-and-over again. After twenty years in the arts, my first few consulting engagements were — in this order — a Vietnam Veterans memorial, a community hospital, a therapeutic riding center, a retirement/nursing home, etc.

Those examples are not meant as my ego-building bio, but more to demonstrate and prove that the fundraising process is basically the same for any cause, as I have seen that process work time and again.

Anyone seeking to work in development for an organization which has its leadership insisting the candidate must come from that same field to get the job, should politely work to point out that most all of the dollars raised for some non-profits come from people who directly avail themselves of its services, such as arts & culture patrons, grateful hospital patients, alumni, etc.

Where the clients/users of some non-profit’s service cannot give money, such as those who are homeless, hungry, etc., those having money in the community respond directly to support those organizations.

This is usually a much larger grouping of people who, while they do not avail themselves of a non-profit’s services, nevertheless indirectly benefit because of what the organization does for the community in which they live and do business, and have concerns and cares about.

While there are indeed unique elements to be found in the various types of organizations — even in similar organizations from one to another — the fundraising process is basically the same. Fundraising challenges and issues are in very close parallel to the process when seeking to raise money for a ballet company, for academic scholarships, for a hospital’s new MRI, for new church pews, etc.

No matter our particular cause across the entire spectrum of types of non-profits, we raise money from people who:

• Have it
• Can afford to give
• Are sold on the benefit of what we are doing
• Wouldn’t have given it to us unless we had asked
• Receive appreciation and respect for their gifts

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If you have a question or comment for Tony, he can be reached at [email protected]. There is also a lot of good fundraising information on his website: Raise-Funds.com

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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

Just as grade school friendships don’t usually last forever, neither do relationships between nonprofit organizations and their foundation funders. Most grant makers don’t want to provide ongoing operating support; i.e. – they don’t want to be your BFF (Best Funder Forever).

Many foundations don’t make grants to the same organization every year. They may allow you to apply every other year, or every third year, and this is usually clearly spelled out in their guidelines. Here is a real example from the St. Louis Philanthropic Organization, “if you received grants in 2010 and 2011 (two consecutive years), you are not eligible to apply for funding this year.”

A good number of foundations will allow you to apply annually, but are less likely to fund your NPO in consecutive years. Often, this is not spelled out in their guidelines, so your relationship with a foundation trustee or its manager is important. Give them a call before applying and ask for their advice. They might hint at this, saying something about providing grants to NPOs across the community. They might even tell you directly.

A lot of foundations look to fund something innovative. They will provide “seed money” to launch a new project or program; but, once the program is up and running, they expect the nonprofit to fund its ongoing operation.

This funding priority will also usually be spelled out in their guidelines — as with the Allen & Josephine Green Foundation: “…seed money to launch a new project or program is a desirable type of grant.” A discussion with a trustee or foundation manager prior to submission can also provide that information.

And, if you have to pass up a grant one year because you don’t have a new project that needs funding, that’s OK. Don’t fall into the trap of designing a new project or program just to get grant money. For more information on this topic, see my post, “How To Better Manage Your Grant Program,” from February 2, 2012.

You also need to remember that the economic climate affects foundations. And, as foundations give 5% of their assets, typically calculated on a 3-year rolling average, increases in their giving will lag any economic recovery.

All these factors need to be taken into account when budgeting annual foundation income. And because the foundations that fund your NPO don’t want to be your BFF, you need to continuously prospect and cultivate new sources of foundation funding in order to maintain a steady income stream from this important revenue source.

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Lynn deLearie Consulting, LLC, helps nonprofit organizations develop, enhance and expand grant programs, and helps them secure funding from foundations and corporations. Contact Lynn deLearie..

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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

Last week I went off on “professional fund raisers,” and, in passing, referred to Fundraising Professionals. I think I made it clear that I was opposed to the use of the vast majority of those “professional fund raisers” who raise the money for you.

And, now, to clarify the differences between the two, and the reasons you should favor one over the other, I offer the following:

The, so called, “professional” fund raiser
• Has little, if any, background/training/experience in development
• Is interested in dollars, not people
• Usually gives the NPO an unethically-small percentage of the total dollars raised
• Has no commitment to establishing relationships between “donors” and the NPO
• Has no interest in helping the NPO create a donor base
• Doesn’t always provide the NPO with a list of who gave what amount
• Has no interest in helping the NPO create an ongoing funding stream – unless
       you hire them on an ongoing basis
• And, most States that require registration by fundraising consultants and professional
       fund raisers require (only) the latter to be bonded. Wonder why that is ??

Fundraising Professionals
• Have an understanding of the relationships that must exist between donor and NPO
• Have had mentoring and/or formal training in development
• Have broad experience in development
• Have developed expertise in one-or-more areas of the development process
• Work with you to create a constituency
• Work with you to create a donor base
• Work with you to create relationships between your donors and your NPO
• Work with you to establish realistic fundraising goals
• Who are employees of NPOs, work for a salary, never a commission/percentage
• Who are consultants, work for a fee (agree upon in advance, but not paid in advance)
       based on services/expertise to be provided, never a commission/percentage

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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating or expanding your fundraising program? With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, I’ll be pleased to answer your questions. Contact me at [email protected]

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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

Government grant proposals should go through a five-step writing process:

• Plan: Think through your proposal sections.
• Organize: Use the grant guidelines as your outlining guide.
• Write: Write in a free-flowing manner.
• Examine: Walk away from your writing and review it later while letting others review it too.
• Revise: Emphasize clarity, conciseness, correctness, and persuasiveness.

This posting, part one in a series, will discuss the first two steps:

PLANNING YOUR GOV’T GRANT PROPOSAL

Proposal writers should take three simple-but-effective steps to plan their writing assignments: (1) define common terms – the government agency’s terms and your own; (2) use a planning worksheet to outline your sections; and (3) seek feedback early in the process.

Define common terms

• What are the features (details) of your service?
• What are the benefits of your service?
• What benefits are important to the evaluators?

Develop a planning worksheet

Your planning worksheet should help you identify the government agency’s main issues, your solution, your experience and your performance.

Seek feedback early

Remember, you are part of a team! Use your colleagues to review your planning sheet and suggest improvements. This can be accomplished at a brainstorming session or through an individual review of your worksheet.

If your planning process has gone well, every one of the proposal writers should have a detailed planning worksheet before they begin writing. Please note the emphasis on the word “before.”

Too many proposals are written prematurely before the proposal team has carefully thought through what they are planning to present. If you write before you plan, you are very unlikely to develop a competitive proposal.

Resist the very human urge to start writing once you have read the grant guidelines. Step away from the computer keyboard! You must have a substantive outline before you write, and that can only be done through careful planning.

ORGANIZING YOUR GOV’T GRANT PROPOSAL

Proposal writers should take three simple but effective steps to organize their writing assignments: (1) follow the fundamentals of persuasive organization; (2) organize as instructed; and (3) organize around government agency’s hot buttons.

Follow the fundamentals of persuasive organization

• Present information according to the government agency’s needs. Focus on providing a solution to the agency’s problem, listing benefits and evidence/proof.
• Group similar ideas together.
• Place the most important information first.
• Keep introductions short.
• Use headings to guide evaluators.

Organize as instructed

Follow the grant guidelines carefully when organizing your proposal narrative. Do not create your own outline – follow the grant guidelines literally.

Organize around the customer/evaluator hot buttons

• Acknowledge the government agency’s vision, challenges, objectives, and requirements.
• Establish and prioritize the government agency’s needs and desired outcomes (hot buttons).
• Present details of your solution in the same order as your prioritization of the government agency’s needs and desired outcomes. Emphasize the benefits to the government of your solution and provide proof that your solution is very likely to work.

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Dr. Jayme Sokolow, founder and president of The Development Source, Inc.,
helps nonprofit organizations develop successful proposals to government agencies. <a href=”mailto:[email protected]”>Contact Jayme Sokolow</a>.

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<strong>If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.</strong>

A note from a reader:
Hank, I am a volunteer for a nonprofit organization that has been approached by “professional fund raisers” that are looking for “up-front” fees to raise money for us.

In my experience, and I have paid out thousands of dollars to these individuals that promise you the moon and when it comes time to deliver … the excuses abound.

The professional fundraisers say it is unethical to pay a percentage on the money raised. Is it not unethical to take money from a non profit and not deliver?
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My immediate reaction to the phrase “professional fund raiser” is one of anger and disgust — feelings that are directed at both the “fund raisers” and those who hire them.

It’s okay for an organization to hire a fundraising professional to work with them to create/implement/maintain a productive, cost-effective fundraising program. It is an extremely bad idea for NPOs to hire outsiders to raise money for them.

No outsider can speak with the conviction and passion for an organization’s mission as can board members, staff, volunteers and the people served by the NPO.

Outsiders, if they are asking people for money on a face-to-face basis, can, of course, fake it. So the organization has to decide if that’s who they are … people that hire others to “fake it.”

If outsiders are raising the money, two questions that must be asked are: (1) how much of the money that is raised will actually get to the NPO; and, (2) will the people giving the money or paying to attend an event be informed, as is their right, of how much of their money will go in the “professional’s” pocket and how much to the nonprofit ??

Also, the “fund raiser’s” fee should be agreed upon in advance – based on the time and effort needed to make it happen (not based on dollar goals or dollars raised), and included in a contract that specifies what services will be provided in what timeframe.

No “fund raiser” should have their full fee paid up-front. That’s just bad business, and you’d certainly not want your donors to know that you do that.

If those “professional fund raisers” can guarantee that “X” dollars can/will be raised, then they should have no problem putting that guarantee in a contract. The NPO will then have recourse (with State support) if the goal is not met !!

And, FYI, most States have an office (usually the Secretary of State) that oversees and regulates fundraising, and many require that copies of contracts with “fund raisers” be provided to the State for approval. Many also publish lists of “professional fund raising” companies and their track records in their States.

There are a few “professional fund raisers” that operate ethically, that raise money at a fairly low cost-per-dollar-raised, but the majority of the firms that I’ve seen listed on State reports forward too little of the money raised to the NPOs; and, high fundraising costs raise ethical questions, and suggest that the nonprofit is poorly managed.

Too many nonprofits are created by well-meaning people who have no clue about what’s involved in running/maintaining an organization; and, nonprofit organizations with leaders who won’t take the time to learn what they should be doing, and then won’t do what they should, should probably not survive. Hiring an outside “fund raiser” is the often leadership’s way of not having to do what nonprofit leaders are supposed to do.

As to the last two points in the email….
• You can’t lose money on a fundraising professional. You can ignore their good
    advice/direction, but you will have gotten value for the fee you paid.
• If a nonprofit is paying a “fund raiser” in advance, it’s the organization, as much as it is
    the “fund raiser,” that is acting unethically.
• Taking money without delivering what was promised sounds to me like “fraud.”
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Have a comment or a question about starting, evaluating or expanding your fundraising program? With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, I’ll be pleased to answer your questions. Contact me at [email protected]
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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.

After some $40 million was raised in $10 gifts through cell phones for the Haiti earthquake response in January, 2010, every nonprofit had dreams of cell phones as mobile donation machines. Even for the Red Cross, those dreams seem to have evaporated.

However, mobile use among Americans has increased dramatically. It’s probably true that among the most passionate, most connected, most generous and successful Americans, smartphone use is even more ubiquitous. What are the implications for nonprofits, most of whom haven’t mastered the internet yet? Here are some thoughts gathered at the Direct Marketing Association’s recent Mobile Marketing Day:

• Text-to-give is NOT a significant part of fundraising.
• Most smartphone users view much of their email on their phones, so make sure your email messages will render nicely on Apple and Android devices.
• Every page on your website should be optimized for mobile browsers; otherwise, if donors click once and get garbage, they’re not likely to click again from their cell phones.
• Mobile is ideal for getting special event attendees to connect with you in a way that will let you continue the conversation after the event.
• QR codes let mobile users connect with you after seeing something in print, either at an event, in a publication, or on outdoor or transit media, even your direct mail letter.
• Ask for mobile numbers (but don’t require it) on your donation form and newsletter signup form. If you can associate numbers with donors, you can track the impact of mobile communications, and you can reach out to donors via phone when their mail and email start bouncing.
• Mobile users can give via their credit cards on a mobile-optimized donation form. Those gifts tend to be as much as 30% smaller than web page gifts sent from a laptop or desktop computer (but that means they’re 70% larger than the gift you wouldn’t get without such a page)
• One organization indicated that up to ten percent of cell phone area codes do not match up with the supporter’s zip code, meaning that many people keep their old cell number even when they move.
• If you believe in the future of mobile communications, get your own short code — the 5-digit numbers to which you can send a text message instead of having to enter a full 10-digit phone number. Don’t settle for a shared short code.
• Apps are expensive and generally not productive unless you have killer content (think National Geographic).

Since the future of mobile is growing, it pays to recognize its potential for your organization, choose one area where you think mobile can be effective for your organization and get started. Your learning curve can match up with the growth of this channel.

More questions about mobile fundraising? Send me an email!

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Rick Christ has been helping nonprofit organizations use the internet for fundraising, communications and advocacy since 2009, and has been a frequent writer on the subject. He delights in your questions and arguments. Please contact him at: [email protected] or at his LinkedIn Page

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If you would like to comment/expand on the above, or would just like to offer your thoughts on the subject of this posting, we encourage you to “Leave a Reply” at the bottom of this page, click on the feedback link at the top of the page, or send an email to the author of this posting.