Category: Finance

Every year, government agencies around the country provide over $200 billion in grants … for specific services to local communities. Today, there are approximately 2,000 federal grant programs and over 40,000 state grant programs.

But before you get all excited about all that government money, you must really understand what government grants are and who is eligible to apply for them.

What Is A Government Grant ??

A (federal, state, local) government grant is the money awarded to a nonprofit organization (NPO) consistent with a contract between the government and the NPO – where the latter provides the service for which the former pays. (Grants, of course, do not have to be repaid.)

There is an application process for all government grants, and not all applicants qualify. Then, when you receive a grant, you are agreeing to carry out the activities described in your grant application and to adhere to all the conditions of the award. All such grants include various conditions, one of which is always that the grantee must provide periodic financial and program reports on their “contractual” activities.

There Are Two Kinds of Federal Grants. Continue reading “Introduction To Government Grants”

Naming Opportunities

(This post is Part 2 of a 2 Part Response to a Submitted Question)

The other first step is to make a list of potential “purchasers” of those naming opportunities. These must be people with the (significant) resources to be able to afford the “purchase” – people to whom you have or someone close to your organization has access, and they must be people who have a need that will be satisfied by writing that check.

The “need” can be as simple as the desire to see one’s name posted in a public place or as “philanthropic” as the desire to provide-something-for-the-kids. In essence, someone has to know enough about your likely donors to be able to answer that question.

Once you’ve made up the two lists, the discussions start as to how much to “charge” for each naming opportunity … said discussion to be realistically based on what people might be willing to “pay” for each “opportunity.”

When you’re finished with that process, you should have two lists: one of your naming opportunities with “prices,” the other of your list of potential “opportunity purchasers.”

Just to clarify, I’ve been talking about “charging,” “selling,” “prices” and “purchasing,” but we’re really talking about tax-deductible contributions … assuming that the organization “selling” those “naming opportunities” is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

The “bottom line” of the process comes after the lists have been completed: Asking For The Check.

That MUST be done on a face-to-face basis. The process is simple: to have the right person meet with a potential donor and ask for the specific dollar figure, explaining how “it” will benefit the kids and how the donor will be recognized for his/her gift.

Don’t waste your time trying to do this any other way. The biggest mistake many organizations make is believing that this doesn’t apply to them. Any method you use other than face-to-face may raise some money, but it will be a heck of a lot less than if it was in-person.

The hard part of the process is figuring out who the right person would be to ask each specific potential donor for his/her check. (See: Asking For The Major Gift. Take your time. This process can’t/shouldn’t be rushed.

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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 AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com
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Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
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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.

Naming Opportunities

(This post is Part 1 of a 2 Part Response to a Submitted Question)

When I think of a playground, I picture swings, a set of see-saws, a jungle gym and various other pieces of equipment; and, I see multiple opportunities to raise money.

There are many ways to raise money, but I can only address the method that is the most effective at raising significant dollars — people asking other people to write checks.

Naming Opportunities are where donors get to have their names (or those of others being memorialized and/or honored) posted on a space or affixed to a piece of equipment/furniture.

In the case of a playground, the entire facility and each piece of equipment could be named after individual donors. Understand, there is no relationship between the cost of (the elements of) the project and what is “charged” for the honor of naming….

The “charge” for a naming opportunity is based on what the market will bear. If it will cost $250,000 to build a playground, but you have a donor who is willing to write a check for $300,000 to see his/her name over the entrance to the facility, then $300,000 is what it will “cost” for that naming opportunity. Realistically, that doesn’t happen too often.

What does happen, what must happen, is the work that goes into determining what the “cost” of each naming opportunity will be.

The process begins at two ends and works towards the middle. One of the two first steps is to make a list of everything in the playground that could possibly be named: each see-saw in the set (and the entire set), each swing (and the swing set), the shock-absorbing ground cover, anything you can think of. [The total “cost” of all the naming opportunities” typically exceeds the total cost of the finished project, and rarely are all the naming opportunities actually sold.]

The other “first step,” and the rest of the process, will be addressed in Part 2 of this posting.
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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 AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com
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Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
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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.

A Note From a Reader:
“I will begin my new position as an ED in a non-profit next month and I would like to meet our sponsors and donors. We do not begin our campaign drive for another few months. What is the best approach to introduce myself to donors?

Would it be appropriate to call on them to give them an update on our programs and then follow up with a request for support down the road? I wouldn’t think it would be wise to visit with them simply to introduce myself, so I want to be sure to use the opportunity. Any advice is much appreciated as I am new to the ED role!”

My Response:
Meeting your leaders/donors/supporters is not just a good idea, it’s an essential.

Your best “reasons” for contacting them and asking to meet with them are to (1) introduce yourself, (2) indicate that (since you are new to the position) you’d like to get their observations/thoughts about the organization and;
(3) to help you understand the importance of the NPO to those individuals and why they support it.

Being new, you are in a perfect position to ask almost any question … about almost anything.

If you want to lay the groundwork for asking for money, remember: “If you want advice, ask for money. If you want money, ask for advice.” And, if you ask for advice, you’d better be prepared to take it !!

(When it comes to leadership and fundraising, some of the early postings in this blog address that issue.)

Also, fundraising/development is an ongoing/year-round process. It is not an activity that takes place in some limited/restricted timeframe. The concept/practice of a “campaign/drive” is counterproductive.

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Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your fundraising program? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.

The web may be the most powerful broadcast tool of all time, but too many nonprofit organizations miss the even more important power of the web – a way to listen to their donors!

Why is listening so important?

• People like to be listened to…. So few people
  really listen these days – most just use the time others are talking to prepare
  their own next statement – and donors love to be asked their opinion. They’re
  passionate about your cause.
• When they have a problem with your organization, giving them an ear is the
  best way to keep them as a donor – and to fix a problem that’s probably
  driving other donors away too. Which would you rather they talked to –
  you, or their friends on FaceBook (or at the supermarket)?
• Using the words they use is the most powerful way to communicate to them
  in the future. Using their vocabulary always generates more response than
  using the language of your board or staff. Good copywriters yearn for donor
  correspondence.

How you can listen online easily and cheaply:

• Share your email from donors within the organization and with your
  fundraising counsel (minus the personal information)
• Actively solicit input in online and email surveys using open-ended questions
  like, “Why do you support us?” or “What do you think the biggest problem is
  concerning [your top issue]?” and “What do you think we (the donor and the
  organization) should do about it?”
• Look at your web site traffic statistics (Google Analytics, WebTrends, etc.)
  and see what words and phrases people are putting into search engines that
  end up at your site. What pages are they viewing most often? If you have a
  site search, look at those results too.
• Build a basic FaceBook fan page and invite people to comment. Thank each
  of them and share the significant comments internally.
• Use Twitter #hashtags and Google Alerts to track what people are saying
  about your organization and about your issues.

Need help implementing any of these ideas? Contact me.

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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: RChrist@Amergent.com or at his LinkedIn Page

Endowment Campaigns are often thought of as another type of Capital Campaign, but there are two major (and some minor) differences between these types of fundraising efforts.

•   A capital campaign primarily raises funding
    for tangibles – bricks-and-mortar and
    equipment, sometimes programs. An
    endowment is a “savings account” from which an organization typically uses
    only the interest to help fund programs.

•   A capital campaign is designed to satisfy an “urgent” need – building
    repairs, equipment purchase/replacement or the construction of a (new)
    home for the organization and its programs. Creation of an endowment is
    almost always desirable, but it’s never urgent.

Although, on occasion, a capital campaign may include some effort to create-or-add-to an organization’s endowment, the prospective donors for gifts targeted for the endowment comprise a small segment of your overall constituency.

It takes a specific mindset to see the value in creating that “savings account,” especially during the urgency (for tangibles) of the usual capital campaign. Prospects for endowment gifts tend to fall into one-or-both of the following categories:

•   The Fiscally Knowledgeable: Those individuals (often involved in running
    businesses) who understand the benefit of having a large enough
    “savings account” such that the interest can/will fund the operation of
    (one-or-more of) an organization’s programs, or (ideally)
    can/will fund total operation of the organization.

•   The Ego Driven: Those individuals who would like to make a contribution
    that would become a “separate” endowment, funding all or part of a
    specific program, and having their name (or that of someone they’d like
    to honor/memorialize) attached to that endowment.

I use the word, “ideally,” with the awareness that this would be a very unusual situation. Most nonprofit organizations, including the largest, are focused on raising enough money to get through this year … and, maybe, expand their program a little bit.

Even the largest universities, with billion dollar endowments, don’t have enough ongoing income to fund all of their programs and scholarships. The ideal is that, someday, their endowments might generate sufficient income for all their needs; but, right now, NPOs can only look upon creating/having an endowment as … wouldn’t-it-be-nice!!

A final thought: Since a “campaign,” by definition, is of limited duration, and fundraising efforts for endowment tend to be ongoing … endowment fundraising is often part of an organization’s major gifts program.

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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 AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com
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Have you seen The Fundraising Series of ebooks ??
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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.

Whoever said an event had to be a dinner or a luncheon to work?

The key to making any event succeed is to learn, well in advance, what will bring out your audience: existing donors, new donors, corporations, government officials, community leaders, etc.

Almost every event can benefit from an occasional change of pace … whether to a new venue, a switch from a four-course formal black tie dinner to a reception, a breakfast, a lunch, an afternoon soiree … or almost anything else.

Does the venue or type of event (dinner or luncheon) really matter? One would like to think that your supporters would want to join you regardless of these factors. But, unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

Take the example of one nonprofit that has been doing a major formal dinner for years, with a theme that had become their signature. Problem was, the audience for this glamorous, glitzy night was shrinking, boredom was setting in and costs to maintain this type of event were zooming.

For months, we worked with a staff committee to come up with and discuss the options. The decision was to change the event from Spring to Fall, do it at a different type of location, and with a different spin.

Out of those discussions was born a “reception,” with a completely different graphic design, a new/unique venue and a saving of several hundred thousand dollars.

Focus was placed on the organization’s mission,…

…rather than the usual, “Come celebrate and have a ball.” For our venue, we picked a restaurant that had just opened, giving us the advantage, the cache, the visibility of being the “first” to use the facility.

Coupled with the newly designed materials, a lot of advance promotion and targeted marketing, the “goal” of 200 attendees was realized very quickly. We even had to establish a waiting list.

We knew we had room for at least another 50 to 100 people, but having folks believe that it sold out so fast increased their desire/interest in being part of it … an enviable position in which to find ourselves.

That event became the place to be.

Not only did the organization do well with sponsorships and individual ticket sales, but they received contributions from many new donors … who had heard about the event from friends, and wanted to be part of it.

So the answers to the questions of whether a venue matters or whether it is a dinner or a luncheon are: “Yes,” and “No.”

What matters is how you frame it, market it and present it to your audience. It takes all the factors being pulled together in a special way, not just to ensure a successful event, but to ensure how the organization will now be perceived, and what that will mean for its future.

Just because you have always done a specific kind of event doesn’t mean you couldn’t benefit from a change of pace. You could be surprised at the results.

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Have a comment or a question about creating or expanding your special event? Email me at Info@NatalieShear.com. With over 30 years in conference and event planning, we can help you turn your vision into reality.
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Have you seen Natalie’s ebook on Special Events ??

You can’t/shouldn’t assume that donors are OK with having their names (and the amounts or ranges of their gifts) made known to anyone outside the NPO they are supporting. Donors have a right to assume that such information is confidential.

The Codes of Ethics of the various organizations of professional fundraising staff and/or counsel unequivocally state that a donor has the right to privacy, and only s/he can give permission for his/her name to be publicized.

There are three common ways this is accomplished:
•   By asking the donor to check a box on the form they return with their gift
    agreeing that their name may be used;
•   By checking a box on the form they return with their gift denying
    permission for their name to be used; and,
•   By asking that donors check a box on the form they return with their gift
    if they don’t wish their name published — if the box is not checked, the
    assumption is made that permission has been given.

In the case of a gift/check submitted personally or through a solicitor, the donor should be asked his/her preference, and that preference should be recorded … and honored.

Since not every NPO is yet asking donors for such permission, and not every donor reads all those forms as carefully as they should, NPOs should make the extra effort — especially when contemplating publicizing donors’ names as broadly as does the internet — to adequately inform donors and to get specific permission.

It’s considerate, and it’s good donor relations.

Even publishing a donor’s name in an off-line annual report should engender the same kind/degree of consideration of the donor’s right to privacy.

Interestingly (and sadly) enough, most NPOs to which I’ve described this concept, and emphasized the ethics of complying with such rules of “consideration,” choose not to consider that concept to the degree they should.

It points up the need for everyone (board, staff, volunteers) to be educated about the ethics of fundraising – and, yes, there is a code of ethics for the practice of fundraising.

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Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your fundraising program? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.

People may not judge books by their covers, but they certainly judge your email before they open it.

If your email message has an uninspiring subject line, it will never get opened. Go into your “deleted items” folder in your email program, and scan the emails that you never opened. Odds are, none of those subject lines appealed to you.

What makes a good subject line? It needs to entice the reader into opening the message. That’s all. Think of a great “teaser” line on an outer envelope you mail to your donors. It provokes the reader through emotion or humor to see what’s inside.

•   Really bad subject lines ensure that your email message doesn’t even get into the readers’ inbox, but instead goes straight to the “spam” folder. Avoid all caps and more than one punctuation mark.

•   Don’t give away the story in the subject line. Hint at what’s inside, but make them open it to find out.

•   A good headline might read like a newspaper story headline. “Seniors may get no Social Security COLA next year” will interest seniors and make them want to see what’s inside. “Seniors will get no Social Security COLA next year,” tells them what’s in the article, and eliminates the need for them to open it.

•   It needs to be concise. The first 30 characters need to convince them to at least read the rest of the subject line.

•   “Video: 4 ways to save the planet” will not only get more people to open the email, but more of them will click the video link inside. The same is true for “Survey:” and other calls for their involvement.

Network for Good recently published a great guide for subject line writers (and tweeters) called Big Impact in Small Places that I recommend for all involved in this process.

Tell us your best and worst subject lines, and ask us your additional email fundraising questions!

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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: RChrist@Amergent.com or at his LinkedIn Page

As noted earlier, the first official announcement of the campaign is about the person who has volunteered to Chair the Campaign and who has made a significant (pace-setting) commitment. That is one way in which the Chair is recognized.

The Chair, who is often (one of) the largest donor(s) to the campaign, is recognized initially by being asked to be the Chair. And, most/many other pieces of campaign and post-campaign publicity will include his/her name and how s/he has made a difference. The same, at appropriate levels, goes for all of the Division Leaders, Co-Chairs and Vice-Chairs

In addition, those leaders, who are likely major donors, get to decide what other formal recognition they’d like !! Yep, in a way, it’s their decision.

Recognition is not just a matter of putting up plaques or publishing lists, recognition must satisfy the needs of the leader/donor. Remember, in the Planning Study that was done to determine how a campaign would succeed, potential leaders and donors were also asked about the kind of recognition they thought would be appropriate.

So pay attention to the information you got from the Study. Listen to people !!

Recognition can be as simple as a handshake from the right person. It can be an inexpensive, unique gift (like a signed book or something made by someone served by the nonprofit, it can be a name on a brick, it can be almost anything … as long as it’s meaningful to the person being recognized.

Some folks do like to see their names on buildings, walls, equipment, the backs of seats at the opera, accomodations for the homeless animals, and in published lists of donors, etc., etc. You can name programs or parts of programs after major donors … or after someone they’d like to honor/remember. A creative person can come up with an extensive list of “naming opportunities.” Some folks don’t like that stuff !!

Even many anonymous donors want/need to be recognized – maybe not publicly, but in some fashion. Consider the (really anonymous) donor whose gift comes through a law firm – a narrative, of how that donor’s gift made a real impact, can be sent to the contact at the law firm for forwarding to the donor.

Although it’s highly unlikely, an effective recognition program may have as many ways of honoring/recognizing its leaders and major donors, as it has leaders and major donors!!

In essence, “Recognition” is a matter of satisfying people’s needs. The more people you can “recognize,” the more people will want to work with you and/or give to you in the future.

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Have a comment or a question about starting or expanding your fundraising program? Email me at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll likely be able to answer your questions.