Marc A. Pitman's Blog, page 22

2 types of nonprofit stories – and the one that drives donations

I've just getting back from the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference so it’s likely no surprise stories are on my mind.

At the conference this year, I noticed talk about 2 types of nonprofit stories. I heard talk about "institutional stories" and "donor stories."

Institutional stories are just that – about the institution. These are necessary and good. They have their place. Institutional stories are great for staff and board orientations. They educate and inform. But institutional stories don't drive donations.

The story that drives donations is donor story.

The surprising reason behind the donor story

This sounds illogical, doesn't it? Won't donors make gifts only after they learn about our organization? How great we are at what we do?

The thing is, donors aren't looking for a new charity to support. Donors are looking for a way to support what they care about. Not charities they care about. Values. Issues. Causes.

So be that cause.

As you make your calls to donors, just before you pick up the phone pause to think about what they may want to give to. Identify where your work intersects with their mission. Then call and meet them there.Keep it fact, don't create a fictional story

I've worked with nonprofit leaders long enough to know that I need to add this qualifier: this "donor story" post is not about "mission creep." Do not create programs simply to please donors. Instead, identify what the individual is interested in and find commonalities in what your organization is already doing.

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6 Lessons Learned on the Capital Campaign Trail

Capital campaigns are both wonderful and stressful times in a nonprofit. Here are six lessons I've learned after 30 years on the capital campaign trail.

1. It’s About the Vision—Not The Money

While preparing for a fundraising campaign can be a daunting enterprise, internalizing key lessons learned will help ensure your success.

The first is that successful campaigns are not about money! Instead, they are about mission, vision, and the long-term engagement of those who can have a transformational impact on your organization.

Prior to beginning a campaign, a not-for-profit MUST have a vision for its future, which is typically realized through strategic planning. This critical exercise involves revisiting and confirming one’s mission; developing a clear sense of where you want to be in the next three to five years; fully exploring, visualizing, and embracing that destination; and clearly articulating how and why arriving there matters and is different from the status quo.

Once one’s destination is clear, the next step is determining the strategies your organization will deploy to get there and quantifying each in terms of required people, programs, and facilities.

2. Building Upon Strategic Planning: The Case For Support

Suddenly, you have dollar goals that are actually meaningful, since each can be directly linked to an implementation strategy that leads to a well-defined destination.

Now you can develop your story, or case for support, in an evocative and compelling way, so that those hearing and telling it will be inspired, motivated, and clear as to why they should care. The case articulates your organization’s uniqueness, its mission, and the needs being addressed.

Since a significant portion of all campaigns comes from leadership gifts, it pays to have some of these prospective donors help develop the plan and story. Ultimately, it will be easier to invite key prospects to invest in a vision they already share than to try and “sell” them yours.

3. The Fundraising Cycle: From Identification to Stewardship

With these critical steps complete, the fundraising cycle begins with the identification of prospective donors and cultivation of mutual interests—or how their passions and goals intersect with those of your organization. Effective fundraisers spend 90% of their time engaging prospective donors and only 10% soliciting them—or as colorfully put by Harold Seymour in his seminal book Designs for Fund-Raising:

"You can't make a good pickle by squirting vinegar on a cucumber—it has to soak awhile."

When certain that prospects are fully engaged, it is time for solicitation, ensuring as fully as possible that the right person asks them for the right amount, at the right time, for the right purpose.

The final step in the cycle is stewardship, or thanking donors in meaningful ways and creatively showing them the impact of their current and cumulative giving.

4. The Role of the Board

In addition to determining a strategic destination, board members ideally pledge 20% of the goal and then help raise an additional 20%. It comes as a relief to many when they hear that this does not necessarily mean they have to ask for money, although with good training some are ultimately able to do so. Rather they can help by identifying leadership prospects, opening doors, building relationships, and creatively stewarding donors.

Key to a board member’s fundraising success is properly setting philanthropic expectations during the recruitment process. And, as suggested above, each must give meaningfully. After all, board membership is the highest form of not-for-profit engagement, and if members are not giving at their potential, then either they have not been properly engaged, or they may not be the best fit for your organization.

5. The Role of Planning

Ultimately, campaign success depends upon good planning, including translating strategic initiatives into campaign goals; testing them through a feasibility study with key prospective donors; assessing internal readiness; soliciting key donors during a “silent phase;” and when a majority of the funds are pledged, broadening your outreach by launching “general” and other divisional gift efforts.

Keep in mind that 90% or more of your goal will likely come from the top 10% of donors, and that approximately one-third of the funds will come from the top ten gifts and another third from the next hundred gifts.

A campaign is like putting the roof on your new house: it will only serve you well if the foundation and walls that support it have been properly constructed and maintained. Good planning and maintenance prior to a campaign includes shoring up the leadership components of your annual fund; viewing philanthropy as a continuum; developing a communications plan; strengthening your board; and devising strategic engagement opportunities for your very top prospective donors.

6. Congratulations – You Deserve It!

As a staff or volunteer fundraiser, you can feel great about helping deliver your organization’s worthy mission. In is excellent book Fund Raising Realities Every Board Member Must Face, David Lansdowne reminds us why we should feel proud:

"Fund raising has been a part of the American landscape since the birth of our nation. Thousands of colleges, hospitals, museums and human service programs have come into being because individuals have cared enough to go out and ask. If you find your enthusiasm ebbing, remember, as a participant you are in the fine company of sincere, dedicated, and optimistic people everywhere who are willing to work tirelessly for a better world. Not many can say the same."

Not many, indeed! So keep up the good work; remember the lessons learned over decades of campaigning; motivate yourself to inspire others; and have great fun while doing so. And each time you do get to “yes,” and your leadership donor thanks you for having provided the opportunity to participate—take a moment to reflect that you really have done it right.

At Least 4 More Lessons

These are just some of the lessons gleaned from over 30 years on the campaign trail. I hope you'll join me for the session The Top 10 Lessons Learned from 30 Years on the Capital Campaign Trail over at The Nonprofit Academy. You'll learn more about these lessons, four more lessons, and you'll earn 1.25 CFRE credits!

Register as an NPA member and get access to the training at: https://thenonprofitacademy.com/trainings/10-capital-campaign-lessons/

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Why Donor Fundraising Systems Matter for Your Non-Profit

Over the past twenty years, I have worked with hundreds of non-profit organizations. In my experience, the majority of non-profits (and the vast majority of small and mid-sized organizations) are frustrated with fundraising.

Most non-profits feel overwhelmed with fund development. They have high turnover for fundraising staff, are trying to do too many things, and never feel like they are able to raise the money they need to thrive. Does this describe your non-profit organization? If so, I have the answer for you: donor fundraising systems.

What Are Donor Fundraising Systems?

Donor fundraising systems are development strategies that make your fundraising processes both knowable and scalable. At most non-profits, when the staff identifies a new prospect, the team spins into action, trying to figure out “just the right way” to reach and engage the new donor. Likewise, the organization is constantly trying out new tactics and strategies, with the staff pulling its collective hair out implementing all of the ideas that come from board members, directors, and fundraising conferences.

Thankfully, there is a better way. Donor fundraising systems allow your team to set up processes one time, so that they can focus on perfectly implementing best-practice-based strategies for things like prospecting, cultivation, donor communications, and stewardship.

Good fundraising systems are knowable, meaning that no matter what type of donor your team encounters, the staff knows exactly what to do with them. Depending on your organization, there may be systems for major, mid-level, and low-dollar donors… as well as systems for prospects acquired through different strategies. There may also be systems for fundraising events, online fundraising, direct mail and more.

Good fundraising systems are also scalable, meaning that they can grow as your non-profit grows. You can use your systems over and over again, meaning that you don’t need to waste bandwidth trying to come up with new strategies for every prospect, event, or fundraising appeal.

Why Do Systems Matter for Your Non-Profit?

Fundraising systems matter because they allow your non-profit to raise more money with less stress, hassle, and resources. Development offices that don’t have good fundraising systems feel chaotic… and fundraisers there often struggle to keep their head above water, with the constant sense that the organization is one bad month or one missed check away from insolvency.

I call this "the fundraising treadmill" – the feeling that no matter what you did this month, come next month you will be starting from zero again, and it will be just as hectic and chaotic as ever. Good fundraising systems allow you to get off the treadmill by implementing a knowable, scalable system that provides the revenue your organization needs to thrive.

Learn How to Build Sustainable Fundraising Systems for Your Organization

On Tuesday, November 28th, I am going to be presenting a special free webinar at The Nonprofit Academy to teach you how to build strong fundraising systems for your non-profit. Systemize Your Fundraising! How to Raise More by Creating Scalable Fundraising Systems for Your Non-Profit will run from 1:00 – 2:15 PM Eastern Time.

And the webinar is accredited for 1.25 CFRE continuing education credits!

You can use the link below to register for free to the webinar:

https://thenonprofitacademy.com/trainings/systemize-fundraising/

I hope to see you on November 28th!

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4 hours of free leadership, goal-setting, and fundraising training

As much as I love to do in-person leadership and fundraising trainings, sometimes you just can't get to them. So webinars can be incredibly helpful.

Over the last few months, I've done webinars for NCDC, qGiv, NonprofitHub, and Bloomerang.

Webinars on Leadership and Fundraising

Here are free recordings of all four webinars.

Nonprofit Leadership Goal-Setting

Our nonprofit leadership research shows that nonprofit leaders struggle with time management both personally and for the organization. Which is all about setting goals. And organizing your entire organization in the direction of accomplishing them! I was able to share a couple versions of this for personal and organizational goal-setting.

NonprofitHub - Hubinar: Setting Goals for Leading a Nonprofit

http://nonprofithub.org/goals-for-leadership/Bloomerang - Goal Setting to Help Your Nonprofit Thrive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HYuQE1G-4U

Both share the importance of quality planning, organizational alignment, and how to do both well. And both share a very practical process for mapping out your most important goals - and even how to identify which ones are "most important"!

Nonprofit Leadership StorytellingQgiv - The 5 Stories Every Leader Must Be Telling

https://www.qgiv.com/blog/resources/marc-pitman-5-stories-every-leader-must-telling/

Learn why nonprofits, organizations that should be flowing and harmonious often devolve into silos and inter-departmental in-fighting. And, learn the stories to be collecting to help everyone get on the same page!

Fundraising for Nonprofit MinistryNCDC - Ask Without Fear for Christian Ministry

http://ncdc.peachnewmedia.com/store/streaming/seminar-launch.php?key=d584FOO4pRjnMxTxWXf09YRAWzYGChAWLZkucu2GtTw%3D

Based on my most recent book, Ask Without Fear for Christian Ministry, this training is a great beginning point for those new to fundraising for ministry and a great, palette cleansing refresher for veteran leaders!

4 Hours - Free thanks to NonprofitHub, Bloomerang, Qgiv, & NCDC

So if you're looking for free webinars to help you grow as a leader, now you have them - thanks to NonprofitHub, Bloomerang, Qgiv, and NCDC.

Each of these organizations run great webinar series. So after you've watched the videos, be sure to check out the others the offer.

And if you want even more, check out more than 80 fundraising, marketing, and leadership training at The Nonprofit Academy: https://thenonprofitacademy.com/vault/. You'll even see trainings from some of the hosts above!

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Guilt, stories, and fundraising

A while back, I received a call from an ALS Foundation. The call was awful. So awful, I've waited over a year and a half to write about it. Long enough that I don't remember exactly which ALS organization it was. But fresh enough that the emotions linger. And I want to help you from making the same mistakes this organization made.

Effective fundraising involves emotions. But this call is a case study in how not to trigger a donor's emotions.

"Entering" into the Donor's Story vs "Assuming" the Donor's Story

Because my mother died from ALS, I gave the caller more time than I normally would for a random call from a nonprofit. But because he knew my mother died from ALS, he assumed alot about my story. A lot that wasn't true.

You see, because the caller knew some of my story - that my mother died from ALS - he assumed he knew all of my story. You could hear it in the pained, "Wasn't it so awful and tough" tone in his voice. But the caller was completely tone deaf. When I didn't respond, he probed further. He kept rummaging around in my emotional closet looking for things to parade out.

He wasn't trying to enter into my story. He was so completely enraptured by the fictional story he was weaving that he probably though my attempts at reining him in were merely "denial."

Rather than adjusting to meet where I was coming from, his pitch was a guilt-ridden manipulative, "You wouldn't want to be responsible for someone else having to go through that too, would you?" As though my little gift will miraculously heal an individual from the horror of ALS!

Entering into the Donor's Story without Pissing the Donor Off

You see, I don't define myself in terms of ALS. And I don't define Mom's life in terms of ALS either. Her life was so much more. As is mine.

Stop assuming your donor's story revolves around your cause. That idea might sound good as an idea at a staff meeting. But what seems like a good idea in the office may be completely off-putting in real-life. (If you need proof, listen to any number of the "if-you-were-a-smarter-listener-we-wouldn't-have-to-tell-you-to-give" messages during your public radio station's pledge drive or "no-pledge" pledge drive.)

Instead, talk to your donors. See if this story you think is typical really is true for your typical donor. And if you find it's not, listen. Don't try to force your donor's story to fit into the story you created. Help me feel good

What could the caller have done? He could've realized that most human beings want to feel good. (You can see Tom Ahern saying that - for example around the 9:37 point - in this short Story Tour video.)

Feeling good is an emotional state. And often, to help someone feel good, they first need to be uncomfortable. So by all means show us the bad:

Show us the the "wrong" in the world needing to be made right.Show us the injustice we need to fix.The hurt we need to heal.

Allow us to see the truth of the current situation. The way it is if no one does anything. Let us even get angry. But tie the ask to something believable that we can heal.

The caller should have told me how a gift - even a gift to fund research - might lighten the load on a patient's family. Or how it may touch the heart of the patient herself. Maybe even that the patient would be moved to show some faint expression of joy. Maybe managing a flicker of an eyelid.

It's the kind of "I can make a difference" emotion that you want to trigger.

But manipulatively attempting to imply that by my not giving made me somehow personally responsible for prolonging someone's agony? Totally not believable. The only anger it triggered was anger at the caller, not at the condition.

And that's not the kind of emotion you want to trigger.

If you want more on how to craft a story donors respond to - and to do it with integrity - watch Tom's episode of the Nonprofit Story Tour at http://nonprofitstorytellingconference.com/story-tour/tom-ahern/

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The Early Bird, Time Travel, and Better Grantwriting

Did you ever hear the proverb the early bird gets the worm? When I was a kid, I was very, very literal. I decided that if the early bird got the worm, I had no desire to be that bird!

From that came my habit of sleeping in.

But now I know better and can apply this lesson to something as far afield as grantwriting. The idea is simple but it has a lot more to do with success than a quick glance might suggest.

Getting Started

One great quote from Mark Twain is:

"The secret to getting ahead is getting started."

This applies to being successful as a grantwriter. My advice is: "Start as soon as you can."

Sounds simple, right? But there are a number of levels to consider "starting" with. Here's one you probably haven’t considered yet: You've got to "start as soon as you can" to know what requests for proposals are going to be released.

This means you can't just be logging on to grants.gov or your favorite foundation site to apply for grants. “Starting as soon as you can” means you look back into the history of the organization whose funds you'd like to tap into.

Federal grants, for example, are often released about the same time every year (not always, but often). This means "starting as soon as you can" is actually two or three years ago. Particularly with federal grants, the archived ones help you see what is likely coming up again in the future. Especially if you find one grant you're interested in now and see that it was released in substantially the same form earlier.

Foundation grants also are often released in the same time periods each year. Get to know their schedules.

Knowing the Past & Future Leads to Better Grantwriting

If you're able to see that a request for proposals is released about the same time every year, that the types of proposals being requested are substantially similar, and that the agency or foundation has not announced a change in priorities in the past year, you're far ahead of the game.

In fact, this is how you become an early bird, a time traveler, and a better grantwriter all at the same time:

You get to be an early bird because you're starting much earlier than anyone else - you're starting years ago!You can be a time traveler by looking forward at the project proposals about to be released.And you can start collecting the materials for your grant proposal long before the deadline.

In affect, starting your grantwriting as soon as you can allows you to go back in time to see the future! And knowing what they'll likely give to helps you write better grant proposals.

Dr. Richard Hoefer is the author of "Funded! Successful Grantwriting for Your Nonprofit." Get more tips at www.richardhoefer.com

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Are you a BFF?

I've been seeing a disturbing trend of late: a sharp rise in what I call are BFFs: blunt force fundraisers. Nonprofit leaders willfully skipping planning to jump straight to asking.

As the author of Ask Without Fear!®, you know I am an advocate for asking. But the number of BFF's I'm seeing of late - both nationally and internationally - is weird.

The Tale of Two Typical BFFs

One BFF leader wouldn't think of himself as a blunt force fundraiser. He's a nice guy who had a great mission. Last week, he had a great opportunity pop up in his community. So he called me. The opportunity really is great. It'll cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it gives him a legitimate excuse to meet with his supporters, to cast his vision, and to see their response. These meetings would give him insight into the community he serves and into the complexities of the project that would help him make his proposal even stronger.

The opportunity is so good, he could even set up appointments with people who were not yet supporters! Don't we all have a "dream list" of people we wish would be interested in our work? This project was exactly something they would sit down with him to discuss.

But he didn't want to take the time. He just wanted to find the money. He wanted to commit to a project without even doing the due diligence to see if it were the best fit for his work.

He just wanted to blunt force fundraising - hitting up people who didn't even know anything about the opportunity he was going to ask them to give to.

Another BFF leader asked me for help with her $5 million campaign. She'd already raised $1 million. Now she wanted counsel to raise the rest. When I asked her how many donors she had, she answered, "We currently do not have any past donors. We are starting from scratch. Is that harder?"

My response was that her goal wasn't necessarily impossible but:

"Is it harder? It's like the difference of dating someone for a few years before asking them to marry you versus walking up to a stranger and immediately asking them to marry you."

She too wanted to just "get out there and ask people" - but she didn't even know who to ask.

Force Is Not a Recommended Fundraising Tool

Granted, both leaders could have success. As motivational speakers will say, "Aerodynamically, a bumble bee can't fly. Just don't tell the bumble bee."

And if it were only two people, I might let it pass as enthusiastic naïveté. But leaders seem to be increasingly having these discussions. It's as though these nonprofit leaders think they can use blunt force to reliably raise the funds they need.Fundraising is like Agriculture

In First Things First, authors Stephen Covey, Roger Merrill, and Rebecca Merrill talk about "the Law of the Farm." They ask,

"Did you ever 'cram' in school - goof off during the semester, then spend all night before the big test trying to cram a semester's worth of learning into your head?...Can you imaging 'cramming' on the farm? Can you imagine forgetting to plant in the spring, flaking out all summer, and hitting it hard in the fall - ripping the soil up, throwing in seeds, watering, cultivating - and expecting to get a bountiful harvest overnight?

They go on to say:

"In the short term, cramming may appear to work in a social system. You can go for 'quick fixes' and techniques with apparent success. But in the long run, the Law of the Farm governs all areas of life."

BFF - blunt force fundraisers - are all about short term fixes. But that won't work over the long haul. You don't use a hammer to loosen a wallet.

Fundraising is based on human relationships. We're not "hitting people up." We're growing deeper relationships.

And growing relationships takes planting and watering. Both before the harvest and after.

Stop the Madness

If you've realized you're guilty of being a blunt force fundraiser, you can stop. Stop and take time with people. Find out what they think and what they care about.

I'm not suggesting an artificial "take 18 months before asking for a major gift." That seems arbitrary and forced. And most of our organizations need the funding now.

I am asking you to, as my friend Bill Littlejohn says, "Honor the process." Be intentional about

researching your project and your prospectsengaging themthen asking themand finally loving on them.*

The best part about taking time with people? You'll be shocked to find that you are actually more efficient. As Stephen Covey used to say, "With people, if you want to save time, don't be efficient. Slow is fast and fast is slow."

In the long run, taking the time to get to know people will make your fundraising projects get completed much more quickly. And no one will suffer any blunt force fundraising.

* For more on that 4-step process go to Do It Yourself Fundraising or buy a copy of Ask Without Fear!®.

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Can you fundraise in the face of disasters like Hurricane Harvey?

In this morning's note to my weekly Fundraising Kick coaching email subscribers, I offered two ways to respond to a tragedy like the devastation people are experiencing in Texas because of Hurricane Harvey. This message is so timely, I am sharing it here as well.

If you turn on any news channel, you have undoubtedly heard of Harvey that tropical storm and hurricane that, even as I write this, is still devastating parts of Texas.

Disasters like this pull on our hearts and pull on the hearts of our donors. We all make donations to support those affected.

And if your nonprofit isn't in an affected area, disasters like this can make it challenging to think about fundraising for your own institution.

Having worked in nonprofits through many disasters - weather, economic, and even terrorist - I've had to help nonprofit leaders figure out how to reconcile their desire to help with their need to fund their own organization. Here I'll share two.

2 Approaches to Fundraising in the wake of Hurricane Harvey

As nonprofit leaders and fundraising professionals, if you live outside the affected areas or outside nonprofits providing assistance here are a couple approaches you can take in your fundraising efforts this week.

Pause fundraising

One response is to simply pause fundraising. I think this is the most common response I've seen. It simply seems the right thing to do. It seems respectful and considerate.

The one big mistake I see people make with this approach is to equate “pausing fundraising” with ceasing all communications. I strongly urge against that.

You should definitely check your upcoming communications and social media posts to see if they’ll appear tone deaf to your audience. But do not stop talking to your supporters. Your cause is still worthy of

philanthropic support. The “need” you exist to fix isn’t going to go away, so neither should you.

In your pausing solicitations, you may choose to devote your major gift calls to expressing your gratitude. Call donors and say “thank you.” You may even consider sending a postcard to supporters thanking them for their support of your mission and encouraging them to support one of the groups your own organization is making donations to.

Hitting the pause button can be a reasonable approach to fundraising in the wake of disasters.

Fundraising care-fully

If your organization still needs the funds that you were planning on soliciting this week, you still need to get out there and raise those funds.

But this week as you make your major gift contacts, listen with your heart even more than you normally do. Even if you’re far from Texas, people may have family there. Or may be hurting from the awful stories they’re hearing in the news.

Hold that space with your donor. Be a safe person to help them start processing their grief and anguish with.

Be human. Be full of care.

And still ask. You might modify your ask amount. Or you might see perils of your mission and things the donor has said. But your cause is worthy of the funding.A Third Way?

Of course, a third way is to do both – pause with some prospects and ask carefully with others.

It’s times like these that we get to see the best in each other. And as nonprofit leaders and fundraisers, we get a front row seat to that beauty and generosity.

What about you? How do you reconcile fundraising in the face of disasters? Tell us in the comments. And if you want the weekly Fundraising Kick coaching emails, sign up at http://FundraisingKick.com/

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3 Common Capital Campaign Mistakes

Capital campaigns are a wild roller coaster ride of vision-fueled excitement followed by long stretches of slow. slogging. work.

The slow parts require incredible discipline to stay on course. I know because I’ve helped run 18 capital campaigns at schools, universities, and hospitals. Most were at organizations that felt they didn’t have “the right” donors.

And thanks to the vision-fueled excitement, many organizations launch capital campaigns in ways that make it much harder on themselves. Since we can often learn more from our mistakes than our successes, here are the top three mistakes I see nonprofits make. Especially when running their first capital campaign.

Avoid these 3 common capital campaign mistakesSkipping a planning stage

The most common mistake is to skip a feasibility study or planning study and just announce the campaign goal. Before announcing a goal, successful campaigns share the project with top donor prospects and community influencers in very structured planning study conversations. I've seen these done most effectively with the use of consultants, but some are recommending an interesting new approach.Feasibility studies allow the nonprofit to identify the aspects of the project that really resonate with the community. It also allows the nonprofit to get a sense of how much money a capital campaign may be able to actually raise and who might be your lead donors. The actual campaign announcement shouldn’t happen until 60-75% of the total money has been raised.Underestimating the cost of the project

The second common mistake I see is to base the campaign goal only on building costs, not the total campaign costs. I remember talking about a pending capital campaign to the dean of a well respected university. He'd shown me the plans for the new building and explained the projected campaign goal.Then I asked him a question that stopped him in his tracks.I asked him, "How much of this goal is being used to created an endowment to offset the ongoing costs of this new building?"This articulate dean was gobsmacked. After a few awkward moments, he said, "Huh. Planning ahead for the new costs? I don't think we've ever done that. I wonder if that's why we have so much deferred maintenance on campus."

I would imagine it is.

Another thing to budget is the cost of the campaign itself. A common rule of thumb in capital campaigns is that the nonprofit may need to invest about 10% of the overall goal in order to raise the money. There are all sorts of costs like campaign counsel, temporary staff, extra printing, special events, plans & renditions, etc. While spending only 10 cents to raise a dollar is a great investment, failing to plan for this investment leads to a constantly underfunded development effort and severely inhibits the success of the campaign. Thinking the money will magically come from "someone else"

The third most common mistake is thinking that capital campaigns are magic ways of raising money. Boards here of amazing goals being successfully reached so they think it's just a matter of announcing their goal. But an important rule of thumb in successful capital campaigns is that the board will typically give at least 10% of the overall goal.Many first time boards tend to think the money will simply “be there” from other people. But the community responds better when it knows that the board is backing their own project. Having the insiders giving generously goes a long way in helping others want to invest too.

Campaigns are wonderful and complex endeavors. They always tend to overwhelm a nonprofit's existing fundraising and communication structures. And as you can see, knowing some common mistakes can help make the difference between the success or failure of your effort. But starting a capital campaign with a correct goal after a planning study and a board that is already invested gives your effort the strongest foundation possible.

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Upcoming Events

I'll be on the road quite a bit this fall. If you'll be at one of these events, let's try to meet up!

Atlanta - August 14 - YNPN 2017

I'm looking forward to giving leadership trainings on taking charge of your own career. They've let me offer a $30 discount to people reading this. Register at http://conference.ynpn.org/registration and enter the promo code ynpn17_speakerpromo to get the discount.

Indianapolis - August 28 - AFP Indianapolis Chapter

I'll be giving the luncheon talk at the Indiana chapter of AFP's luncheon on Monday, August 28. Register at: http://www.afpindiana.afpnet.org/event/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=186081Indianapolis - August 29 - NICF

I'll be joining Dr. Adrian Sargeant and Dr. Mari Ann Callais as we keynote one day each of THE Foundations Seminar put on by NICF. I'll be keynoting on the "Ask" day. If you're involved in fraternal organizations, join us. Register at: https://www.nicindy.foundation/home/programs/seminar2017/Myrtle Beach - September 8 & 9 - Board strategic planning retreat

This is a private event for members of the board of a nonprofit, helping them chart their organizational and fundraising plan.

Breckenridge - September 15 - Rocky Mountain Philanthropy Institute

If you're in or around Colorado, join us for RMPI - the Rocky Mountain Philanthropy Institute. They've planned quite a day for training and learning. Register at http://afpcolorado.afpnet.org/Content.cfm?ItemNumber=23868&navItemNumber=23887Greenville - October 18 - Shine the Light Forum

Shine the Light is a series of four trainings. October 18 is the final installment of this series and the topic is wonderful: Inspiring Stories- Strengthening Our Collective Voice. Join us to learn how to tell better nonprofit stories. And how to tell them in concert with the other amazing organizations around you! Register for any Shine the Light event at: http://nonprofitforums.org/San Diego - November 9-11 - Nonprofit Storytelling Conference

If you haven't been to the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference yet, what are you waiting for? This event has been transforming the way nonprofits communicate, inspire advocacy, and fundraise. And once you come, you get to join the alumni network full of past attendees and presenters. This year we have a couple Hollywood insiders, some inspiring nonprofit staffers, and a great line up of experts. See the speakers, agenda, and register at: http://nonprofitstorytellingconference.com/

And while you're at it, sign up for the free episodes of the Nonprofit Story Tour. Inspiring stories of nonprofit around the country letting the power of story transform their impact. Sing up for free at: http://nonprofitstorytour.com/If you'd like to explore having me come to your event or team, find out more at: https://fundraisingcoach.com/speaker/

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