Marc A. Pitman's Blog, page 8

Won’t asking for money change the relationship?

On Saturday, I was honored to do a training at the Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina in Charleston, SC for founders of nonprofits in the Facebook Grant for Supporting Black Communities program.

During the training, a question was asked that I think we all need to wrestle with.

It was basically, “If I build a relationship with a donor before asking, won’t asking for money change the relationship?”

None of us want to “trick” people. Or to do a bait-and-switch with a person.

That’s why I’m not in the “friend raising” school of thought. We don’t need to raise friends. We need to raise funds and advocacy.

We don’t need people to like us. We need people to take action for us.

To give money. To rally their friends. To call their elected officials.

What would you say?

What would you say to a person afraid of “changing” the relationship? Or how have you overcome this fear yourself?

Let us know in the comments and I’ll compile the answers and blog them later.

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Fundraising With a Positive Return: 3 Accounting Practices

Fundraising is essential to your nonprofit’s strategy. You raise money to directly fund and support your various programs and projects. Therefore, it’s important that you do everything you can to make sure the fundraising campaigns you host are as impactful and productive as possible.

Even if you run a successful fundraising campaign and have incredibly generous donors, things can still go wrong! If you don’t have the right goals in mind, ineffectively plan your campaign, or report on your earnings incorrectly, your nonprofit’s financial books may still end up in the red.

So how can you avoid this? By establishing a data-driven fundraising plan ahead of time and ensuring effective accounting practices. In this guide, we’ll dive into three different accounting ideas that will help your nonprofit ensure a positive fundraising return that will support your organization’s goals, including how to:

Create a Detailed Campaign BudgetCompile the Resources You NeedAnalyze Your Campaign Results

Accounting is more than just inputting numbers into a spreadsheet. You also use accounting practices to ensure your campaigns are well-planned and will fit into your vision for the organization at large. Let’s get started.

1. Create a Detailed Campaign Budget

Your organization creates an annual budget to help determine your overarching financial health and goals. This living document includes both your anticipated annual revenue, your regular and anticipated expenses, and notes on how you arrived at those figures.

To keep track of your finances for specific, individual campaigns, according to Jitasa’s nonprofit financial management guide your organization should also create a detailed budget for those campaigns that covers your anticipated revenue and expense sources for individual campaigns. For example, let’s consider a nonprofit that’s hosting an annual fundraising fun run event. This organization will likely need to account for the following expenses:

Renting the space where the fun run will take placeDesigning t-shirts and other merchandise for each of the attendeesInvesting in event registration software so attendees can easily sign up for the eventPurchasing bibs, safety pins, and labels for the racersHiring a DJ or other entertainment to make the event funPurchasing insurance for the eventInvesting in marketing software and incurring advertisement costsProviding refreshments and water for the racers at the event

While these are just a few examples, showing that even a seemingly simple event like a fun run can incur many overhead costs that add up. Similarly, you should recognize your various forms of revenue and estimate how much will come from each source. In this fun run example, here are some of the revenue generation methods the nonprofit might use:

Individual registrations to participate in the fun runAdditional donations made to the organization for the eventMatched gifts provided by employers of the event participantsSponsorships from local businesses in the communityMerchandise sales that are made at the event

For each campaign, make sure you know what fundraising data to track to keep an eye on your various revenue sources during the campaign. For instance, you may have different funding goals associated with donations, merchandise sales, and other revenue streams. Track each separately in addition to your overarching fundraising goal to ensure a successful campaign.

2. Compile the Resources You Need

Now that you’ve chosen your fundraising idea, start thinking about the resources you’ll need to make the campaign possible. To create the best experience for the audience, choose software designed specifically for your chosen type of campaign.

There are a wide variety of fundraising solutions out there. To start your research, use referral lists like Re:charity’s top fundraising software recommendations or strategy guides like the Fundraising Coach’s advice on how to create the perfect online donor experience.

However, be sure to factor the costs of each platform and resources before you start investing in expensive software left and right. Look back at your budget to see how much you’ve allocated to these resources. Then, when you research technology and other resources, consider the prices so you don’t overspend on this overhead expense.

For example, if you’re hosting a dance-a-thon, you will probably need to invest in registration software, a donation page builder, a powerful sound system, and music platforms. When researching your options, determine which solutions:

Provide the best bang for their buck.Are within your predetermined budget.Equip you with all of the features you need.

Once you’ve narrowed down your list of potential resources, reach out to providers to ask further about pricing, ensuring you learn about any possible hidden fees like implementation and training expenses. This will provide a holistic view of the actual overall cost of the resources you need.

3. Analyze Your Campaign Results

For most nonprofits, their long-term fundraising strategy is to accumulate enough revenue to sustainably grow their organization. Growing your fundraising campaigns over time helps your organization increase its impact on the community. Not only should each campaign be profitable, but you should also be actively tracking campaign data to advise future opportunities and continue improving your strategy.

Consider the metrics that will best help your organization grow its fundraising over time. Then, track these metrics between each of your fundraising campaigns. For example, you should track analytics such as:

Your donor retention rate. It’s more cost-efficient to retain your existing supporters than it is to acquire new support. Thanking donors, stewarding them, and otherwise showing appreciation will help this metric increase over time.Average donation size. Track the average gift size among your supporters and among your supporter segments. This will help you better understand your audience and communicate with them for each campaign you host in the future.Donor engagement. Along with giving rate, keep track of donor analytics that will help you build a relationship with donors. This includes information about what campaigns they interact with, what events they’ve attended, and which channels they prefer your nonprofit to message them on.Overhead expenses per campaign. Track your investments in resources, venues, and other costs of hosting fundraising campaigns. The goal here isn’t to get to 0% overhead (there are important investments your nonprofit needs to make to ensure the success of the campaign), but to be aware of where the money is going so you can make informed decisions for the future. For instance, was the space you rented large enough for number of supporters that showed up? Maybe a larger space for next year to grow the size of the event is something to consider.

All of these metrics will help your organization to grow over time, but there’s another reason to keep a close eye on campaign data. Tracking your financial results throughout the year helps when it comes to future financial audits.

After each campaign, consider which analytics and metrics you’ll need to add to the financial reports included in these audits. Organizing that information now will prevent your staff members from scrambling to find all of this information down the line.

As a professional fundraiser, you understand how challenging it can be to conduct the perfect campaign. Be sure to work closely with your accounting team to make sure you’re in-line with your operating budget and have effectively planned out each campaign for maximum profitability.

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3 Ways Nonprofit Storytelling Helps You Maximize Donations

When you create marketing content to reach out to donors or introduce your nonprofit to a wider audience, how do you describe your organization? Do you stick to the basics, repeating your mission statement and the same fundraising appeal every time? Are you getting the results you want?

If you’re not reaching your marketing goals with your current strategy, start utilizing nonprofit storytelling. Nonprofit storytelling is the practice of using real, compelling examples of your nonprofit’s work and impact in your communications with supporters. Effective storytelling inspires donors and forges a genuine connection between them and your organization, leading to stronger, lasting relationships.

Let’s dive deeper into the three main ways this strategy can directly result in more donations for your nonprofit:

Storytelling increases donor acquisition.Storytelling keeps existing donors engaged.Storytelling makes supporters feel more connected to your nonprofit.

Reflect on how you currently communicate your nonprofit’s story, then tap into your creativity to start developing your own storytelling technique to maximize these benefits.

1. Storytelling increases donor acquisition.

The most direct way that impactful stories can benefit your nonprofit is by bringing in new donors. In fact, Meyer Partners’ guide to attracting new donors lists creating content with rich storytelling as one of the top strategies for donor acquisition. Imbue the following with respectful, authentic stories to secure prospective donors:

Your outreach

Center storytelling in all of your mailings, email series, and social media posts to appeal to new supporters’ emotions and convince them your nonprofit is worth supporting. To craft stories for your outreach, start by plotting out the standard elements of a narrative:

Central characters: These are the people whose stories you tell. Your central characters could include beneficiaries, donors, volunteers, or any other constituents who play a role in your organization. Vary your characters for different communications and  marketing campaigns so your audience gets a broad sense of your organization.Setting: Where does your nonprofit create impact? Set your stories in the areas and communities you serve, naming specific locations when possible. This will help new supporters visualize the need for your organization’s work.Theme: Each story should center around a theme or core value that relates to your nonprofit’s mission, such as compassion, progress, or equity. Give concrete examples of how your nonprofit prioritizes that theme in your work.

Don’t forget to end each message with a clear call to action. When you tell the story of how your nonprofit helped a beneficiary in a direct mail appeal, for example, conclude with a call to action that invites the reader to continue the story by becoming a donor.

Your website

Your organization’s homepage is likely the first place people go to learn about who you are and what you do. Therefore, it’s crucial that your website makes a positive first impression on potential donors. Follow these steps to ensure that your website uses the power of storytelling to attract new donors:

Choose central characters to highlight throughout your website who exemplify your nonprofit’s impact, such as your beneficiaries.Align content on your homepage, about page, and donation page that effectively communicates their stories and draws new donors in.Pair compelling images with short written content that describes the specific ways your nonprofit affects your beneficiaries. Use names, numbers, and tangible results.

For example, to optimize your homepage using storytelling techniques, you might place the text “We provide 300 meals to low-income Seattle locals like Jerry every month” over a large image of volunteers handing a meal to a grateful man.

2. Storytelling keeps existing donors engaged.

Don’t reserve your stories for new donors alone. When storytelling is a part of your donor stewardship strategy, you can turn supporters into loyal ambassadors who advocate for your organization’s success. Use stories to encourage your existing donors to get more involved with:

Events and volunteer opportunities

Promote your fundraising events more effectively and recruit more volunteers by incorporating the same storytelling strategies into your marketing efforts to existing donors.

At fundraising and volunteer events, you can also take the opportunity to collect personal stories from your donors themselves. Record interviews, ask for feedback, and connect with them based on their passion for your mission. Interviewing active supporters will make them feel valued and empowered, and these stories can serve as future marketing collateral for your organization.

Increased and recurring donations

By combining storytelling with other donor stewardship strategies, such as creating a supporter pyramid to visualize giving levels, you can inspire donors to increase both their involvement and their donations.

Apply these storytelling tips to your donation appeals to inspire your supporters to give again and give in greater amounts:

Focus on impact. Include real stories of the progress your organization has made thanks to their previous donations, highlighting concrete numbers of people helped or services provided to showcase their donations’ impact. Use donor segmentation to send tailored appeals based on each donors’ contribution level for added personalization.Use donor-affirming language. Emphasize the major part each individual donor plays in progressing your organization’s mission. When providing examples, use “you” often and make your donor the driving force of the story.

Once you’ve expressed your donors’ impact, promote additional giving opportunities. Specifically, Double the Donation suggests marketing matching gifts and recurring giving programs to existing donors. End your appeals with calls to action that emphasize the greater impact they can make by participating in these programs.

3. Storytelling makes supporters feel more connected to your nonprofit.

The bottom line is that positive, authentic nonprofit stories increase feelings of connection in your donors. Making your supporters feel connected inspires continued action, dedication to your organization’s mission, and long lasting support. Remember these tips to create strong relationships through outreach:

Tell beneficiaries’ stories often to remind supporters why they give.Keep supporters up to date on the specific results of current and past fundraising campaigns.Focus on stories that evoke positive emotions rather than negative ones to motivate donors to act.

By using these strategies to genuinely connect with supporters, your stories will lead to committed new donors, increased donations, and a better overall relationship with your community.

When using these strategies, remember to tailor each of your stories for your audience. If you want additional help crafting your nonprofit’s story, consider partnering with a nonprofit marketing consultant to learn how you can improve your storytelling and increase your marketing’s return on investment.

About the Author Bonnie Meyer

Bonnie brings to her role at Meyer Partners more than 30 years of fundraising experience, with a special emphasis in multimedia approaches to new donor acquisition and development. Her expertise encompasses several facets of direct response fundraising, including copy writing and creative direction, market research, strategic planning, and comprehensive results analysis.

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Not all fundraising calls have to be about asking for money

This week, I shared with my Fundraising Kick subscribers that I recently heard Stevie Wonders “I just called, to say, I love you.” (Sorry for putting that earworm in your head. And you’re welcome.)

Which had me thinking about fundraising calls nonprofit leaders make. So often the emphasis in fundraising is – rightly – an emphasis on “raising.” Asking. Talking about money. Discussing the donor’s investment in your cause.

And that is good. Bills need to get paid. And your time is valuable – you have other things your organization needs you to do.

As those of you who’ve been coached by me know, I’m an “asking forward” kind of guy. I like to ask early. And to ask often.

So it’s great if your calls err on the side of asking.

But not all calls need to be asking.

Asking is just PART of this process

Asking is one part of the relationship. Not the whole thing. You are developing a growing relationship with the donor; and with them and your cause.

So, if you’re game and if your bills have the room for it, this week, try taking a note from Stevie Wonder and make your 5 – 10 calls “love” calls. If you want to challenge yourself, even go beyond thank you calls to all-about-the-other-person calls. Calls like “You do so much for us, what might we be able to do for you?” or “I was just talking to this person last week. Would it help you if I connected you?”

If you accept this challenge, leave a comment letting us know how it feels!

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[Guest Post] The Diagram of Ethical Storytelling Excellence

Today’s guest post on ethical nonprofit storytelling is from Caliopy Glaros. Caliopy is the Founder and Principal Consultant at Philanthropy Without Borders, a firm with expertise in ethical storytelling, donor engagement, and strategic planning. This article was originally published on her blog. You can learn more in her training in The Nonprofit Academy called “Ethical Nonprofit Storytelling: From Exploitation to Empathy.” 

The Diagram of Ethical Storytelling Excellence

by Caliopy Glaros of Philanthropy Without Borders

This is one of those stories we tell ourselves: That fundraising staff and program staff are not aligned in storytelling.

There is a perception that the fundraising staff prioritize the needs of donors, wanting to overly focus on the negative aspects of clients’ lives and commodify their stories into “assets” for the annual appeal.

And then there is a perception that program staff, who work more closely with clients and know things about their lives and circumstances that can only be known through time and trust, are too protective of their clients’ identities and stories; so careful and cautious that they prevent stories from getting out and impede the fundraising efforts.

The story is that the fundraising staff and program staff just can’t see eye-to-eye.

This dichotomy is certainly false, but the tension is real. I do encounter these beliefs in organizations large and small, but I’m here to tell you that there is always, always overlap.

First, we can recognize that both our roles depend on trust and the relationships we cultivate. For program staff, their primary relationships are with clients, and for fundraising staff, our primary relationships are with donors.Second, both roles harness the power of stories, we just use those stories in different ways. Program staff may be using stories to teach, to advocate, or to inspire, while fundraising staff use stories to do… well, actually the same thing. See, we don’t use stories to raise money, we use stories to teach, to advocate, and to inspire, and philanthropy is the natural consequence of someone feeling inspired.Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that many organizations have clients who donate – which makes them donors too! And some of our donors may share lived experiences with our clients, if we only take the time to learn this about them.There is always overlap. But the overlap in our roles or motivations is not what’s important. What matters in ethical storytelling is the overlap in what compels our donors to give, and how your clients or story contributors want their stories told.

What Compels Donors to Give or Engage

We must tell stories in a way that resonates with our donors, but that doesn’t mean it should come at the expense of our clients’ dignity.

While some people may think a photo of a crying child is more likely to elicit funds than one of a smiling child, this has not been proven in research. Even some of the most robust studies contradict one another or provide inconclusive results. “What” compels donors to give cannot be reduced to a dirty tear-streaked face, or stories of profound hardship. Trying to measure donor motivations in A/B marketing tests is challenging and we are often not able to draw concrete conclusions as to why some campaigns were marginally more successful than others. But when researchers actually ask donors what they want, here is what they say:

To feel seen, heard, and valuedTo know their gift will make a differenceTo feel a part of something bigger than themselves.

Is that really at odds with the dignity of our clients? It doesn’t have to be, as long as we are making sure to tell stories the way our clients want them told.

How Your Story Contributors Want Their Stories Told

How do our contributors want their stories told? How do they want to be understood and remembered by audiences? It is impossible for you to answer that question for them. Instead, we must commit ourselves to a process of securing feedback from our clients to ensure that we are telling stories that are true, that honor them, and that hold our organizations accountable. You must get feedback from your clients. You must treat them as collaborators and co-authors in your storytelling process. My articles on feedback gathering, interviewing, and editing are good places to start.

© Philanthropy Without Borders

Your (and Your Organization’s) Identity and Strengths

Finally, there is one more piece of this diagram, which is your own identity and strengths as a storyteller, as well as that of your organization.

You are the filter through which the stories get told, the microphone that amplifies the messages. How is your identity or experience situated in regards to the communities reflected in your stories? And what about your organization as a whole? Who is represented in your organization? What is your organization’s relationship to the communities you partner with?

One challenge the nonprofit sector has is the disconnect between the experiences of its staff in the fundraising and marketing offices, and those of the people reflected in the stories they tell. There are staff who have never experienced hunger, displacement, or war, and are telling stories about people who have.

We do need to commit to recruiting more staff from our client populations, but those efforts will not replace the importance of gathering client feedback, nor will they replace efforts that we (I mean all humans) should invest in maintaining awareness around our own biases, assumptions, and the limits of our own experiences. And… I also don’t want you to see these very normal human things as deficits to your character or to your job. Instead of being afraid of what we lack or of what we don’t know, we can reframe our enhanced self-awareness, self-skepticism, and self-accountability as a strength.

Asking “How do I know what I wrote is true?” holds our work to a higher standard, and lets us know when we need to seek out more information to strengthen our stories. Asking, “What is influencing my perspective?” enhances your self-awareness and allows you to de-center yourself from the story. What we need is:

Self-awarenessCuriosityA willingness to be changed by what we learn.

These are incredibly powerful skills (I view them as skills, not values or traits, because we have to actively practice them in order to claim to embody them). We are not born with these skills – they are learned and cultivated over time. Celebrate these strengths and leverage them to do good work.

As for your organization, if it does not have representation from the client population, or is not client-led, or client-driven, ask what you can do to amplify the voices of partners, or how you can become more client-led. Also ask how, as an organization, you can embody the practices of self-awareness (awareness of how your organization is situated within the community and how it is perceived by that community), as well as openness to client feedback, and willingness to change and adapt.

Your storytelling strategy lies clearly at the intersection of these three elements: what compels donors to engage, how contributors want their stories told, and the strengths you bring to your role.

If you want more like this, check out Caliopy’s training on ethical storytelling in the Nonprofit Academy called: “From Exploitation to Empathy.” 

The post [Guest Post] The Diagram of Ethical Storytelling Excellence appeared first on FundraisingCoach.com.

Membership Marketing Data: A Crash Course for Nonprofits

It’s common sense that having healthy membership at your organization and a strategic marketing plan go hand-in-hand. But in the age of burnout and endless Excel sheets…how do you efficiently utilize data to guide you toward the right decisions?

It’s time to pack up the clipboards and posters. With the right approach, you can make the most of your marketing efforts without expending a ton of time or resources. From tools (like leveraging video) to strategies, we’ll walk you through harnessing the most important part of a marketing plan—your data.

Why Marketing Data Matters for Nonprofits

Think of data like a boosting fertilizer for all branches of marketing. Without it, you can still grow results, but not to their full potential. Reflect back on all the information you’ve already gathered up until this point in your nonprofit. Most likely, you’ve been keeping track of:

Documenting past successesLearning points from past shortcomingsMember and prospect profiles

These three points are the cornerstone of any data-driven organization. But while a lot of nonprofits have this information…they usually lack the resources to use it efficiently. Smaller teams and endless tasks, from events to campaigns, puts cracking the code on your data in the back seat.

Comprehensive membership management software allows your organization to facilitate this process, so you can nurture existing members and attract new ones with ease.

Membership Marketing Essentials

To start out, you’ll need to determine which tools you’ll use to collect data, what you intend to use the data for, and how to execute your plan.

The Right Tools

Your organization can collect data through CRMs integrated in your inbox, registration forms, or, most notably, association management software (AMS) or similar platforms designed specifically to manage memberships.

What is an AMS? It’s the ultimate hub for all your membership information—handy software that saves the day when your spreadsheets begin to overflow. An AMS can handle numerous tasks including creating reports, handling online event registration, and online payment processing. When it comes to the right AMS for you, you’ll have to consider your organization’s needs. To choose the right software, carefully consider these factors:

What are the fees?How easy is it to learn the system?Does the company offer technical support?How soon do you need to set up the software?What unique features would suit your organization?What additional integrations, such as Quickbooks or WordPress, would you need?

Ease the load off of your regular data collection and management with a software that automates time-consuming administrative work for your organization. This will allow you to invest more time in improving the member experience.

The Right Data

Check if the data you’re collecting will eventually point you in the right direction. You’ll want to avoid the headache of combing through a backlog and searching for specifics you missed on the first go.

Consider important member data such as:

Contact information, including phone number and email addresses.Demographic information, such as location and gender.History and expectations, including how members heard about your organization, why they joined, and what they expect to get out of their membership.Involvement, from donations to volunteering to event attendance.Pre-existing data to redux into the new system.

There is an abundance of additional member data you can collect to benefit your marketing plan, such as join date, membership levels, and payment statuses. Choosing the most appropriate ones will guide as you formulate your plan.

The Right Plan

What you collect will end up informing your next steps, so take the time to assess before jumping in headfirst. Your blueprints should address the following:

Lessons from your past nonprofit marketing effortsA solid SMART goal for your organizationKey performance indicators to measure success, such as email open rates, donations, and social media sharesYour prospective audienceMarketing platforms, including social media, blogs, email, and fundraising software (if relevant)

Simplifying your vision into a comprehensive, easy-to-access resource is a handy way to keep your team on the same page. From a presentation, a shiny infographic, or one-page pdf, this should provide everyone with a little guide to reference whenever they need a little direction.

The Right Strategies

Finally, include strategies and assessments within your marketing plan. You’ll want to anticipate your organization’s progress and growth. In fact, your marketing efforts can only improve when you know in advance how you’ll measure your progress.

From a list of tried and true marketing strategies, here are a handful of pointers:

Check if your SMART goal is:Specific. Do you know exactly what you are trying to achieve?Measurable. How will your organization know when you have achieved it?Attainable. Is it realistic?Relevant. Will it contribute to the growth of your organization?Time-bound. When do you want your plan to be achieved?Be present in the right places.Show up where your ideal members frequent most.Use your data to determine the hot spots.Don’t do it alone!Partner with organizations that are relevant to your cause.Are you hosting a cultural festival? Enlist vendors with followings that mirror your target audience.Are you launching a newsletter campaign? Hire local-artists within your desired community to make the graphics.Have an accessible home-base, such as a website.Create a place where current and prospective members can find resources.Organize an easy-to-share calendar of upcoming events.Set up a concise introduction page with vital information for interested sponsors or partners.Work with who’s already here.Entice existing members with a referral program.Host a contest or event that provides exposure and shows appreciation to your loyal members.

When your nonprofit’s journey is led by data-informed marketing, you can move forward with confidence and success. Between learning from the past and moving forward with intention, your staff can finally hang up their many hats and focus on the cause that inspires them.

Equipping tools like a trusty AMS makes reaching out to new and existing members effective and efficient. Hours on the clock are precious for nonprofits. It’s time to take back some of those minutes step-by-step by collecting relevant membership marketing data.

About the Author Kerry McCreadie

What matters most to membership organizations? As the Senior Content Marketing Manager for Personify’s Wild Apricot and MemberClicks products, this is the question always on Kerry’s mind. Their goal is to help nonprofits, associations, and clubs discover the solutions that solve their most frustrating pain points—while growing and retaining their member base. The CEO and Founder of their own nonprofit organization, Kerry is passionate about nonprofit and charitable work—especially in the arts.

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Donor Research: 7 Tools for Creating a Prospect Profile

Originally posted in March 2014, updated in March 2023

One of the most enjoyable aspects of major gift fundraising is getting to build relationships with donors—relationships that last beyond one donation and remain strong even when it’s challenging for donors to give. But often nonprofits squander the relationship-building opportunities given to them by not doing any research.

Conducting thorough donor research lays the foundation for getting to know your donors as people first and supporters second. In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at the donor research process and how to compile donor prospect profiles that can inform your interactions with potential donors.

What is a donor prospect profile?

A donor prospect profile is a donor management tool that organizes all the information an organization gathers about a potential donor.

According to DonorSearch’s guide to prospect profiles, this can include details about the individual’s:

Community involvementHobbiesFamilyEducationCareer and employer

You can also use a prospect profile to keep track of interactions with a prospect. Think of it as a living document that you’re always adding to when you get new information.

7 Tools You Can Use to Create Prospect Profiles

Creating a profile for a potential new major donor starts with conducting thorough research, and to do so, you’ll need the right tools on your side.

Below are eight tools you can use to get a fuller picture of who your prospective donors are.

Before we get started, a word of warning: the goal of research isn’t to snoop. We’re only going to look at publicly available information, but it still might feel intrusive. Your integrity is always worth more than the biggest donation a person could give. Always. (Click here to tweet that.)

A good practice is to run yourself through the prospecting tool first to help you see what comes up and how accurate it is. When I recently ran myself through the steps outlined below, I was shocked to see myself listed on the boards of nonprofits I’d completely forgotten about. It’d been over a decade since the organizations closed, but they still showed up on the list.

1. Your Donor Database

The best place to start your research is in your own database.

For each potential donor, look at:

Their basic address information (such as city or state)The “notes” on their filesThe “actions” or “interactions” tabThe “relationships” or “associations” tab

This information is only as good as the ongoing record-keeping of major gift officers. In my experience, major gift officers and nonprofit leaders rely far too much on their memory when working with major donors. Most appointments and interactions need to be documented. One client called this the “hit by a moose” plan: what would happen if you were hit by a moose? Could your nonprofit pick up where you left off? (For those of you not in rural areas, if you’re hit by a moose, the moose usually wins.)

Be persistent and tenacious in recording all the pertinent information in your prospect profile.

2. WhitePages.com

If you don’t have the prospect’s address or phone number, WhitePages.com is a great place to look. (Again, try searching yourself first to see what addresses come up.) This information helps fill out their profile and is required to do the more detailed wealth screening later.

3. Google

One of the best donor research tools is Google. Searching a prospect’s name tends to pull up lots of information. Depending on the prospect, you will find corporate bios, alumni notes, and even community volunteer lists. You can refine your search by putting the name in quotes, adding a location, or searching their name and their business name together.

When you copy and paste any helpful tidbits onto your prospect profile, include the URL of the reference so your team can quickly read more. I like to save helpful webpages as a PDF and add them to the prospect’s file on my computer or my nonprofit’s shared server. This way, anyone can see the source material even if the webpage is removed in the future.

I also do an image search on Google. Once I find a photo that seems to be accurate, I save it to the prospect’s folder in the shared drive and paste it into the top of their prospect profile. It’s much easier to communicate with a donor when you have a face to put to their name.

4. Wealth screening tool like DonorSearch

Wealth screening tools like DonorSearch, WealthEngine, or iWave pull together all sorts of publicly-accessible wealth information and indicators: real estate holdings, stock holdings, directorships, plane or yacht licenses, etc. They also report on prospects’ charitable giving and lists if people are on boards of foundations as listed by Guidestar. And it will give you a suggested range to ask for a donation based on the prospect’s capacity.

But be careful. Many wealth screening tools only focus on whether a prospect has the financial means to donate, not if they’d be interested in making a major gift. And they don’t let you customize the report, removing listings you know don’t belong to the donor. Here’s where DonorSearch shines! They allow you to remove listings in a profile that you know to be inaccurate. They even score information reliability based on their experience doing this sort of research.

More importantly, DonorSearch is weighted more toward demonstrated philanthropy than toward wealth. They have all the wealth indicators and they will give you an estimated capacity based on wealth. But they have a much more complete list of gifts the prospect has made. So they also suggest a gift ask level based on the giving, not just the wealth. A prospect may have the capability of making a $25 million to $50 million gift. But if the highest gift they’ve ever given is $100,000, it’s better to consider asking at that level, at least at first! Plus, an perceived ability to give may be based on the value of their house. But I’ve not yet met a donor who’ll sell 1/10 of her house to support your nonprofit.

Whatever tool you use, be sure to add a PDF of the profile to the shared drive. And jot down any items of note on the prospect profile sheet.

5. Zillow

Putting the prospect’s address into Zillow can help you find an estimated worth of their house (or houses you may have discovered in the property listings in WealthEngine or DonorSearch). This can be useful to include on the prospect profile.

6. GuideStar

If you’ve discovered clues that indicate the prospect may have their own foundation, looking up their Form 990s on GuideStar can help you get a more complete sense of their giving.

The Form 990s list both what organizations they’ve supported and how much they gave to each. Jot any worthwhile information onto the prospect profile.

7. Matching Gift Database

Some prospects may work for an employer that offers gift matching as part of their corporate philanthropy efforts. Knowing which prospects are eligible for matching is valuable, as employers will often offer a 1:1, 2:1, or even 3:1 match.

Leverage a matching gift database to check prospects’ eligibility and record it in your prospect profiles. Then, when the time comes, make sure to educate your donor about matching gifts so they can submit the necessary information to get their donation doubled!

Strong Donor Relationships are Worth the Effort

Your nonprofit’s relationship with donors is worth taking time to get right. Using these tools to set up a prospect profile can help you focus on what’s important to individual donors and find the most effective ways to communicate with them.

Creating prospect profiles can also help your nonprofit leaders. One of the top nonprofit CEO fundraising frustrations is not being properly prepared for a meeting with a major donor. Donor profiles like these will help your leaders be their best in their meetings!

The post Donor Research: 7 Tools for Creating a Prospect Profile appeared first on FundraisingCoach.com.

Nonprofits are NOT self-reliant

One of the biggest red-herrings I see nonprofit boards pursue is a pipe dream of “self sufficiency” for their nonprofit. Rather than pursuing their mission, the board directs the executive director to look at selling things and renting things in a quixotic attempt to be financially independent.

It’s as though they see fundraising as a “stop gap” solution. Something temporary. Something significantly less noble than having other income. As though fundraising were at odds with “sustainability.”

What if this seeking of sustainability were all a waste of time?

“Are the t-shirt sales, the spa product sales, the links to online mall, the bake sales, the raffles and the seeking facility rentals furthering the mission of your organization? Or is it distracting the staff from your nonprofit’s mission?”

Cultural norms toward self-reliance

Self-reliance appeals to many of us in the West. It’s how we were raised, saturates the stories that surround us, and impacts most of our education.

So a board seeking to help a nonprofit become self-reliant simple “feels” right. We should be able to do what we want to do without relying on anybody else, right?

Wrong.

Human Experience & Corporate Structures

Human experience shows that people help people. We are dependent on each other.

Even the most “self-reliant” person on your board still is dependent on the work of others. They likely use cell phones, have trash picked up from their office and home, use electricity…the list of their dependency is long. The fact that our Western cultures systemically do not acknowledge this reliance is a huge issue.

So no nonprofit is “self reliant” – just as no store can exist without customers.

Furthermore, by design, nonprofits are community organizations. By choosing a nonprofit designation, a nonprofit founder gives up their very ability to be self-reliant. They get a favorable tax status but are required to cede control of the organization to a board of directors.

Nonprofits are governed and funded by a community.

Fundraising is a legitimate sustainability choice

Just as sales is a legitimate funding stream for companies, fundraising is a legitimate funding stream for nonprofits. And just having repeat customers seen as a success in business, having repeat donors is a very positive indicator for nonprofits. It’s not “going to the same well again and again” as much as developing mutually appreciative relationships that create needed impact.

Too often, board members’ desire for other forms of revenue isn’t to fundamentally help the nonprofit. This desire is often because the individual board members are uncomfortable being asked for money. And they want to take the pressure off of their being responsible for funding the nonprofit.

If you serve on a board, ask yourself: are the t-shirt sales, the spa product sales, the link to an online mall, the bake sales, raffles and seeking facility rentals furthering the mission of your organization? Or is it distracting the staff from serving the mission?

Done well, fundraising from the community is 100% about furthering the nonprofit’s mission.

Don’t let your discomfort with being asked for money hinder your nonprofit’s ability to fulfill its mission.

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CEO’s – are you leading your nonprofit? In fundraising?

As the CEO, the leader of your nonprofit, how much time are you really giving to fundraising?

As the top leaders, the organization will follow your lead. You should be involving all your direct reports in some aspect of fundraising. And an easy way to do that is if they see that fundraising is important enough for you to give it time every week.

If you’re like most CEOs, you started last year with good intentions. But those got drowned out by the competing demands on your time.

One of those good intentions was likely setting specific time for fundraising. 

A nonprofit CEO who won’t learn fundraising is like a shop owner who keeps organizing the shelves but won’t learn sales.

How do you know how much time for fundraising is right? 

Here are a few ideas to help you figure out what’s right for you:

Look at your typical time given to fundraising last year and add an hour.Figure out how long it takes to call 10 people – looking up their number, dialing, leaving a message or speaking with them, recording a note in your donor database. Then block that time.I find it takes me an average of 6 – 10 minutes. So 10 calls taking 10 minutes each would be just about 2 hours.Schedule that time on your calendar.Figure out how important fundraising is to your nonprofit. If you are worried about how you’ll pay the bills, then I suggest you make sure most of your time is given to fundraising: researching donors, engaging and qualifying prospects, asking donors, and thanking.Most of your time means most of each day. Especially if you’re a nonprofit where you’re the only staff. But whatever size of your staff, if you lead an organization that depends on donated revenue, you need to become good at generating donated revenue.You can’t farm this out entirely. You need to learn how fundraising works. What donors respond to. How to communicate with respect to your staff and the people you help while being compelling to donors.As a leader, you need to lead.My friend Jay Love says that a CEO should be calling every single donor over the nonprofit’s average gift amount. Every single donor.Jay says CEOs should be personally making those calls until it’s taking up 50% of their time. Not 50% of their fundraising time – 50% of their ENTIRE time.Are you committed enough to making those calls? Time spent thanking donors is the best investment you can make. Finding new donors is pointless if you’re not keeping the donors you already have. Leaders need to lead

A nonprofit CEO who won’t learn fundraising is like a shop owner who keeps organizing the shelves but won’t learn sales. 

You’ll go out of business.

So, this week, block specific times on your calendar. And work with your coach or peers to hold yourself accountable.

The world needs what your organization provides. Learn how to be an organization that stays in business.

You’ve been Kicked!

Marc

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Don’t build your fundraising on rented land like AmazonSmile

Did you see the news about AmazonSmile?

After 10 years, they’ve decided it doesn’t work for them. So they’re stopping the program on February 20, 2023 and they’re going a different way.

Did you share “AmazonSmile” links with your donors?

Did you include “Amazon Smile” links in your nonprofit emails and on your nonprofit’s website? Maybe in a “ways to help” or in your email newsletter footer? If you did, you were offering free advertising to Amazon.

Offering free advertising to a corporation is your choice. But ask yourself: Did you offer that kind of constant visibility to any of your fundraising event sponsors?

What if you’d been promoting your monthly giving program instead?

AmazonSmile, and programs like it, are incredibly bad returns on investment for nonprofits. These companies borrow your earned trust as a positive change maker and you give them free advertising in your publications. People who purchase leave your site and go to Amazon’s.

You’re actively encouraging people to support your nonprofit by leaving it’s site.

Amazon, and programs like theirs, get all the visibility for pennies on the dollar. They never become sponsors of your nonprofit. But you give them far more exposure than you would your premier gala sponsor.

And they can change the deal at any time. You have no say in the process.

Stop building your fundraising on borrowed land!

Your nonprofit doesn’t need gimmicks like Amazon Smile. As I said about AmazonSmile ten years ago, it only offers your nonprofit chump change.

Your cause is worthy of your donors’ attention. Instead of sending them off to a corporation’s website, invite them to join your nonprofit’s monthly givers club. Even a few dollars a month will generate more than AmazonSmile likely did for your nonprofit. And you’ll get to keep building relationships with the very people who wanted to support your nonprofit in the first place.

The best part? The program won’t change just because some corporation thinks it’s “spread too thin.” You get to decide what you want to do with your communications. The decision isn’t forced on you, or randomly announced by a surprise email in your inbox.

Have the courage to stop using gimmicks – ask directly

Your cause isn’t a gimmick, So your fundraising shouldn’t be a gimmick either. You do not have to apologize for asking for money.

Have the courage to ask without fear and stop building your fundraising on other people’s land!

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