The Extreme Fundraising Blog

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I. Fundraising Follies: Flying Solo Revisited
II. Resource Spotlight: CharityTalk
III. Creating Donor Evangelists Audio Program
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I. Fundraising Follies: Flying Solo Revisited
If you’ll remember from the last EFE, I blundered by letting a wonderful volunteer “fly solo” with her solicitations.

Many readers responded to my plight! Thank you. Among the responses were those like Irene McGee’s of Crowley County Nursing Center http://www.ccntr.com/

“Just be open and honest with her. She’ll most likely be thankful.”

Dan Hatch of Straight Ahead Ministries http://www.straightahead.org humorously suggested: “Forward this article to her and tell her you made a mistake in not planning to join her in her solicitation calls.”

I’m pleased to say that the volunteer dropped by my office a few days later and I was able make amends. I apologized and said I felt like I’d kind of left her all by herself. I told her I was committed to helping her make the solicitations and would clear my schedule to be with her on her calls.

She was relieved. She still needs to make the calls because she’s got the stronger relationships with our prospective donors. But now I’m back in as an aide and accountability person. I’ll also be with her at the solicitations and make sure that the ask is specific and for the predetermined dollar amount.

As I reflected on this, I realized I’d forgotten something I repeatedly tell my seminar audiences: your nonprofit is not the center of your donor’s universe! She hadn’t been nearly consumed with the need to set up appointments as I had.

So we’re back on track to helping our organization raise $1.1 million in the next 5 months!

Thanks for your advice. I’d love to hear from more of you. Feel free to email me at marc@fundraisingcoach.com!

[I’m convinced we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. I’d love to hear your funniest mistakes! You can send them to me at marc@fundraisingcoach.com.]

II. Resource Spotlight: CharityTalk
This week the resource spotlight swings back to a CharityChannel.com tool: CharityTalk. This listserv is a forum for anyone and everyone related to the nonprofit sector to ask questions and post recommendation. With thousands of people subscribed to this one list, CharityTalk is truly the “big tent” discussion list of the nonprofit world.

I love discussion lists because the emails come right to your inbox. I’m not very good at checking websites on a regular basis. But I do check my email. These messages come to my inbox. I simply skim the discussions and jump in when I feel I have something to share.

There’s truly nothing new under the sun. When you’re faced with a dilemma, CharityTalk is a wonderful place to go to get answers from colleagues around the world. I highly recommend you take a moment to go to http://charitychannel.com/forums/. You can subscribe to CharityTalk and check out CharityChannel’s other forums.

[If you have tools that you think should be considered for inclusion, please email me at marc@fundraisingcoach.com]

III. Creating Donor Evangelists Audio Program
Creating Donor Evangelists is helping people around the country move their donors from mere ATMs to radical fans. The techniques are low cost and at $14.99, so is the CD!

To purchase your own copy, go to http://fundraisingcoach.com/.

To your extreme fundraising success!

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I. Fundraising Follies: Flying Solo
II. Resource Spotlight: Launchcast Radio
III. Creating Donor Evangelists Audio Program
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I. Fundraising Follies: Flying Solo
The longer you’ve been raising money, the more annoying it is when you fall prey to a fundraising folly. Last week, I fell prey to one of the classic blunders: letting a solicitor fly solo. (This classic blunder comes immediately after “Never go in against a Sicilian when death is onthe line.”)

This solicitor is wonderfully gifted and incredibly connected in the community. She’s been an active volunteer and fundraiser for our organization for years. As the development person, I was paired up with her for the campaign solicitations. But, given her long relationships with many of these people, it felt like I might be intruding on a relationship if I went on a call with her.

So last week I called her to see how the calls were going and let her know I was available to go on with her anytime she’d like. She’d scheduled a number of the appointments and thanked me for my offer. We hung up, both feeling good about our selves and good about life.

Then I realized the problem: we’re asking people for considerably more money than they’ve ever given our organization. And I let her fly into this unknown territory without me there by her side to support her. These asks will be uncomfortable. Worse yet, without an accountability person, it’ll be far easier for her to chicken out. *sigh*

I’m not sure how I’m going to right this wrong. I’d love your suggestions! In the mean time, remember that it’s often more effective to do solicitations in pairs.

[I’m convinced we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. I’d love to hear your funniest mistakes! You can send them to me at marc@fundraisingcoach.com.]

II. Resource Spotlight: Launchcast Radio
Ok, so this isn’t your normal fundraising tool. But the Extreme Fundraising Ezine isn’t your normal fundraising advice, is it?

I love Yahoo’s Launchcast Radio. They call it “music that listens to you” and it is. You can rate the artists, the songs, and the albums. Somehow, they play what you’ve rated and what you might like based on what you’ve rated. You can even reach different levels based on the number of ratings you’ve made. Having rated more than 5,000 things, I’m considered an “addict.”

You can also list other folks as “influencers.” Then you’ll get music based on your selections and influenced by theirs.

So why is this a fundraising tool? There’s nothing like jamming to good music while you’re doing database work! As a fundraiser, I continually find myself at a computer. Now I can always have my favorite music with me wherever my desk happens to be. Where else could I listen to my odd blend of folk, disco, 80’s, Christian, punk, rap, blues, and gospel?!

Check it out at http://launch.yahoo.com/launchcast/. I’d be honored to be one of your influencers. My Yahoo! id is “sbsmarc.”

[If you have tools that you think should be considered for inclusion, please email me at marc@fundraisingcoach.com]

III. Creating Donor Evangelists Audio Program
Creating Donor Evangelists is helping people around the country move their donors from mere ATMs to radical fans. The techniques are low cost and at $14.99, so is the CD! To purchase your own copy, go to http://fundraisingcoach.com/ or simply click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/3skl6

To your extreme fundraising success!