The Extreme Fundraising Blog

Welcome to the May 31st edition of Extreme Fundraising

We’re continuing to look at the mistakes we make in asking people for money. I’m transitioning the archives to http://blog.fundraisingcoach.com/ so if you’re looking for previous issues, check there first. Then check in http://fundraisingcoach.com/ezine.htm.

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I. FUNDRAISING FOLLIES: BEING TOO BUSY
II. RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT: CDE THANKS
III. CHARITY UNIVERSITY

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I. FUNDRAISING FOLLIES: BEING TOO BUSY
Have you ever heard the touching story about the founding of Stanford. The story goes that a poor looking couple went to Harvard to see about building a building in their son’s memory. The too busy Harvard president spurned them, saying, “Do you realize how much a building costs? We have over $7.5 million invested in our physical plant.” The wife looks at her husband and says, “Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don’t we start our own?” So the Stanfords went home to Palo Alto and started the university that bears their name.

First, that story isn’t true. It’s an urban legend. You can get the full story at:
http://www.snopes.com/glurge/stanford.htm

Nevertheless, the moral of the story is still good. Think about its implications. Are we so busy being managers and raising money that we forget to take time to be people? After all, ours is primarily a relationships business. And people are far more connected with each other than we’ll ever know.

Did you know the average planned giving prospect gives their favorite nonprofit $5 per year? $5. Every year. But statistics normally show the average planned gift is over $10,000.

What would an additional $10,000 do for your organization today?

So let’s remember that our business is about people, rich or poor. Yes, we need to be wise stewards of our limited resources, including time. But we also have to have the integrity to treat people well, regardless of their circumstances.

We can all improve on our people skills. What can you do today to get practice treating people a little better than you have been?

II. RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT: CDE THANKS
Thanks to all of you who responded to me email asking how Creating Donor Evangelists changed the way you approach your work. I’m honored by your kindness! I neglected to include that the CDE report is available free at http://fundraisingcoach.com/articles.htm. Just look for the guy with the sandwich board sign.

Congratulations to Jennifer Warwick, managing director of the Burdenski and Taylor Consulting Group and Rob Hatch, executive director of the Child Health Center! Both Jennifer and Rob knew that person that ordered coffee “black as midnight on a moonless night” was special agent Dale Cooper from the Twin Peaks TV series.

Please feel free to email me your thoughts about Creating Donor Evangelists or Twin Peaks at marc@fundraisingcoach.com.

III.CHARITY UNIVERSITY
A great resource just got even better. Charity University has just added dozens of new classes to its line up. Many of these are live calls so if you attend, you’ll be able to interact with the presenter.

Since the “on demand” classes are already recorded, you can access them when it’s most convenient to your schedule. Be sure to check out “Fundraising 101” by yours truly. That link is:
http://charitychannel.com/publish/templates/?a=4709&z=58

To your extreme fundraising success!

Welcome to the May 17th edition of Extreme Fundraising!

I think we often learn more from our mistakes than our successes so we’re continuing to look at the mistakes we make in asking people for money. Previous issues of the EFE are available in the archives at http://fundraisingcoach.com/ezine.htm.

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I. FUNDRAISING FOLLIES: NOT WORKING THE PLAN
II. RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT: FORIMPACT.ORG
III. CREATING DONOR EVANGELISTS AUDIO PROGRAM

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I. FUNDRAISING FOLLIES: NOT WORKING THE PLAN
Have you ever heard the adage, “Plan your work; work your plan”? Why does it seem we have such a problem with that in fundraising?  

We spend lots of time, money, and energy planning our work: studying our donors, interviewing prospects for a campaign, developing a strategy for solicitation, creating a timeline for activity. Then we look at the plan in all its beauty.

A few short weeks later we’re ready to scrap the plan and go to work creating a new one because the money isn’t rolling in. Somehow we forget that plans are not magic. They need to be worked.

We finally broke through that barrier in the campaign I’m helping direct. Finally, most people on the steering committee have gone through the entire to solicitation process with one of their prospects. And they’re developing confidence in the system we’d created. We’re still getting suggestions for cocktail parties but now more of the committee is saying, “Let’s try that after we’re done with our lists.” Yay!

As someone obviously committed to fundraising (why else would you be reading this ezine?), one of your mantra’s needs to be, “Let’s work the plan.” “Let’s get 50-100 solicitations under our belt before we change the process.” “Let’s do the work assigned to us before we begin new projects.”

If you need to be reminded yourself, feel free to give me a call: (207) 861-3377!

Plan your work. WORK YOUR PLAN.

[I’d love to hear your funniest mistakes! You can send them to me at marc@fundraisingcoach.com.]

II. RESOURCE SPOTLIGHT: FORIMPACT.ORG
I love reading the material of people committed enough to their cause to be bold in their statements. ForImpact.org http://forimpact.org/ is one such group. I look forward to reading their blog and email. And I can’t wait to try out one of their 15 minute Tuesday motivation calls.

If you’re interested in falling in love with your work and in increasing your organization’s income, their material is definitely worth checking out.

[If you have tools that you’d like to recommend, please email me at marc@fundraisingcoach.com]

III. CREATING DONOR EVANGELISTS AUDIO PROGRAM
Yesterday a client wrote me saying “I get something new from the Creating Donor Evangelists Audio Program each time I listen to it.” CDE is helping nonprofits around the country move their donors from simply being ATMs to acting like radical fans. The techniques are simple and low cost but take incredible discipline to make them work. To download the free written report, go to http://fundraisingcoach.com/article.htm.

To purchase your own copy of the audio program, go to http://fundraisingcoach.com/ or simply click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/3skl6. The CD is $14.99 and, if you order now, you’ll get free shipping.

To your extreme fundraising success!

Here’s an article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy on how blogging is opening foundations up to greater scrutiny.

In the article, auther William Schambra writes:

Bloggers are scrappy, radically individualistic insurgents. They like nothing better than to take on tottering institutional empires, where arrogant, insulated leaders have escaped accountability for their lethargy and corruption by virtue of the fear they have instilled within the respectable, established commentariat. So it is just a matter of time before serious blogging comes to philanthropy. But we need bloggers who are veterans of the field, and who know how to interpret the opaque, impenetrable jargon and stylized, empty ceremonies of that world. By mercilessly critiquing the foundation world’s “official” literature and rituals, actual transparency might be encouraged.

You may need a subscription to get in but I think I’ve made it so you don’t.

Welcome to the May 3rd edition of Extreme Fundraising!

We’re continuing to look at the mistakes we make in asking people for money. Previous issues of the Extreme Fundraising Ezine are available in the archives at http://fundraisingcoach.com/ezine.htm.

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I. Fundraising Follies: Not Spreading Yourself Thin Enough
II. Resource Spotlight: Weekly Call Sheets
III. Creating Donor Evangelists Audio Program
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I. Fundraising Follies: Not Spreading Yourself Thin Enough
With all the pop-psychology in the air today, it seems the entire world is telling us to not “spread ourselves too thin.” And that’s appropriate in many areas…but deadly in fundraising. If we only talk to the same dozen people, we’re severely limiting our fundraising potential. One of the most important objectives of a fundraising program is to attract new people to the organization’s mission. I’ve found it extremely hard to attract new people without communicating with new people!

Tracking my touches was so rewarding, I actually designed my own form. On the form I recorded the person’s name and affiliation, how the contact was made, what the purpose of the contact was, and any other notes I might have. If someone called me, that went on the sheet. If I visited someone in their home, that did too. As I used it, I was amazed to see how natural it was to converse with a wide variety of graduation years in the course of a week.

One of the most rewarding outcomes of tracking my “touches” was the ability to quantify a highly relational business like alumni relations. My goal was to fill both sides of the sheet each week. I then gave a copy of the completed sheet for my supervisor. I didn’t believe she actually read it; but she did see that 80-100 touches were being made each week without her involvement. Organizational leadership types call that “impression management.” That way she’d have an answer, if she were ever asked the dreaded, “What does Marc do, anyway?”

Have you ever kept a log of the people you contact daily? Jot down the names of the people you “touch” in some way: by phone, letter, email, visit, etc. Then analyze the results. Are you touching a large number of people for your nonprofit? Are you touching a representative mix of you database? Or are you contacting the same six or seven people every day?

I highly recommend trying the call sheet for at least a week or two. One person from a school in Atlanta got so jazzed about the idea; she had her entire office use my form! Needless to say, not everyone was exactly thrilled. You might use the form and not be thrilled to. It’s not helpful for everyone. But give it a shot and let me know what you think.

[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: Weekly Call Sheets
You can download a free copy of the weekly call sheet in the “articles” section of Fundraisingcoach.com.

When I became was an alumni director, I was concerned I’d just communicate with the alumni that were my age and the ones that I liked. So I adapted a tool I first learned about in Frank Bettger’s How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling: I started tracking my activity.

You’ll see the place for the person’s name and the checkboxes for type of contact and purpose of contact. There are only three purposes for fundraising contact, right? Cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship. *grin*

Give yourself the challenge of trying to fill up all 94 slots. Don’t worry if you aren’t able to do it all at once. Set goals to increase the touches each week until both sides of the sheet are filled.

[If you have tools that you’d like to recommend, please email me at marc@fundraisingcoach.com]

III. Creating Donor Evangelists Audio Program
Based on the popular written report, the Creating Donor Evangelists Audio Program is helping nonprofits around the country move their donors from simply being ATMs to acting like radical fans. The techniques are simple and low cost but take incredible discipline to make them work. To download the free report, go to http://fundraisingcoach.com/article.htm.

To purchase your own copy, go to http://fundraisingcoach.com/ or simply click on this link: http://tinyurl.com/3skl6. The CD is $14.99 and, if you order now, you’ll get free shipping.

To your extreme fundraising success!

Marc