The Extreme Fundraising Blog

I don’t talk much about the use of the telephone. I guess I’ve been scarred by too many phonathons.

But the phone is an incredibly important tool in the R.E.A.L. process of asking for money. Especially in getting a solicitation visit.

In his terrific book Asking: A 59-Minute Guide, Jerry Panas claims that getting the visit is 85% of the way to getting gift! Asking isn’t nearly as hard as getting someone to clear some space in their busy schedule. Once they do, you’re in a much better place to ask them for money.

• You’re not interupting them, they’re expecting you.
• You’ve already done the Researching and Engaging so your visit can be as succinct as 30-minutes. (If you were doing this cold, you might need more time.)
• And, they will have had time to think about how important your organization is to them prior to your visit.

So how do you make your use of the phone as effective as possible? First, smile. For decades, study after study shows that people can “hear” your smile even when they can’t see you. Your voice becomes filled with a contagious energy when you smile. So do it!

Stand up and walk around. There’s precious little excitement in sitting on your derriere. A wireless phone or headset can be great assetts, but even a long coil cord will help you. As you stand up and walk around, you give the person even more energy and the quality of your calls improve dramatically.

Finally, I’ve said this before but it bears repeating, use a script. Help yourself remember the point of your call. You want to set up an appointment. Don’t use the call to get the gift! 9 times out of 10 gifts from phone calls will be less than gifts from face-to-face visits. Even if you simply scribble bullet points on the back of an envelope before the call, help yourself make sure you cover what you meant to and no more.

Try these today. Using these 3 simple tips will help in all uses of the telephone. (Yes, even using it for a phonathon.)

I’m sure you’ve been wondering what to get your favorite fundraiser. Check out the Fundraising Coach store at http://www.cafepress.com/frcoach. It’s the home of “fundraising is an extreme sport” gear!

A fundraisier stood at the heavenly gate,
His face was scarred and old.
He stood before the man of fate
For admission to the fold.
“What have you done,” Saint Peter said,
“To gain admission here?”
“I’ve been a fundraiser, sir,
“For many and many a year.”
The pearly gates swung open wide,
Saint Peter rang the bell.
“Come in and choose your harp,” he sighed,
“You’ve had your share of hell!”

As quoted in chapter 1 of Jerry Panas’ Asking: A 59-Minute Guide.

Check out this article in the Boston Globe.

Is there a way your nonprofit could adapt the cause-focused “leadership council” idea to advance your donor-centered fundraising?

I used our snazzy Google Checkout button to do my offering today! Quick, a lot easier than PayPal, and I didn’t forget to bring it to church.

If you’re going to try using it yourself there are two minor irritants:

1. You must created a button with fields for the varying dollar amounts.
2. GoogleCheckout isn’t yet set up to do recurring charges.

Feel free to try it for yourself at the bottom of http://www.vcwaterville.org/resources.htm 

If you’re interested in setting up your own GoogleCheckout, I believe the information is available at: http://checkout.google.com/sellers.

Here in the US, we’re about a week away from Thanksgiving. Have you mentally checked out of work or are you preparing for the biggest time of giving in the calendar year?

Before you put your work on hold, consider implementing this tip from Jeffrey Fox’s book How to be a Rainmaker. (It’s the reason I got it in the first place. A colleague on a CharityChannel.com listserv raved about this list. She said whenever business was slow, she returned to this list and business always picked up.)

Here are the 10 things Fox recommends:

1. Send a handwritten note.
2. Clip and send an article of interest.
3. Talk to a satisfied client and ask who else you might help.
4. Send a thank-you gift to someone who referred you.
5. Give your business card to someone with influence.
6. Send a letter to the editor of a magazine your customers read.
7. Add fifteen people to your mailing list.
8. Leave a compelling voicemail.
9. Make an appointment.
10. Call a client you haven’t talked to in two years.

Isn’t this a great list?

Choose today which one you’ll do to help your organization raise more money. Now, commit to doing it before the end of the week.

Then have a great Thanksgiving! 

Greetings!

I got a call from a Time magazine reporter asking if I knew of any “x-treme” fundraising: 30,000 bike trips, bungee jumping for dollars, and the like.

I didn’t–and wasn’t really sure how these could make money–but I told him I’d ask the blog and email.

Do you guys know?

Email me at marc@fundraisingcoach.com or post a comment here.

Thanks to everyone that attended my Blackbaud sessions. I just received this email:

—–Original Message—–
From: Ashley Shockley 
Sent: Thursday, November 09, 2006 10:51 AM
Subject: Blackbaud Conference - Top ten speakers!

Congratulations!  You were voted one of our top ten speakers at this year’s Conference for Nonprofits. 

Out of 120 sessions and more than 100 speakers, our attendees enjoyed your presentations the most.  You should have received your survey scores yesterday and can see that you received very high marks.  We know that it’s the quality of our sessions that will keep attendees coming back year after year, and it’s speakers like you that hold our standards high. 

Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to join us.  Please know that we truly appreciate your ability to capture our attendees’ attention and get them excited about what they are learning - whether it be about auctions, mail merging, events, technology, or whatever your topic may be.

The complete top ten speaker list is below.  We will be posting it to Conference Central and mentioning it in our post-conference newsletter, which you will receive this afternoon. 

• Jim Bush, Blackbaud, Inc.
• Julie Gonzalez, Blackbaud, Inc.
• Jay Fiske, MaestroSoft, Inc.
• Emilie Thomson, Blackbaud, Inc.
• Mitchell Gordon, Circle of Humanity
• Marc van Baar, Blackbaud, Inc.
• David Kilmer, Blackbaud, Inc.
• Shaun Sullivan, Blackbaud, Inc.
• Marc Pitman, Inland Hospital
• Elizabeth Crabtree, Brown University 

Thanks again,
Ashley