The Extreme Fundraising Blog

I was thrilled to read this post on the Google Checkout blog: Introducing Google Checkout for Nonprofits.

I’ve been using Google Checkout for my Fundraisingcoach.com Store and for etithing at the Vineyard Church of Waterville and love it!

Good job Google!

Thank you to all of you who voted (again) on the title of this book. I’m pleased to announce you’ve helped keep the great parts of the original title and give it more punch!

The new title is

Ask Without Fear! A Simple Guide to Connecting Donors with What Matters to Them Most

I have had a couple of gracious offers from published authors interested in writing a brief foreword for the book so printing is on hold for a little bit. I still expect it this fall!

For more information, to buy a pre-publication copy, or to get on the email notification list, go to: http://fundraisingcoach.com/askwithoutfear.htm

And, the winner of a free copy of the book, randomly drawn from the list of people that voted, is: Denise Lavelle of Nevada! Congratulations Denise, you’ll be getting a free copy of Ask Without Fear! when it’s printed!

I got pretty passionate about last week’s blog post about not getting “entitled.” I equally passionate about Fundraising Secret #4: you’re not begging!

Let me repeat that: YOU’RE NOT BEGGING.

Fundraisers are not panhandlers. Beggars take money from anyone they can. We don’t. We have gift acceptance policies and ethical guidelines that inform who we accept money from and how.

We’re change agents. We are not expendable. Without funds, our organizations wouldn’t function.

Fundraising is one of the best occupations in the world. We’re helping people connect what they do every day in their job with their passion, desires, and interests. We’re actively involved in helping people gain a healthy perspective on their life and their possessions. Our job is to help move people from “making a living” to “making a life.”

We’re building peoples dreams:

• dreams of the people that employ us,
  
• dreams of the people we serve, and
  
• dreams of the the societies that create the space to dream those dreams.

We’re spreaders of good news and light. Primetime news may tell us all the bad things happening, but we get to trumpet all the great things happening in our communities.

Each of our causes are worthy of investment. And there are people wanting to give to causes like ours.

Why wouldn’t we invite people to invest in the incredible things we’re doing?

So the next time someone jokes about you begging or dunning them or always having your hand out, be polite on the outside, smile and say something like, “I never miss an opportunity, do I?”

But on the inside scream “I’M NOT A BEGGAR!”

Jeff Brooks at the Donor Powered Blog, lists these 7 surprising facts about direct-response fundraising.

I use these factoids all the time in my thinking about mailings so I thought I’d list Jeff’s 7 here:

1. Blank carrier envelopes usually out-perform envelopes with teasers.
2. Longer letters perform better. Usually. There are exceptions.
3. The most-read part of a fundraising letter is the P.S.
4. Typos improve response. I can’t prove this, but it seems to be true.
5. Mail recipients spend more time looking at the back of the envelope than the front.
6. Religious people give more to non-religious causes than non-religious people. Religious people give more to everything.
7. The most powerful predictor that a donor will give is the recency of her previous gift.

If you’re not reading Jeff’s blog, you’re missing out. Check it out: Donor Powered Blog.

[Warning: rant in progress]

Hang around me for any length of time and you’ll hear me rant about the awful tendency of those of us in nonprofits of getting entitled.

Sit in the back office of just about any nonprofit, and you’ll here people slip into talk that donors “owe” us the same size of gift they’ve given in previous years.

This has to change.

Donors earn their money. It’s theirs to do with as they please.

We need to earn the gift every single time. Even if we’re doing the most important work in the world.

We are responsible to do our mission with excellence.
We are responsible to track our wins and loses.
We are responsible for involving our donors in the work we do.
We are responsible to tell our story with incredible persuasion and power and convince them it is the most important work in the world and it is worthy of their investment, again.

And we must be continually asking current donors, “Who on your

• bowling team,
• carpool,
• morning commute,
• garden club,
• golf club,
• board of directors, etc.

would like what we’re doing?

It’s up to us to earn the gifts each and everytime we ask. And to be grateful for each and every gift we receive.

[the rant has come to a completion]

Brian Tracy has graciously written this:

This short, practical book gives you a series of step-by-step methods to raise more money, faster and easier than you ever thought possible.

-Brian Tracy, Author
The Psychology Of Selling

I can’t wait to have this book in print!

Learn more here: The R.E.A.L. Simple Guide.

Seth Godin is always on the cutting edge of things. He’s done it again with squidwho.com.

Who needs a “Who’s Who” in print when you’ve got the internet.

But it feels weird setting up a page for myself. So in the spirit of Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell, I’ll give away a free copy of my new book to the person that sets one up for me. (Not a gag one)

Just let me know. And I’ll take care of the book.