I’ve been doing a lot of travel lately. As a result, I’ve learned to savor the time at home.

Here are some things to consider if your job has you traveling and you want to stay married.

1. Take half days when you are home

   Travel isn’t the most productive time for work. I love being in my own office and being productive.

   But I forget that my wife and kids love having me around. And being in my home office isn’t “being around.”

   The last few times I’ve come home, I’ve scheduled half days for myself; half for the family. Half days are win-win. I get about as much done in a half day as a whole day. And I get to enjoy being around my family too!

   This works when I’m home for 1-3 days.

2. Do your own laundry

   Seriously. Your spouse has been the only one doing the laundry while you were away. And if you’ve been away for a while, you probably already have a full load. So just do it.

   The bonus? You get to get things out of the dryer before they need ironing.

3. Wash the dishes

   This is so simple. Dishes really aren’t something I enjoy.

   But do any of us?

   It’s amazing how a powerful a simple gesture like cleaning up after dinner is. So do it. Your spouse could use the break. And honestly, you could use the repetitive mindless work.

Travel for work and staying married can happen. What tips do you have?

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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Other Possibly Related posts:

1. More travel tips for fundraisers
2. 12 travel tips for the flying fundraiser
3. 3 tips for fundraising in the last week of the year

I am thrilled to announce that Blackbaud’s Frank Barry will be joining the 501 Mission Place hosts for September’s webinar. The webinar is about recent research that shows Social Media Increases Fundraising.

On Monday, September 26 at 1 p.m. Eastern we’ll be discussing how mixing social media with your year end fundraising can increase results as much as 40%.

You won’t want to miss this!

If you’re already a 501 Mission Place member, you can find the call in details here:
http://501missionplace.com/forum/showthread.php?243-Social-Media-Increases-Fundraising-9-26

If you’re not yet a 501 Mission Place member, go to this page to get the details emailed to you:
http://501missionplace.com/landing/social-media-increases-fundraising/

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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Other Possibly Related posts:

1. Join the conversation in Twitter – get social with “social media”
2. Development and Social Media in a nutshell
3. 3 reasons social media is worth the effort for local nonprofits

A few months back, I offered 12 travel tips for the flying fundraiser. Christina Attard left a list of her own in the comments. Her suggestions were so good, I wanted to make sure you saw them! So here they are! (You can follow Christina on Twitter @GPtekkie.)

I travel a lot and here are some tips I’ve picked up:

1. Always bring at least one thing you can wear in front of a donor in your carry-on as well as an emergency pack of ultra-basic accessories. My luggage has gotten lost A LOT and you need basic functionality on board so you can hit the ground running.

2. Always join the hotel membership clubs. As George Clooney states in Up in the Air, “There’s nothing cheap about loyalty.” They’re free and the possible perks are valuable – ie. free internet, special lounges, room upgrades, exercise clothes. If you find that you need a higher level of membership class for the really good perks, try (nicely) asking for them anyway.
3. Organize your paperwork. This sounds obvious, but donor visits sometimes involve a lot of paperwork. I had a binder system with tabs – one tab for each day on the road with schedule for day, map directions to each donor, donor profile, proposal paperwork, 1 sheet note paper and pre-addressed thank you card.

   I also had a plastic envelope sorted by tabs for each day for my receipts – easier than fishing them out of my wallet in with the IKEA receipts from home later on!

4. Create a home away from home. Often, donor visits take place at a home or office – something I’m becoming less comfortable with as a female traveling alone! Try to set up an office in the city you’re in and hold your meetings there. One creative solution is to ask a donor or board member to offer you a meeting room or extra office in their suite for the day.

   I will often set up shop in the hotel restaurant or a coffee shop and ask the manager to simply hold a single table in a quiet corner for me for the entire day and return to that same spot with each appointment – less travel time, more talking time and I feel safer in a place where I have some control of the territory.

5. Couldn’t be my list without a wardrobe tip When you buy suits, always get at least two pairs of pants or the skirt and the pants to go with the jacket. It makes packing so much lighter when you don’t need to bring multiple jackets!

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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Other Possibly Related posts:

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Every so often, like last spring, I get calls from potential clients desperately hoping I will give them donors. It’s like they think I have some sort of “magic Rolodex” that I’ll offer them, a list of people anxiously looking for worthy causes to give to.

I’ve never found that Rolodex. Fundraising is a long game of building relationships and proving your impact. There are billions of dollars that will be given away this year. But you have to earn it. It takes work.

Part of the work is doing your mission incredibly well. That’s the fun part. The other part is doing the work of funding that mission. And for the vast amount of charities I work with, that funding is from individual donors.

A couple months ago, I asked my colleagues: What do YOU say when asked “Where do you find donors?”

There are close to two dozen comments. I was relieved (but not surprised) to see that the answers were similar to what I was saying. The answers were more or less variations on: work out from your inner circle and keep building connections.

One reply that came to me via email but didn’t make it to the LinkedIn post was from Simone Joyaux. She wrote:

“Ah yes, the constant question. People asked me that yesterday in Italy at the Festivale del Fundraising. I always say:

• First, people pay attention to what interests them. They do NOT pay attention to that which does not interest them. The job of fundraising is to find those who are interested in your particular cause.
• Second, do NOT trespass on your personal and professional relationships. You know what interests your friends – and that may (or may NOT) be a cause that you cherish. Your job as a fundraiser and as a board member is to adopt as a lifestyle listening to others, finding out their interests, sharing yours, and building links as appropriate. Do NOT ask people to give money because they like you.

So that’s my summary! And this is a long and sometimes fun and sometimes tedious process.”

Fundraising isn’t about winning the lottery. At least sustainable fundraising isn’t. It’s about building relationships and discovering new friends and funders.

In the responses, I was dismayed to see that we nonprofits can treat major donors with the same unrealistic, desperation-motivated expectation of having a magic Rolodex. Ruth Ann Harnisch said:

“I agree, Marc – as a donor who has given some major gifts, I’m often treated as if I’m stingy for not turning over that mythical magical Rolodex you reference.

Or as if I must surely have a treasure map to the secret pile of donor money.

Or as if all of my friends have millions of discretionary dollars just sitting around waiting for a good cause to appear.

When people ask me where they can find donors, I ask, “If you are having so much trouble getting support from your current stakeholders, clients, donors, directors, and their circles of friends and associates, why does the organization deserve to exist?”

The world is full of great causes, great ideas, great needs. Not every nonprofit can attract enough support to continue operations. Them’s the grits.” [emphasis added]

Them is the grits. But rather than letting them be depressing, use them to spur you on to revisiting the basics of:

1. Listening more

   Remember that old saying of having two ears and one mouth? This week, try listening to others twice as much as you talk about your cause. See how many more people find you interesting as you get interested in them.

2. Focusing on your family

   Are your current stakeholders donating? If not, go to them and practice step 1: Listen. Find out why not. Be prepared to have a thick skin. Some of the feedback may be hard to hear. But it will be worth it if you cause is going to have a shot at existing over the longterm.

3. Asking your donors to introduce you to others

   Not in the cloying, “you’re holding out on us” way Ruth described, but in a way filled with gratitude for their support. Most won’t ask their friends for you. But many will be willing to host a gathering to introduce your cause to them.

That will get you started. Be sure to read all of the answers to “Where do you find new donors” over at LinkedIn at http://www.linkedin.com/answers/non-profit/non-profit-fundraising/NNP_FUN/835452-8616660.

I’ve reopened the question so feel free to add your thoughts as well!

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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Other Possibly Related posts:

1. Where do you find new donors?
2. More on what really annoys your donors
3. Fundraising Secret #41: Round with your donors

A couple days ago, I offered some tips on public speaking. 2 1/2 tips to be exact.

Since then, I thought of 2 more:

3. Be able to give your talk without electricity

There’s nothing more embarassing to watch than a presenter who’s completely lost without their PowerPoint slides. Stuff happens. Projectors go to sleep. Computers shut down. Organizers forget extension cords. Be prepared to give your talk without your props.

You only get a limited amount of time with an audience. Don’t blow it trying to be the IT department. Come to grips with the fact that this group will miss out on your great charts and cute slides and get on with the real reason you’re talking to them: to get them hooked on your organization’s vision.

This takes time. I know. I was shocked at how wedded I was to my Ask Without Fear! slides. But speaking without slides helped me grow in confidence and forced me to use word pictures to illustrate my talk. I found that these word pictures even made my presentations with slides more effective.

4. Ask the audience what they hope to get from the session

Worrying about filling the time for longer sessions can be nerve wracking. But if the audience is choosing to hear you speak, find out why. If you can ask them in advance, send out an email saying something like “I’m so excited about next week’s presentation. And I want to make sure it’s the best for you too. If you could leave with only one take-away from our time together, what would you want it to be?”

Now if you’re speaking to a group that is there whether you speak or note, like a Rotary club, or to a conference that doesn’t let you poll your audience, ask the organizer. Your organizer’s reputation is a bit on the line. So ask them what they think the audience wants from the talk. And ask them if there are any things you should avoid doing.

I find this helpful for paying gigs too. For some inexplicable reason, I usually am scared that I’ll run out of things to say. So on the day of the event, I ask the person who hired me: “What is more important to you: that I fill the entire time? Or that the audience has an amazing experience?”

I’ve never had a conference planner say they’d like to fill the time. But if that were more important to them, it’s good to know!

Those are the two tips I’d add to my original 2 1/2 tips. What would you add?

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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3. Fundraising Follies: Erratic Public and Spell-Check

Let’s face it, fundraising involves speaking. Lots of it.

We speak to individuals. We speak to groups. We speak to volunteers, donors, staff, peers, bosses, everyone. And some of the best exposure we can get for our cause is doing public speaking to larger groups like service organizations, or depending on your cause, even conferences.

Despite this common requirement in fundraising, many of us seem really scared. Sure, there are some that love a stage. They seem energized and confident and able to command the crowd.

But what about the rest of us?

I’ve been speaking in front of groups large and small all my life. I’ve recently been coaching a client in growing in confidence as a speaker and I’m realizing that most of the advice I’ve received about public speaking has been just plain wrong. Here are 2 1/2 tips I find useful. I hope you’ll add your own in the comments!

1. Look for friendlies

The bad speaking advice is to look over peoples’ heads at the back wall. The theory is people are dumb enough to not notice you’re (literally) talking over their heads.

Sorry. That doesn’t work. And it makes you look silly.

Instead, try to find a few friendlies early on in your presentation. Friendlies are easy to find. Just look for smiling people that are nodding their head with you. You don’t want to talk to them the entire time. But it is amazing how energizing it is to come back to them throughout your talk.

If you’re really strategic, look for friendlies in each quadrant of the audience. That does make it feel more like you’re talking to every one.

2. Treat people like human beings

Chances are good you wouldn’t want anyone imagining you in your underwear, why would you try inflicting that on others?!

Mildly self-deprecating humor is a great way to treat people like humans, even if you’re not normally humorous. You can just created a standard joke about how nervous you are. Don’t dwell on the nervousness, but be real.

You could even make people feel great by explaining your nervousness is due to this group being so amazing at ________ [fill in the blank]. Don’t lie. But look for things that they might be doing that intimidate you.

I’m not advocating being sloppy. You should know your material. There’s nothing worse than a presenter that is nervous and clueless. Don’t be that guy.

2 1/2. Answer people like humans

One of the scariest things about speaking is that, if you are even the slightest level of interesting, people might have questions. But even if you know there was to know about your cause, you’d still get questions you don’t know how to answer.

So treat people like human beings by being authentic. You can start out by acknowledging the person and then you can ask the audience how they would answer it:

“Wow. That’s a great question. Does anyone here want to take a crack at it?”

This gives the questioner a bit of an ego boost — they were praised by the presenter — and there’s usually always someone in the group dying to speak. You’re now inviting them to speak while giving yourself time to come up with an answer of your own.

The thing is, as you grow in confidence, you’ll realize that your audience is lot smarter than you. So you’ll actually turn the question to them because you really want to find out what they think.

Those are my 2 1/2 tips. What would you add?

Tell us in the comments!

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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Other Possibly Related posts:

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Last week, Chris Brogan offered an extensive list of travel tips. He asked what we’d add here are some of mine. There are some duplicates, but that’s just how it is.

• Read Chris’ Tips for Flying post and the comments

  There are some incredibly helpful tips in the post and in the comments!

• Dump pocket contents into a Ziploc bag when you park your car

  I carry an extra sandwich sized bag. When I park my car, I just dump all my pockets contents into it and put it in my carry on. I also remove my belt at that time and put that in my bag too.

• Remove your id and boarding pass from the Ziploc bag

  You’re going to need those in the airport. If you haven’t gotten your boarding pass yet, remove a credit card to so you can use the self-serve kiosk.

• Be nice to TSA

  Those guys didn’t make the rules. They were dreamed up by some bureaucrat with a non-traveling desk job. I happen to know a TSA agent at my local airport. We’ve been friends since before he was TSA. It helps me to remember him when I go through lines.

• Wear slip on shoes

  I always wear my LL Bean mocs or penny loafers when I travel. I’ve recently picked up some clipping things that replaced my sneaker shoelaces. Those have been wonderful. And they make my sneakers “slip on” too.

• Get dressed after you pick up the stuff off the belt

  There are almost always wide benches on the other side of security. Use them as you put on your belt, fill your pockets, and put your liquids in your suitcase.

• Use TripIt Pro

  I love TripIt and use the Pro version. It texts me updates about my flight even before I’m at the airport. I often know about flight delays before the employees at the airport do.

• Consider using a travel agent

  I normally use Orbitz to schedule my flights, but I’ve started using a local travel agent. More than once they were able to book me on alternate airlines and help me get to my destination despite delays and cancellations. They only tack on $35 or something, but knowing they are just a call away is amazing. It’s like adding to your team. And believe me, when you’re in a crowded airport facing delays, you want someone on your team!

• If delayed, call customer service or your travel agent while standing in line

  If you’re facing a delay, definitely get yourself in the most helpful line you can. But these lines always are s-l-o-w. So hop on the phone to the airline’s customer service or your travel agent. More than once I’ve had my situation resolved before I’d even made it to the desk.

  One time in Boston when snowed in at a conference, there were over 100 people in line to try to get a room at the host hotel. I felt so cool when I called the reservation hotline and booked a room at the conference rate. I’d effectively cut in line, but no one was upset.

• Ask for upgrades

  You’d expect this from the guy that wrote Ask Without Fear!, wouldn’t you? Often times, if you’re not in the elite status of a program, you won’t get the upgrade. But it never hurts to ask. If you do ask, smile and be sweet. And try to ask when you’re not being a bother to a harried employee.

• Treat people as humans

  I’m amazed at how easy it is for people to act like jerks. Yes, you are the most important person in your world. But that poor person you’re beating up has just talked to 50 other people who are the most important people in their worlds. It’s fine to expect service. But it’s very helpful to acknowledge the rough time people are getting. A simple “Hard day, huh?” can go along way.

• Bring extra outlets

  I always travel with a Belkin Mini Surge Protector Dual USB Charger [amazon affiliate link]. There are never enough outlets, so this allows me to plug in more places. And rather than hogging an outlet, I’m opening it up to a couple others. I also like to carry an extra phone battery with me. I stress out a lot less when I know I have a completely charged battery in reach.

Those are some of my tips. What would you add?

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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Other Possibly Related posts:

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Happy Star Wars Day!

May the 4th has become an unofficial Star Wars holiday, given the pun on “May the Force be with you.” (Back in Catholic school, my friends and I would respond, “And also with you.” Being extra witty–in my own mind–I replied “This is a reading from the Gospel of Luke.”)

So today being May the 4th got me thinking about fundraising. Isn’t that the first thing you think of?

The Force in Nonprofit Fundraising

As I think about what “the force” is in fundraising, “expectation” immediately comes to mind.

In the Star Wars movies, the Jedi characters “feel” the direction things are moving and are able to respond based not on sight but on insight. So too with fundraising.

So much of what we do is based on

• sensing where the donor is at,
• sensing what choice is appropriate for the initial ask,
• sensing when to stop a solicitation and save it for a later day.

And many times we fee like we’re as blind as Luke Skywalker is on the Millenium Falcon with the hood covering his eyes and a flying metal ball shooting lasers at him.

Use the power of the force

But I think the real power of the force is in expectation. Expectation dictates how we approach prospects, how we draft fundraising letters, how we involve volunteers. If we expect people to be annoyed by our “begging,” they feel it and respond in kind. (Remember, you’re not begging!)

But if we expect people to want to be involved in our cause, imagine them as waiting for someone to show them how their lives can have even more meaning, we approach people with a boldness can be contagious. Granted, too much boldness can become obnoxious, but that’s a line we need to tread as we seek funding for our cause.

So on this Star Wars Day, pay attention to the force of expectation in your work. Are you expecting good things from your next interaction? Or are you expecting it to fail?

It takes the same amount of imagination to expect good outcomes and success as it does to expect bad outcomes and failure. So “use the force” to help you do tremendous amounts of good today!

What other parallels do you see with the Star Wars universe and the practice of nonprofit fundraising?

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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When you ask people about making a donation through their phone, they usually think of texting donations like they do for the Red Cross. That is about to change.

A growing number of services are allowing people to give donations from their phone. And services allowing you, as a nonprofit, to receive donations right at the visit or event. In this post I’ll highlight one of each: Givatron and Square.

Givatron

Givatron is perfect for donors wanting to make a gift from their phone. I learned about the Givatron app for Android phones during a recent 501 Mission Place webinar on mobile giving. What I love about this app is its simplicity. Anyone can get the app for free at the Android App Market. When you open the app, you choose either USA or Canada and then search for your charity. That’s it. You use are able to make a donation of any amount using PayPal. Easy. Charities don’t have to set anything up and donors get to use the tools they already know: the app market and PayPal. You even get a donation receipt emailed to you after you make your gift!

Square

Givatron is fine for donors wanting to make a gift. But what if you work for a nonprofit and want to process a gift while you’re with a donor? Maybe a donor not comfortable with PayPal or even with smartphones? Services like Square can help.

Square claims to let you process credit cards from your phone…without the need of an expensive merchant account! According to the Square website www.squareup.com, there are no set up fees or other charges. The app is free for both iPhones/iPads and Android phones. And the square card reader you plug into your phone is free too. They simply charge you a flat 2.75% for swiping the card. That’s competitive with any merchant account. But there are no pricey monthly fees or other charges associated with traditional merchant accounts.

You can register your account as a nonprofit and start receiving donations pretty quickly. And the donor can even get a receipt for their gift sent right to their email.

Replacing Direct Mail Giving?

These aren’t going to replace direct mail giving. But it’s exciting to see how these types of tools can transform your next fundraising event or donor solicitations.

There are now more cell phones than there are landlines. And a growing number of your donors are used to living much of their life with and through these phones. So why wouldn’t they want to give too?

From my perspective, the best part of these two tools is that they’re free to try!

What about you? What mobile giving tools are you hearing about?

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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I can hear you already, “Ballroom dancing?! What does ballroom dancing have to do with fundraising?”

First, as a life coach, I help people define success in all areas of their life, not just their jobs. So naturally, while you’re reading tips on this blog, I’m hoping they will impact your other relationships. Doing something that doesn’t seem directly related to your profession expands your horizons and frame of reference.

But ballroom dancing does have some fascinating lessons.

• Somebody has to Lead

  Most of us live in countries obsessed with egalitarianism. The good message of “we all have infinite potential” quickly gets interpreted as “none of us is special.” Leading in that environment can be tough.

  Ballroom dancing forces one partner (usually the man) to lead without apology. Being in a place of expected leadership helps you be more assumptive in your relationships on and off the ballroom dance floor.

• Somebody has to Follow

  If leading is hard in our cultures, following can be challenging too. Most of us resist following. We want to object, to drag our heels, to show we can’t be pushed around.

  Not so on the dance floor. The role of the non-leading partner is to follow the leader. And do it with grace, style, and panache. Even when the leader is wrong.

  And in any relationship, including fundraising, we find it’s just as important to know how to follow as it is how to lead. Some even say you’re not a safe leader until you know how to be a strong follower.

• Communicate Without Talking

  I’ve heard people say that up to 90% of communication is nonverbal. Isn’t it odd that most fundraising training focuses on writing and speaking?

  Watch an experienced ballroom dancing couple and you’ll see loads of communication but very few words. They communicate through the position of their hands, arms, and body. It’s a beautiful sight to behold.

  Communicating without talking is a skill we desperately need. Fundraising really should be more about listening, not just to the donor’s words but to their other cues as well.

• Listening to the music in the background

  All that the steps a ballroom dancing couple needs to take are regulated by the music in the background. But there’s so much that pushes that music to the background:

  • mentally counting steps (“1-2-3, 1-2-3”),
  • focusing on arm position,
  • remembering to lead with your body not your words,
  • remembering to follow gracefully, keeping off each other’s feet

  But no matter how far in the background it is, the music still controls the dance. If you’re not in rhythm with the music, you’ll keep running into each other and others on the dance floor.

  So too with fundraising, there’s invariably a rhythm, a tempo, a beat to the relationship. It may be set by the organization’s needs or by the donor’s schedule or goals. Wherever it comes from, the skilled fundraiser is able to hear it without letting it get drowned out by everything else pressing on her.

Another thing about good ballroom dancing classes: you have to switch dancing partners very regularly. This feels really weird at first, but after you’ve danced with everyone else in the room, you learn to appreciate your partner so much more! So too with out donors. We can easily get into a rut of only visiting the same donors. Switching it up helps us be more effective, and take the regulars less for granted.

Ballroom dancing is just one example of how something totally unrelated to your work can powerfully inform it.

And if you get lessons, you won’t be embarrassed dancing with your love at the next wedding you attend!

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

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