Over the weekend, a friend asked me if The Second Mile had any chance of surviving. After all, it now looks like it’s founder, Penn State’s Jerry Sandusky, created it as a place to prey on children. Can a nonprofit overcome this type of scandal My first reaction was “no way.” No matter what good [...]

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A couple months ago, I was asked why I thought Google+ is great for job seekers. Here’s what I replied: I am an executive coach and a geek who loves G+. Here are five reasons I think G+ would be fabulous for job seekers. Like Twitter, you can follow anyone without having to have them [...]

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One of the most common questions I get is some variation of: We’re a small nonprofit without any fundraising program. Are there ever any conditions where it makes sense for us to hire a fundraiser that gets paid a percentage of what they raise? It’s an understandably seductive question. It seems to contain the promise [...]

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A client recently asked me an excellent question: I know of an organization that has a large board. It seems they do it so that they can invite potential donors to be on the board. It seems more or less honorary, they don’t get involved much. Should we look at making our board larger so [...]

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In the last post on goal setting, we looked at how to identify goals for all areas of your life. I firmly believe that if you did nothing more than write those goals down, you’ll be exponentially more effective at accomplishing them. But you can speed up the process by creating a road map for [...]

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I just love the week of Thanksgiving. Having those few days off to be with family and friends puts me in a reflective mode that I find perfect for formalizing my 2011 goals. I say “formalizing” because I’m constantly working on my goals, scheduling speaking gigs and clients, and doing marketing. That’s just normal business– [...]

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Q: How do I get started blogging and using Twitter? Are there classes I can take? Great questions. Blogging and tweeting can be terrific ways to do the “engage” and “love” steps of the “Get R.E.A.L.” fundraising process! Here are some tips to get you started. Blogging is simply a matter of writing what you’re [...]

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Lately I’ve been getting lots of questions about how individuals can fundraise for walkathon events and many other -athons: bike, bowl, etc. Here are some of the ideas I’ve been offering:

First of all, good for you! Thank you for caring enough about the cause to put yourself out there and raise money for it. Our world is a much better place because of people like you. Thank you!

• RESEARCH
  The first step in any fundraising effort is to research. By doing research up front, you–or you and your team–will lay a terrific foundation for achieving your goals. Here are some suggestions on what to do:
  1. Determine how much are you are going to raise

  Specifically. Not the “more-is-better” answer but how much? $1,000? $2,500?

  This will often come from the minimum amount you need to raise to be part of the event. But what if you raised more? Figure out a specific dollar amount.

  2. Find out if the nonprofit has different giving levels to recognize donors
     Often nonprofits will recognize donors by assigning them to a donor level “Founders” or “Contributors” or “Patron.” Find out if the group you’re supporting uses these and if gifts given by your friends will be recognized in this way. It’ll help later on.

  3. Develop a plan to reaching that goal
     If you’re trying to raise $2500, it’s easy to fall prey to thinking you “only” need to find 100 people to give $25.

     This just doesn’t happen.

     We’ve been studying fundraising for decades. Although this sounds wonderfully egalitarian, experience shows that people give varying amounts.

     Plus, if you only ask $25 from someone who’d gladly have given $100, you’re leaving money on the table.

     To do the research of creating a plan, go to a tool like GiftRangeCalculator.com. Plug in the amount you want to raise and the calculator tells you what size gifts you need to ask for and how many prospects you need.

     If you do it for $2500, you’ll get something like this:
     

     You’ll see that it recommends your top gift be $625–the equivalent of 25 people giving $25! A tool like this is based on decades of fundraising experience and can really help you develop a map to raising the amount of money you need.

     You’ll also see that if you get all the gifts recommended, you’ll actually raise $3200. I did this intentionally. I wanted this calculation to be conservative so that even if you miss some of the 49 gifts, you’ll still reach your goal.

     I also did this because if your cause is worth fundraising for, it’s worth raising more than the minimum!

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Last week, I received this question about a fundraising letter acquisition mailing. Hi Marc, We are doing an acquisition mailing to patients of Local Community Clinic on behalf of Local Community Clinic Foundation, a 501c3 that offers support to the Clinic and the Community. The mailing is huge – just over 100,000 – and we [...]

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A few weeks back, I posted this question: Q: As an E.D., what percentage of my time should be spent on fund raising? I am relatively new at this and want to balance my schedule. My answer was something like, “100%.” And I got some comeuppance. Here are some of the comments: Roger Carr responded: [...]

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