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 https://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 https://fundraisingcoach.com/article.htm.
To purchase your own copy, go to https://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
