Fundraising for People with No Time to Fundraise

Published on Nov 18, 2015

When you are in a small or medium sized organization with limited staff, it can sometimes feel like you’re on a never ceasing hamster wheel—you are constantly dealing with the day to day demands and seemingly making little progress. But any organization and any size staff can find ways to make the fundraising program more effective, helping to build resources and the case to grow. Using real-world examples, this session addresses the challenges of a small shop, provides practical tips on doing more with less, and shares thoughts on how to affect the culture of your organization to prioritize an investment in your philanthropic program.

PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Fundraising

For People With No Time to Fundraise
Photo by Lukas Blazek

"I have enough time"

 said no one, ever

Topics

  • How to prioritize
  • Creating your plan
  • What to do and what to avoid
Photo by Niklas Rhöse

How to Prioritize

What to do with your time
Photo by Ales Krivec

Connect your work to the development cycle

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What to do

  • Research
  • Cultivation (includes marketing)
  • Solicitation
  • Stewardship

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Creating Your Plan

Daily

  • Donor acknowledgment
  • Thank you note, email or call
  • Marketing & awareness

Weekly

  • Initial contacts
  • Top donor cultivation
  • One ask activity

Monthly

  • Research
  • Planning
  • Reporting

Quarterly or other

  • Other reporting required
  • Professional development

What to Do

Low Hanging Fruit

 How can you be successful NOW?
Photo by tainkeh

Ask the inner circle

The inner circle

  • Board members
  • Current donors
  • Staff
  • Volunteers
  • Your closest network

How to fundraise

  • In person contact
  • Email
  • Social media
  • Phone

You can be direct and transparent with the inner circle.

What's easy?

 ...but may not produce immediate bucks?

Direct Mail

Invest money, not time
Photo by acme401

Simplify Direct Mail

  • Use a mail house
  • Stick to a couple packages
  • Keep the design simple
  • Email doesn't replace
Photo by jonny2love

Planned Giving

for normal people
Photo by Ken_Mayer

Simple planned giving

  • Focus on wills and bequests
  • Develop sample language
  • Promote on everything

I bequeath to
[YOUR ORGANIZATION]
(state percentage of estate or
specific amount)
to be applied its general endowment
(or for _________ fund area).

What is an investment?

 ...but can pay off in the long run?
Photo by Jukan Tateisi

Major Gifts

require attention and long view

Things to plan

  • Know your top 10-25 donors
  • Know your top 10 prospects
  • 5-7 cultivation advances

Corporate sponsors

Corporate sponsors

  • Can be a good medium-term windfall
  • What do you need to give away to get this?
  • Need to build connection

Managing Data

gives you long-term gold
Photo by K8

Stop Using Excel.

Really, it's not a database.
Photo by CraigMoulding

Databases for small orgs

  • Cloud based
  • Small number of records
  • Scaleable as you grow
  • 1-2 users at start
Photo by Lukas Blazek

Databases for small orgs

  • Email newsletter function
  • Letter templates
  • Export and import
Photo by Lukas Blazek

What's not easy?

 ...and doesn't magically produce money?
Photo by Artem Maltsev

Grant proposals

Grant proposals

  • Try hard to disqualify yourself
  • Give yourself twice as much time as you think you need
  • Critically evaluate $$$
  • Consider reporting requirements

Online Campaigns

Crowdfunding is not the magic bullet

Online Campaigns

  • Start small but tangible
  • Incentives are critical
  • Use your existing network

Do online campaigns actually work?

Yes and No.

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What's a time suck?

Don't dismiss, but be thoughtful

Events

can be scary!

Evaluating events

  • Potential revenue
  • Amount of work
  • Likelihood of success
  • Uniqueness
  • Mission match

Board Involvement

should focus on other things than asking

Boards in fundraising

  • Provide connections
  • Testimonials
  • Discrete tasks
  • They can stall asking!

Pick your big rocks

Photo by KyllerCG

Summary

Photo by Nathan Dumlao

Tie activities to the development cycle

Create daily, weekly, monthly
and quarterly plans

Start with the inner circle
Carefully consider other tactics

Be ruthless with events & strategic with board
Pick your big rocks

Photo by Agê Barros

Alice Ferris, MBA, CFRE, ACFRE
Jim Anderson, CFRE
goalbusters.net/free

Photo by kermitfrosch