The Role of the Board in Fundraising October 29, 2009 By Mary Pat Donnellon

In our eNewsletter coming out today, we have an excellent article on the role of the Board of Directors in raising funds for your organization.  It's written by one of expert GiftWorks Consultant Partners: Pete Nixon of Apogee Consultants in Park City, Utah.  You won't want to miss it in your inbox!  Please let us know if you're not on our mailing list. 

It's typical for a board to want to "delegate" fund development to the Executive Director and/or Development Director and take on other matters.  But, really, this is part of the core board responsibility, and one that cannot be totally delegated to staff.

Ruthellen Rubin, CFRE, another expert GiftWorks Consultant Partner, writes about this topic (among many others) in her blog.  Here's an excellent article Ruthellen wrote on this topic that was published in Fundraising Success Magazine:  Success in Fundraising Starts with the Board of Directors. 

I have never been involved in a nonprofit organization that hasn't struggled with this issue in some way.  We'd love to hear your insight from a board or a staff perspective! 

A New Twist on the Traditional Auction October 25, 2009 By Mary Pat Donnellon

On Friday night I attended an auction for the benefit of the Milagro House, an amazing organization that offers a "long-term, education-based program committed to restoring the lives of homeless women and children."  I, probably like you, have attended many, many auction events over the years, and I expected this one to be the same.  I intended buy some items just to support the worthwhile mission of Milagro House, but honestly, I just didn't need any more stuff.

But the event Executive Director Polly Lauer and her committee offered on Friday was not your typical auction.  All of the items available for silent bidding were things needed by the people Milagro House serves.  Instead of bidding on restaurant gift certificates and upscale services, we bid on a year's supply of diapers and driving lessons for a young mother seeking to achieve independence.  We bid on GED courses and educational toys and electric bills.  I was thrilled to see the bidding wars on such atypical items.  It created a whole different vibe and spirit that was contagious, generous and fun.

Then, for every $25 in bid or increased bid you made in the evening, your name was entered into a drawing for 6 grand prizes.  There you found your vacation homes and $1000 wine baskets.  So, the more you bid, the better your chance of winning!

It was a great evening all around and very relevant given the economic situation and the increased awareness of the needs of others. A big thank you to Polly Lauer and Milagro House for a wonderful event - it truly was my honor to attend.

Please share any ideas you have on updating the traditional auction!

 

Keeping Close to the Purpose October 20, 2009 By Mary Pat Donnellon

I had an unexpectedly great day today.  I took a road trip with a colleague to visit one of our clients, Camp Hill Special School in Glenmoore, PA.  The drive itself was lovely. It's been a perfect fall day in Pennsylvania; cool air with warm sunshine filtering through the newly turning foliage.  Rolling hills, pristine farmland. Stunning. Then we arrived at Camp Hill Special School.  I was expecting a traditional school building with classrooms and students, but instead was treated to a verdant campus filled with small, homey buildings. Special students walking hand-in-hand with teachers, gardens, chickens, and beauty everywhere.

The mission of the Camp Hill Special School is "to create wholeness for children and youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities through education and therapy in extended family living so that they may be better understood and their disabilities moderated, that they may more fully unfold their potential, and that they more fully and meaningfully participate in life."

My brief tour of the campus and my interactions with the staff there indicate that they are living this mission to the fullest.

We had our meeting, talked about how GiftWorks can help them achieve their goals, and I left feeling energized and renewed in a deep way.  Helping organizations like Camp Hill Special School become stronger is what I want to do. It's the purpose of GiftWorks and all our efforts.

We are all so busy and have so much to do day-in and day-out.  Today I had the luxury of stepping out of the usual and remembering why I do this work and how important it is.  Tomorrow may be back to the regular busyness, but I expect it will be with an extra spring in my step and smile on my face. 

Converting Your Volunteers to Donors October 15, 2009 By Mary Pat Donnellon

October is GiftWorks Volunteer Appreciation month, and I just came across a very pertinent article in fundraising guru Mal Warwick's newsletter about the often delicate topic of converting volunteers to donors (excerpt below).  Certainly if someone is interested enough in your organization and mission to volunteer their valuable time, a logical next step for you is to ask for their financial support as well.  To do this effectively requires that you acknowledge the volunteer's current participation in your organization and build from there.

Do comment if you have ideas or insight on this topic!

Here is an excerpt of the Converting Your Volunteers to Donors article by Deborah Block and Paul Karps:

Acknowledge their participation

Right off the bat, you want to make sure the volunteer understands you’re well aware of her existing relationship with your organization. For example, you might want to describe exactly what sort of volunteer activity the recipient’s involved in.

What’s more, if your volunteers are doing different tasks—and you’re able to personalize the letter, even it’s only on the first page—you could write segmented copy for each of the volunteer efforts.

Let’s say your group is a social service agency. One segment could be written to people who deliver meals to the homebound, another to those who staff your hotline, and another to the individuals who drive seniors to appointments. You get the idea.

The more detail you can offer to acknowledge how these volunteers help you, the more personal—and compelling—the  appeal will be.

Thank you, thank you, thank you

Just as you would do with an existing donor, be profuse in your thanks and praise. After all, giving of one’s own time and energy is, in many ways, more of a commitment than “checkbook philanthropy.”

So thank early. . .and often.

Paint the bigger picture

In many cases, a volunteer may be involved in just one small portion of your group’s work. So you want to educate this person—much as you would a cold prospect—about the broader scope of all your organization does to fulfill its mission.

Emphasize the need

Once, of course, you review the big picture—so the reader gets a full understanding of who your group is and what you do—you’ve set the stage to explain exactly why you need additional financial support. And, as always, the more specific the better. Focus on programs, services, and the people who will benefit. Not operational needs, like paying the rent or utility bills.

Don’t be shy about stressing your group’s fiscal responsibility and your cost-effective use of volunteers—something the recipient can certainly relate to. “Even so,” you might say, “the need is so urgent, I’m reaching out to you today.”

Take the next step

As in any fundraising letter, you want your Ask(s) to be direct and straightforward. There’s no beating around the bush: Don’t just ask for the volunteer’s support and/or help. Ask this person to send a gift.

Because you’re writing to a volunteer, you can approach the Ask in a very similar fashion to how you might write to a current donor. In other words, you can combine a thank-you with asking the reader to do even more to help your organization. Something along these lines: “That’s why I want to thank you for doing your part to keep our local rivers clean.  And why I want to ask you to take the next step in your dedication to preserving our environment—by sending a generous gift today to Save Our Waters.”

A final (cautionary) word

One final thought about converting volunteers to donors. However much you try to craft that perfect mailing, you may still find yourself fighting a losing battle. Many people volunteer their time precisely because they can’t afford to make a gift. Or they just may not be direct mail responsive.

So don’t get discouraged if your results don’t match your expectations. And instead of going for the gusto on the first shot, perhaps test a segment of your volunteer base to see if a conversion package makes sense economically, particularly when compared to using cold acquisition—but direct mail responsive—lists."

The Aha! Moment in Campaign Management October 8, 2009 By Mary Pat Donnellon

Every other Wednesday I teach a GiftWorks Campaign Management course to our customers.  And every other week I get the extreme satisfaction of hearing people have the Aha! moment. 

Do you know that moment?  When you finally see the big picture that brings clarity to all of your busyness?  When you have a major insight that can bring everything you do to a higher level?

Here's how the Aha! moment often comes about when teaching GiftWorks Campaign Management. 

First, we review the GiftWorks definitions of Campaigns, Funds and Appeals and how nonprofits can plan and chart their fundraising efforts better in light of these definitions.  Your campaign is your overall fundraising objective - from an Annual Campaign for your operating budget to a multi-year Capital Campaign for a new building and new programs.  GiftWorks Funds align with your budget line items - General Fund for unrestriced operating and specific funds for restricted purposes.  GiftWorks Appeals are established for your specific means of asking for support - each mailing is an appeal, your phone-a-thon is an appeal, an event can be an appeal, or a series of direct asks can be an appeal.

Then we show how we can set up the plan in GiftWorks and ensure that resulting gifts have at least these three fields (Campaign, Fund and Appeal) captured consistently.

Now we get to the fun part:  By planning and tracking this information in GiftWorks, you have new power to actually understand what is happening in your organization.  In just a few clicks, you can see how your phone-a-thon is trending from year to year.  You can know which solicitation letter generated better results.  You can see which activities are effective and which might be a poor use of your valuable time.  You can check in seconds how your board's annual giving is trending and see if your staff has met their 100% campaign participation goal.  You can tell if your active volunteers are more likely to donate than your inactive friends.  And on and on.

When people see that they can actually have the power to UNDERSTAND and KNOW and make their important decisions accordingly, that's when the Aha! moment occurs, and it's a great feeling. 

Are You Making the Most of Your Volunteer Talent? October 6, 2009 By Mary Pat Donnellon

We’re declaring October to be Volunteer Appreciation Month.  Why?  Because volunteers can be an organization’s greatest resource – if managed, leveraged, and appreciated properly.

Intellectually, we all know how important volunteers are to our nonprofit work.  But day in and day out, we often fail to tap in to this rich vein of talent and support.  Recent studies show that nonprofits have a very difficult time retaining volunteer talent. 

What's to be done?  First, there needs to be an organizational commitment to leveraging volunteers to their fullest.  In order to rally your staff around this, it's quite helpful to fully understand the impact volunteers have on your organization which requires good measurement. Second, decide to learn to manage volunteers just as you would manage any other critical function in your organization.

Of course, you need tools to properly manage, measure and scale your volunteer program.  GiftWorks Volunteers can help - from capturing volunteer skills and your organization's volunteer needs, capturing volunteer and project hours, to providing the means to recognize and communicate with your volunteer team.  GiftWorks Volunteers is an add-in to, and completely integrated with GiftWorks Standard and Premium editions.

Below is short version of an excellent article written by retired volunteer organizer Ellie LaCasse discussing how technology can help you improve your volunteer program.  Read on and please share any thoughts you have on fully leveraging volunteer talent!

 

Using Technology to Gain and Retain Volunteers by Ellie LaCasse

Volunteers may be your organization's greatest resource. In fact, volunteers bring something invaluable to your organization, more than just their dollars, but their time, their interest, their loyalty and their ability to evangelize your mission to others in your community. Committed volunteers, helping with your work and representing you in the community, are priceless. Indeed, volunteers are likely to become your most consistent and, in time, major donors. But if you're not using technology to reach them and coordinate your volunteer efforts, you may be missing a large and growing segment of potential volunteers.

Today's volunteers are no longer content to sit and stuff envelopes on Thursday afternoons. They put a high-value on their time and abilities and want volunteer assignments that tap into those talents and reward them with the satisfaction of having provided meaningful work. To succeed, you must develop ways to find, fulfill, and satisfy your volunteers.

You may not be a sophisticated computer or web user, but you can be sure that the majority of your volunteer audience, both in your community and beyond, is using technology for their personal and business lives. Here are a few ways that you can use technology to improve volunteer efforts for your organization.

1. Collect specific data about your volunteers. It is critical to a not-for-profit's success to have systems in place for managing volunteer skills and abilities, as well as volunteer jobs and opportunities. At a minimum, you should invest in some type of a database for these areas. There is no other effective way to manage this important function.

2. Match volunteer talents with organizational needs and activities. Just as important as recruiting volunteers is retaining them. With your volunteer database, you'll need the ability to manage projects and volunteer jobs and match volunteers to jobs and projects. You'll also need to be able to record what jobs people have performed in the past, what skills they possess that you have and haven't used, and check that you've found a job for every volunteer you can. If you keep your database up to date, you'll even be able to brush up on John Jones' volunteer history before you meet him for lunch.

3. Schedule and track projects. Use your software to manage jobs and opportunities as well. You don't want to schedule five volunteers to help with an activity and then only have enough work for two of them. All five will feel that you and your organization are unorganized and perhaps their skills could be better used elsewhere, and be reluctant to sign up again.

4. Keep in touch with your volunteers. Likewise, you should use your software system to contact volunteers. While this is most easily done via e-mail, you might also consider a personalized, handwritten note to those people connected to an event, or even a regular volunteer newsletter. You can alert committee members of an approaching meeting, updates on an upcoming event, or let them know how many pledges have registered for your upcoming walk-a-thon, transmitting not only information, but motivation and a sense of community. You can even put out a call when there's a sudden unforeseen need for emergency food preparation or data entry or help with a move. Make sure to acknowledge the importance of volunteers to your organization and community with fresh success stories.

5. Recruit volunteers continually. Recruiting new volunteers can start on your own website. Provide on-line job descriptions, sign-up/registration, volunteer outcomes on your site, and keep them up-to-date. Create a special volunteer section where you highlight and thank your volunteers. Publish a monthly report of volunteer hours.

6. Personalize your volunteer requirements. Both on your site and on the Internet, you have the opportunity to put a real face and voice to your appeal. You can use photos, maps, even voices or music to bring your story to life. Unlike the limitations of a paper brochure, you can vary and change your image(s) daily in order to provide more depth and breadth to your message.

7. Link to social networking sites. Many not-for-profits are expanding their reach even more boldly with the use of interactive web tools like MySpace and Facebook, blogs, and discussion groups. Maybe you even have a volunteer who might like to tackle this kind of outreach. This is a great opportunity to build an online community, to engage more people in your cause, resulting not only in volunteers but donations and increased awareness.