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 December 18, 2018

Today is my mother’s birthday. She’s been gone for nearly 20 years now but her legacy lives on in the children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren that are part of her family line.

Today she is the focus of an article about legacy because she is the perfect example of the phrase we use in our work: anyone can leave a legacy. As a first-generation American who lived through the Depression mom didn’t have much, yet what she did have she shared.

She gave in simple ways, in the church collection plate and by leaving food on the porch for people passing through the community who had no home. Those may seem small contributions but like the story of the starfish being thrown into the ocean one at a time, her gifts made a difference for each hungry person who came by our house.

As I have aged I have come to realize that it was my mother’s example that led me to become a giver. In some ways it was also she who led me to become a fundraiser. I certainly didn’t seek to raise funds because the idea of picking pockets, being a beggar or asking people for money appealed to me.

I do what I do because, like my mom, I believe that giving is about changing and saving lives (sometimes of the donor as much as the recipient). I have been honored to serve nonprofits as a staff member or consultant.

That work has enabled me to plan and implement capital campaigns, coach and train executive directors and board members, and assess fundraising performance through implementation of development audits. I have also found a new passion for planning and implementing planned giving programming, for enabling people to determine what their legacies will be and how they might leave a legacy.

Mother, I will continue to honor your legacy through this work. In addition to consulting I will continue to help prepare the next generation of fundraising leaders. Probably as you appreciated seeing your children grow, I enjoy coming to know and help teach students in Penn State’s all online Certificate Program in Fundraising Leadership.

I didn’t say it when you were alive, thank you mother. Thank you for giving me life and for being the role model that you were, you may be gone, but your legacy lives on.

Never Stop Learning

Posted on  December 12, 2018
  · No Comments

As I thought about a gift which I might give to you this holiday season I decided to focus on the gift of knowledge. Why? Because it’s a gift that keeps on giving!

There are many experts, books, websites, and articles from which to choose. As you prepare to move into 2019 here are five (six if you count my e-book) resources, at least one of which I hope you will find invaluable. I’ll post several more resources prior to year end. 

  1. Tom Ahern, Ahern Communications– A prolific author whose books and other resources provide insight about best practices with donor communications.
  2. Simone Joyaux, ACFRE, Adv Dip, Joyaux Associates — Another prolific author and highly sought-after presenter. Simone tells it like it is, particularly when it comes to topics such as boards and fundraising. 
  3. The Agitator– This quote will tell you a bit about why it is called “The Agitator” — “In a year-end post, Please Don’t Eat the Poinsettia, I noted that the field of fundraising is filled with lots of myths, aphorisms and the equivalent of ‘old wives tales’. Some are true, some are not, and many persist for which there’s little proof one way or the other.” (Roger Craver, December 2017)
  4. Andrea Kihlstedt, Capital Campaign Masters – Andrea wrote the book on campaigns, literally and has a website chock full of helpful information.
  5. Russell James, Professor of Financial Planning at Texas Tech –  See Russell’s YouTube videos about planned giving and consider reading his article on how the 2017 tax law might actually increase charitable deductions.

Want to know more about the 5 I’s? I will be sharing a series of articles and offering Webinars about the five I’s in 2019. Look for more information in the i5 free monthly News You Can Use.

Categories : Blog
Tags : #fundraising#blog#experts

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Fundraising in Troubling Times

Posted on  December 5, 2018
  · No Comments

 

This week rather than a full-blown blog post I offer a link to one of my latest articles which Charity Channel recently published. 

It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: Fundraising in Troubling Times

seems a topic better addressed at another time of year. However, we are in what many consider to be a season of light. This piece is by no means comprehensive, yet it does shed light on some important thoughts for consideration. I hope that the piece might lead you to ask: “What if the worst transpired would we be lost on that dark and stormy night or would we have a lantern to light the way?”

Speaking of ifs, if need be you might file this in your tickler file for mid-January. The new year is a perfect time to take a fresh look at your policies and procedures and ensure that you are prepared for any storms which might arise.

As always I welcome your comments and questions, you can send them to me here. 

Categories : Blog
Tags : #nonprofit #policies #procedures #funraising

Giving Meaningful Thanks

Posted on  November 25, 2018
  · No Comments

When speaking about the five i’s (Identify, Inform, Involve, Invest and Impact) I suggest to those raising funds:

 “If you change nothing else do more regarding the last ‘I’, Impact.”

What does that mean? Doing a better job of saying thank you and of sharing impact stories. Put another way, it means providing meaningful thanks to donors for gifts given.

A new study provides support for my supposition.  Learning to Say Thank You: The Role of Donor Acknowledgements reinforces the need to think (and do) more about thanking. No time to read the report? Here are three ideas to consider:

1.  Send a Thanksgiving letter or card (with Thanksgiving nearly over it could be a holiday card)

If it’s a letter be sure to include photos if you are able and tell an impact story (see below).

Can’t prepare a letter,  why not drop by a local shop and purchase a pack or two of cards and jot short notes?

Better yet . . .

2. Call to say thank you. Make at least two calls this week, two next week, and so on. 

3. Have a Thank You Fest. Does your nonprofit participate in Giving Tuesday or another giving day? How about having a Thank You Fest that day or in late December to thank year-end donors?

a. Recruit willing volunteers (it can also be staff),

b. Provide a short script and

c. Provide donor names and contact information (not gift amount) to the volunteer/staffer.

Gather everyone in a room with some refreshments and have them make calls or write thank you notes as gifts are made. 

Have a November or early December Board meeting? Ask your board members to write five cards while they are with you. 

What’s the most important thing to share in addition to saying thank you? An impact story! For example, a caller or a note might say:

“Thanks to your generosity a woman with two children all of which came to our shelter last evening had a warm, safe place to sleep and food to eat. Thank you!”

Thank you for reading and may you have much to be grateful for for in this season of thanksgiving.

Categories : Blog
Tags : #acknowledgement, #donorrelations, #stewardship, #thanks, #thankyou

Fright Night: Falling Donor Retention?

Posted on  October 15, 2018
  · No Comments

It’s almost Halloween in the U.S., fright night to some, when we are reminded of the Grim Reaper.

What’s the Grim Reaper for fundraisers?

Falling Donor Retention!
 
Reading reports from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project might cause some fright. Fewer people are making gifts and donor retention continues to melt like the candle inside your Halloween pumpkin. As Adrian Sargeant said last year:

“The donor retention landscape is actually lousy at the moment and is going of all accounts, from bad to worse.” (Bloomerang, A Guide to Donor Retention).

What’s a fundraiser to do?

  1. Become familiar with the term donor retention. You can read the Bloomerang Guide mentioned above or view it in video form on the Fundraising Effectiveness Project
  2. Visit the Tools section of the FEP website to learn how to track your nonprofit’s retention rate and other key variables.
  3. Read the FEP PDF about how to use the FEP report to your benefit.

Start tracking!

Another way is to complete a development audit (it’s like a productivity or return on investment report). When I complete an audit I track five years of data to even out any possible peaks and valleys. For example you may have had extra donors the year that a volunteer made a special effort to get more people to register for the golf tournament or to attend your gala.

Are retention goblins are already haunting you as you track and watch your retention rate drop? What else can you do?

  1. Ask new donors about their communication preferences and interests via a brief survey. (See Sean Triner’s Moceanic website to learn more about surveys, here a Link to the free portion for those with limited budgets)
  2. Develop an email welcome series to share information that new donors want to hear about (you’ll learn about topics that they want to hear about in the results from your survey).
  3. Call or have volunteers call new donors to say thank you and ask what motivated the person to give.

Oh, in case anyone is blaming the continued decline on the new tax code. If you are a member of AFP read Michael Rosen’s October 2018 Advancing Philanthropy article: “Is the New Tax Code Good or Bad for Charities.”

You can also contact me to learn more about audits, surveys, and how segmentation might prove helpful. 

May you not be haunted by lost donors from past years this Halloween!

Categories : Blog
Tags : # retention, #asking#fundraising#fundraiser#charitablegifts, #donors, #fundraising
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"The results of philanthropy are always beyond calculation."

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