Fundraising For Dummies

Follow the mission and the money, even when it takes you online

Fundraising For Dummies is your guiding light and saving grace as you prepare and implement a fundraising plan. This updated edition will help you succeed at fundraising in the age of social media saturation. You’ll discover how to post, what to include, and where to interact to get the biggest return on your investment of time. And, as always, this trusted resource covers all the basics of being a fundraiser, soliciting the money an organization needs, and pitching the case statement for your organization. Use real-life examples to take your own fundraising skills to the next level and follow step-by-step processes for success in online fundraising.

• Learn what’s involved in the role of a nonprofit fundraiser
• Discover sources of funding for your organization—and learn how to secure that funding
• Use the latest online fundraising tools and social media techniques to reach out to audiences
• Make fundraising easy with examples and templates for donor letters and beyond

Fundraisers (including board members, volunteers, and staff members) in any nonprofit organization will love this easy-to-follow advice on getting creative about donations.

Dr. Beverly A. Browning, MPA, DBA, is the author of 47 grant-related publications, including seven editions of Grant Writing For Dummies. She holds degrees in organizational development, public administration, and busi­ness administration. Dr. Bev is a grant writing course developer and online facilitator for Ed2Go.com.

Introduction 1

About This Book 2

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 4

Where to Go from Here 4

Part 1: Getting Started with Fundraising 5

Chapter 1: Fundraising Continuously During Economic Fluctuations 7

Looking Ahead and Planning for Revenue Ups and Downs 8

Creating a contingency plan for the continuation of services 9

Preparing your board and staff for organizational survival 10

Coping with staff reductions and shrinking budgets 11

Finding partner organizations and revenue sources 12

Making Revenue-Producing Changes 12

Whittling down your mission 12

Paring your services (or pairing up to provide them!) 13

Nurturing the donor-organization relationship 14

Turning to cost-effective processes 14

Touting Your Successes and Building Supportive Relationships 15

Telling your story well 15

Engaging people who care 16

Developing relationships with key businesses and funders 16

Doing Your Best to Bring In the Dollars 17

Preparing Now for When Things Start Looking Up 18

Laying the groundwork to take advantage of an economic recovery 18

Moving forward with hope 19

Chapter 2: Embracing Fundraising with a Passion 21

Sparking Fundraising Action 22

Remembering why you signed on 23

Helping your donors catch the spark 24

Talking the fundraising talk 24

Building on Passion in the Nonprofit World 26

Competing for dollars 28

Keeping your organization going 28

Maximizing Social Media Visibility 31

Chapter 3: All About Attitude: Fundraising Issues and Ethics 33

Inspiring or Selling: The Fundraising Debate Continues 34

Living with the stigma 34

Combining sales and ideals 35

Adhering to the Ethics of Fundraising 36

Finding organizations with ethical standards 37

Familiarizing yourself with the fundraiser’s credo 39

Breaking Down Fundraising Myths 40

Myth 1: It’s all about the money 40

Myth 2: You lie to get what you want 41

Myth 3: Your donor owes the world something 42

Chapter 4: Winning with Words: Your Case Statement 45

Stating Your Case 46

Understanding what the case statement is and how you use it 46

Getting started with your case statement 46

Making the Case Compelling 48

Developing a Case Statement: A Step-by-Step Guide 50

Step 1: The mission: Why are you here? 51

Step 2: The goals: What do you want to accomplish? 53

Step 3: The SMART objectives: How will you reach your goals? 54

Step 4: Programs: What exactly do you provide? 55

Step 5: Governance: What’s the anatomy of your board? 55

Step 6: Staff: Who are the people behind your services? 56

Step 7: Location: Where do you live and work? 57

Step 8: Finances: Is your organization financially responsible? 57

Step 9: Development: What will you do in the future? 58

Step 10: History: What successes are you building on? 58

Giving Life to an Outdated Case Statement 60

Sharing Your Case Statement 61

Formatting your case 61

Putting the case statement to work: From paper to online posts 62

Chapter 5: Organizing Your Cheerleaders: Board Members and Volunteers 63

Seeing the Big Picture: How Boards and Fundraising Fit Together 64

Understanding the board’s duties 64

Knowing how your role fits with the board’s work 65

Teaming with the Board to Advance Your Cause 67

Helping the board help you in fundraising 67

Balancing the attraction of high-profile board members 68

Guiding Your Board through Tough Decisions 70

Slating and prioritizing your issues 71

Knowing when to use reserved funds 72

Figuring out when to launch into unchartered waters 73

Helping your organization find clarity in challenging times 74

Recognizing the True Value of Volunteers 76

Seeking volunteers 76

Establishing a relationship of mutual respect 78

Training your volunteers as fundraisers 79

Making use of baby boomers: Retirees as volunteers 80

Chapter 6: Creating a Fundraising Plan 81

Drafting the Perfect Fundraising Plan 81

Starting with the case statement 82

Identifying your goals 83

Building a needs statement 84

Assessing your existing resources 84

Determining what you need 85

Setting your financial targets 86

Putting the all-powerful giving pyramid to work 87

Getting started with the right methods 88

Discovering fundraising markets 90

Avoiding Plan Busters Like the Plague 92

Budgeting Your Fundraising Efforts 93

Making sure you include everything in your budget but don’t overbudget 94

Figuring out the cost of raising money 96

Turning Elsewhere for Assistance 96

Knowing when to outsource 96

Using affordable and functional fundraising software 97

Part 2: Identifying Potential Donors and Rallying for Their Support 99

Chapter 7: Mining for Donors 101

Finding Your Stakeholders 101

Recognizing Your Bread and Butter: Individual Donors 103

Understanding donor levels 103

Identifying potential donors 104

Doing Business with Corporate Donors 104

Finding Foundations That Care 105

Asking Your Board All the Right Questions 105

Where did you forget to expand your donor base? 106

Whom did you forget to ask? 106

Checking Out Potential Donors 107

Pursuing promising prospects 108

Finding the silver lining with unlikely prospects 108

Researching the Internet Way 109

Keeping Track of Your Organization’s Donors and Their Contributions 110

Creating an effective donor information form 111

Keeping good donor records 112

Maintaining Confidence: The Issues and Ethics of Handling Personal Data 112

Chapter 8: Meeting Your Donor with Grace and Grit 115

Evaluating the Importance of a Visit 116

Preparing to Meet Potential Donors 116

Examining the Giving Relationship between the Donor and the Organization 118

Showing donors the value of their gifts 118

Getting more than money from your donors 119

Checking out what motivates giving consistency 120

Considering Your Donor’s Context 122

Engaging potential donors with limited means (for now) 122

Connecting with affluent donors 123

Meeting reluctant retirees on their level 123

Cultivating the Initial Donor-Organization Relationship 124

Chapter 9: Cultivating Major Givers 127

Seeking a Major Gift Today for Tomorrow 127

Finding the Holy Grail of Fundraising: The Major Gift 129

Planning your way to major gifts 129

Cultivating new and existing donors who have a lot to give 131

Recognizing Major Donors for Their Contributions 136

Meeting your donors’ expectations 136

Providing donor recognition 137

Chapter 10: Making the Major Gift Ask 139

Pushing through the Fear by Focusing on the Greater Goal 140

Accepting that you have to talk about money 140

Understanding that no doesn’t equal failure 141

Remembering that you’re a donor, too 142

Checking Out Your Attitudes about Money 143

True or false: Money is an exchange mechanism 143

True or false: Money is the root of all evil 143

True or false: Money can’t buy happiness 144

True or false: Money talks 144

Choosing the Right People to Make the Ask 145

Teaming up for dollars 146

Flying solo 147

Developing the Mechanics of Asking 147

Recognizing the equitable exchange 147

Using the tools of the trade 148

Knowing the donor 149

Checking out each step of “the Ask” 149

Moving Beyond No 151

Rating Your Yes-Ability 152

Following Up after “the Ask” 153

Chapter 11: Writing Winning Grant Proposals to Reach Your Fundraising Goal 155

Getting a Grip on Grants 156

Identifying Different Grant Givers 157

Choosing the Right Project to Be Funded 157

Starting from the ground up: Seed money 158

Expanding your reach: Program funds 158

Building for the future: Capital campaigns 159

Laying the Groundwork for Grant Seeking 159

Turning to your board for support 160

Developing a grant proposal writing strategy 160

Finding the Right Funder 161

Starting your search for funders 161

Using local sources first 162

Working your way away from home 163

Digging deeper to find the right grantor 164

Inquiring about Letters of Inquiry and Grant Guidelines 165

Getting Down to Business: Writing the Proposal 166

Creating a comprehensive cover letter 167

Providing an overview with the executive summary 167

Introducing your idea 168

Sharing your organization’s history 168

Stating your program’s needs 169

Outlining program goals, objectives, and evaluations 169

Detailing the program budget and budget narrative 170

Explaining your leadership, staffing, and location 170

Including the necessary extras 171

Following Up on Your Proposal 171

Putting a Positive Spin on No 172

Seeing Your Grant as a Relationship 173

Part 3: Sharing the Organization’s Story and Building Its Brand 175

Chapter 12: Connecting for Potential Donor Awareness: Sharing Your Story 177

Thinking through Your Communications Strategy 178

Evaluating your communications costs 178

Considering your communications options 179

Crafting a communications approach 181

The list! The list! Pull out your donor list! 181

Printing Only What You Need 182

Showing progress with an annual report 183

Taking the Direct (Mail) Approach 184

When direct mail works: Asking current donors to give again 185

When the most direct mail is email 185

Figuring out what to send 186

To Call or Not to Call 187

Making your callers the good guys 188

Knowing your no-call responsibilities 189

Working the phones with a positive attitude 189

Chapter 13: Projecting Your Organization’s Image in the Media 191

Getting Positive Media Exposure for Your Organization 192

Realizing what the media can do for you 192

Making the first contact 194

Coming up with story ideas for the media 194

Working in Sound Bites: PSAs 196

Looking Good on Television 196

Seeking airtime on the small screen 197

Preparing for a television interview 197

Remembering on-air cues 198

Taking Advantage of Print Opportunities 199

Making yourself quotable 199

Fixing mistakes in print 200

Leveraging Online Coverage 200

Posting your story everywhere 201

Filling a need for news with blogs and articles 201

Crisis Control: When Media Attention Is Unwanted 202

Getting the crisis under control fast 203

Drafting a disaster control plan for board approval 204

Chapter 14: Social Media Networking to Build Potential Donor Awareness 205

Getting Started with Social Media 206

Surveying the basics of social media 206

Identifying who uses social media and what they can do

for your organization 207

Building a Community of Stakeholders Who Care 208

Feeling all a-Twitter 208

Connecting to past, present, and potential stakeholders on LinkedIn 209

Sharing the love on Facebook 210

Maximizing branding with Instagram 211

Understanding What Your Social Media Users Want 211

Visibility and voice: Here we are! 212

Engagement and opportunity: Let me help 212

The freedom to choose: I want it my way 213

Taking the Plunge into Social Media 213

Making sure your messages work together 213

Tracking and evaluating results 214

Creating credibility and security in social media 215

The Big Dilemma: To Ask or Not to Ask? 216

Chapter 15: Perfecting Electronic Communications 217

Making the Case for Email 217

Being Smart about Email Campaigns 219

Figuring out who should receive your emails 219

Knowing what to say 220

Writing an email that gets the results you’re looking for 223

Avoiding Email Mistakes 224

Don’t use email to spam 224

Don’t be a sloppy emailer 225

Understanding the Power of E-Newsletters 225

Catering to your donors’ interests 226

Creating your e-newsletter 226

Adding multimedia pizzazz 227

Automating e-newsletter delivery 227

Keeping your readers mesmerized and engaged 228

Chapter 16: Ramping Up Your Website 229

Seeing How a Website Helps with Fundraising 230

Putting Your Website to Work for Your Organization 231

Evaluating your website 231

Building credibility for your organization 232

Adding Content and Keeping It Fresh 233

Putting your contact information front and center 234

Including information that saves time 234

Spreading the work around 234

Using existing resources 235

Linking to content on other websites 235

Considering the value of online media 236

Attracting Visitors to Your Site 236

Showing up in search engine results 237

Getting linked by other sites 238

Collecting Donations Online 239

Chapter 17: Spotlighting Your Brand Online 241

Knowing Your Branding Basics 242

Assessing Your Brand 243

Tweaking your brand 244

Developing brand strategies 244

Blogging Your Way to Funds 245

Figuring the cost of blogs 245

Building your brand with an effective blog 246

Publishing Online to Boost Your Branding and Credibility 247

Getting published 247

Creating good online content 248

Joining Online Communities: Discussion Groups 248

Checking out nonprofit discussion groups 249

Promoting yourself through discussion groups 250

Partnering Online through Affinity Programs 250

Connecting with People through Association and Special-Interest Sites 251

Part 4: Engaging Donors with the Right Campaigns 253

Chapter 18: Organizing, Implementing, and Celebrating Your Annual Fund 255

Understanding the Basics of Annual Funds 256

Designing Your Annual Campaign 257

Setting your goals 258

Timing your annual fund 259

Assembling your team 260

Choosing your fundraising tools 261

Rating your organization 265

Putting the Plan in Place 266

Understanding your approach: Donor research and planning 266

Choosing your materials 266

Recognizing the five signs your plan is falling flat (and what to do about it) 268

Evaluating (And Celebrating) Your Annual Fund Drive 269

Planning for the Next Annual Campaign 270

Chapter 19: Planning a Successful Special Event 271

Seeing How a Special Event Benefits Your Organization 272

Planning, Planning, Planning! 272

Putting together the best team 273

Selecting an event 274

Deciding the when and where 274

Setting expectations 276

Budgeting for the special event 276

Setting a timeline 277

Organizing an Online Event 278

Using webinars to inform and persuade 278

Chatting online with celebrities 279

Following Up after the Big Event 279

Measuring goodwill 280

Evaluating the event’s outcomes 280

Saying “Thank you!” 281

Gathering event lessons for next time 282

Chapter 20: Asking for the Big Bucks: The Capital Campaign 283

Gearing Up for the Big Campaign 284

Exploring Capital Campaign Types 285

Building bricks-and-mortar campaigns 285

Checking out endowment campaigns 286

Putting together project campaigns 286

Running combined campaigns 287

Selecting a Champion 287

Staging the Campaign 288

Testing the waters: Campaign feasibility 289

Setting your goal 291

Identifying lead gifts and challenge gifts 292

Going public 293

Following up with your capital campaign 294

Debriefing everybody 295

Chapter 21: Securing the Big Three: Major Gifts, Planned Gifts, and Challenge Grants 297

Making a Perfect Match 298

Deciding on the major gift amounts for your organization 299

Getting to the heart of the major giver 300

Valuing the relationship: Stewardship in action 301

Creating a major gift strategy 302

Preparing for Planned Gifts 304

Getting the gift that keeps on giving 304

Differentiating planned giving from other types of giving 305

Timing is key: Knowing when to start 306

Gearing up for planned giving 307

Making Money Go the Extra Mile: Challenge Grants 312

Understanding how challenge grants work 314

Managing a challenge grant 314

Chapter 22: Tapping into Corporate Givers 317

Understanding the Attitudes behind Corporate Giving 318

Making a difference in the community 318

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours: Cause-related marketing 319

Finding the Right Corporations for Your Organization 320

Using the local community hook 320

Focusing on where the CEO’s heart lies 321

Finding out what serves the company’s interests 322

Approaching a Corporate Donor 322

Researching the corporation ahead of time 323

Knowing your value to the donor 323

Putting together your presentation 324

Following up in a businesslike way 325

Chapter 23: Building and Growing an Endowment 327

Endowing the Future 328

Understanding what an endowment is 328

Deciding whether you can (and should) build an endowment 329

Building an Endowment 330

Getting your board to buy in 330

Explaining the value to donors 331

Making an endowment part of your overall fundraising effort 332

Managing an Endowment 332

Providing oversight and establishing policies 332

Seeking professional help to manage endowment dollars 333

Part 5: The Part of Tens 335

Chapter 24: Ten Fundraising Resources for New Nonprofit Organizations 337

Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) 338

BoardSource 338

Donorbox 339

Qgiv 340

Springly 341

DonorPerfect 342

Bloomerang 342

Personify WildApricot 343

Double the Donation 344

Grant Writing For Dummies 344

Chapter 25: Ten Snippets of Powerful Fundraising Communications 347

“How about a little good news?” 348

“Would you like to watch the birth of a baby panda?” 348

“Hi, Ms Scott I just left a meeting where we were discussing ” 348

“I recently visited the program you sponsored Very inspiring! Can I show it to you when you’re available?” 349

“Now, how can I help you?” 349

“Research shows that giving is good for your longevity.” 349

“You have no idea how much impact your last gift made for our organization and the clients we serve!” 349

“More people go to zoos today than go to all sports activities combined.” 350

“Seven out of ten of our city’s families use our organization’s services in their lifetime.” 350

“Hey, I just received this great sculpture! The new wing of the Eric Moss Historical Museum is finished!” 350

“Cute cat!” 351

Index 353

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