31 Days of Fundraising
I posted this last year, but it’s worth revisiting. It’s the end of the year, the time when 40% of donors make a gift. What are you going to do to increase giving this year? Here are some suggestions from my document, 31 Days of Fundraising:
You have 31 days of fundraising until the end of the year. What can you do?
Measure any fundraising technique by looking at the Cost, Amount, Time and Effort, known as the C.A.T.E. Formula (see www.werth-it.com). You’ll find ways to fundraise that are quick, inexpensive and don’t require a lot of people. Evaluate your resources and write a plan first.
The most effective way to fundraise is to sit down with your 20 highest donors, and ask them to make a larger gift, perhaps ten times larger than their previous highest gift. It’s emotionally tough, but has the best return for your time. You can set up appointments now, and do them yourself or with one other person (one talks about what you’re doing, the other asks for money). Depending on your list, in 44 hours of time you could net $37,500. See the other handouts for scripts on how to call people to ask for an appointment and what to do during a meeting.
If you need training on how to ask for money, you can do one of two things. You could first call up the local chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (www.afpnet.org) and ask for someone to come out in the next week or so. Many consultants find this a slow time of year. Don’t worry about having everyone in the training; conduct it just for your hardest workers, the people you can count on. Alternatively, you can get a video called “Speaking of Money” from www.boardsource.org, and show it to small groups. It covers everything you need.
Another way to fundraise is to hold a couple of small parties in people’s homes. Two people invite their friends, or invite your donors who live nearby. Invite about five times as many people as you can fit. Have food, talk, make an eight-minute pitch and collect money. You can repeat this endlessly. Low cost, low effort, high reward, repeatable: that’s good fundraising. It’s the holidays: you can throw together a party in about ten days.
If you’re holding events this month for the volunteers or the people you serve, invite your donors. You won’t ask for money now, but it will make them feel much more connected to your organization, and they’ll give more later. These are called “Feel-good events” and they work.
Maximize your public relations this month. Follow up on press releases with phone calls to get media coverage. Think about the kinds of stories the media wants. For example, connect both Jews and Muslims to deliver Christmas gifts to Christians: the media likes stories like that. Follow-up by getting 200 copies of the newspaper, clipping the articles and sending them to donors with hand-written notes. Donors appreciate the personal touch.
For direct mail, make your letters compelling by focusing on the story of one person you’ve helped. Ask for a specific amount of money: what could $50 or $100 do? Write a longer letter: people need more information to make a decision. Add a second letter, called a Lift Note (it lifts response), which adds information. It might be a letter from a volunteer, or a budget of what you might spend to help one person, or a list of testimonials from people you serve.
It will be a fast-paced 31 days, but it works. Best wishes in your fundraising!
© Katherine Wertheim, CFRE 2009 www.werth-it.com
If you have questions about fundraising or getting your board to fundraise, please write me, Katherine Wertheim, CFRE, at katherine@werth-it.com or post a question to my blog at www.werth-it.com/blog.
Happy Holidays!