I receive invitations regularly from people who are hunting for “the thing” or “the person” who will help their nonprofit catapult their fundraising to a whole new stratosphere. The two real-life* examples I have to share are, unfortunately, more of the norm than the exception. These are examples of when the “desire doesn’t match the readiness.”
Organization A: Working hard to keep rivers and lakes protected, and wants to enhance their fundraising quickly and get the board more involved with reaching out to others. One .5 staff person. Annual budget of nearly $250,000.
- When I asked if 100% of the board makes a financial contribution to the organization they said NO.
- When I asked how much they needed to raise from the community each year. They weren’t sure.
- When I asked if I could attend a board meeting to learn more about their fundraising goals they explained that they don’t discuss fundraising issues at board meetings so, NO.
Readiness factor on my 9 point scale: 0
Organization B: An organization with a revolutionary approach to educating & getting people with disabilities assimilated into the community. They have some start-up grant funds from one funder to get things rolling. Because they have enough funding to open their doors, they have decided to “wait” to talk about their fundraising goals and set a plan for how to invite the community to support their work until they have filled the classroom with students.
When I asked if we could create an action plan to incorporate the areas of interest of board members into raising awareness about their program and include some training on how to talk about “the money” they said, NO not yet. We are not ready for that.
Readiness factor on my 9 point scale: 0
My ebook was written in 2009 to help an organization flesh out their readiness to raise more fundraising dollars. It’s a list of what I look for when I’m invited to “help” or work with an organization and I still use it to this day. You can download the eBook from the Free Resources page, but let me recap it for you with a different slant on the steps and turn them into questions for your team to ponder:
- Does your organization have at least one key volunteer and/or staff member who will make sure fundraising happens all year long? (Board Chair, CEO, Executive Director, Pastor, Rabbi)
- After you raise some additional funds, will you add staff (e.g. a development director, development associate) to support and manage the fundraising tasks?
- Does your board make a financial contribution to the organization? And do they understand that their role is to help raise awareness and invite support of the organization?
- About the money: Does your team, including your staff and board, understand how much money you have to raise from the community this year? Do you have a specific timeline that creates a sense of urgency?
- Do you share stories of the people you serve to create an emotional connection – making it personal for people to participate?
- Does your organization communicate regularly, via multi-channel methods of communication to deep donors and interested parties informed and engaged?
- Does your organization keep your vision for growth and your annual fundraising goal visible in print, in person at meetings, on your website, in your newsletter & emails to encourage widespread participation?
- Throughout the year does your organization invite supporters to do very specific things with a deadline for doing them?
- Do you have a donor data management system (preferably web-based) to allow others to assist with tracking donor contacts and gifts? Something more sophisticated than and Excel spreadsheet?
*Real-life examples: details have been changed to the keep these organizations anonymous.
