Fundraising

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Why do you care about your personal brand?

Personal+brandingSome of us spend a considerable amount of time each day focused on building our personal brand. Others go about it quite naturally and do not seem to realise the things they are doing are dramatically impacting their personal brand. And, there may be others who may not care about their personal brand.

Personal brand is the most important thing you own. If you are not branding yourself, others may be branding you!

What is a personal brand?

Simply put, personal brand is investing in yourself and your career to create a brand. People who believe in personal branding believe in creating a self-package. Personal branding is “owning” the space you exist in, controlling your career development, and how you are perceived. Personal branding gives you the power to create your unique value in the marketplace.

Why do we care?

Personal brand expert, Julie Lamberg-Burnet, tells audiences they have three to five seconds to make a first impression. Three to five seconds? I’ve barely said hello. The fact of the matter is, Julie tells us we do not even need to say hello to make the first impression. People walk into a networking event, immediately “size” one another up, and make decisions about one’s value without even greeting the person. Others arrive at a meeting and sit nearest to the person with whom they want to associate or emulate.

Everyone should care about his or her personal brand!

Take back the control. Learn more about your personal brand at a one-day masterclass at the Fundraising Institute Australia Conference on 18 February 2015. This masterclass offers a unique panel of marquis speakers, including:

  • Julie Lamberg-Burnet, Brand Service Consulting, Modern Etiquette and International Protocol – Sydney School of Protocol
  • Korrin Barrett, Motivational Speaker – Life Unlimbited
  • Mary Macuga, Director of Resource Development – Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane
  • Eva E. Aldrich CFRE, Chief Executive Officer – CFRE International

To give you a sampling of what you will experience the day of the masterclass, consider Korrin Barret’s story. Learn more about Korrin here.

Investing 8 hours in this masterclass may simply change your value in the marketplace or workplace. Sign up for the masterclass today!

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Get that Fundraising Trifecta – 3 ideas to help you win, place and show

It’s called “the race that stops the nation”. In Australia, today is the Melbourne Cup. And many of us will pause this afternoon to watch this horse race with friends and colleagues. For some, it’s a public holiday; for others, we simply might not return to working in the afternoon.

If our role is fundraising for a charity, we are also in a race today – one to hit our goal or target by 31 December. So, the first Tuesday in November is when we are coming down the stretch to the end of our calendar year – and, for most of us, halfway through our financial year. Whether we are in the back stretch or home stretch, we want to come in first and take home the cup!

Since many of us will put a wager on the race today, I thought I’d play ‘punter’ and give some tips for being the winning jockey in your race to raise dollars for your non-profit.

  1. Perform data hygiene on your data set before you drop the year-end appeal to acquire changes of addresses prior to dropping the mail out; ensuring less return to sender (RTS) mail
  2. As part of your stewardship, call donors who give over $100 to your appeal and thank him or her for their gift. Gain new information from these donors on the call and record this information in your database
  3. Add a seasonal message to your acknowledgement letter/receipt, such as “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year”.

Bonus tip: don’t forget a special message and effort to your LYBUNT and SYBUNT groups.

Finish LineDoing any of these things today may ensure you a win, place, or show. But I’m hopeful you will go for the trifecta and do all three. Only by taking some chances and being aggressive down the stretch will you get over that line ahead of the others. And within your organisation – everybody wins – you and your charity!

 

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It’s Christmastime – at least for QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (QIMR)

QIMR Christmas AppealThe stores are already filled with Christmas items. I walked by a large office building in Melbourne last week and it was decked out for the holiday season complete with very large Christmas trees, lights, and the works. Each year I wonder which charity will be first to send their Christmas appeal. It is highly probable the charity to win this “contest”, to be first in my letterbox, will be The Salvation Army (the winner the last several years). But, hold on. Not this year. This year’s winner is QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute (QIMR).

The pack, which was received on 30 October 2014, contains a message on the carrier to ensure everyone knows this is their Christmas appeal. The packet also contains: A two-page letter, a note from a woman named Stacey Edwards about her mother’s journey with breast cancer, a fact sheet about breast cancer, and a terrific response device. The response asks me to update my contact details and offers me a host of ways to give a gift including BPay, phone, URL, and FAX. Note the photo of Stacey and her children with Santa on the response device.QIMR Christmas Appeal Response

Congratulations to QIMR. The winner of this year’s first of the lot!

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A Halloween “trick” or “treat” for our donors is up to you

Haunted HouseWith tomorrow being Halloween, it’s likely a few parents will be helping their children dress up in costume, be it Star Wars, a superhero, or a princess, and taking them around the neighbourhood knocking on doors for the annual tradition of “trick or treat”.

In a way, every day is Halloween for charities. Where potential donors walk up to our doors, ring the bell, and when we answer the door instead of us handing out a “treat”, they hand us a donation. But it’s not as easy as sitting and waiting for that knock on the door. We have to work to get the donors to walk up, ring our bell and give their philanthropic support. Are we doing enough to get them to knock on our door or are they just walking by and going to the next place?

One year I was at home in my unit with a huge bowl of lollies waiting for the bell to ring. About 3 children came just as the sun was setting, but that was it. Not one more knock the entire night. When I investigated by going outside, I realised my neighbour was not home and had all their lights turned off, including up the walkway to both our units. It looked like no one was home at either place. A dark house is not too inviting to children on Halloween. And I was left with masses of leftover candy. It was very disappointing.

The following year, I did all I could to get as many children as I could to walk up and knock on the door. I made sure all the lights were on, I included coloured light bulbs, I played spooky music out the window and used a flashing strand of lights in an upper window. And sure enough, the number of families and children who stopped at my house went way up. But I also had great chocolates and candy to give away because I wanted the people who stopped at my house to tell other people “go there, it looks spooky and he’s giving away the best stuff.”

What can we do to make our charities look inviting to potential donors and not look like dark houses? We have great “goodies” to give them – stories of our great work and success!

First, what if a potential donor does physically walk through the door of our organisation? What do they see? Can they tell it’s our non-profit? Do we have appropriate signage? Is our logo visible? Is it neat and clean?

Are we ready to give them a tour of our organisation? Also, do we have printed material to give to them?

And are we ready to accept a donation from them if they want to give us a “treat”? Do you have a donation form ready to hand them?

Second, what if a potential donor walks through a ‘virtual’ door, by calling or clicking on our website? Does the person answering the phone know where to direct a potential donor? Does our organisation have a mission or purpose statement that is easy for all staff to repeat to potential donors? Or know examples of those success stories?

On our website, is it easy to make a donation? Is there only one ‘door’ for them? Imagine if children were “trick or treating” and they had to keep knocking on door after door to get their candy? They would leave and go to the next house with only the one door.

Third, we can make sure we have a coordinated effort with our direct mail and our electronic direct mail. Do we have all the elements we need to get that donor to walk up and ring the bell? I had inviting walkway lights, spooking house lighting, and eerie music together as a package. Not just one or the other.

Do we have the right content and message; layout and design; reply device with all the information we need to collect?

When we think about it, it’s scary how unprepared some of us may be for potential donors or how many donors just walk by our organisation because it’s too ‘dark’ and not inviting. Or we don’t have all the elements working together to make them want to stop and donate. Or the ‘treats’ are not good, so they tell others “skip that place”.

This year, let’s have “treats” for our potential donors and they have “treats” for us, too.

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Affinity credit cards – a nice way to support charity and rare in Australia

I visited McGrath FouMcGrath CCndation last week and saw an application for an affinity credit card – a McGrath Foundation branded card – in the lobby of the Foundation. I was very surprised to see this application.

Perhaps I should not have been so surprised to see the McGrath Foundation card – McGrath, like countless other breast cancer organisations, are the best at branding merchandise and, particularly, within the “Pink” cause. Likewise, McGrath Foundation is creative in their fundraising, has a strong brand and loyal supporters, and has great potential as an organisation. But, I was surprised because it is not a common occurrence to see any affinity cards in Australia.

Non-profit Affinity credit cards are very big in the US and the UK. One will typically receive such offers in the letterbox, as well as find the card offers across university campuses, hospitals, cultural institutions, and charities alike. Often the cards give a portion of the annual fee back to charity, as well as a percentage of the cards use and other perks.

McGrath CC BackThe McGrath Foundation credit card offers those who sign up an opportunity for a low interest rate, coupled with the fact the card issuer donates half the annual fee each year one holds the card to McGrath Foundation. The even more attractive value proposition is the pride you will have by carrying something branded McGrath Foundation in your wallet and each time you use the card you are promoting your affinity to the McGrath Foundation!

Does your non-profit organisation have an affinity credit card? Does it make sense for your organisation to investigate whether to develop such a relationship with a bank in order to offer one? What terms would your organisation expect should you negotiate a deal with a bank for an affinity card? What might we learn from our non-profit counterparts in the US and UK who have already embarked on such ventures? Better yet, perhaps we can use the McGrath Foundation as an Australian model?

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Six degrees of separation – making it difficult for your supporters to opt out

opt-outLike you, I receive heaps of Email daily. I get a lot of Email. I find myself repeatedly deleting Emails each week from the same companies and non-profit organisations without reading the Emails. I needed to get the volume of unwanted, or unread, Email under control.

I thought, if I am deleting these emails each day, why don’t I simply opt out of the lists so I do not have to deal with the volume in my inbox?

I spent quite a bit of time trying to opt out of the Emails and found for some organisations, it is actually quite difficult, and time-consuming, to get to the end point. Many ask me reasons I want to opt out and others try to convince me to better state my communication preferences while trying to maintain me in the end.

I cannot blame these companies because they should be trying to keep me!

IMG_0807Take MSPCA Angell Memorial Hospital for example. Angell Memorial is a place where I used to take my pets in Boston and my animals were well taken care by this wonderful organisation. However, I do not live in Boston any longer. If I did, I likely would maintain contact with Angell. I went to opt out of receiving multiple emails from Angell and they first tried to get me to change my mind by offering me a multitude of options. Thereafter I was allowed to finally opt out and I was sent to a final screen where they suggested a way to get back on their list should my needs change in the future.

Take Travelzoo, a travel website in the US. I probably used Travelzoo once or twice in my life. Yet, this site too, sends me a multitude of emails throughout a given month.. I went to opt out of Travelzoo and faced a similar exercise as Angell Memorial.

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I have often times told non-profit organisations they should work hard to turn a negative into a positive and this is exactly what these two organisations, and countless others, have done as I have been opting out of (or trying to!) their electronic communications over the last week.

When I work with organisations, I suggest they work hard when someone rings their office to opt out of direct mail to turn those calls around by offering the caller a chance to receive just one appeal a year. I further suggest these organisations offer supporters who wish to opt out the chance to select which appeal to receive, as well as the channel. It is exactly what these organisations above did with me online?

What do you feel is best practice in regard to opt out procedures? What process does your organisation put supporters through? Are your online processes similar to offline processes?

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Do you deliver training via Chinese whispers?

Rumors-580x370As children, some of us may remember the game of Chinese whispers, where the first player whispers a phrase to the next player and each player successively whispers what they believe they heard to the next player. The final message usually does not have much resemblance to the original, because of the cumulative effect of mistakes along the line. In this game there is no winner, although all participants are provided with amusement in the unrecognisable result. The game can have an educational value in showing how easily information can become corrupted by indirect communication.

In many organisations, a large percentage of staff gets trained thru the “Chinese whispers” method, where staff trains one another. While it might seem leadership are saving the organisation resources, this methodology could actually end up costing your organisation more, especially when it comes to fundraising and the use of your database. Staff who train one another in practices that might not be “best” practices end up doing things in a fashion they believe is right or doing things in a consistent way that is not “best practice”. Then that staff member trains the next staff member and so on.

Just like in the game, the same results will occur – a cumulative effect of mistakes. You may notice your data becomes polluted with erroneous or duplicate entries, or maybe processes are done in cumbersome and inefficient ways, or timesaving functionality becomes over looked. Certainly there will be no winner – not staff, constituents, or your organisations. In this real-life game, the final result is a lack of participants, donors and dollars – not amusement. Training can reverse these negative impacts on your organisation.

It’s easy to identify new staff as candidates for training; however, there are several other staff members to consider for training:

Role Change: Staff movement within your organisation is another identifier for training. As staff change roles, these staff may require skills or use of database functionality in which they were not previously trained.

Long tenure in role: Staff who have been in database administration, gifts processing, research, or fundraising roles for a long period of time should consider refresher training. While they may not need to go back to basics, refresher training will remind them of best practices and also identify new ways of doing old procedures.

Upgrade of database software: If your organisation has upgraded to a newer version, then new functionality has likely been released and incorporated. Your organisation has likely paid for the upgrade, so you should learn the new functionality.

Never trained: a percentage of staff at some organizations has never had formal training in their job. Staff who self-train end up learning functionality in a way they believe is correct or doing things in a way that is not good practice.

Can you win at Chinese whispers? The game is a success if each participant carefully whispers what they have heard and the message is transmitted accurately. This is the result you want and need for the success of your organisation. Get the message out loud and clear, plan for your training today.

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Dip a credit or debit card to Donate?

Snip20140921_10One thing, which has always bothered me about gold coin donation drives and bucket shakes, is the fact these activities create a one-time infusion of cash. Sure, the cash is nice for many charities. Nonetheless, the real worry is these types of drives do not have a means to collect a person’s details to then build a relationship with the person. Instead, a charity accepts their cash and moves on. The result is a quick transaction and the relationship ends there. Additionally, the risk associated with cash and coins exposed at cash registers and at events is very high.

This week, I read with great interest a clever innovation called GiveJar – a take off of the DipJar, an electronic tipping system from the United States. GiveJar allows a person to dip their debit or credit card and to make a donation. According to a recent article in Probono Australia, inside the GiveJar is a standard credit card reader. A charity creates a pre-configured donation amount such as $1, $2 or $10 or any amount. The customer inserts their card and pulls it out to swipe, and the jar automatically deducts the amount determined by the charity. GiveJar may also include PayWave – technology far more advanced in Australia than in the United States.

While we do not know from this article what information is passed to the charity – including whether the charity received name, contact details, and the dollar amount donated – we can certainly applaud this new technology as a safer way for people to give to your organisation than the current coin canisters at the registers or buckets at an event. In the end, this technology will require a campaign to train donors to change their way of leaving a donation. Nonetheless, put this in the innovation column and let’s applaud the DipJar company founders for their forward thinking!

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Gifts in Honour of/in Memory of are critical and sensitive

Honor-or-Memorial-GivingI have given many donations to charities to recognise happy occasions – milestone birthdays, retirements or special recognition of friends and colleagues. I also give donations in memory of individuals, including relatives or of situations where a friends’ parents who passed away. I prefer to do this in cases where I am not in the same city and cannot be at the funeral services and prefer to do this in lieu of sending flowers or some other expression of sympathy. I have had some experiences where a charity really got it right and others where I wished I had taken some other course of action.

I had to call one charity, identified by my friend because of his father’s military service, repeatedly as I attempted to make a donation in his father’s memory. When I finally reached someone, after four messages to the staff at the charity, the person tried to convince me that I meant to make the contribution in memory of someone completely different. I was asked “Are you sure you do not mean (Mr X)?” when, in fact, I wanted to make the donation in memory of my friend’s father whose name I clearly knew. The same charity took more than 6 weeks to send notification to my friend. The notification to my friend finally arrived, but with my name spelled incorrectly.

Another charity took more than 4 weeks to send notification to a friend whose mother had passed away.

There is nothing worse, as a donor, to wonder if the donation was actually processed and then to wonder if the honouree or the family of the memorialised will actually ever get notified of the donation. The situation puts the donor in an uncomfortable position. The situation becomes more awkward over time when the family may believe you did not send an expression of sympathy. Additionally, the situation becomes a bit of a nightmare when the donor and family are talking about the charity’s bad practices.

I should state that when I have given gifts in memory, there have also been outstanding experiences. One, a US hospice where a friend’s mother was cared for in her final weeks, handled the international telephone call in a superb manner, sent immediate acknowledgement to me, and, also, quickly sent notification to my friend the same day of my gift. This hospice has continued to steward me over time and sends me their quarterly e-newsletter and the very occasional request for more support.

Speed and accuracy are important in any donation and acknowledgement processing. Speed and accuracy are the two most important attributes in tribute gifts. Tribute gifts are the most time sensitive gifts your organisation accepts. When a charity fails in either place (or both) that charity is not worthy of our support.

There are 6 questions which need to be asked within your organisation to ensure you are operating the back end of your tribute program in an effective manner:

  • Does your charity have trained staff to handle tribute calls?
  • Do you process donations in honour or memory within the same day or do these donations wait for a staff person who may only work part-time?
  • Does your charity pay attention to detail and ensure spellings of names and the addresses are accurate?
  • Does notification to the honouree or to the survivors get sent the same day or do you wait until you have a lot of them to notify parties?
  • Is your notification highly personalised?
  • Do you thank the donor the same day?

Do you inform the honouree or the survivors of the contact details of everyone who makes a donation in their honour or in memory of their loved one? Doing so assists them to pass along their gratitude, as well.

Tribute gifts are a source of income for most charities. Those who decide gifts should be directed to your organisation expect the gifts will be handled with accuracy and expeditiously. Donors expect the same. Do not let anyone down.

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Making an ask in your thank you letter/receipt? That’s forward of you

ThanksI recently attended the F&P Magazine Australiasian Fundraising Forum in Sydney. I was delighted to hear a presentation by Derek Glass from Ask2, which focused on Ask2 clients who ask for an additional donation in their donor thank you/acknowledgement/receipt. I was even happier that Derek and Ask2 had some data to prove that the fundraising methodology works.

US organisations, like the medical centre where I formally worked, have been including asks in donor thank you letters for years. I remember the reaction the first time I developed an acknowledgement program and included a test of asks in the letters/receipts. Development staff thought I was, at best, out of my mind and, at worst, making donors feel less valued for a gift they had already given. What were the results? $100,000 more to the bottom line in year one.

Those of you who have seen me present know I have told organisations in Asia-Pacific they need to test making an ask in their donor acknowledgement program. I suggest a three part test:

  1. Letter/receipt with simple thanks (no ask, simply an acknowledgement of the gift and expression of gratitude)
  2. Letter/receipt with a “soft ask” (a giving envelope without any other sort of call to action)
  3. Letter/receipt with a direct ask (a thank you letter with a direct ask and a personalised response device)

There have been times when I mentioned this idea in Asia Pacific and I have received a dramatic reaction from audiences. I think they see it as the aggressive American fundraiser in me. Some say that if they suggested such a thing in their nonprofit organisation they would be directed to the exit sign. Without at least testing making a direct ask in your donor thank you letters, might you be leaving money on the table?

Do you include an ask in your donor acknowledgement letters or receipts? Let me hear from you.

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