Nonprofit

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Steps to a successful fundraising plan

Developing a fundraising strategic plan can be a daunting task, but it’s a necessary step in achieving the financial stability and growth of any organisation. A successful fundraising plan requires careful planning, research, and attention to detail, but with the right components in place, it can be a powerful tool for achieving your organisation’s goals.

Essential components to include in your fundraising strategic plan

  1. Mission and Vision
    • The first step in developing a fundraising plan is to articulate the mission and vision of your organisation
    • This includes a clear statement of what your organisation does, who it serves, and what impact you hope to have
    • Having a strong and well-defined mission and vision will provide a framework for the rest of your fundraising plan and help you stay focused on your goals
  2. Goals and Objectives
    • Next, you need to define specific and measurable goals and objectives for your fundraising plan
    • These should align with your organization’s mission and vision and should be achievable within a specific timeframe
    • Examples of goals might include increasing overall fundraising revenue, diversifying your donor base, or launching a new fundraising campaign.
  3. SWOT Analysis
    • A SWOT analysis is a useful tool for evaluating your organisation’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
    • This information can help you identify areas where you need to focus your efforts and make informed decisions about the strategies and tactics you’ll use to reach your goals
  4. Target Donor Audience
    • Knowing your target donor audience is essential to developing a successful fundraising plan
    • You need to understand who are your potential donors
    • Further, you need to understand what motivates them to give, and how you can best reach them
    • Consider factors such as age, income, interests, and giving history when defining your target audience
  5. Fundraising Channels
    • There are many different channels you can use to raise funds, including:
    • Direct mail, online giving, major gifts, grant writing, and more
    • You need to consider which channels are best suited to your target audience
    • Consider which will help you achieve your goals
    • Consider also how you can make the most of technology to reach your donors and make the giving process as easy as possible
  6. Budget and Timeline
    • Developing a budget and timeline is essential to ensuring the success of your fundraising plan
    • You need to understand what resources are required to implement your plan
    • Further, explore how much money you need to raise, and when you need to raise it
    • Having a clear budget and timeline will help you stay on track and ensure that you’re making the best use of your resources
  7. Evaluation and Tracking
    • Finally, it’s essential to have a system in place for evaluating and tracking your progress against your goals
    • This will allow you to make any necessary adjustments to your plan and ensure that you’re on track to achieve your desired results

With careful planning and attention to detail, you can develop a successful fundraising plan that will help you achieve your organisation’s financial stability and growth.

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Board member engagement in fundraising is essential

Engaging board members in fundraising and giving is critical to the success and sustainability of any non-profit organisation. These important individuals play a key role in securing the resources to drive the mission and goals of the organisation. Their commitment to giving and fundraising sets the tone for others in the community.

Ways to engage board members in fundraising and giving

There are a variety of ways we can engage board members in giving themselves and in soliciting funds on our behalf.

  1. Lead by Example
    • Encourage your board members to be philanthropic leaders in their own right
    • Encourage them to make a personal contribution to the organisation and challenge them to inspire others to do the same
    • Each Board member should give to their capacity
  2. Make it Personal
    • Help board members understand how their involvement in fundraising and giving can make a real difference to the organisation and the people it serves
    • Share stories and statistics about the impact of the organisation’s work and the difference that their contributions make
  3. Provide Opportunities for Giving
    • Offer a variety of ways for board members to give, such as individual gifts, gifts of stock, or planned giving
    • Make sure they understand the tax benefits of charitable giving
    • Their gifts are acknowledged and appreciated in the same manner as other generous donors
  4. Involve Them in Fundraising Activities
    • Provide opportunities for these key volunteers to actively participate in fundraising initiatives
    • This could include soliciting donations, making fundraising calls, or hosting events
  5. Recognise and Celebrate
    • Acknowledge and celebrate the generosity and commitment of your board members
    • Share their stories and the impact of their gifts with others
    • Make sure they feel valued and appreciated
  6. Provide Training and Support
    • Provide board members with the training and support they need to be successful in their fundraising and giving efforts
    • This might include coaching and training in fundraising techniques, information about the organization’s fundraising goals and strategies, and access to resources and tools

By engaging your charity board members in fundraising and giving, you can create a culture of philanthropy that will benefit your organisation for years to come. With their commitment and leadership, you can build a sustainable future for your organisation and the people it serves.

Salutation

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An Addressee and Salutation are a basic piece of data

December is a busy time for multi-channel Christmas appeals. My letterbox and email box, like yours, were filled with asks from various Australian charitable organisations. This year I was struck by the number of charities who got the manner they addressed me simply wrong. An Addressee and Salutation are a basic piece of CRM function. A basic piece of data which, if done incorrectly, can really turn off a donor.

Flawed Salutations

This year I received pieces of mail and electronic direct marketing (eDM) pieces from dozens of Australian universities, schools, and charitable organisations with the following types of flawed salutations:

• Dear Friend

• Dear Mr Stephen M Mally

• Dear StephenMally

• Dear Mally

• Dear Mr S Mally

• Dear <Blank>

One Australian university advancement office sent me an eDM on Wednesday, 18 December reading “Dear :”. Clearly someone called the error to their attention because a second copy of the eDM was sent 5 hours later reading “Dear Stephen:”. There was no notation as to why I received the duplicate copy except the obvious correction to the flawed eDM sent earlier that morning. If someone did not check their emails with frequency they would have seen the two emails back to back and thought they were duplicates.

Simply put, a salutation demonstrates the way you know your donor. Dear <Title> <First Name> <Middle Initial> <Surname> states you not only do not know me whatsoever, but sends this donor the message you do not care to know me any longer. Variations of such sloppiness which include Dear <First NameSurname> without a space in between the <First Name> or <Surname>, Dear <Surname> or Dear <Title> <Middle Initial> <Surname> show donors you either lack the ability to manage your constituent relationship management (CRM) solution or, perhaps, your mail house is making errors in assembling your packs. Either way, these are the sorts of issues which cost you in your fundraising and response rates.

4 Steps to Better Greetings

It’s time every organisation holds people accountable for the condition of the data in your CRM and in the way we manage each and every record. Here are steps you can take to address how you greet your donors on an individual basis:

1. Run a report of all donor records in your CRM to diagnose the magnitude of the issue by searching for the examples I have named above.

2. Globally replace “Friend” with <First Name> or <Title> <Surname> depending on whether your organisation has a policy of informal or formal greetings. 

  • Perhaps you are lucky enough to own a CRM which is robust enough to accommodate both options.

3. Next, identify the records containing the other errors in the examples above, fixing them on a global basis and, where required, manually.

  • No record should lack a salutation.
  • Donors give their name when they make a contribution. Donors deserve to be greeted formally or informally.
  • No record should suggest your data management is “sloppy”, such as Dear <Surname> or Dear <First NameSurname>.

4. Train staff to make it a habit to establish records correctly and, thereafter, to edit and enhance every record when in possession of the record.

Make the New Year an opportunity to turn over a new leaf in CRM and data management and in supporter care. Start with the greetings you hold in your CRM for your supporters. What steps are you taking to ensure you do not turn off your donors because of a flawed salutation?

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#GivingTuesday – a worldwide effort to encourage philanthropy and volunteerism.

Each year I write a blog post about #GivingTuesday. In these posts, I encourage non-profit organisations across Australia to join this dynamic global campaign, which focuses on driving people and entities to give money, time, and product during one 24-hour period. #GivingTuesday is the original Giving Day, not simply focused on your organisation, but on a worldwide effort to encourage philanthropy and volunteerism. A giving day is becoming more popular in Australia and this is one that is pre-built for you.

Pre-built marketing effort

The nice part about #GivingTuesday is the fact the marketing materials and key ideas come to you from the #GivingTuesday organisation. Additionally, #GivingTuesday does not simply involve work on behalf of charities. #GivingTuesday also involves everyone across the sector and from all walks of life, including:

  • Individuals
  • Clubs and Organisations
  • Businesses and Corporations
  • Schools

#GivingTuesday will take place on 3 December 2019. It is always the Tuesday following the US Thanksgiving holiday. It was designed that way. Why? The concept is people indulge in their family and in themselves during the US long holiday weekend – they gather with family and friends, they eat a big meal, and they shop endlessly over the four-day weekend. By the time Tuesday rolls around, people are back to work and need to do something to balance that indulgence. Enter #GivingTuesday – an event featuring online and offline giving in a very focused and massive way.

#GivingTuesday is only 15 Tuesdays away. If #GivingTuesdasy sounds of interest to you, get your planning started and determine ways your non-profit organisation might take advantage of a pre-built marketing campaign to drive increased engagement and donations to your organisation.

Thinking of starting your own Giving Day? Perhaps #GivingTuesday is a better strategy for your organisation. Already have a Giving Day at another time during the year? Perhaps participating in #GivingTuesday will offer a boost to participation and revenue during another time of the year.

For more information on #GivingTuesday, check out their website today. If you want to discuss #GivingTuesday or Giving Days in greater detail, contact FundraisingForce.

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Face to Face Fundraisers – do not need to be out of site out of mind

Do you often worry what your face to face fundraisers may be doing to capture the attention of prospective donors on the streets in the capital cities of Australia? Are they stopping prospects in their tracks? Reaching out to shake the prospect’s hands? What are they saying to the prospect to get them to surrender a credit card for their regular gift?  Are they only stopping prospective donors their age or are they, indeed, diverse in those they approach?

Face to face fundraisers do not need to be out of site out of mind.

Mystery Shopping Defined

Mystery shopping allows a shopper to mask as a prospective donor or fundraiser on behalf of a non-profit organisation and to perform a scenario specifically designed for the organisation. The shopper will employ their skills to seek answers to questions an organisation seeks to understand. Whether your organisation is seeking to understand an experience of a prospective donor or fundraiser or whether certain quality measures or targets are achieved, mystery shoppers will help you to measure the situation at hand.

FundraisingForce has over a dozen years shopping face to face fundraising, lotteries, community fundraising, major gifts, bequests, and other fundraising scenarios for charitable organisation across Asia Pacific and throughout Europe. We know, first-hand the scenarios organisations are after and the type of reporting desired.

Benefits of Face to Face Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping will allow your non-profit organisation to understand the following:

  • Demographics of individuals engaged.
  • Number of individuals attempted each 15 minutes.
  • Manner in which prospective donors are greeted.
  • Dress and grooming of your fundraisers.
  • Length of discussions.
  • Highlights of discussions.
  • Distractions causing fundraisers to not approach prospects.
  • Additional training needed.

Steps for Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping must not be conducted in a cookie cutter approach. Shops should be tailored and customised to meet your organsiation’s requirements. The following steps are conducted for each mystery shopping customers:

  1. Defining and understanding the non-profit client’s requirements.
  2. Developing scenarios and surveys to fit the client’s requirements.
  3. Approval of the scenarios and scenario by the client.
  4. Hiring of shoppers to meet the demographics required.
  5. Training of the shoppers.
  6. Shopping the scenarios for a defined timeframe.
  7. Reporting to the non-profit client.

Experience

Experience in mystery shopping is critical. Hire a professional mystery shopping firm with expertise in non-profit mystery shopping. Mystery shopping our sector is specialised and no one should assume all mystery shopping – whether for a commercial organisation or charitable organisation – is the same.

For more information on non-profit mystery shopping, contact FundraisingForce today.

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Does age define who gets solicited by nonprofit street canvassers?

On any given day, Australian non-profits blanket the streets and parks of capital cities to solicit regular gifts from passersby. I never get stopped by those soliciting for health, environmental, international aid, and other types of charities. Does age define who gets solicited by nonprofit street canvassers or face to face fundraisers?

Street canvassers are typically very young adults, approximately 18-25 years old. Dressed in t-shirts branded with the charity name, they often struggle to get people to stop to have a conversation with them. Some people do anything they can to not engage with the canvassers. I try to have eye contact with the canvassers and do everything possible to see if they will engage with me. Instead, the canvassers look down and wait for their next prospect!

Is it my age? At 55 years old, have I “aged out” of the target audience for canvassers’ interest?

People aged from 40-65 years old likely have stable income to offer Australian non-profit organisations. Yet, I see the street canvassers stop people in their own age bracket and let those 40-65 pass them. I suspect those in their own age bracket have far less disposable income and, perhaps, less capability and likelihood to give a donation on a credit card on a monthly basis. If the young passersby are likely to stop, have a conversation with their peer, and agree to a monthly donation, they may have buyer’s remorse and cancel the donation at a higher rate than older adults with a more stable financial background.

Are street canvassers more comfortable talking to people there own age? Do they have a higher success rate signing on people their own age than someone older? Is the retention rate the same for both age groups?

Have any fundraising firms or nonprofit organisations studied this matter? Do you have thoughts about target audiences for street canvassing?

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Clive Palmer sent an unsolicited SMS…again

Last week I wrote about Australian politician Clive Palmer sending an unsolicited text. Clive Palmer sent an unsolicited SMS…again.

This new text suggested, if elected, he will work to stop politicians from sending unsolicited texts. I asked the obvious question – why send an unsolicited text just to suggest you are working to end unsolicited texts by politicians?

Reported in the media, Clive Palmer apparently sent this second unsolicited text-based on the negative reaction he received from the first text he sent to Australian voters. Perhaps some Australians may view this strategy as “clever”. However, there is no way for someone, like me, who find it annoying to opt out of future messages.

Perhaps Clive Palmer views the publicity he has received from this tactic to be positive. He has received a lot of airplay from the annoyance, including two posts from this Australian fundraiser. Nonetheless, why is it that politicians pass legislation excluding themselves of having to follow the law? Clive Palmer says his text messages are entirely legal under the privacy act. that may or may not be true. Why don’t politicians, at least, follow best practices Australian charities and businesses follow?

 

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Return to Sender and mail marked deceased do not self-process

Return to SenderIt fascinates me when I walk through many non-profit organisations and I see AUS Post bins overflowing with pieces marked Return to Sender (RTS) and deceased. Some of this mail has been in these bins for so long it is collecting dust. Bins of RTS and mail marked deceased do not self-process. Your team must take immediate action in CRM.

Take Action Now

Take action in the following order:

  1. Sort the mail into the broad categories of RTS and Deceased.  Further sort each into piles of your constituents or constituents from rental/exchanged lists.
  2. For your constituents, look up each constituent in your CRM. Mark the record as RTS or deceased and document any further information known.
  3. For constituents from rental or exchanged lists, enter those IDs and whether deceased or RTS into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
    • Return this list to your list broker to take further action from the list owner, including marking deceased on their database.
      • You will want to get financial credit from the broker for both the deceased and RTS records rented to your organisation. Why pay for names which were not deliverable?

Not taking the action, above, will mean you will continue to mail to the same bad addresses and the same deceased people. The net result is a waste of materials and postage. People who are not reachable and people who have died will continue to support your organisation at the same rate as they are at present = not at all.

You owe it to your constituents to manage your data properly and each non-profit organisation owes it to one another to maintain data before renting or exchanging names with other charitable organisation.

 

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Suppliers supporting fundraisers

Special thanks to the special suppliers who supported the @FundInstNSW End of Year Celebration. More than 140 non-profit fundraisers gathered in Sydney on 5 December to celebrate our sector and the Fundraising Institute Australia honourees.

We are a very successful sector full of very giving suppliers who sponsor the @FundInstNSW events over the course of the year! Join us for an exciting program packed full of professional development opportunities in the New Year beginning with a Networking Night on 6 February 2019! Watch this site for more detail.

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#GivingTuesday, Australia

It’s the Tuesday following US Thanksgiving, Blackbaud Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday. That means it’s #GivingTuesday, Australia.

What are you planning to do for #GivingTuesday? Have you had plans in place to execute for many months? Or, have you planned nothing at all?

#GivingTuesday is a unique opportunity for charities, suppliers, and donors to come together to boost charitable giving in one day and to do so world-wide. You can do as little or as much effort as you live. The beautiful part is the day falls smack in the middle of our Christmas appeal season in Australia. So, why not test the waters to see if it makes a difference for your non-profit organisation.

How can you charities, suppliers, and donors come together and get involved?

#GivingTuesday – Charities

  • Create a day-long social media campaign to promote giving to your Christmas or year-end appeal. Push donations online.
  • Conduct a one-day calling program to acquire new donors, renew past supporters, and upgrade those who are regular donors.
  • Get an army of volunteers to join you by calling to thank donors who have already supported your Christmas or end of year appeal.

#GivingTuesday – Suppliers

  • Give to your non-profit customers Christmas or end of year appeals.
  • Volunteer for the day at a local homeless shelter or other charitable organisation.
  • Give 10% back on all invoices for the month f December.

#GivingTuesday – Donors

  • Volunteer for a charity today or this evening – something you have been meaning to do for a long time.
  • Sign up to be a regular volunteer at the charity of your choice.
  • Become a regular donor to a charity of your choice.
  • Gather all the loose change you have and drop it off at a charity in your neighbourhood.
  • Clean out a closet and drop the clothes at Vinnies or Salvation Army so they may be sold to another loving home.

You see, #GivingTuesday does not need to be well planned and executed. Although, it helps increase your results if you do plan the activities and steps! #GivingTuesday can be the smallest acts of kindness or a large-scale campaign. #GivingTuesday is what you make it.

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