Creating A Donor For Life and Beyond!

One hard and fast truth when it comes to fundraising is that you can't fake sincerity. Oh, don't get me wrong there are lots of professional fundraisers out there who have developed a good poker face. But the truth of the matter is people want to be treated like people not like a cash register. Cha Ching!

Some people honestly think if they could just figure out which buttons to push the drawer will pop out and all they have to do is reach their hand in and get the cash they need. Rest assured those same people would skip getting the loose change but only think about the bills.

If you really want to understand the people you are trying to convince to give to your cause then you need to step back and ask yourself, what are you as a fundraiser and nonprofit offering the donor?

Creating a donor for life and beyond is possible, but you must first get the thought out of your head that you will achieve instant success. Realize like most worthy endeavors this is a long gradual process. Again, donors are not scratch and win tickets!

So how does one begin? First as an organization you need to realize your appeal is limited and it impossible to be universally liked. Also, you'll be expected to compete with many other distractions that are constantly changing in the life of your donor. While you might not personally care about this that does not negate the truth of the matter.

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." John Donne - Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1623), XVII

We as individuals would like to think we can operate in our own little bubble and not have to worry about what goes on around us. However, no matter how wealthy a person might be we are all affected by the ills of society. In general we have concerns and sometimes fears. This reality can often be the bridge to nonprofits that are trying to address such needs. In some ways donors are the light switch that you find is either turned on, sending the much needed electricity through your nonprofit, or they are turned off and disengaged all together.

In order to determine the flow of electricity nonprofits need to be mindful of the meter. It is amazing now many staff members of nonprofits and boards of directors find themselves in a blame game. How often have you heard the phrases often said in a panic: Donor's aren't responding to our requests! I know the economy is bad so that must be why donations are down.

While I asked this question earlier I would like to again call your focus and attention to the question below. Read slowly and let it sink in this time: As a fundraiser and nonprofit what are offering to the donor?

Are you offering a chance of a lifetime, to change the life of an individual? Or instead, are you asking for mere operational money?

While nonprofits might be good at helping people they are often poor students of understanding basic human nature!

The best sales and marketing staffs in the world understand the human nature and intuitive relationship they must offer their customer i.e. in your case the donor.

Many folks have heard the old sales axiom: You are selling the sizzle not the steak! While any food will do to stop hunger, why do you choose a specific restaurant? All cars can provide you the basic transportation to get you from point A to B but why are you so focused on getting an SUV? It's time to buy light bulbs, but are you really buying the GE light bulbs or do you really only care about knowing that when you again turn on the switch the light pops on!

There are people who have made a profession to be "food artist" or "hand models." This is all done for one purpose and that is to create a perceived relationship between a product or service to a potential buyer.

So, Mr. or Mrs. Nonprofit I would like to introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Donor. Let me tell you a few things you need to know about these important people. Unlike in the for profit arena, donors typically are not buying products or services from nonprofits, yet there is expectation that goes far beyond just a simple acknowledgement. They want to know that whatever dollars they choose to give you will be treated with honor and respect and used wisely.

The time after a donation is the most critical moment for any nonprofit. The donor has made the first step in starting a relationship with a prospective nonprofit.

Most nonprofits unfortunately fail to understand that when a donor makes a contribution they are not just giving dollars but are in fact transferring a level of trust to the recipient. This concept of trust is quite interesting and universal. At the core of this transfer is a strongly held belief by the donor that something worthy will come about because they chose to respond to either a call for action from the nonprofit or were self motivated to give to respond to a need that was perceived.

While donors might initially be attracted to the nonprofit by a passionate appeal, this connection will fade fast unless there is a plan of action to follow up and let the donor know the difference their contribution made.

This "action plan" is not one letter, one phone call, one face to face contact. If you want to build a lasting relationship you have to be willing to spend time to get to know your donor first as a person and individual.

Oftentimes nonprofits categorize donors as if they were grades of beef. Their reasoning tends to revolve around a logical mind set believing that it is more profitable and their best use of time to spend more time with donors of means than with donors who could not afford to give as much. Most nonprofits, therefore, are found roaming the countryside on a constant preverbal "buffalo hunt" with every other nonprofit going after that same big buffalo. Yet, I have never come across any community that is overrun with large population of donor buffalos.

Instead I can't help but realize that we are ignoring a truth that has been given to us in the Christian story of the Widow's Mite. If you are not familiar with the story let me share it with you:

Mark 12:41-44 41 "And he sat down over against the treasury, and beheld how the multitude cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. 42 And there came a poor widow, and she cast in two mites, which make a farthing. 43 And he called unto him his disciples, and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, This poor widow cast in more than all they that are casting into the treasury: 44 for they all did cast in of their superfluity; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living."

So do you really want a donor for life? What types of individuals are you seeking to find and why?

If your focus is only on the money but not the donor commitment then you have lost a great deal of perspective in your process of fundraising. In order to find someone willing to make a life long commitment, however, nonprofits need to also have the realization that this type of relationship is in fact a two way street.

If honestly graded the vast majority of nonprofits would not be given a passing grade on their ability to not just find donors but to retain them.

Everyone wants a generous donor, well guess what, donors want a generous nonprofit too!

Providing feedback and information to all donors is critical if a nonprofit expects to receive future gifts. Likewise it is also important that staff members share their time and personal commitment story to the donor about their enthusiasm.

We all know staff members are paid to do their job and there is nothing wrong with this. However, donors have little respect for individuals when they think the people running the organization don't honestly care about the cause they are pushing.

Creating a donor for life and beyond by way of a planned gift is more than one person's job, but that of the entire paid staff and volunteer board. Meeting this challenge head on quickly separates nonprofits that just strive to be good to those that aspire to be great!

Short Cuts... Everyone Wants One In Fundraising!

Some time ago I had a guy call me with this great new fundraising idea he wanted me to help him promote on my website. The scheme was to involve this company getting the nonprofits interested in contacting their donors and convince them to allow a life insurance policy to be taken out on the donor's life, and the beneficiary would be the nonprofit and of course the company selling this product.

Also, neither the nonprofit nor the donor would have to pay anything! This company had somehow gotten an insurance company to agree to this crazy deal as well as a bank to loan the money, I assume based on mortality tables.

Obviously this "great fundraising idea" has been outlawed by most states and the IRS thankfully was all over this one for good reason!

I politely denied being associated with this guy and he could not understand why I didn't want to promote this wonderful fundraising idea! Unbeknownst to the salesman of his idea, I've been dealing with life insurance since I was in my early 20's and my first question right out of the box was how can you prove insurable interest! He was shocked by my question and did not have an answer. Anyway, I passed on this "great offer" like I do on most of these "wonderful" ideas!

Sadly, I think, many nonprofits blindly jump when given the chance to sign up for a program that is touted as, the super secret and the greatest money making deal of the century, instead of doing what they were taught to do in grade school: stop, drop and roll when you find yourself on fire!

Most of these new age snake oil salesmen quickly and easily tell nonprofits that big money is just around the corner if they just do a few simple things! If you ever hear this statement:

"This plan really is the future of fundraising. In just a few weeks you can have a continuous and effortless stream of income 24/7 by just......."

Please folks, politely tell the person, thank you, but you are not interested! You're, after all, a non profit organization that doesn't have the staff or the time to be their sales force and you have enough work of your own to do just to survive!

Most of the common online fundraising concepts I'd seen or heard pitched lately involve the following themes:

The person trying to sell you this great fundraising/money making concept gives you a "free web page;" which most times is a template page with a few fill in the blank sections. All in all these pages are completely worthless because they don't have any unique content and rarely show up
on any search engine. Plus you don't have a specific domain name! However, the sales guy tries to convince you it is so easy to make money this way..... Oh they say: Just tell all your family, friends and donors to go to this page i.e. that promotes or sell their product or service, and you get a percentage by doing nothing. Come on guys!

Obviously the company selling this concept doesn't have the advertising dollars nor does it have the sales force to do the work they want done and that is why they want you! Trust me, it's not about being civic minded or because they have a wonderful love for your nonprofit. It's all hype!

Please ask yourself these questions! Does the product or service that is being sold have any real point of difference or can you find it everywhere? Is this something the consumer really wants? Lastly, is what is being sold something some one, a reasonable person mind you, would be willing to make the effort to buy from you?

To borrow a catch phase: Quality, Value and Convenience! All in all, it has to make good sound logical sense and be hassle free in order to work! Being successful online in selling goods or services only happen when: people want it and you have it at the lowest or at a reasonable price and you have repeated your message of how you can be found over and over so they know where to look!

Another twist to this same concept is the company gets you to place their information on your website and then tells you that you will get paid X percentage when people buy their product or service through your site. Usually there is no third party verification and it's all done on faith that you will get paid for what actually happens through your site. Sometimes the percentage payback is so low on these sales that it take tons of purchases before you ever get the first check, if you ever get one!

Now before I get a lot of flaming emails, and by the way I don't mind agreeing to disagree, I will admit that some affiliate programs do work but they are few and far between and you're not going to get rich doing this!

It's all based off of the web traffic you can generate, how sticky your site is because of your content and it boils down to a numbers game!

Again, let me ask you a simple question:

How many nonprofits are known for their web traffic? Very few!

Finally as I close I want to extinguish another myth that's floating around:

Being on the web is important for most nonprofits; but you have to put all this into perspective!

Establishing a website I think should only be attempted after a nonprofit has established themselves and become relatively stable in their funding. Then and only then, should they consider putting their information on the web. You don't want to have a website that is never updated or has no information in it.

Even before this happens you really first have to ask yourself WHY! Why do we want a website? It can't be for vanity sake or because other nonprofits have one! Secondly, what is the purpose for the website? Who is going to keep the information fresh and updated? Lastly, how are people going to know the site exists? All this has to be a part of your overall marketing plan. If you don't have a marketing plan...then forget the website idea!

Websites can be used as a decent advertising tool letting people know who you are and why you exist. But please folks, don't expect that people will just read your information and think they will be flooding your mail box with checks! Likewise understand that using broadcast emails, faxes and in many cases emailed newsletters can, in some cases, be effective but it will be on a very limited basis!

In general, people don't want to waste their time and the real key is:

If they don't feel personally connected to your nonprofit via face to face time then the chance of them reading your emails, faxes and newsletters I think are slim to none!

Other common fundraising idea involving the nonprofit to becoming the main sales force to promote the seller's product or service involves promoting: credit cards, selling travel services, phone services, electric services and the list goes on and on.

A more localized scheme involves professional fundraising companies who in many cases  approach a local older civic group a telling them that they won't have to do anything but make money! This company will fundraise to bring a carnival or circus into town and do all the fundraising by getting sponsors and even donating some seats so the underprivileged children in town can see the show. This is done of course using the civic group's good name. In many cases 70% or more of the money leaves town and the civic group has little to show for the fundraiser that just took place using their name.

Speaking of fundraising! All nonprofits need to establish their own signature fundraising event and do it themselves. It is not easy; no one said life was fair or easy but that is the board's job to help secure the nonprofit's financial stability.

As a consultant I can tell you that there is no one size fits all fundraiser that works everywhere! Nonprofits, however, do have to really focus on the amount of time they can spend and what they net from the event or events they hold.

Many times when I talk to a nonprofit and ask them why they are doing this event it is because they have always done it. Not that they have really analyzed it to see if it was the best and most cost effective thing to do. Also, I think nonprofits from time to time really need to stop and analyze their funding mix i.e. how much money is generated from program fees, local, state or federal government grants, United Way, individual donors, civic groups, local businesses and corporations, foundations and endowments or trusts. If you are relying too much on one source then it is only prudent of you and your board to make an effort to do something different and purpose to making a change!

I you have any questions you can always email me: john@minges.com

Also, make sure you visit my website for more free information:
www.nonprofitexpert.com

DISCLAIMER: This information is not intended to provide legal or accounting advice, or to address specific situations. Please consult with your legal or tax advisor to supplement and verify what you learn here.