Boards and Fundraising How to Ask for Money

Warhol Initiative Convening

June 25, 2011 Facilitated by Nancy J. Lee, Managing Consultant

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What Well Cover Today

Presentation

1. Basic facts: hardly anyone likes asking for money, and most groups dont have deep-pocket boards! 2. Roles and responsibilities: the board wont succeed without good staff support. 3. Fund development precedes fund raising and effective asks. 4. Good communications and story-telling are essential to success. 5. Nine steps to successful individual donor campaigns.

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Copyright 2001 Susan Kenny Stevens. Excerpted from the book Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity. All rights reserved. 2

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Dialogue, share ideas about what works

Is This Really a Board Responsibility?

The board of directors is responsible for ensuring that the organization has sufficient resources to carry out its mission. Even when the board delegates this work to the staff, it retains ultimate responsibility for funding the organization. But board members need to know what, exactly, this means in this organizations context.
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Hardly Anyone Likes Asking for Money

Most board members find this an anxietyproducing task, and many find ways to excuse themselves from the responsibility.

I give my time, thats enough. I dont know the right people. Fund raising is belittling. Raising money is the role of the development staff. My work on the board has to do with policy.

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Lessen Board Member Anxiety

Keep in mind:

You arent asking for yourself, nor do you have anything to gain financially, nor are you seeking something from others which you yourself have not given.

Your position is unassailable: you are a volunteer working on behalf of a cause thats in the public interest and serves the general good.
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Board / Staff Roles and Responsibilities Three Important Realities

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Board / Staff Roles Reality #1

It is 100 percent the staffs responsibility to make sure the board is successful in its fundraising.
Define accountabilities Set goals and monitor them using good metrics Determine the structure of fundraising program Provide board members with training, clear assignments, reminders, ongoing reports and updates, inspiration

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Board / Staff Roles Reality #2

It is 100% the boards responsibility to do what it says it will do.

And wise organizations will set their fundraising goals accordingly.

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Board / Staff Roles - Reality #3

Working together will result in greater progress toward meeting this responsibility and raising more money
Staff must be well-suited to this work and willing to support the board The board must include members who acknowledge their role and will follow through on assignments
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Clear Communication Is Critical to Success

I. Internally: money conversation grounds board members in this duty and prepares them to develop and solicit donors
Board members need to know what the gap is, how big it is, and what wont happen if the gap isnt closed Board members need to see the mission in action and learn success stories first-hand Most board members need help describing the mission and services and learning how to tell at least one success story succinctly Aspects of your money conversations should be part of every board meeting (and not just the EDs report)

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Clear Communication Is Critical to Success (cont)

How does your board conduct money conversation? Who participates? Do all board members know how much your organization needs to raise?

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Clear Communication Is Critical to Success (cont)

II. Externally: stories inspire others to give
Supporters and potential supporters are moved by stories shared with authenticity and clarity Potential donors want to know what the gap is, how big it is, and what wont happen if the gap isnt closed Tell your stories continually to broad target audiences: board, current donors, audiences, neighbors Use all sorts of venues and formats
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What are your inspiring stories, and how do you tell them?

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Fund Development . Then Fundraising

Goal: developas many potential donors as possible by engaging people in your mission, programs, success stories, events Donors typically first engage with the organization through programming and other types of participation. They agree to become donors because they understand and are moved by and value the organizations work.
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Maximize these relationships

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Fund Development . Then Fundraising (cont.)

Put board members who are nervous about soliciting to work developing donors.

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1. Make phone calls to donors to thank them for their recent contribution. 2. Host donors and/or prospects at a reception in board members home. 3. Invite donors, volunteers, community members, family, friends, colleagues, and others to your events, including the get to know us type of events that are free. 4. Take a current or former donor to coffee to thank them for their recent gift. Obviously its not practical to take every donor out; set a minimum donation goal for this type of activity. 5. Make an introduction to the community affairs person at their workplace. 6. Give a heartfeltbut shortspeech at their church or civic group to invite interest in your organization. 7. Others you use?

Lessen Board Member Anxiety and Get to Action

Staff - plan and structure the work

Break board members work into manageable pieces that fit their skills and aptitudes as closely as possible Develop a timeline for the fundraising campaign
firm deadlines, tight schedules reporting sessions reminders and follow-up phone calls

Cultivate board members skills; provide training in developing and soliciting donors
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Facilitated workshops, half-day briefings Accompanying an experienced solicitor on a call

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E.D. Vision and Leadership Is Essential

Most asks are made by the E.D., not the board

The contribution of this nations Third Sector to meeting twenty-first-century challenges is constrained by a lack of resources. Acquiring them with a greater sense of urgency, of competency and of creativity is a critical task. It can be accomplished, but only if the chief executive becomes personally engaged and catalyzes volunteers and professional staff with vision and by example.

Reynold Levy in Yours for the Asking

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Executive Directors Fund Development Every Day

What amount of time have you spent today to connect with a donor? ___Who did you thank for their gift?
___Who did you invite to make a gift? ___Who did you contact to provide some feedback about how a recent gift was put to good use? ___Where did you deepen a connection and cause someone to feel special for supporting your organization? ___Do you know the faces & names of your top 25 or 30 or even 100 supporters? ___Do those supporters know that they are special to your organization for more than just their annual check? ___In what specific way(s) can you lead a board member toward participating with you in one or more of these tasks?

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Nine Steps to Successful Individual Donor Campaigns

From Lori Jacobwith, www.lorijacobwith.com

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Nine Steps to Successful Individual Donor Campaigns from www.lorijacobwith.com

Successful campaigns share nine fundamental characteristics. How many does your fund development program include?

____ 1. Campaign is led and supported by key volunteer and/or staff leadership (board chair, CEO, executive director, pastor, rabbi)

____ 2. Campaign is supported and managed by at least one staff. (Development Director, Development Associate) ____ 3. ALL board members participate in some capacity.
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Successful Individual Donor Campaigns (cont.) from

www.lorijacobwith.com

____ 4.The goal is well defined, there is a clear message of need and a specific timeline that creates a sense of urgency.

____ 5. Campaign creates an emotional connection making it personal for people to participate.

____ 6. Keep donors and interested parties informed and engaged with follow-up emails, calls, meetings or letters.

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Successful Individual Donor Campaigns (cont.) from

www.lorijacobwith.com

____ 7. Keep the goal visible in print all year, on website & via multiple forms of communication to encourage widespread participation.

____ 8. Communicate & invite participants to do very specific things with a deadline for doing them.

____ 9. Utilize a web-based donor data management system to allow others to assist with tracking donor contacts and gifts.

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About Step #3 - ALL Board Members Participate

Staff needs to invite board members to fill specific roles and carry out specific duties in the campaign. Dont leave them to figure it out on their own, and dont assume theyll remember after one telling!

Is there one board member who would take charge of the project and create a small committee to work with them? (Choose committee members who will be focused, committed, ready/willing to do this.)

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Are there experienced fundraisers and/or advocates on the board you can lean on in other ways?
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About Step 4 - Clear Goal, Need, Timeline

Set goals and tell people about them.

Include a clear statement about the need in a manner that allows people to visualize real people and how lives/the community will change as a result of their gift

Develop an elevator speech that staff and board can easily remember
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About Step 5 Emotional Connection

What causes you to give?

Think about the most recent gift you gave to a nonprofit organization. What caused you to write the check or click on donate now?

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What form did the appeal take? Were you asked in person? Did you know the person who made the ask? What about the ask hooked you? Did they convey a story? Emotion? Result/impact? Were you asked to fulfill a specific need, support a specific project?

Step 6 - Keep Everyone Informed and Engaged

Volunteer Leadership Staff Create the ability for all Routinely have one board board members to see member tell a story of a real your mission in action person at each board and to learn a story of a meeting. Hold board client by actually meeting meetings in different locations someone your where you can be connected organization serves to the people served by your organization.

Provide reports that show Request and read the reports; discuss progress at board goals and activity and meetings; adjust campaign as results. Measure success necessary. as it relates to real people.
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Step 6 - Keep Everyone Informed and Engaged (cont.)

Volunteer Leadership Staff Take GREAT meeting notes. READ the meeting notes. Do Highlight goals and actions. what you said youd do, by Always list the person when you said youd do it. If accountable and agreedthe timing doesnt work upon date for contact the appropriate staff accomplishing the action. person and re-promise with a date that works for you. Make specific phone call Follow the instructions of assignments to each these hard-working, committee member. Have talented people. each board member report back weekly on the results of their calls.
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About Step 7 Redundant Inoculation

Use multiple forms of communication and keep all eyes on the goal

Show the goal in dollars and number of donors

Continually update the amount remaining to reach goal; donors feel great when they see the gap shrink

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If falling short, let people know what steps youve taken to reach it

About Step 8 Invite Participants to Do Specific Things

Make the ask using specifics Tell a story that conveys what you need: specific goal for this campaign / project, including a timeline if it will help to add a sense of urgency Remind the potential donor about what the impact of a successful campaign will be Honor the individuals participation and engagement to date Ask the individual to join others and participate in this campaign, and suggest a specific amount, range or specific options

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About Step 9 Mine Your Data!

If you dont have robust information about donors and prospects and a system for managing it, develop it now. It will make asking easier and more productive.

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Resources
www.lorijacobwith.com (Lori Jacobwith is a highly-regarded fundraising professional based in Minneapolis who takes this information to the next level in her work with boards.) The Soul of Money, Lynne Twist, W.W. Norton & Company Inc., 2003. The Trance of Scarcity, Victoria Castle, Sagacious Press, 2006. The Energy of Money: A Spiritual Guide to Financial and Personal Fulfillment, Maria Nemeth PhD., Ballantine Wellspring, 1999. Donor-Centered Fundraising: How to Hold On to Your Donors and Raise Much More Money, Penelope Burk, 2003. Yours For the Asking: An Indispensible Guide to Fundraising & Management, Reynold Levy, President, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Wiley & Sons, 2008. Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Social profits, Leslie R. Crutchfield & Heather McLeod Grant, 2009. Raising More Money: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Lifelong Donors, Terry Axelrod, RMM Publications, 2000. Can be ordered from the Benevon website: www.benevon.com Asking: A 59 Minute Guide to Everything Board Members, Volunteers & Staff Must Know to Secure the Gift, Jerold Panas, Emerson & Church, Publications, 2009.

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Contact Information

Nancy Lee, Managing Consultant LarsonAllen Nonprofit and Government Group 220 South Sixth Street, Suite 300 Minneapolis, MN 55402

651.261.5670 nlee@larsonallen.com and nlee@visi.com

www.larsonallen.com/publicservice
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