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 You
start the process of becoming a fund-raiser for an organization when you
first become involved with the organization. That's when you begin to
acquire knowledge about an organization, and acquisition of knowledge is
the first step in preparing to raise money. To sell any product, it is
important to know just what the product is and what it does. It makes no
difference whether you are a waitress explaining the intricacies of the
specials of the day, a computer salesperson pitching the new improved
model, or a solicitor in a fund-raising campaign.If you are the
person running a campaign, you must make sure your solicitors have
access to information about what the organization is, what it does, and
why money is needed in the furtherance of what goals. If you are the
person asking for the money, think about how you would go about making
your request without that information. Yes, you will on occasion find
people who will give because you ask rather than give to the cause, but
that is the exception and --this can't be said often enough ---you
cannot rely on the exception to support your organization. New
board members should be invited to attend a formal orientation session
exposing them to what the organization does, how it is important to the
community, why its services are necessary, and what their role will be.
Volunteer solicitors in a campaign should be given the same information.
Professional development officers need to steep themselves in the
workings of the organization from their first day on the job.
No matter what your position or role in an organization's fund-raising
efforts, the mission statement is the single most important thing you
must understand. The mission statement outlines the organization's
values and purposes, programs and services, and hopes and dreams --- its
priorities. Printed on the back of a schedule, gracing the first page of
an annual report or emblazoned on a lobby wall, it purports to delineate
the whys and wherefores, explain the purpose, and elucidate the value to
the community of an organization. It is, or should be, a statement of an
organization's reason for being and its strengths. As such, it is the
first statement in the litany of fund-raising.You
can't make the case for support unless you know your organization's
strengths. Neither can you expect to succeed without an understanding of
its weaknesses and perceived negatives. I remember a campaign I worked
on during my first year in fund-raising. A hospital was trying to raise
money to build a new 200-bed facility to replace its existing 100 beds.
Sounds reasonable at first blush. The problem was the hospital only had
a 40 percent occupancy rate. Our job was to raise money to add 100 beds
to a hospital which already had 60 empty beds. There goes the argument
for needed expansion.However,
we understood that seeming weakness in our case and why it existed. As a
result, we were able to to eliminate the perception of it as a negative
argument against our campaign. The hospital was better than half empty
because it was antiquated. Doctors didn't want to send their patients
there. The solution was to build a new hospital, and the community
needed the additional 100 modern beds.My
point is this: If your organization has a weakness that can be perceived
as a fund-raising negative, you don't ignore it. You face it head on,
take the offensive, and turn it into a fund-raising strength.New
and forming organizations are fraught with weaknesses and perceived
fund-raising negatives. To begin with, the community got along without
them in the past. How does a new organization know it is needed now? Has
it done a market analysis? Is there a compelling reason for the
organization to exist and for specific people to support it? The answer
to those questions can be found by asking one question, and it is a
question every organization new or old must ask at the onset of every
fund-raising campaign. It needs to be asked about the organization in
general and the specific purpose the campaign is supporting.Remember
the TV detective Kojak, played by the late Telly Savalas, who was always
asking, "Who loves ya, baby?" Well, the question fund-raisers
need to ask of their organizations is the same, although it is more
likely to be phrased, Who cares about us and why?Let's go back
to the mission statement for a moment. If an organization's mission
statement is truly in sync with what the organization is doing, it
provides a way to help identify who cares about it and why. Or put
another way, it explains who benefits from the existence of the
organization.For
nearly all community organizations there are two primary beneficiary
groups:
That
latter group benefits because of its geographic proximity. For example,
an arts education organization obviously benefits those who enroll in
its classes. They and their families would therefore be high on its list
of donor prospects. However, all of those who live within the area from
which it draws students also benefit because of the value such an
organization has to the community. The availability of arts classes
makes the community a better place to live and arguably has an effect on
property values and the desirability of the community as a place to do
business. Therefore, all of those persons living within the
organization's service area are logically also prospective donors.
Business and civic leaders likewise may never take a class, but they too
benefit --- even more strongly than the pubic at large, it can be argued
--- because of the positive effect the organization has on a community
in which they are even larger stakeholders than the average resident.When
it comes to the solicitation of corporate contributions, area of service
and geography are often important deciding factors. A company rarely
gives to a community organization that does not provide service to an
area in which a substantial number of its employees either live or work.
To put it bluntly, a corporation usually must have a facility or
business connection in an area if it is to be successfully solicited.It
is possible for your organization to have a unique quality that would
cause people with no stake in your geographic area to care about it
enough to provide support. An inner-city housing initiative, for
example, might draw the interest of national foundations and
philanthropists from other communities because of its potential for
replication. But you shouldn't count on distant benefactors. That would
be the exception, and you can't rely upon the exception for support.
Money
usually stays close to home, and conversely when it moves out of your
area, don't expect it to come back for regular visits. Once a big donor,
one who may have supported you for years, leaves town, his sense of
philanthropic responsibility will be transferred to his new community.
While he may remember you fondly and treasure his years of affiliation,
he may no longer benefit from your services and therefore may no longer
care about you in the same way. How
your organization raises and spends money is knowledge a successful
fund-raiser must also have at his or her fingertips. You need to know
and understand your organization's budget so that you can delineate the
cost of operation and how the money to cover that cost is to be
generated. Nearly all non-profits are, by their nature, limited in their
capacity to increase earned revenues, and many are unable to produce any
earned income because they serve groups that cannot afford to pay.
The inability to produce enough earned income to cover the cost of doing
business is why non-profit organizations must be fund-raisers. However,
understanding your organization's capacity to produce earned income,
knowing where such income comes or could come from, and maximizing it,
are essential to developing a successful fund-raising campaign. If your
prospective donors believe you could be producing more earned income,
they will be far less likely to give of their limited philanthropic
resources.No
matter what your role in a fund-raising campaign --- be it organization
director, development director, campaign chairperson, or solicitor ---
to operate at optimum effectiveness you need to be convinced your
organization is maximizing its potential to produce earned income ---
within the confines of its mission. That last part is very important.
There are things non-profit organizations simply cannot do which are
second nature to businesses seeking to improve their bottom line. At
the Cleveland Orchestra, when we were subjected to questions regarding
our profit-making capabilities, we responded half-jokingly that we could
not increase our productivity even if we played a Beethoven symphony
faster than it was played 200 years ago. We could not speed up our
assembly line, nor could we reduce the number of violinists required
through automation. If the "widget" we produced was symphonic
music, we could not cut costs by turning ourselves into a chamber
orchestra and still produce our symphonic-music "widget."
On
the other hand, we did need to demonstrate constantly improving
efficiency in other areas of our operations. For a non-profit, being
perceived as a lean, mean fighting machine is critical to optimizing the
results of a fund-raising campaign. But budget cuts must not come at the
expense of maintaining and improving service to the community and
program quality. A non-profit that cuts back on the quality of its
services will diminish its fund-raising appeal. To
summarize: If you are to raise money, you need to know your
organization. There is no faster way to lose prospective donors than by
being unable to answer questions and remove objections to giving. You
need to know the organization's reason for being, its goals and
objectives, its beneficiaries, and its operational and financial
efficiencies. Know those things, and you know the organization. That
knowledge will do more than prepare you to answer questions. It will
give you the confidence and composure to pick up the telephone or knock
on a door, and ultimately to sit in someone's office or living room and
ask for money.Knowing
the organization is crucial to fund-raising, but without commitment,
knowledge is worthless. There is a terribly hollow ring to words spoken
in support of a cause in which the speaker does not believe. Volunteers
occasionally find themselves pressed into service for an organization
that their company or their boss supports but to which they have no real
commitment. Keep in mind that, while these people can be effective
fund-raisers, they do it by forcing themselves to "meet their
quota." High on their list of priorities is figuring out a way to
avoid the assignment next time. You will not be developing a pool of
volunteers from which you can draw to staff future campaigns if your
solicitors have been forced into service.Knowledge
and commitment are the two strongest tools a fund-raiser can have.
Without knowledge, you cannot present your case to prospective donors.
Without true commitment, you will not maximize the results of your
efforts. If you are to raise money for an organization, know that
organization and be committed to its cause.___
We have a clearly defined, fully understood, and completely accepted
mission statement that addresses the difference our organization will
make for those it serves, rather than merely describing what it does.___
We are certain that our services are different from others, are not
duplicated in the same service area, and that they are needed. If we are
planning a new organization, we should conduct a "market study"
to be certain our services are, in fact, needed.___ We take
advantage of our strengths as we make our case for support, letting none
of the good things we do be "well kept secrets."___ We
turn our weaknesses into strengths by first identifying those we are
handling in a defensive way or ignoring, and then developing a plan of
action to change them. ___
We have full access to information about what our organization is, what
it does, and why money is needed in the furtherance of what goals. We
have a "full disclosure" policy in effect at all times.___
We can readily identify our principal support base from those personally
touched, inspired, or motivated by what we do, and from those not
directly involved, but who are influenced and impressed by what we do.___
We know exactly what our operational budget numbers are. When it comes
to raising money, if we do not know our expenses, we can neither set
fund-raising goals, nor let prospects know our needs.___ We
can demonstrate constantly improving efficiency in all our areas of
operation. But, we don't make budget cuts at the expense of maintaining
and improving our service to the community and program quality.___
We maximize earned income and constantly assess whether more can be
obtained by increasing charges for services in order to lessen
fund-raising pressure.Those
are my views on the subject. What are yours? I welcome your comments and
suggestions: tony@raise-funds.com
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