The Most Important Question To Ask Yourself Before Raising Funds

Why ask "why?" Find out the most important questions you can ask yourself before trying to raise funds.   Read the rest of entry »

Majoring In Major Gifts: Worth The Effort

How can you afford the time to really cultivate your top donors?  A major gifts program is hard work, but it's not rocket science.  Learn more, and find out how an investment of a little time in major gifts now can pay huge dividends later.  Read the rest of entry »

The 3-Way Test For Fundraising Offers

Raising more money is possible if you will take the time to really think about a specific, carefully worded phrase with an associated benefit to the donor....In other words, an "offer."  Writing an offer that's clear and concise is an art form, but here is a three way test that you can use to tell if your offer is optimized for success. Read the rest of entry »

Dos & Don'ts Of Fundraising Events

You thought it sounded like a good idea at the time.  The plan was to get a bunch of people (hopefully people with deep pockets) in a big room all at one time and just ask them for money. 

The hall and the caterer were booked. The invitations went out.  And no one RSVP'd. Or, they did agree to come, but your total receipts for the evening barely covered your costs.  

If one of these scenarios sounds familiar, you're not alone.  Fundraising events are tricky, but they can be a great way to develop the one thing it will take to really raise big dollars for your organization...Relationships.  You just have to pay attention to a few dos and don'ts.

Don't hang your hat on 'em!

It's just silly to believe that somehow, a roomful of people you've never met are supposed to magically show up, fall in love with your organization and write you big, fat checks for life.  Fundraising is and will always be about one-on-one relationships, and relationships take time to develop.  It is highly unlikely that a single event will captivate and motivate people sufficiently enough to generate sustained, heart-based giving. Look at your event as an opportunity to start or possibly deepen relationships and manage your expectations accordingly.  More on this below, but an event without adequate follow up to build relationships is usually a waste of time.

 Do cultivate donors before the event.

Terry Axelrod, Author of "Beyond The Ask Event" suggests that cultivation begins with a "Point of Entry" where small groups of donors are introduced to your organization and its mission in a more intimate setting with individualized care, interaction and follow up. I developed "Breakfast in the Studio" for some of my radio clients to fit that need. The concept could not be more simple. Prospective donors are invited to enjoy coffee and pastries and meet the morning team, and are given a "101 level" introduction to the mission of the organization. From there, someone with the station follows up with each donor individually. Later, these same donors are invited by a peer to attend a station lunch...The ask event.  The goal is to have cultivated at least 70% of the people in the room at the ask event. This makes the event more meaningful to them, and dramatically increases giving levels.  There are many other ways to cultivate donors, including calls, visits, lunches, sporting events, concerts, gifts and more.  Reach out, connect and then engage.   

 Don't do all the work yourself.  

Great fundraising events are the product of inspired teamwork that begins with recruiting a solid base of volunteers.  Let the team do the heavy lifting, but give them lots of inspiration, training and resources.  Engaging donors and prospects in the process will help them have a vested interest in what you are doing and will increase results. Your efforts should be put into continually motivating and appreciating them, as well as casting the vision for your event.

Don't obfuscate the purpose: Asking for money  

Keep the main thing the main thing.  You are there to engage people around your organization's mission and then to ask them to join in what you're doing.  So keep your mission and how you are fulfilling it at the forefront.  Find creative ways to do this.  For example, if your organization serves kids, make them your ambassadors for the evening.  They can greet and seat guests, help emcee and be featured in the program. There is nothing wrong with professional speakers or entertainment, but in my experience these are usually detractions.  

Do rehearse and train.   

Nothing is worse than an unfocused, rambling speaker or one who stops and asks someone off stage for instructions on "what are we supposed to do next?"  Get everyone involved in the program together for a run through.  Tighten the program as much as possible by limiting the number of speakers and having each speaker introduce the next.  Design the program so that momentum builds to the ask itself, when an inspiring speaker very familiar with your mission engages the audience and invites them to participate in what God is doing through your ministry. This is followed by a well-trained speaker, leading the audience through a very focused time of completing a simple card (response device) and collecting them (along with any gifts) in sealed envelopes.  To maximize results it has to work like clockwork without feeling rushed.

Do follow up!   

Your follow up plan has to be more than sending some cards or even making a few calls after the event.  You must put into place a plan to follow up with every single person touched by your fundraising plan in any way.  You want to personally contact each donor from the event, but also everyone who attended whether or not they gave. The best way to do this is by phone.  Segment the donors so that at least the top tier receives a phone call from the top leader of the organization within 1 week of the event. The next tier gets  a call from someone else...A board member or volunteer.  Non-donor attendees also get calls.  Then do a mailing to people who declined your invitation. Send them photos of the event with quotes, and give them an opportunity to give to your campaign.  Secure table hosts for next year with personal calls in 30 days of your event.  Properly thank each and every volunteer, sponsor, even vendors.  (I once had a caterer write a check from her own personal account because she was so moved by our cause at the event!) Build follow-up into the project plan and devote the resources to making it work. 

 

 

 

5 Keys To Developing A Winning Case For Support

How well can you tell your own story?  To really raise money, you need an airtight "case for support" that will win over major donors and grant makers.  It all starts with a case file from which you create a case for support master document.  It's hard work, but work well worth the time invested. Find out five essential keys to making your case for support something that will unlock major gifts for your ministry. Read the rest of entry »

Smaller Playlist Can Lead To Bigger Number$

 Looking for reasons why your phones didn't seem to ring during your last sharathon? Take a long, hard look at your programming.

Worth Repeating: The Benefits of a Tighter Playlist

To be sure, many consultants are guilty of stating the obvious and then charging for it.  I say this to warn you, chances are if radio has been your game for any length of time, you probably have heard these words before:  "Your play list is too big."  

Quite a few station owners and programmers are still laboring under the delusion that it is a good thing to offer listeners "a greater variety of music," when it has been proven time and time again that this approach is actually a cume killer.  It may not be how you like your radio station to sound, but you aren't programming it for yourself.  Your mission should be to reach as large of an audience as you can with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  

The best analogy to explain this is a beam of light.  A diffused beam will not go very far or illuminate very well, but an intensely focused beam is just the opposite.  It can have an incredible reach.  In fact, a laser that can go up to a mile is nothing more than an intensely focused beam of light.  If your play list is bloated and listeners aren't hearing their favorite songs often enough, your station has limited appeal to a large number of people.  By tightening it up (less than 300 songs in most cases, sometimes even half that) you will focus your efforts to create a strong appeal to a limited number of people.  Over time, this will give you a larger, more loyal audience. 

This is counter-intuitive, but to build an audience you do not want to be "all things to all people."  Instead, you must have a single, tightly focused programming niche in your market - one that you exploit with effective positioning, marketing and on-air imaging.  

Programming Impacts Fundraising 

So that's programming. What does it have to do with fundraising, which is the reason you read this blog?Plenty! Your on air product cannot be expected to support adequate fundraising if it is not hitting a responsive chord with a sizable segment of the local market.

When a station has an excited core of loyal listeners, the phones will ring during sharathon.  Passion for the station's mission can grow as this core is educated about the ways the station is making an impact on individual lives, the community and even the world through its work on and off the air.   

Plus, a well programmed and marketed station is easy to find. It will attract an ever-expanding group of new listeners presenting the opportunity to grow the station's database.  This is important because it is the only way you will raise money through mass marketing efforts like social networking, email, direct response mail and sharathons.  But, it is also important because the larger your database of excited fans, the more likely that it contains some major donors who can fund the future of your ministry.