Fundraisers This May Surprise You?

I have been asking funders who do not accept unsolicited requests - how do they find charities to fund??

During these conversations, the inevitable question....“to restrict or not to restrict” reared its debatable head. 

Generally, there was a mix of yes we do, no we don’t or it depends on the charity – or even we do both. 

But remember I was speaking to funders who ALL have a “don’t call us we’ll call you” approach to their funding. And yet a good proportion of them still choose to restrict their funds to the more direct delivery end of the charity.

You maybe thinking no news there……but bear with me.

Most funders obviously have a process whether they are closed or not - but closed funders the ones I spoke to all agreed they or their advisors/staff:

• Conduct internet research
• Read websites and impact reports
• Read annual reviews and 3 years of audit accounts (if possible)
• Contact charities for more detailed information where appropriate
• Potentially attend an event or request a meeting
• Ask for a formal proposal
• Request a signed agreement when donating
• Agree stewardship expectations
• Expect an end of year report

Again no news there, but.. what if I were to list that list again? 

But this time add in who inside your charity produces the information - funders value and their funding selection processes rely upon:

• Conduct internet research – Communications Dept
• Read websites and impact reports – Communications Dept
• Read annual reviews and 3 years of audit accounts (if possible) – Finance Dept (and paid for auditors)
• Contact charities for more detailed information – Fundraising Dept
• Potentially attend an event or request a meeting – Fundraising Dept
• Ask for a formal proposal – Fundraising Dept
• Request a signed agreement when donating – Fundraising & Finance Depts
• Agree stewardship expectations – Fundraising & Project Depts
• Expect an end of year report – Fundraising & Finance Depts (perhaps Communications)

The irony of how much the donor relies on the “non-project delivery” side the charity in order to fulfil their own process was somewhat stark. And as it turns out, not at all lost on the people I spoke to.

This begged the question:

Why do all the aspects of a charity you value so much when making your funding decisions - become so worthless when you pull out your cheque book?

The answer was a surprise to me, even with my 20 plus years fundraising experience and working inside funding organisations (albeit ones that give 100% unrestricted donations).

I was expecting the answer to be we want our income to make as much impact as possible, or we want to reach the service users in greater numbers etc.

But from the people I spoke to there was almost a sense of “guilty pleasure”.

One person said, “I know I shouldn’t but I just love being able to show the staff something so tangible as the XYZ.” Another said, “I appreciate the charity’s point of view, so I don’t restrict all my donations anymore.” To “I know it’s wrong, but I am addicted to restricted funding."

The point of this article and what I want to share is:

As an experienced fundraiser speaking to donors about their funding BUT not asking for money or representing a charity – I finally got to ask all the cheeky questions, like; "Come on really?" "But do you understand how much unrestricted income is needed?" "But your own process needs all the bits of the organisation you don’t want to fund?" "How would the projects fund themselves if the charities cannot fund the bits that fund the projects?"

As a fundraiser I rarely (really) challenged a new donor’s wish to restrict their income (I did challenge repeat gifts because I had a deeper relationship with the donor by then). But:

It never occurred to me that the donor might be feeling a little bit guilty about restricting their gift - after consuming and relying so much on what they didn’t want to fund....

So, my fellow fundraisers, if I were in your shoes I would a least politely dig a bit deeper – and not feel the awkward need to tip toe around the “restricted” thorn in your fundraising target’s side. The person restricting their funds maybe much more aware of what a pain in the arse it is for you than you think, or even feeling a bit guilty about it.......

If you are not aware, I have developed a fundraising strategy to compliment your direct asks. A strategy to help you be found by donors who do not want unsolicited requests.  

If you would like a copy of my fundraising on a page template - please help yourself HERE