Top Tips To Use For Great Fundraising

Here Are Some Top Tips For Great Fundraising From A Top Fundraiser:

Know each of your donors.

Educate each of your donors.

Help each of your donors become personally fulfilled by their philanthropy.

Build trust with each of your donors.

Respect each of your donors.

Focus upon current donors.

Write a case for support/case statement that paints an emotionally compelling picture for your donors.

Identify your assets and resources.

Set your goals.

Create a plan of action, a schedule and calendar and a budget.

Make sure you use every means of fundraising possible.

Work the plan.

Monitor the plan.

Celebrate!

Begin working on next year’s fundraising plan.

Make givers glad.

Make fundraising fun.

Recognize that board fundraising is crucial to the success of your charity.

Create an advisory board. In addition to offering you advice, guidance and wisdom it might also serve as a feeder to your board recruitment efforts.

Make sure each board member realizes that fundraising is a key part of his or her board fiscal responsibilities as much as other responsibilities.

Know that many individuals, foundations, corporations and government funding sources will first look to see if a board is giving and getting before their own support will be forthcoming. They ask themselves: “If your board members (who hold the legal and fiduciary responsibility for your charity) don't support your charity financially and contribute to its fundraising efforts, then why should we or anybody else?” 

Pick the right “fundraising” board members in the first place. Recruit affluent and influential board members who are skilled at and comfortable with fundraising in the first place and very capable of doing it.

Recruit ones with plenty of easy access to major potential donors in their own peer networks. 

Choose ones who have the ability to serve as a model for others and set the pace with/encourage others with their own personal and corporate gifts.

Avoid recruiting board members for whom yours is not their only or at least most significant charity.

Be wary of board members with other charitable obligations and too many time commitments.

Stress fundraising expectations and set clear goals in the board recruiting, on-boarding and orientation process.

Tell board members that you expect them all to make significant donations and actively fundraise prior to having them join your board. This is what is known as a “Give, Get, Or Get Off” policy.

Realize you can’t expect your board to become fundraisers if you don’t create clear fundraising expectations from the outset as well as create a culture of fundraising not only within the board but also throughout the entire organization and its management, staff, volunteers and vendors. Fundraising is a learned skill. It requires training.

Train each of your board members collectively and individually to be great fundraisers.

Have a seasoned fundraising consultant teach your board fundraising preferably at a weekend retreat or a board meeting focused upon fundraising.

To facilitate further fundraising training, try pairing the “least comfortable with fundraising” board members with those “most comfortable with it” to help them out by using a “buddy system.”

Try pairing experienced fundraisers with inexperienced ones, so you can create meaningful mentoring for them and avoid anxiety getting the better of them. 

Get your board to be part of the donor identification process, cultivating potential donors or stewarding existing donors to create donor loyalty.

Board members can decide which part of fundraising is the best fit for them.

Have ask-deficient board members recruit potential donors to come to events.

Board members who still remain uncomfortable with gift solicitation can also be asked to contribute by researching and identifying potential donors, “courting” potential donors or stewarding and thanking existing donors to create donor loyalty.

Board members should be asked to host events in their homes to invite prospects to for cultivation.

Board members should also play a key role in soliciting in-kind donations and pro bono services from individuals, institutions, and corporations.

Board members should be asked to bring new resources and skills into the organization through their own networks to further the charity’s mission.

Consider using “Board Thank-a-thons” to get board members more comfortable with fundraising. In these marathon telephone calling sessions, board members simply thank major donors and record donor responses and reactions on forms later entered into your donor databases. With these, you can have board members express gratitude to---and get to know---your major donors---while thereby further cultivating these prospects. November because of Thanksgiving is a great month for scheduling these.

Establish a fundraising culture.

Encourage your board of directors to take a genuine lead in setting key examples as both major givers and major askers, fully participating 100%, and thereby allowing your organization to be assured of achieving its mission.

Increase board diversity as another way to improve fundraising.

Use prospect screening to reveal ideal donor prospects.

Launch a dynamic major giving society.

Recognize and reward all major donors.

Initiate a monthly giving program.

Appoint someone from your development team as the head of your major gift efforts.

Get as much fundraising assistance from your board as possible.

Host special recognition events for major donors.

Offer great volunteering opportunities so that your prospects gain a greater grasp of your programs through volunteering.

Be as transparent as possible about the use of your donor’s funds.

Show the impact of donor donations.

Explain how their contributions translate into meaningful actions that contribute to society.

Hire a fundraising expert.

P.S. Anything Else That YOU Would Add?

The Author, Dr. John B. Charnay, CEO Of Charnay And Associates In Greater Los Angeles, Is A Top Nonprofit Fundraising Advisor Who Has Raised Over A Quarter Of A Billion Dollars During His Distinguished Career. He Has Been In Charge Of Numerous Major Fundraising Special Events. He Often Strategically Advises Board Chairs And Facilitates Board Fundraising Retreats And Has Trained Numerous Boards And Development Directors And Their Staffs In Fundraising. He Has Extensive Experience Teaching At The Graduate And Undergraduate Levels At Leading Universities Throughout The Greater Los Angeles Area, Including USC, UCLA, CSUN, FIDM, Woodbury And Pepperdine And Others. Additionally, He Is An Award-Winning Public Relations Professional. He Has Been A Strategic PR Advisor To Many Famous Celebrities And Fortune 1000 CEOs. Additionally, He Serves As A Trusted Strategic Philanthropic Advisor To Numerous High Net Worth Individuals & Families & Family Offices. To Meet Him And Ask For His Support, Invite Him To Be LinkedIn (Email In Profile) And Contact Him Today!