List or no list?

For many years I would listen to fellow fundraisers and leaders in the non-profit world talk about their lists. It's how they were successful in planning their days and weeks, and they would speak enthusiastically about how making lists of tasks helped them be successful.

I never understood, or at least I never allowed myself to understand.

Last year I organically created a list. I wasn't thinking about it and hadn't made a decision to make the list, it just happened. It was a Friday morning and I wanted to make sure I finished certain projects before leaving for the weekend.

I got excited. The list kept me engaged and focused. A little more focused than usual. Before I headed to a lunch appointment I looked it over to see how I was doing. On my way home that day I smiled thinking about a hugely productive day.

Sometimes I need a simple reminder. Sometimes I need to take a hard look at everything I have said yes to. And sometimes I just need to know that I am on track.

Lists have helped me. Yes, I have changed my mind! These days I create one on Monday morning for the week. It includes team ideas, donor actions, event goals, time for board members, and time to be off email. Oh wait, that's for another post!

Are you a list person? I would love to hear more ideas!

Thank you for reading!

Pick up the phone!

It's so easy.

In donor-centered fundraising, it's crucial.

Every day I try to respond to emails by picking up the phone and calling the person who just emailed me. They are usually happily surprised.

Then we get to talk. How is their day? How are we doing in our programs?  Yes, our Gala was incredible. Our relationship just got stronger.

Calls don't have to be reserved for donors. Call your vendors too. Build relationships everywhere you can. Your development and marketing efforts can only get stronger because of them.

Plus, in some cases, who will make someones day.

It's easy. Just pick up the phone.

Thank you for reading!

I made a mistake

I don't think mistakes are only made by fundraisers or those of us in non-profit development. Yet I do think that the more we make as fundraisers the stronger we become, the more knowledgeable we become, and the more successful our fundraising efforts are.

It's not easy when confronted with a mistake. Whether it's around your style of leadership, a fundraising campaign, a special event, an interaction with a staff member or board member. I guess this list could go on and on.

I definitely learn from my mistakes. That's the whole point. If I can't learn from them I am pretty much doomed. If I can't figure out what was going on or what happened, or even care to take the time to look at all of that, I'm doomed.

If I am afraid to take risks or try something new, success is not going to happen.

I have to constantly be open to learning, to the feedback of others, and to be taking those risks.

Fundraising/development is ever-changing in our world. The way we build relationships, or even how we think of donor and partner relationships, is different than it was just five years ago. Direct mail is changing and how we look at special events is changing. And then there are those things we don't know until we know, especially if you are new to your development team.

Learn from your mistakes. Take risks. Be donor-centered. Rock it with your team. Honor them. Remember that those doing the amazing, life-changing work for your agency cannot do it without your successes. They and those your agency serves are counting on you.

Have an awesome day!

Take a walk! With a donor!

Every year The Community First Foundation sponsors Colorado Gives Day, an online giving day created to increase giving in Colorado to local non-profits. Typically the second Tuesday in December, this day of giving has completely exploded into a $20 million + fundraising day for Colorado non-profits.

Each year I like to ride the coat tails of this day and have some sort of event. This past December we planned #WalktheBlock, a 24-hour walk to shine a light on youth homelessness through walking. We partnered with Saint John's Cathedral and for 24 hours walked around the Cathedral. We had a RV supplied from a donor, had lots of food and drink donated, and for 24 hours we walked, talked, laughed, visited and most importantly, got people thinking about homeless youth.

I was surprised by how many of our donors swung by to walk a few blocks. Some called ahead and asked if we needed anything, others showed up with food and drink. It was certainly an amazing day for us and for the youth we serve.

Something that I was not expecting happened. With so many donors coming by I had the chance to take a walk with many of them. Some walked for five blocks while others walked for longer. Each time I walked with a donor I finished feeling like our relationship had just been catapulted to another dimension.

It didn't matter what we talked about. It could have been about why we were walking or how the day was going. Many times it was about their day, their family, something personal about them.

And I learned. So much more about them than I could have ever possibly learned from a phone call, a site tour, or seeing them at a special event.

We had many successes that day. Learning so much more about so many of our donors certainly was on the top of the list.

Take a walk with a donor. Listen. Let them talk.

Thanks for reading!

Relationships are the key

I use the "R" word a lot.

Peers on my fundraising team have heard this word so much that they incorporate it into many of their conversations and actions.

Fundraising isn't about a check. It's not about a response to a direct mail appeal or a company saying that they will purchase a table at your annual Gala.

Fundraising is all about relationships.

Having a problem with lapsed donors? You wouldn't be  alone. Many non-profits aren't even paying attention to those donors who once used to financially support the organization but for some reason stopped.

Having a challenge with taking a one-time donation to a long-term donor? I wonder how many non-profits are even paying attention to this.

Fundraisers are vital to the mission of a non-profit. I hear all of the time that fundraisers are too busy to do this or that. Too busy to call a donor. Too busy to actually sign a thank you letter. Yes, I was honestly shocked when I received a thank you letter letter from a local major non-profit I had donated to and the signature was pre-printed on the letter. Seriously?

We cannot be so busy that we don't make time for relationships. Relationships are the key to any fundraising successes we will have.

And you have time for them!

Every donor receives a tax letter/thank you letter. Call them the second you receive their donation!

Send something to a new donor. Perhaps a note signed by the board or perhaps an invite for a tour.

Use all of your social media to thank a corporate sponsor.

Sign every thank you letter. Add an additional note.

Call a few donors every week. Not for an ask, just to check in.

Build relationships. You won't regret it.

Thank you for reading!

Have you seen a development plan lately?

Every job posting titled Director of Development I looked at while on my job search included one item that puzzled me: Must be able to create a development plan for the agency. As I read this my mind would wander off with questions like:

What happened to your development plan?

Why do you need another development plan?

Why do you want a new development plan?

And finally, and most importantly...

Why do you want the newest person on you non-profit team to write the development plan?

Of course there are answers for all of these questions and  I'm sure that in many of the postings the agency was just making sure that when the time came, their new fundraising professional could blow their minds with a development plan.

I am currently working on a new development plan at work. First and foremost, I am not working on it alone. I am working on it with the co-chairs of our board development committee, with my ED (our agency's CEO as well as some of my staff. It's going to be a development plan that rocks and the title of it is "We will rock you!".

NOTE: Development plans do not need a name or title, it's just my personal preference.

Our development plan is going to focus on this fiscal year and the next fiscal year. Being that our fiscal year begins October 1st, this plan will have goals and ideas to support development through September 30th of 2014.

First and foremost, our plan is about building lifelong relationships, not about fundraising.

"We want to be in a lifelong relationship with you" as opposed to "We want you to give us money".

Our development plan includes challenges/opportunities to reaching our goals for the budget as well as specific goals around areas like lapsed giving. One can use a development plan as a support piece while working on the next budget and can also plug in numbers from a current budget as overall goals.

Our development plan also includes major events, corporate partnerships, foundation giving and examples of how simple ideas support some of the goals listed. I always love including a page of what increased giving looks like on certain levels and how the overall reach of that adds so much to the giving totals. An example of this is if 50 donors who currently give $100 increase their gift this year to $200 then that is a $5,000 increase towards individual giving. And that is just one example at one giving level.

Do you have a current development plan? What is your favorite thing about it?

Thanks for reading!

Loving persistence pays off

Don't give up! That's what I really wanted to call this blog post. I went for the current title because it tells a better story.

Persistence definitely does pay off! I added the word loving because angry, inpatient or hurried persistence does not pay off!

This thought will not be a surprise to those of you who have been fundraising for a while. Yet it is always a great reminder for me! As one whose focus is always on the ongoing relationship and never on a one-time gift, relationship building can take time.

One area of fundraising where I really have to keep this in mind is in corporate. My great example is this:

A couple months after starting at Opera Colorado I found a potential corporate partner on LinkedIn. I connected with him and sent a message simply introducing myself. A couple of months later I had a one on one with him and it went amazingly well. I kept checking in with him once a month (not too much!) and when I planned a corporate partner event I invited him. He couldn't make it but a few folks from his office came. A couple of months after that I found myself sitting for lunch with one of his associates talking about a partnership.

They bought a package to our Gala. This was their first gift to us and it took over a full year. This is an example of when loving persistence paid off. I knew all along that a partnership between them and us would totally benefit both organizations. Now we are meeting to discuss a multi-year partnership plan.

This is my experience with corporate giving and corporate partners. I try to use the same wisdom with major gifts. I try to never rush, and to always keep my eyes on the prize: a long term, true partnership.

How does each organization benefit from the partnership? What does my agency have to offer within the realm of a corporate partnership? These are great things to discuss when working with a potential new corporate partner (and also potential major donors!).

I hope this is of some benefit to you. Thank you very much for reading!