Ask!

As I transition into my new job I have taken a couple weeks to really focus on that, yet have also been thinking about this next post and all of the folks who have been reading my posts.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog. I have been blown away by the kind feedback I have received, and also by the editing feedback!!!

The topic of this blog is "ask". What I mean by this is that with everything we have going on, with everything that has to be done "right now", it is sometimes easy to forget that the easiest, least expensive way to fundraise is to simply ask someone for a donation.

We recently had an event and I was with one of my guests who is a potential corporate sponsor. One of our board members swung by and simply said "I hope you can help us". Amazing! I was so excited that this simple sentence that carried with it such a powerful ask.

I hope you can help us.

Can you support this program?

Can you buy a $10,000 table at our Gala to help us build energy around the event?

Would you be able to make your annual donation in June rather than in December?

I have met several peers in fundraising that are at times uncomfortable asking for money. If you are a funraising professional, you just have to get over any fear in asking for money. It's what we do. And you can rock at it! (This perhaps could be the subject of a whole other posting!)

Those lacking money to pay for their meds to fight HIV or cancer need us to ask. Those being killed and injured in the streets of Syria need us to ask. The abused animal needs us to ask. The beaten wife needs us to ask. The local arts organization needs us to ask.

Fundraising for Free! is all about sharing things I have learned about fundariaing that do not cost you anything, or cost very little. It can all start with a simple ask.

Who will you ask today? If you make an ask today, I'd love to hear about the response.

Big love to all of you out there raising money to make the world a better place for all living beings!

Be yourself!

Those of you who have been reading for a few months know that in April I started a new fundraising job. After 2 1/2 years at my last agency I decided to take a move and after one month there I am beyond ecstatic with this new opportunity.

Fundraising for Free! has been a great opportunity for me to share about my experiences with fundraising and share ideas that don't cost anything (or very little). My hope is to build a community of fundraisers who learn from each other and who change the world as we raise money for groups near and dear to our hearts.

I write often about the importance of face-to-face meetings with donors, as well as the importance of always working to build an even stronger relationship with your donors. One thing that I have recently learned with my new job (and have tried to do in my fundraising life) is to be myself when speaking with donors or supporters.

The photo here is one of my husband and I (I'm on the left. I know, my husband is handsome. :) ). We were married on April 30, 2005. I wanted to write this post about being yourself because in the last month I have had conversations with people I have just met and have spoken about my marriage. Regardless of the opinion around gay marriage of the donor/supporter, in each instance I have walked away having a better relationship with that donor. Some have even written a note and some Twitter followers have told me "good job" for being out about my marriage on Twitter.

This post is not about promoting gay marriage. It is everything about bringing the 100% you to the table when meeting with donors.

Another example is that when having a meal with a donor they inevitably discover that I am vegan. Questions are asked and through that process we get to know each other even better.

The other night I discovered that the donor I was dining with was a Civil War buff. Me too! What a great way to get closer to a donor.

Let your passion and yourself out and you will thrive!

Hope for corporate giving (with action of course!)

In my past 2 ½ years at Boulder County AIDS Project the area of fundraising that has been the most challenging has been with corporate giving. Based on what I hear and what I read amongst other fundraisers I am not alone. On the other hand, I definitely do not embrace the doom and gloom scenario frequently discussed when talking about corporate giving.

All those who know more about these kinds of things than I do say that corporate giving has decreased. In many cases, corporate giving is still there, just very more specific, which may not include as many organizations as in the past.

As we continue to solicit the large, national companies, we have also been working on a plan to work more closely with local businesses and the success has been eye awakening. I think it is easy to look over local businesses, especially if you work for a huge non-profit. Don’t do it. Relationships with small, local businesses are just as valuable as a relationship with a large, national entity.

I suggest starting relationships in your own area with local businesses. When I was in hotel sales I would draw a circle on a map around a one-mile area from the hotel. You could do the same with your agency.

I am actually starting to think about business relations all over as I begin my new adventure. The first thing I need to do as I get settled in is to find a great coffee shop near the office and a great lunch place (already found the lunch place). Two business relationships right there. In my past position I built relationships with two local coffee places, both ended up becoming major donors.

We all frequent different businesses. Partner with them. Show them that partnering with your non-profit is not only an amazing thing to do but will also help grow their business.

The relationship all starts with you!

What can I do today? Make sure the people at your favorite coffee or tea place know that you fundraise for your agency and know the mission of your agency. The more they know about you and your organization the better.

It all goes back to our donors

I am enjoying my first day off in my transition from Director of Development at Boulder County AIDS Project to the new Associate Director of Development at Opera Colorado. It's a beautiful morning in Lakewood and I am feeling relaxed and very excited for my next adventure.

As I contemplate the two agencies I am in transition to/from, I keep thinking about individual donors. No matter who you fundraise for, no matter what cause you are passionate about, the individual donor is an amazing part of your agency or group's mission. Your donors are the life blood of all of the work your group can do.

I have thought about this a lot as I leave an HIV/AIDS agency (human services) and go to an opera group (the arts). It would be easy to say that the donors might be different, that there may be more or less donors, that the donors will have different need, etc., yet the reality its that donors are of equal importance to each group.

And how we treat donors are of equal importance. I know, we all have read and/or experienced the importance of a thank you. A prompt thank you at that. And many of us know the importance of making sure the donor knows how the agency spent the donor's money. Some folks stop there (if they get there). The relationship with your individual is ongoing, and I as a fundraiser have to make sure I know that and act on that.

Before this particular blog post becomes too long, I will simply end with one item that I do: weekly donor calls. Every week I make sure that I place a phone call to a list of individual donors. They can be folks who gave a year ago, six months ago, or a month ago. The call can be to thank, to say hi, or to give a recent update on the group's mission. The purpose is not as important as the call itself. Just say hi. Let them know how things are going and how their support is affecting your group that day.

More to come. Thanks for reading!

PS... On Twitter I am now @FundraiserDan !

From HIV and AIDS to the Opera

I have fallen behind in my goal to post one blog a week.

This blog is pretty much only about me moving from one fundraising position to another. Oh, and a brief note about donors!

Since my last blog I have accepted a position with Opera Colorado as their new Associate Director of Development. Completely different world than where I am at now, and I am super excited.

I don't know who actually said this or studied the data, but I have heard that the average length of time at an agency for Development Directors is 1 1/2 years. I have been at Boulder County AIDS Project for 2 1/2. I am definitely preparing to leave with hardcore emotion. I have been privileged to fundraise for an agency that supports those living with HIV or AIDS and to support amazing HIV prevention work.

Now I'll be in the arts. Many new adventures to come. Many new experiences to come. And I will share it all here.

While I prepare to leave BCAP, I am grateful to have formed so many wonderful relationships with donors. I realize that I write about donors a lot, and will most likely continue doing that as I am one who believes that your agency's donors are your agency's lifeblood.

Get to know them. Thank them. Tell them how you are spending their money. Have a board member drop them a note.

Off to meet with a donor! Until next time!

The all-important donor

An old remit envelope arrived the other day. I’m always excited to receive these. Not only do we mail them out with our two annual mailings and our Annual Report, but I also pass them out everywhere I go. At our Dining Out Days (see previous posts) every table gets one. So when one arrives back it brings a smile to my face knowing that yet another person wants to invest in our vital mission.

Donors are not cash cows, are not some unknown person far, far away, nor someone who wishes to support your organization and not be informed. Informed as to whether or not you received their donation and how your organization plans on spending their money. An active donor is (or can be) the lifeblood of your organization. In most cases, they want to invest in the work you do.

Before I proceed, my definition of a donor is one who has made two or more gifts to your organization. The first gift is a donation by someone who, for some reason, has decided to support your work. It is our job as a fundraiser to make sure that person goes from someone who has made a donation to a donor.

I open the remit envelope and it is a generous gift of $100 from a current donor. I know that once the check is entered into our database the kind person will receive our official thank you letter including tax information. Yet it is still important to me that I personally thank them. So I pick up the phone and give them a ring. Thanking a donor is key. And a timely thank you is equally important. I’m sure you here this all the time. That’s great, as long as you and your organization take action on thanking people.

In the future: A few months down the road I will make another connection with this donor. For this particular donor it will be a phone call but it doesn’t really matter how. I’ll call them to let them know how we spent their money. Imagine not only being thanked for your gift but being told how the organization spent your money!

Whew! So much more to write about regarding donors. This is a good start.

The next donation you receive pick up the phone and call them. Thank them. You will not only make their day but you will build (or reinforce) a great relationship.

One last thing. At our monthly board meeting my ED passes out recent donation information so that board members can make a call or send a note to make a thank you for the gift. This not only engages the board, it also adds a special touch for the person who made the donation.

Have a Book Sale

I love books. Love them. I have always had more books than I know what to do with. At any given time I am reading two or three, and then looking at buying another one!

This past February we decided to help donors and supporters who have too many books by asking them to donate their books to us for our first ever Humongous Book Sale. What a success!

The whole idea started when one of our local business partners, Joyful Furniture, asked us if we would like to do a fundraising event during the winter. The great folks at Joyful host our annual Humongous Yard Sale, and we decided to try something new with a book sale.

The basic premise is to gather books, CDs, DVDs and vinyls and plan a sale. We called ours the Humongous Book & Media Sale. This is a great way to engage your donors and supporters as well as raise a little cash.

Before you begin to ask people for donations for the sale, find a location for the sale and try to find a location where books and other items can be dropped off. If you can collect all of the sale items at the same place where the sale will be, you will save a lot of time.

Through an email blast, Facebook, Twitter, and a simple postcard announcing the sale, we invited people to donate books and media items. Our donor and supporter base is incredibly diverse, and you could see that in the selection of items donated. We were thrilled as boxes and boxes of books were brought in. As the items began to take over space, it was time to start organizing books into categories, an organization that continued while new books arrived and made the setup for the sale much simpler.

This type of sale can be labor intensive. The less you move around the books the better.

Our volunteers were crucial to the success of this event.

The day of the sale I was blown away by the roughly 3,000 books that had been donated. In hind sight, I realize that a book sale is a bit different in a yard sale in that people take much more time looking at books. In the future I would plan an event that was longer and that stretched over two days.

I'll create a check list for your book sale in the next post.

Start thinking about whether or not this idea would work for you and your organization or cause!