Quick Tips: One Click Retweets

Want to mobilize your existing supporters to help you get the word out about something?  Could be a big piece of news, an exciting opportunity you're promoting, even a plain old solicitation...

If you want people to help you, you have to make it easy for them.  Very easy.  

We'll talk social media theory some time soon...maybe I'll dedicate a week to figuring out social media strategies in general as part of my fundraising 101 series.  I know that in my life as a consultant, this is something I often get behind closed doors - a confession from an accomplished professional that trying to keep up with every new form of social media makes them feel like a crotchety old geezer demanding help sending a telegraph, followed by the expectation that there's a simple answer that they just don't have time to find on their own...but that's a longer conversation.

For now, let's just be clear: I'm not making the blanket recommendation that you should be using twitter.  That's something you need to figure out separately! 

If you use twitter, you're going to want your followers to retweet you on occasion.  Some of that will (hopefully) happen naturally (if it doesn't, you're doing it wrong!), but you will have some tweets that you really want to get pushed out, past your direct network.  That's when I recommend using ClicktoTweet.

Check it out here: clicktotweet.com

Pretty simple.  Three steps (laid out on the front page), and now you're able to tweet a link that allows your followers to instantly send your message to everyone they know on twitter with just one click.

One click.   

Makes all the difference.

Transcending philanthropy

"Wow.  I can't believe you of all people fell for something like this."

I made a personal gift last week.  A small one, and one that went to some individuals - not tax-deductible, no nonprofit involved.  And I let my friends know about it, because that's how these things work...a plea for help goes out and is distributed globally with a few keystrokes thanks to modern technology.  If many people all give a little, enough money is raised to meet whatever need has been expressed.  That's the idea of crowdsourcing, and sometimes it's done through intermediaries, but increasingly, it's easier to just pool money through a service like Paypal or Kickstarter or YouCaring and see that cash go directly to the human beings who need it.

I was a little bit shocked that a friend reacted so negatively to my participating in this grey area of philanthropy.  Or maybe she was referring to my decision to publicly share that participation and pass along the plea.

Philanthropy is a business, and most of what I talk about is we humans, who need to balance our emotions and practical thinking, can do that in our work as well.  There's a lot of hard work that goes into fundraising, and a lot of hard work on the other end on the part of the philanthropist - doing due diligence, thinking about expected outcomes from their gift (which could be any number of things - not thinking too narrowly is one of my favorite soapbox ranting topics), evaluating the actual outcome.

It's interesting - things have changed, but this very American way of doing things owes a lot to Jewish theologic roots.  The concept of tzedakah, often loosely translated as charity (the literal translation is something we'll get to in a moment), is something written about by the sages and practiced as a key obligation for a couple dozen centuries.

The text that spawns this religious practice is a biblical passage that lays out the obligation to leave adequate gleanings when harvesting crops, allowing the poor to take what they need from your "leftovers."  Many volumes have been written, throughout the ages, by greater minds and greater scholars than I, on how to translate that very specific commandment into ever evolving modern times (it didn't take long, historically, for a good portion of the population to leave farming...but there were still plenty of poor folks, starving.)  I look forward to dedicating more posts to some of those writings (from various perspectives in all three of the Abrahamic traditions), but for now, I'm going to wing it in my own words.

Tzedakah literally means "justice," from the root tzedek, which means "righteousness" - there is a sense of moral obligation that has permeated American giving culture.  Sometimes it's forced, like community service requirements for high schools, and sometimes it's subconsciously judgmental - think of celebrity billionaires...does their visible record of generosity (or lack thereof) affect the way you view them?  We equate charitable giving with being a righteous person.

But in my opinion, American culture is as steeped in the narrative of capitalism as it is in Judeo-Christian morality.  That combination is what leads to the current state of philanthropy here in the US.  We measure the annual volume of the philanthropic sector ($316.23 billion in 2012), we talk about accountability and social return on investment and due diligence.  

For much of the world, though, and huge pockets of the American population, charitable giving looks very different.  People give what they can, directly or through a trusted intermediary, often a church, to those who are less fortunate than them.  There's less scrutiny of the recipient when we give this way, less demand that every dollar be accounted for and "earned."  Emotionally, this is exactly what is called for in using the word "justice" - when you have met your basic needs, you must help others meet theirs.   

We're getting a very visceral reward for these kind of gifts.  You see it in the outpouring of gifts to natural disasters (and man-made disasters), and to some extent you see it in the success of the school groups who set up "shake a can" tables outside of supermarkets (although that's got a healthy dose of community pressure/guilt too, it's trading on this underlying desire - to be a good person by fulfilling our obligation to give away a portion of our good fortune.)

Bottom-line is: I didn't fall for anything.

There's an important role to be played by this kind of micro-giving, and I am academically curious as to whether it will wind up being a disruptor to the status quo of American philanthropy.  That may be why some folks are worried (or manifestly disdainful).  These are smaller gifts, they're made on the fly, they're made in response to strong emotion, and the "return" that the donor sees is an immediate personal feeling that they've done their part (rarely is anyone conscious of what goes into that - the legacy of "justice" committed, the way that ties into a just world belief system, etc.).  Often, these kinds of gifts operate outside of the IRS reward system, too, being too small to warrant formal receipting or never passing through a tax-exempt organization at all.

Here's "my" story: a friend has a nephew who is facing a very grim cancer prognosis, and may be near the end of treatment.  He'd like to see the ocean, and his parents would love to take the whole family to the beach so that there will be some happy memories for everyone...but finding the spare cash to take a family of five on even a modest vacation is nearly impossible after a long medical fight.

I gave.  I gave because I'm grateful that I could.  And while I hope a beach trip happens, I'm not expecting anything in return for my gift.  It was a direct, small gift to individuals in need, and I trust them to figure out how to use it best.

I've been thinking since then that in the philanthropic profession, we could stand to appreciate this kind of emotional giving a little better, and perhaps even honor it in a way that highlights the role such charity/justice (forgive me - let's just use the hebrew word tzedakah) has played historically and currently.  That's a practical thing for professionals to consider; as Jung said, "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate"  - and this biblically derived image of the charitable ideal is often unconsciously at the heart of what many donors are trying to accomplish, even in formal settings and with gifts of tremendous magnitude.  But it's also a wakeup call to folks like me who spend a lot of time trying to rationalize and maximize efficiency in our donations.

It's a good thing to occasionally stop thinking and just give a few bucks to someone in need.

Some rules apply.  Due diligence is the biggest one: If you're giving a large enough gift that it's a significant sacrifice on your part, or if you'd be truly hurt (and not just annoyed on principle) if your money was used for something other than what you think it's going towards, don't give blindly.  Do whatever you need to do to feel confident that you know what you're giving money to do.  The key here is to feel confident that you're not going to regret the gift, whatever happens, so the metrics are entirely yours - no best practices or standards need be factored in.

The sniff test is the other metric I'd use.  There are SO many giving platforms out there now, just be a little careful about what you're using.  If you get the heebie-jeebies when you're looking at an online donation page, don't make the gift until you're sure it's legitimate - and I'm not talking about the donor here, I'm talking about the company that runs the website that's taking your credit card information!

Most of us can afford to be a little less cerebral about some of our donations.  Consider making more small gifts outside of the formal philanthropy machine.  It doesn't need to replace your normal routines of giving, but there's no shame in it.  None.

Article Review: How do you hire good development staff?

The Bridgespan Group helps advise and consult to nonprofits, and publishes some very well researched and practical resources for professionals in the field.  Among their resources is a moderated LinkedIn Group where Executive Directors and CEOs converse about various challenges they are facing at their organizations.

One of the most popular recent topics was started with the question "Why is it so hard to find good development staff?"... I recommend peeking at an article they put on their own website, summarizing some key points made in the discussion.

But, of course, I have my own opinions about their recommendations.


Passion First, Experience Second

They make the argument that the most important thing a development professional needs to have is a passion for the mission - making the case for hiring folks who come up through the organization or have otherwise demonstrated they're willing to commit themselves to the cause.  It's hard to disagree with that - one of my biggest pet peeves is consulting with organizations who want help finding experienced fundraising professionals, with years of experience trumping a lot of more important, more relevant qualifications.

Something I wish more boards and hiring committees understood: you're not buying access to a personal rolodex when you hire someone to do your fundraising.  It's unethical and borderline offensive to think that professional and personal relationships that I've developed over many years can be bought and sold.  You're hiring someone to manage your relationships and develop new ones for the institution - anything else is off the table.  Someone who's been successful running other campaigns, managing other development efforts is more likely to come to your organization with the skills needed to execute your efforts well...but they will not magically bring donors to your organization.  They will do their best with what you're giving them to work with.

So why am I a little annoyed by the notion that you can teach anyone to be a fundraiser?  Well, I do fundamentally believe that...and I get paid to help train accomplished professionals pick up the technical skills and strategies of development work.  But I need to emphasize...this is a bit like Ratatouille.  When we say ANYONE can cook (or fundraise, in this case), we don't mean that EVERYONE is already a great cook.  

Be honest about your needs, and hire for potential as well as passion.

I get work as a development coach because there are organizations who can afford to invest in training people who have a combination of passion and potential greatness, and are lacking direct experience.  There are skills you need to develop to be a great fundraiser, background knowledge you need to acquire, and a good sense of how various strategies interact.  When you're hiring, you need to know what you really need...and taking the short and long term view is critical.  If your short term needs allow you to focus on the long view, maybe you can take the time and effort to bring a passionate, talented person up to speed.  But if you need an immediate technician who can just keep things running with minimal training, you might need to go with less talent/more experience.  Just be brutally honest about what the needs of the organization are, and don't underestimate the value of professional development skills.  (Just don't assume that years of experience inherently exhibit those skills either!  One of the reasons people have a hard time hiring great fundraisers is that mediocre fundraisers keep getting hired...which gives them even longer resumes, which some people read as experience, which gets them hired, etc.)

It Takes a Team - Including the ED

I can't stress enough how much I agree.  Everything an organization does has development impact.  And if you're lucky enough to be able to afford an Executive Director and a full-time development person, making sure that each understand their role is essential.  One of the most popular requests I get as a consultant who designs board retreats is for a curriculum that will help everyone understand which bucks stop with them.  Many nonprofits have unorthodox hierarchies, or have dispensed with hierarchy all together.  Sometimes this is good; it can lead to empowerment for everyone on staff and board, making sure that everyone feels broad ownership and personal connection to the work being done.  But that same effect can cause a lot of problems.  

Because everything an organization does has development impact, there are two things that are utterly essential for maximizing fundraising: 

First, make sure that the person you hire doesn't divorce his/her work as a fundraiser from the rest of the organization.  I can't tell you how many narcissistic jerks I've met who seem to think that development is a cut above the work done by the underpaid peons doing direct service, that there is not a give and take between programming and fundraising...and worse.  And those jerks are not all that much better than the overstressed and harried development professionals who can't find the time for adequate teamwork and communication.  It's ultimately the ED's job to correct these kinds of organizational disasters, but my advice is to not set them up in the first place.  Make sure you're hiring someone who sees development as serving the needs of the whole organization and understands the ecosystem that links funding and programming.

Secondly, make sure that your lead fundraiser has input on overall organizational strategy.  If you've hired someone who understands the ecosystem, that person is a critical advisor to most institutional strategies.  And they can't fundraise at their best when they are stuck being purely reactive to decisions made beyond their control.

Hire an Interim Executive

Again, I have a professional interest in this recommendation.  Did I mention I have a whole paying business in addition to this blog?  You should check me out [www.viliandvesolutions.com] and hire me.  Or recommend me to your friends.

I love this recommendation because I think a lot of nonprofit leaders (both boards and executive directors) don't think about this strategy being an option.  It should definitely be on the table for consideration!

That said, it's really got to be a good fit for you.  A lot of us are very expensive.  If you go with someone in this role, you're looking for someone who can keep all the pieces of your fundraising machine running smoothly while at the same time analyzing and evaluating the operation and devising a recommendation for permanent replacement/alternate staffing solutions.  For that, you can't afford to hire someone based on their price rather than insight and skills!

Can you honestly afford an interim executive?  Do you really need this serious an evaluation before hiring someone? (Sometimes yes, sometimes no!)  And...do you want to hire an interim executive before you conduct a search?  Sometimes an interim executive is the middle option - you know what you're looking for, but you can't find it quickly.  Hire a mid-tier interim in that case, someone who can fill in until you find the right fit, buying you time instead of an expert opinion.

Mailbag: Why I hate my bike-a-thon

Q: I have a charity that's really important to me.  It's a medical research group that is trying to find a cure for a disease that affects one of my loved ones.  It feels incredibly important to me, as part of my journey, to participate in their annual bike ride.  I like feeling like I'm doing something, even if it's just a very little something, and it's an incredible emotional moment (one that I need!) to be waiting at the start line in a huge crowd of people who all have their own stories that they've put aside for the day to come together for something much bigger than all of us.  But when it comes down to it, I feel that it's my selfish little thing.  *I* want to participate, *I* want to make a difference, to a cause that's important to *me*... I just can't bring myself to ask other people to give me money.  I wind up paying the minimum donation for participation out of my own pocket every year.  Is that bad?

A: Is that bad?  No.  That's a gift of $XXX that the organization wouldn't have otherwise.  That's not a bad thing.  But that's not the question.  You want to know if I will give you my blessing to continue doing that, or give you some way to get beyond your insecurities...

So, let's start with how YOU feel about people asking you to contribute to similar events that they're working towards.

Some people absolutely hate it when people ask them to contribute to bike-a-thons (or marathons or walk-a-thons or dance-a-thons, etc.)  They feel cornered and put on the spot, feeling like they have to contribute or you'll hate them/think less of them/hold it against them in a thousand different ways...and if you're using a social network to make your ask, it adds a public element to the pressure, because mutual friends might notice they declined to give.  In their mind, they're thinking, you *&$!!!#, now if I don't cough up $25, all my friends will think I hate people with cancer.

If you're one of these people, no wonder you don't want to ask anyone else.  You're living the golden rule.  But maybe seeing it in tongue-in-cheek print will give you a slightly new perspective...

1. See my previous post, about how to not feel like a panhandler when asking for donations to a cause you care about.  You're asking adults.  Your job is to ask, and to make sure that people understand you will appreciate their answer, whatever it is.  If they give, you'll be grateful, if they say no, you'll appreciate their consideration.  Whenever that is the honest truth, you should go ahead and ask.  They can say no.  These are grownups.
2. There's a caveat, of course.  There's an inherent and awkward power dynamic in the workplace.  If you're getting a gut feeling that it's inappropriate to ask your boss or your subordinates to chip in, then don't.  You're probably right.  But why would you extend that to everyone else you know?  
3. When people I care about ask me to contribute to something like this, in many cases, I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunity to show them I care.  I have a friend who's raised over $100,000 for leukemia research in the 12 years his mother has been a survivor.  I know how much she means to him, and I am so deeply impressed and honored to be friends with someone who is generous and funny and hard-working and a general all-around great human being.  So I'm grateful to have the opportunity to chip in just a few bucks each year as a gift to him, to send a small token of appreciation to this amazing person and our friendship.  You think some of your friends might feel that way about you?
4. Some of us don't have the time or strength to be able to directly participate in a bike ride or marathon.  But we're looking for a way to do our small part against breast cancer or MS or multiple myeloma nonetheless.  If I'm giving $100 or less, that is not going to make enough of a difference to warrant anything more than a form letter of thanks if I make a random online donation or respond to a mailing...the donation may be worth making, but it's not a lot of bang for my buck in terms of making me feel personally appreciated.  On the other hand, when you're trying to raise $500, my $50 donation not only makes a sizeable difference, I know YOU are going to appreciate my gift and thank me personally.  Maximum emotional bang for an earnest but small gift.
5. A tiny technical point: often, events like a bike ride are not purely about raising money.  Your minimum fundraising target covers the expense of your participation.  Let's say you just personally donate $500 to cover it.  Nothing wrong with that.  But if you get 15 people to donate that same amount (>$50 for each of them), this organization that you care about is getting more than money - they're getting new contacts.  Contacts who have already supported them, and who represent the potential for future donations if the organization does their job well by communicating directly and engaging these new folks you've brought to the table...that's an important gift you are giving, beyond whatever dollar amount you wind up raising.

Good luck on your bike ride this year!  I hope you'll take some of this to heart and ask at least a few folks to contribute.  If you continue to be gun-shy, remember, this is something that gets easier the more you do it.  Give yourself a small goal - asking 5 people, say - and see how it goes.  My bet is that you'll be a fundraising fiend in no time!

Mailbag: Glorified Panhandling

Q: How do I not feel like I'm just a glorified panhandler when I'm asking for money?

A: Oh, boy have you come to the right place.  However you want to phrase it, it's a VERY common hangup for people in fundraising (volunteer and professional alike).  Let's start with some praise: you clearly know how fundraising works.  You have to ask for money.  

Does that seem too obvious?  Don't take that knowledge for granted - I worked with an organization that felt it was tacky to actually make a direct ask...they thought it would be best to simply tell people with money about how awesome their organization was, how important it was to so many people, and then just wait for them to beg to give some money to support all that great work.  Seriously.  You can't make this up.

If you need donations, you're going to have to ask for them.

There are all sorts of ways to get through that reality if it's uncomfortable for you.  But you should never feel like a glorified panhandler.

A panhandler is asking you to give him money for no other reason than that he needs it.  He might trade on your sympathy, he might trade on a sense of guilt, he might try to make you uncomfortable so that giving him a little something is the easiest way to make him go away.  But it's always something for nothing.  Why should you give?  Because he needs it.

If this is your fundraising approach, you're doing it wrong.  REALLY wrong.

Even the most desperate appeal from a legitimate not-for-profit institution asks you to give because we need the money TO DO SOMETHING, something that is valuable to other people, something that is valuable to our community or society at large or humanity as a whole.  Don't underestimate that.  It's a huge difference, and you should feel it, deeply.

Here are some other thoughts to help you commit the act of asking, if it feels desperately uncomfortable to you:

1. You're asking adults, right?  You get to ask, they get to say no, if they want to.  They're grownups and you shouldn't feel badly about asking a question, as long as you don't make them feel badly about their answer, whatever it is.  Seriously.  We know how this works.
2. It's not about you.  Really.  You're the embodied voice of an organization.  Didn't you hear about Citizens United?  Institutions are people too...they just need someone else to speak for them.
3. Go back to the difference between you and panhandlers: you're offering something of value in return for a donation.  If that seems very intangible to you, spend some time figuring out how to make it tangible.  For some people, that's knowing exactly what a $20 donation allows you to do.  For others, it's being able to offer a tchotchkie in return (totebag, t-shirt).  For still others, it's figuring out a meaningful way to celebrate their donors (thank you brunch, names on a wall).  Or maybe it's a new commitment to stewardship (sending pictures and handwritten letters so donors know what their money did).  There are nearly infinite ways to do this.  It's about understanding your own value proposition well enough you can eat, drink and breathe it.
4. I can promise a certain level of desensitization.  The more you ask, the more natural it will feel.  Your skin will thicken, you'll be able to let most rejections roll off your back, you'll be able to ask  people you know and people you don't know without feeling as awkward...it's a process, but it gets easier with every ask.  Soon, you'll be able to use your feelings as a geiger counter - the more nervous you feel about an ask, the more suspicious you should be that something's not quite right (i.e., you should rethink your plans for when and how the solicitation goes down), and that's a tremendous asset for a fundraiser.
5. Are you asking for smaller gifts?  Perhaps you can work with your team to take charge of either larger/major gifts, or grant writing, both of which have different emotional dynamics when it comes to the ask.  When I ask a working class friend for a gift of $25, that money comes out of her wallet. It's a tradeoff between fancy coffees, a couple of more expensive groceries, a new pair of sandals...and a donation to my cause.  When I ask someone with a set philanthropic budget for a gift of $1,000, it's a tradeoff between giving to my organization and giving to a different organization.  That money is already marked for charity - I'm just trying to convince that donor that my charity can do something great with it.  

Emotionally, there are still some nuances to cover.  Tomorrow: same basic question, slightly different concern.  Is it "panhandling" to ask people to donate to your bike ride/marathon/whatever-a-thon?

  

In the News: Giving USA 2013

If you're a professional, you may or may not pay attention to the Giving USA: Annual Report on Philanthropy that comes out of Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy each year.  It's worth checking out, just to keep abreast of general trends in the industry.

While I don't hold it against them, the $90 charge for digital and printed copies of the full report is absolutely a barrier for some of us...it's a charge that puts it out of reach of many smaller organizations and others who just can't justify the expense for something that's mostly useful as a benchmarking tool and for providing national context as you present and plan your strategies for the coming year.

So if you aren't going to read through it first-hand, here's a roundup of some excellent articles that summarize elements of Giving USA's finding:

Over at NonProfit Quarterly: Giving Coming Back Slowly and Different After Recession

A straightforward executive summary from Marc Pitman, the fundraising coach: Charitable Giving Recovering Faster than Anticipated

The transcript of a productive and wide-ranging chat hosted by The Chronicle of Philanthropy, featuring senior executives from Metro United Way of Louisville and UJA Federation of NY: What's Next for Fundraising 

I don't have it in me to write my own executive summary...the findings are fascinating and fairly straightforward.  What I think is interesting is how specific organizations wind up applying and/or defying the findings.  So expect this report to pop up again, referenced in mailbag answers and other posts.

Quick Tips: Learn How to Give from the Buffetts

Talk about a sincere and thoughtful philanthropist: Warren Buffett.  Oh, wait...we're not talking about him, even though he's a bit more famous than his older sister, Doris.

Doris Buffett and her grandson, Alex Rozek have been interested in making more people into philanthropists - people who are not just charitable with their money, but think strategically about how to support the causes and organizations they care about the most. [Aside: the development shrink has chosen not to be the grammarian stickler - but there's a part of me screaming to correct the above sentence to "...about which they care the most."  But it just doesn't sound good, even if it's proper.  Forgive me!]

Anyway, Doris and Alex have been funding college courses to teach philanthropy for years.  This summer they're embarking on a very exciting new chapter of that work: the first Philanthropy MOOC.


MOOC stands for Massively Open Online Course, and it's all the buzz in higher education at the moment, as all the big players try to figure out how to use this new tool and reach the masses with their offerings.  But this is, obviously, a pretty big deal - they're launching this through their own foundation, with some impressive universities as partners.  They genuinely want to reach anyone and everyone who's interested.

You should be interested.

Not only is this AT MINIMUM a great way to gain some insight into how (some) big philanthropists think, it's a chance to put yourself in the shoes of someone giving away money rather than asking for it, and will help you refine your message when you go back to fundraising.  AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, it sounds like they've figured out a way to keep the most unique part of their standard college course: giving students a pot of money to distribute.

Read more about the Learning by Giving Foundation here: www.learningbygivingfoundation.org

I signed up.  Hope to "see" you in class!

Mailbag: All alone on the PTO

Q: I stupidly volunteered to be Parent Chair of the PTO at my son's preschool.  No one else wanted to step up, so I figured I'd take on the Big Job, but everyone else would help out in little ways (I'm usually great at coordinating lots of people pitching in on a project so that everyone's actually contributing.)  WRONG.  We had one meeting where it was like pulling teeth to get people to even suggest ideas for fundraisers, and now that we picked a couple to run with, I can't get a single person to help me with ANYTHING.  I'm losing my mind and getting angry and feeling like a failure.  And I don't know how to turn things around.  I'm not sure what my question is other than ...HELP!!!

A: Any time you're up for a job no one else wants (even when they flatter you tremendously by saying that you're clearly the best person for the job and everyone else wants to remove themselves from the competition because of how spectacularly great you'll be), make sure you fully understand why you're the only person in the running.  This is just one of the situations you can find yourself in, and it's miserable, unless you've accepted the challenge knowingly.

But that doesn't help you now, it's just a reminder for your long future of parental involvement in the education sector (if your kid's in preschool, you've got at least a dozen more years of negotiating this terrain), and might help someone else avoid your frustrations.

So, the first question I have (and one that all those other parents should have asked the moment you brought up fundraising) is: How much do you have to raise, and why?

I'm always amazed at the range of funds that PTOs and parent Booster Clubs and other educational related volunteer groups have to raise - some need a few hundred dollars for minor incidentals, others need tens of thousands to essentially underwrite the full program.  Being specific about how much you need to raise will help cut through whatever assumptions your fellow parents are walking in with (probably whatever they've experienced in the past)...assumptions that may be filling them with apathy or paralyzing dread.

Why you have to raise the money is also incredibly important to lay out for your fellow parents.  This is your first pitch - and if your pitch isn't compelling enough to inspire other parents who've shown up for a PTO meeting, well, that's got to be fixed immediately.

One or both of these is most likely the culprit here...is the amount you need to raise reasonable?  Is the reason you need to raise these funds important and urgent?  If both of these are true and you've also ruled out communication breakdowns (i.e. - this IS something urgent, say, for the survival of the school, or preservation of teaching jobs, etc., but the parents just aren't getting it or responding...) you need to look at the next question that follows:

How much do you need to raise ---> why do you need to raise it ---> Who are you going to raise the money from?

You thought it was going to be "How are you going to raise it?"...but we're not there yet.  WHO FOOTS THE BILL will shape how you go about raising the money.

A trap that many nonprofits fall into, but is particularly pernicious in the education sector, is tapping a very small pool of interested parties over and over and over again.  The experience of donor fatigue in that case has very little to do with HOW you're asking for money, it's the total that this small pool of individuals is asked to kick in.

If you expect to raise all your money from parents and their friends (is preschool too young to make the kids participate in one of those awful gift-wrapping sales?), through events, raffles, sales of one kind or another, you're not alone...but maybe you should rethink how you're doing it.

Having a school community come together around an event, maybe dinner and dancing, can be fun!  I've seen successful "gala" style events where everyone has a great time...but they worked because the folks in question were on the same page and wanted to get this particular reward for the money they knew they would be tossing in.  But let's say that gala sounds like a miserable way to spend and evening.  You could be sitting in a PTO meeting thinking "So, we need to raise $5,000, which winds up being $250 per family...but you want me to donate dozens of hours of my time to plan a party, buy tickets for myself and my spouse for $100, harass 6 of my friends to join my table out of sheer goodwill, spend $50 on a babysitter for the evening, all for the privilege of spending the night in a uncomfortable shoes and smiling when I'd rather be watching a bad movie on my couch."  And when you break it down like that, you realize that this is one of the most inefficient ways possible to raise your money.

Once you take a look at who you're targeting as the source of your revenue (and be realistic here - you can't just say "local rich people" and expect them to magically appear and give you money while dancing and giggling...for that, you might as well send everyone out to hunt for leprechauns), figure out what fundraising mechanism creates value for THEM.  People give money to gain something of value.

Don't forget: you're head of a PTO.  Every parent is inherently short on time (or oblivious to that fact, if you're saddled with some of those Wonderplanet Moms).  My bet is that if you can figure out how to successfully communicate the amount you need to raise, the reason you need to raise it, who you expect to raise it from and then focus your team on creating something of value to exchange for those funds...you'll have a group of parents who feel you respect the time they're giving you, and will be much more willing to help chip in.

Warning: if you have this frank discussion, you may wind up trashing some "traditional" fundraising tools that the preschool has used in the past.  This may lead to bumped or bruised emotions.  Tread carefully...but don't be overly cowed by things that just don't work.

Good luck!  Let me know how it goes...

Mailbag: I think my biggest donor hates me

A very edited version of a question received from a friend/reader:

Q: It's my first year in a new position, and we're working on launching a capital campaign.  We really really need a huge new gift from my organization's biggest donor...but I think she hates me.  It's messing with my head, paralyzing me with fear, and making it hard to think about anything else.  I don't think the campaign will succeed without her, and what if it's my fault she turns us down?

A: OK, so the stakes seem high here, but I don't know if you're making an honest assessment, or whether your fear is leading you to obsess about a worst case scenario.

I'm going to answer two parts of your question separately - the biggest problem you're having is paralyzing fear.  That's something you need to fix immediately, because every day you spend motionless makes it that much harder to get started again.

If we were in a coaching relationship, we'd be working on distancing yourself from all your emotions so that you can step back a couple of times a week and think about your campaign strategy objectively...go back to the basics and break down that campaign into a series of bite-sized goals, then channel all of that anxiety into chipping away at your list of tiny steps forward.

If the thing that's tying you in knots is a complicated situation with one donor (even if it's your biggest donor), you need to be able to sit down at your desk (or take a walk if that's a better way to clear your head) and think about all the pieces of the puzzle.  You're going to need a base of dedicated and involved smaller donors.  What's your plan for reaching the masses?  Work on that while your gears are grinding elsewhere.  You'll need to scour your existing donors for folks who can be wooed into stretching to new heights of giving, and start the wooing process.  You'll need to train and mentor and encourage your board members to get involved.  Maybe you need some printed collateral.  Maybe you're planning a launch event.  The specifics, you'll have to come up with.  But there is inevitably a long list of things you need to do, and there's immense psychological benefit to being able to account for real progress at the end of the day (or week, or month).  Turn your paralyzing fear into nagging fear.  Nagging fears you can live with, or better yet, pin them down and dispel them.

So now let's look at the fear of being hated by a donor.  First of all, why do you think this person hates you?  Unless there was an actual incident - did you accidentally say something offensive? ("Pregnancy suits you!" "...I'm not pregnant.") Did you do something bad? (Accidentally shatter her grandmother's heirloom and priceless vase by knocking it off the coffee table when you had tea at her house?)  If there's no real cause for anger or hate, the odds are that you haven't made that deep of an impression.  Actual hate takes energy to manifest and maintain.  At worst, you're probably just an annoyance.

There are so very many reasons that two people might not click, and that's without figuring in the fact that you're talking about people who met in a rather artificial circumstance - a paid professional whose job it is to connect the donor to the institution and then ultimately ask them for money. It's perfectly fine to not form a personal, deep connection to every donor.  Perhaps this metaphor will help: a great donor relationship casts you in the role of midwife - someone who has a connection with their charge and is honored to be trusted to help the donor bring a new gift into the world.  Most donor relationships have you playing the role of translator - speaking to the donor on behalf of the organization, bringing donor concerns and thoughts back to the organization, and hoping that you can speak both languages well enough to communicate effectively.  A poor donor relationship makes you a translator with an annoying voice or distracting accent.  This should be a comforting perspective: you might not be the translator the donor would imagine or choose, but ultimately, it's not about you.  Really.

Except when it is.  Sometimes, people really are that crazy, and it's not impossible that your worst fears have manifested in this donor.  She hates you AND is willing to hold it against the organization.  Very very unlikely, but not impossible.

You are never the only member on the fundraising team.  So discuss your fears frankly with the rest of your team - an Executive Director, a Director of Development, Board members...Coach one of them through taking over the relationship, or hear what they have to say about making amends and trying to start fresh.  Ask for help.

You might even consider asking the donor.  Tell her you fear that the fact that you two have not developed a warm relationship is getting in the way of her longstanding relationship with your amazing organization, and you know how big a role she has played in its success to date (or the impact her involvement has had, how much she's been appreciated...whatever you think matters most to her).  Ask if you've offended her.  Ask how you can get past your rocky start.  Try to find some small common ground (like, say, a passion for the work that your organization is doing) and start fresh.

It may wind up that you need to hand over the relationship to someone else.  Happens all the time, so it's important to not feel like that move means failure.  Just don't do it from a place of unexamined fear...do it because it makes good sense.

Quick Tips: Getting Online Donations Up and Running, ASAP

A friend/reader just took a summer internship helping a small organization to think about their fundraising strategy.  He's young (as you might have guessed from the internship bit), so the first thing the board did was assume that he knows a lot about "online stuff."  Kids today, right?

Their top priority for him was to figure out how to get the organization to a place where they could accept online donations.

There's more to having an online strategy than simply being able to take a credit card donation online...a LOT more, honestly.  Bottomline, being thoughtful is worth more than being an early-adopter of new technologies.  Always.  But ideally, you want to be thoughtful and take advantage of new tools.

Here's a very practical (if also very incomplete) listing of a few quick ways to "get online" with your donations, and I'll trust you to not jump to any irresponsible uses of technology!

• If you have your tax-exempt status, you are already eligible to receive online donations through some third-parties.  My typical picks (below) represent a good sampling of the field, and will give you some hints at things you should be evaluating when figuring out how to get online, fast.
• Network for Good - this site allows people to make donations to anyone in the Guidestar directory of verified tax-exempt entities.  There are pros and cons here - it's not the most customizable interface, and from a user perspective, it's most convenient for folks who are making a bunch of small gifts to a bunch of organizations at the same time (think year-end).  The fee structure varies from 5% of gifts to 3% + an annual fee + setup, and is likely evolving, which is not outside the typical range of fees.  Still, you can "be online" immediately - just find your organization's Donate Now page and link to it as a way of driving traffic.  If you don't have a strategy yet, but have an immediate need to be able to take someone's online gift, this is a great option.  Use it, and move towards a more strategic solution forthwith.
• FirstGiving.com - this platform has just one advantage over Network For Good: the turnaround time for donations.  With a fee structure of 5% + 2.5% credit card fee + $500 annual fee, they're on the higher side of fees...but depending on your cashflow needs, they promise weekly dispersal.
• Fundraise.com - If you've got a little more capacity for strategy, this third party has a more aesthetic interface, and one which you can customize quickly without having a high level of technical knowhow on your team. People who can use a Facebook page (upload photos, enter content with an eye towards web formatting (when/where should hyperlinks be added, use bitesized paragraphs, etc.)) should be able to customize this platform reasonably well.  They help out with some email management so you can publicize your campaign(s), and they do occasionally turn up new donors for you who are looking at the Fundraise.com homepage to discover projects that are a good fit for their interests.  Fees are reasonable (4.5% + credit card fees) and they have a 30 day dispersal schedule, which is also quite reasonable.  This is my pick, in general, if you want to maximize a very limited tech capacity.
• Facebook Causes - speaking of being able to use Facebook, this runs through Network For Good on Facebook.  If you're one of the growing number of small/startup nonprofits that have a Facebook page but no website, this is an obvious choice for you.  It can also be a good way to get your Facebook followers and friends to utilize this particular social network for you by making it very very easy.  On the other hand, if you have a database of donors who may or may not use Facebook, it's something that needs to be maintained that only reaches a subset of your supporters, and will never be something you fully control (Facebook is not infinitely customizable as your own website would be; it will continue to roll out changes that you'll have to adapt to, with or without notice.)  You need to figure out if this fits with your plans for solicitation - how are you going to be encouraging people to give money online?  If it's almost all Facebook, this might work for you.
• If you don't have 501c3 status yet (it's pending, or your goals are so modest that you just don't want to deal with the bureaucracy - fine as long as you're not misrepresenting yourself) you still have options -- and both of these work even better if you DO have tax-exempt status.   For these, you're trading convenience for control.  If you are able to take advantage of that, I usually recommend the tradeoff, but it's important to be honest with yourselves when making the decision one way or another.
• Braintree Payments - I used to love Google Checkout as a convenient and functional widget that could be added to any website.  Not the prettiest, but very very practical.  Unfortunately, that's been discontinued and the Powers That Be at Google recommend you take your business to Braintree Payments.  Early reports are pretty good - their customer service gets high marks, and they seem to be gentle and generous in providing set-up support.  It's always good to be able to keep people on your website to make donations, instead of sending them to a third-party.
• Paypal - without Google Checkout, Paypal is a reasonable substitute, and usable for anyone, with or without tax-exempt status.  After all, people can just give money to other people - Paypal just provides the mechanism.  You have to keep abreast of all the technicalities and stay within legal boundaries (e.g., obviously, you can't offer tax-deductions if you're not tax-exempt; if you're selling raffle tickets make sure your raffle is legal; etc.)  Fees are reasonable if you file the paperwork to get recognized as a tax-exempt entity - 2.2% + .30 per transaction as long as the donations total less than $100,000 per month (and let's face it - if you're clearing more than $100,000 online per month, you shouldn't be cobbling together this particular solution!)
• Best possible solution:
• Most fundraising database software solutions these days have an online payment component.  If you've got a website and can hook a fundraising page to that which will automatically enter new gifts (and new donors) into your database (as well as logistically enable the payment), that's the neatest solution in almost all cases.  If you're committed to the database already, it's either a sunk cost or very small marginal cost, you're saving on the man-hours otherwise needed to get these gifts recorded in your database, and you've got a good amount of control over your donors' experience.  If "fast" is by far your most important criteria, and your database doesn't offer this option, you'll need to use something else as an intermediary (see above), but this is likely to wind up being your ultimate destination.

Did I miss your favorite platform or service?  Tell me about it (or your experiences, good or bad) in the comments section!

Regarding the Importance of Listening (in which I take my own advice)

It's not entirely lost on me that I just wrote a whole post yesterday about the importance of listening, but have not yet had the opportunity to be in conversation with you, dear reader.

So how about it?  Comments are enabled on all the posts, or better yet, why don't you drop me a line (shana.ross [at] gmail.com) and ask me your questions?  What would be helpful to you?

Yours,

The Development Shrink

Next week: because someone asked - tips for taking online donations on a shoestring budget

First Dates part 3 - But Enough About Me, Tell Me About You

You don't want to waste a meeting by not telling your prospect about your organization and its programs and needs.  But that's not really why you're there.

Your biggest goal is to be alluring.  You're trying to provoke an emotional response, spark an intense connection.  You want your prospect to be completely smitten with you by the time you part ways...all the better to want to see you again, want to know more about your organization, want to help you change the world (or make great art or fight for justice or whatever you're working to do, in its most grandiose terms).

This is really really hard to wrap your head around unless you're a narcissist or one of those blessed people whose charm can't be turned off.

So now that I've said that, forget about it, unless it's useful to you.  Instead, think about the things that are going to help with that relationship in the long term: listening now (not just listening, but drawing out deeper conversations and stories and soaking in them) and remembering later.

First, learn to be a good listener.  Believe it or not, that's an actual skill that you can work on.  There are people who study listening for a living.  They know the difference between active listening, empathic listening, appreciative listening, informational listening...and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I always find it very odd to read some of these academic papers; it's a little like reading about breathing - something you do all the time without thinking a whole lot about it, and as soon as you see the diagrams and clinical explanations and case studies, that thing that you do (just plain old breathing) starts to feel weird.  You can't stop thinking about it. You notice every breath you take.  Does everyone have that whistle?  Are you breathing too shallow or too deep?

Helpful tip: don't try to teach yourself active listening skills by googling it the night before you meet with someone you really want to impress.  You'll wind up overthinking your own conversational technique and blow the meeting.  These are skills you have to develop and refine over time as part of general professional development.

Straight up/standard active listening technique is a little odd and formulaic.  You do a lot of spitting back whatever the other person has said, and if you haven't figured out how to turn this from a useful counseling technique into something that feels and flows naturally, the person you're talking to is either going to think you're a condescending schmuck, or not quite all there.  (Either way, it behooves you to practice in a safe space until you've gotten the hang of it.)

But here's why you want to do it: People love it when they feel someone is listening to them and is actually interested in what they have to say.  Done properly, active listening gets folks to open up, builds trust, reduces the judgment and emotions you're bringing into the conversation, and vastly improves your memory for what's being communicated.  And notice I said communicated - you'll have better memories not only of what was said, but for body language and tone and other non-verbal cues.

Second, make a mental checklist of the things you'd like to find out during the meeting.   Like most things in life, if you know what you're looking for, you're more likely to find it.

Here's a good general list of First Date Big Questions.  Use this as a starting point, not as gospel.  For your list, remember to keep it short.  You can only keep 4 - 7 things actively in your mind at a time, so that's a really good size limit for your mental checklist.  (Check out the research on working memory if you're curious why I say this, and yes, working memory capacity varies with individuals.  Still.  Keep your list  short and manageable.)

1. What is this person's relationship to/interest in the mission of my organization?
2. How does this person perceive my organization (what does s/he know about us and our work, does s/he have an accurate picture or, if not, is it worth trying to correct that)?
3. What drives this person?
4. How does this person like to be perceived by others?
5. What do they consider their biggest triumphs and/or fears?

You'll note - none of these are questions that can simply be asked outright.  You need to find the answers cumulatively over the course of your entire conversation.  But anything that adds to these answers, you want to grab and put in your pocket for later.  Dig a little deeper.  

Not specific enough to be added to this list, but things that are always useful to bring out in that first meeting: 

1. Personal anecdotes.  About anything.  Funny stories from their childhood, tales of the workplace, with bonus points for good stories about why your organization's programs or missions have a personal meaning for them. (You're going to be good at active listening at some point, which means you'll be trained to appreciate these stories and file them away without judgment for later, when you can analyze them for insights.)
2. Family information. (How old are their kids, what are their names, what does their spouse do, how close are they to their crazy aunt Lulu...it's all useful to learn and file away.  You'll be a development rock star when you send a nice little handwritten note for a kid's kindergarten graduation, and crazy aunt Lulu may inspire your donor to name something in her honor...you never know when family information will pay off...so pay attention when it comes up!)
3. What book(s) are they reading right now? (The book doesn't so much matter, but the way they talk about it is useful information.  Are they a secret (or not so secret) nerd? A romantic? So exhausted and drained at the end of a day that all they can handle is something with a quick plot and no hidden depth?  And it's a good question to slip in if you get stuck for conversation.  Likewise movies.  And if you need to, you can mention a book you're reading to make it a more fluid question...get creative, but get listening.)

Immediately after the meeting: take notes.  Active listening will help improve your memory, but there's nothing quite like putting it in writing.  And don't wait.  You don't want to risk sending a card addressed to Aidan to your prospect's daughter Adrianne, n'est pas?  And put down everything you can think of - these are notes for you...if something becomes irrelevant, who cares?  Best to sort through a lot of garbage later, if it increases the chances you've got some golden nuggets in your collection of notes.  

First Dates part 2 - What's A Nice Fundraiser Like You Doing In A Place Like This?

When last we left our metaphor, we were walking into the bar, and had just caught sight of our date, who sees you, smiles and waves.  As you head over to him/her, your nerves are about to get the best of you, and all you can think is "What the hell am I doing here, I don't know how to do this, I'm pretty sure I just forgot how to speak English, and I just know I'm going to screw this up and this guy/gal will never ever ever donate a cent to my organization."

Happens to professionals all the time.

Often combined with "Oh my god, what am I going to say to someone with that much money, and what do I do when the check comes?"

Seriously, I hope that all of your problems are this bad.  Because aside from the terror you're feeling, these are all things you can get through.

To help, here's a checklist of four things that you can practice answers to in the shower until you're feeling comfortable with what you have to say (and how you say it.)  If you communicate all four, it's a successful first date...and 3 out of 4 earns you an A-, if you can manage those 3 with grace.

1. Have an elevator pitch for your organization and several of its programs (or the campaign you're fundraising for, if that's relevant - whatever you're hoping to eventually solicit money for, be able to describe it reasonably well in under 30 seconds.)
2. Know how you stand out from the crowd.  What's different about your organization, what's unique about your approach, what distinguishes you from everyone else? (And, lest this not be obvious, never disparage other individuals or organizations when developing this sound bite.  Or ever, really.  It's just tacky, and always reflects poorly on you, eventually.)
3. What do you need? 
• At some point, a savvy donor may ask, even in a first meeting "So what do you need?"  That's great, if you have an answer.  If you don't, that's a huge turnoff.  You'll leave the prospect thinking that the whole meeting has been a waste of time, if you don't even know what you're looking for.  If they don't ask, just knowing "I'm looking for an angel donor to make project X a reality" or "I need an extra $10k a year to hire a web designer," etc. can help guide your conversation.  Example: let's say you need that web designer.  Managing to talk about the importance of a comprehensive web presence, or how amazing it is that organizations that were once hyperlocal are now forced to consider global image thanks to the internet?  Sets you up for this ask eventually.
4. What's your personal story?

• Most people want to relate personally to their fundraiser.  Why do you care enough about this mission/organization to be on the frontline, asking for money right now?  How did you get involved, what does it mean to you?  The answer is rarely going to be the whole truth and nothing but the truth...you want to consider a way of phrasing the truth in a way that a) makes you comfortable (you do not have to lay bare your entire soul) and b) makes the prospect comfortable.  (Raising money for a rape counseling hotline?  "I have enough personal experience that this is deeply important to me" continues the conversation.  "Well, I was raped a couple of times in college" could stop it cold.)

Beyond those four things, you should have lots and lots of stories.  You should have enough material that you could do nothing but talk about your organization for an hour or more, using anecdotes.  Funny or touching stories from the field.  Amazing outcomes.  Lessons learned the hard way.  Profiles of your staff.

You will not tell them all of those stories.  Promise me that!

If you spend a full hour talking about your organization and experiences, it's gone poorly.  (Ever go on a date with someone who just wouldn't shut up about themselves and their accomplishments?  Was there a second date?)

But if you have a lot of material, it's like having a rolodex of good stories, and you can flip through that mental file and pluck out the right one for wherever the conversation takes you.  This is about being prepared for anything, not about trying to say everything you have to say on a first date.

You can wing it, of course, but I personally know the pain of being the kind of person who, when under pressure, is quick to jump to "Oh, that reminds me of this really funny story when..." that ends "Holy batwings, why am I telling this story?!"  If I'm super nervous, my filter for what's appropriate develops holes in the mesh, and I tend to go "blue" as my grandmother used to say.  Or, less damaging but on the same spectrum, you want to be telling stories that enhance the prospect's understanding and/or opinion of your organization.  It's very easy to tell stories that are the equivalent of junk food - lots of calories, might be delicious, but at the end of the day, terrible nutrition and ultimately forgettable.

I've found it very useful to practice and file good nuggets for conversation - you can even give them mental tags for categorization - "shows how well we accomplish our mission" "shows how efficiently we use donations" "shows how we're a spunky grassroots organization" "shows how graceful and dignified we are when fighting battles at the statehouse" "shows our sense of humor in the face of all the hard work we do"...etc.  Whatever you think is important to communicate.  You've given the elevator pitch - now, with your stories, slowly and as part of natural conversation, do what every high school writing teacher told you at some point: show, don't tell.

Preparation is going to make you feel more comfortable.  And that's going to improve everything about this first date.  

Next up: stop talking already.  Ask some questions.

Quick Tips: Email Strategy

Email is a great tool.  But like everything, you have to know how to use it well if you want it to be effective.  One of its huge advantages, the very very low cost per email (for most of us, it's just the staff time spent putting together the list above the sunk costs of having an email management system) makes us a little less cautious about how we structure and plan our mass emails.

Here's a great recent post from techcafeteria (aka Peter Campbell) with some cautionary thoughts.  Basically, he reminds us that we're not the only folks tracking the number of people who open and read our emails - that statistic has bearing on how the major email services categorize your messages...you're much more likely to wind up in spam filters if you have consistently low rates of opens and clickthroughs.

http://techcafeteria.com/blog/2013/05/31/everything-that-you-know-about-spam-is-wrong/

It's something to think about.  Certainly, you shouldn't let fear for your sender score (terminology Mr. Campbell describes - it's what you think it is) cripple you...if the rest of the world is anything like me, whether or not I open an email from the organizations I support has less to do with them and more to do with what else is in my inbox and what else is going on in my day.  Aside from trying to anticipate what you can (eg - don't send an email you want me to read the day after a long weekend.  My inbox is guaranteed to be full and I'm going to be having a hard time getting my head back into work mode.  Always.) you have to accept that you can't fully control these things, and email is ideally suited to mass outreach.  But being aware of the implications of the techniques you are weighing is always a good thing.

Three super quick takeaways:

1. Think carefully about your mailing lists.  Just because you don't have to write a check every time you hit "send" doesn't mean there's no cost to sending emails, and it's not as simple as "so they won't read it if they're not interested."
2. Be sure your emails have value.  Best way to get people to open your emails consistently is to develop a track record of sending emails that are worth reading.  (Of course, that's a complicated thing to figure out...what has value to both your organization and your supporters/followers?  If it were as easy as all that to figure out how to implement that kind of platitude, I wouldn't have paying gigs...but at least this kind of advice can prevent you from being reckless!)
3. Stewardship is a great use of email - if all of your emails boil down to a direct solicitation, people will stop opening them unless they want to make a gift immediately.  Also, you should be sending your solicitations to lots of people, not just your guaranteed supporters, so if that's all you send, you'll wind up ignoring all of the good advice in Mr. Campbell's article.  But when you use email to thank and engage your supporters, you'll be rewarded with higher open rates and all their benefits.  (Blah, blah, you still have to do it right, and points 1 and 2 still apply, but if you're looking for a great way to engage in a productive conversation about email strategy with your board, boss, staff/team, etc., start here.  How can you better use email for stewardship?)