End of Year Waltz on Facebook

The End of Year is always a busy time for fundraising.  Getting in end of year donations, mailings, thank you's and of course keeping up with social media and emails to both thank donors and get those last donations.  On the now working NJ Path to work  I put some thought into what to say to both thank our supporters and still try to trigger a few dollars because the clock strikes midnight. Since in my organization and those I work with (the Shelter) email usually need to be approved and lists are not easily accessible, Facebook and Twitter represent great ways to get the word out.

However, as we put together our messages, it's a real waltz to both thank donors and remind them "Get in those last minute dollars!" While some people think that we (fundraisers) just slap up Facebook messages and get to play on the Internet for a job, those of us that do this everyday know that we are constantly thinking about how to get the best response, target our audience, grow our base, figure out how to turn this into a fundraising tool, etc.  We carefully craft messages to coordinate with our activities, appeals, holidays, events, etc. So the end of year message is the pinnacle of our SM year.

I snagged a line I liked from PP for the Shelter asking volunteers and supporters why they supported the Shelter after a fellow volunteer had posted a thank you at 8am this morning (I was doing my dishes!).  I also pulled a quote from the volunteer we honored at our 30th Anniversary event. I already love the responses that have been posted and it's been shared on other pages.

Hoboken Shelter

“Every single time I go into The Shelter I hit the reset button. [Volunteering] is very therapeutic.” - Todd Kinney, 30th Anniversary Honoree. Why do YOU support the Hoboken Shelter?


Later I plan to cut and paste Jaclyn's winter note into a Facebook note and paste that up.  I'd like to pull from it how many people were helped.

For my regular job, I had previously pasted links to our Annual Report and asked about resolutions to do more pro bono work so today I went with a list of our major projects and a link to our donation page. Later I plan to post a thank you and happy New Year pic.

How are you thanking and getting your message out to donors for the end of the year?  What have been your favorite New Year's posts?

Hoboken Post Sandy Shelter Status: Twitter Lifeline

Hurricane Sandy hit Hoboken with tremendous force, ruining homes, cars, and belongings, leaving many without power and putting residents and their belongings on the street. It's devastating and I wish the best to all those who need to rebuild after the storm.  We were lucky and escaped with minimal damage and only spent about 5 days without power.  In the storm's aftermath, we've been trying to return to work as normal but crazy transit commutes have certainly made that a struggle.  And today we battle yet another storm - one that is threatening wind, rain and possibly even snow.

During the storm, we were one of the last to lose power and I kept up to date with friends and "the boken" on Twitter and FB, learning where the water was, what was flooding, and seeing incredible pictures of the damage.  We found at close to midnight our garage was flooding and ran down to move boxes, bags of soil and old clothes and trees to save the garage. See picture above.  The water came in a lot stronger just after this picture was taken.  Notice our lights were still on.

While on Twitter and FB, I kept tabs on the Shelter since I handle most of their social media efforts. It was really nice to see how many were asking about the Hoboken Shelter and what they needed and if they made it through the storm okay. We've added about 20 new fans who consistently asking what they can do to volunteer and what they can bring by.  We are lucky as a community to have such supportive friends of the Shelter. Fortunately, the Shelter did not have flood damage and they didn't lose power until Tuesday morning.   You can see how many people are asking about food and such below.

In talking to Jaclyn, the ED, after the storm the Shelter did need help . They had gone through many supplies, taking in so many of our poorer neighbors.  And with another storm approaching they need all the help of the community.  Last night I found an article online interviewing Jaclyn about storm prep for Winter Storm Athena as well as what they needed. Mostly coffee and sugar as well as paper goods.  Thanks to the Hudson Reporter for providing the info which you can find here.

Wishing everyone a calmer time in the weeks to come as well as a speedy recovery. #HobokenSandy

Fundraising Lunch: 5 Easy Ways to Jump Start Fundraising With Program Staff

I presented these 5 easy points during a staff lunch at Pro Bono Net on my past experiences creating a culture of philanthropy at the organization and encouraging program staff to be past of the fundraising. (Aside from making them stuff invitations and fold tickets during crunch time!) 

The goal was to start a conversation about how development could be more transparent about the fundraising work we are doing and how we could encourage the program staff to participate in fundraising. Here is an article from EJewish Philanthropy by Stephen G. Donshik, D.S.W.,which captures how much we as a staff need to participate in good stewardship. I also used this article on top tips for creating a culture of philanthropy to formulate my top 5 tips. Whenever I go to AFP meetings or events related to fundraising, I recap what I learned for other staff and I do that for the Shelter Development Committee.  I think training and current trends is critical to being good fundraisers.

 
 

1.       Identifying Donors

You’re pounding the pavement and talking about your programs, who’s taking the bait?

Program staff that do outreach may have the best opportunities to talk to potential supporters.  For example, I worked at a small shop where it was hard to do outreach, but much of our staff was doing outreach as part of their job. They took a fundraising lead when they found someone who was a potential candidate and wanted to donate, do an in-kind collection, or event. They would direct them to development and stay on as a point of contact. Frequently, these relationships developed into fundraising events and donations.

2.       Talking with Donors

No one can describe programmatic work as well as the people who do it – so they should.

When talking with donors, it helps to have supporters meet the program staff. For example, I frequently took along programmatic staff to luncheons and events where we’d meet donors or if donors came to the office, I set time aside for them to meet program staff.  The beginning steps of any stewardship plan is about building the relationship, having program staff speak passionately about what they do is a great way to immerse donors in your cause.  

3.       Cultivation and Sharing

I think this is the most important step in stewardship. Once you develop a relationship with a donor, program staff, board and development can help steward, and it doesn’t always have to be an overwhelming process.  For example, at one organization I worked at, one of our major donors to education was very interested in current trends, so the education department would send over new fliers, blog posts and articles that our donor might find interesting and I would forward them along – it helped increase the EOY gift.

4.       Share Stories

It may be something as simple as telling development about an interaction you had or putting something in an email.  It can really sell the organization if development staff can start with “You know I was just talking with someone about this very issue, they mentioned XYZ”.

5.       Share your Vision

Have an idea? Don’t hesitate to share.  My colleague, Pam and I have spoken with program staff and started a quarterly call and some ideas have become successful proposals. 

I recommended a few sites (I could have included a lot more but decided to aim for a half dozen) I check regularly including:

Association of Fundraising Professionals (New York Site)

Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog 

The Fundraising Coach 

Getting Attention Blog

Joyaux Associates

Ahern Communications Ink

Amy Eisenstein - Tri Point Fundraising

 

Get In the Spirit for the HoBOOken 5k

Normally, any reference to working out is saved strictly for my blog Pasta & Power Squats: A Girl Burns Up the Gym & the Kitchen but since this group is raising money for the Hoboken Shelter, I'll give them a quick shout out - the Hoboken Elysianettes.  Once again, this year, they are organizing, running, and greatly helping out the Hoboken Shelter by donating the proceeds from the HoBOOken 5k to the organization.  I went to their sprint workout last night, Thursday, to get some company and speed during what could be a very boring activity by yourself, 6 hill repeats, but having a few other people running up the same hill felt great. 

Last year at this time, after the Elysianettes approached us about the race, we were deciding whether or not to host our summer/fall happy hour and ultimately decided to host it as a launch party for the HoBOOken 5k. The Elysianettes and some non-running friends come out one month before the event and we enjoyed the chance to get to know them before race and raised $600.  Amazingly they raised more than $25,000 at the race, which despite the weather, was a great day. 

On October 3, 2012 from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m, we'll host our Second Launch Party for the HoBOOken 5k to "Get in the Spirit" at the Melting Pot Hoboken, 100 Sinatra Drive. 

In close vicinity to Pier A and the Path. The Melting Pot will offer complimentary dessert fondue as well as the following drink specials:

$5 draft beer (excluding Chimay)

$6 cocktails from our cocktail menu

I provided a link to the cocktail menu - I am thinking the pom martini but we'll see. The full menu will be out and available for order. Should you want to make it a night out, head over to the restaurant and the Melting Pot will offer meal package of Cheese Fondue, Chocolate Fondue, and a glass of house wine each for $40 per couple. If it's a nice night, bring pup, sit on the patio and they can enjoy K9-friendly white chocolate fondue and treats while you enjoy the meal package.  Available from 5-9 p.m.  

We ask for a suggested donation of $20 and with that you'll receive 3 raffle tickets, with a chance to win a Melting Pot g.c., Fleet Feet Sports g.c., as well as g.c. to other Hoboken hot spots. 

We look forward to seeing you there.  Thanks to the Elysianettes for their hard work to get Hoboken's  homeless back on their feet. Every night the Shelter feeds more than 400 people and shelters 50 of our homeless neighbors. 

#GetintheSpirit - follow kar002 on twitter

My friend Jen and I in 2011 - loving life and hot chocolate after a long cold run, props to Eileen for making the cocoa. 

Make it or Break it: Taglines For Events

Expert nonprofit marketer Nancy Schwartz whose website Getting Attention! has been super informative as I did/do more nonprofit marketing at organizations like Planned Parenthood, the Hoboken Shelter, and PBN.

I've been reading (read skimming) the emails about her 2012 Nonprofit Tagline Awards, and winners have now been selected from over 1,400 entries.  Today, I had some time to take a look at the finalists and some of them were really creative. It got my brain jogging about our fundraising and events and the messaging we use. I think I (or we) always thought a great deal about taglines for the  organizational and program use but not as much about taglines specifically for fundraising and for special events. But since we as fundraisers want to inspire people to attend/give, we probably need messaging here more than anywhere else.

Here are some of the taglines I have used recently for our events at the Hoboken Shelter (this is where I do most events)...

For our 30th Anniversary, our invite cover was a house made up of pictures of guests and we used a line that the women's group had stenciled above the door, "May all who enter as guests, leave as friends." And we invited our family of supporters to celebrate the community we'd created for our homeless neighbors.

In just a few weeks we'll host our second launch party to kickoff a 5K race put on by the Hoboken Elysianettes called the HoBOOken 5K, held Halloween weekend, that benefits the Shelter. When I was doing the invite, I was trying to come up with a cute and not overused tagline connected to running or Halloween.  I eventually gravitated to Halloween and the launch party is a "Get in the Spirit" Wine and Chocolate event to kickoff the 5K.  The flier invites all ghouls, gals, runners and non-runners.

Lastly, in terms of event messaging, the Teak Silent Auction, which is one of our biggest fundraisers and typically brings in $15,000 to $20,000.  I was nominated for the Marketing and Public Relations Chair because of the work I've done with the press, marketing and social media.  I started playing with taglines.  I don't believe we've ever used one, but since I was inspired...
"The Teak Silent Auction: Come to Bid, Stay to Strengthen our Community."

This was a 5 minute experiment...thoughts?  Thanks to Nancy for getting everyone to think about messaging.  As the end of the year comes in we should think about how we talk about ourselves and our messaging and not miss good opportunities to get across what we do.

Newsletter for the Hoboken Shelter

I've talked a lot about the note we put with the Hoboken Shelter's August newsletter in prior posts.  I just posted it as a note on Facebook and I am hoping people appreciate the time we put into sending a little note along. It was no easy task combining a thank you, with an ask and tying it in the newsletter.  And it was a delicate discussion as to whether or not we should ask supporters for money via the mail aside from at the holidays. (I was a 'yes' vote).  I am already noting places I think we could improve and getting ideas for the holiday mailing to share with the committee and E.D. but I think overall it's great we started including a somewhat personalized note to send with the mailing. My mom thought it was nice when she received it. 

The reason I thought the note was important is because the newsletter is the only mailing going to donors they are not receiving "asks" also throughout the year in addition to the newsletter.  They typically sent a letter at the holidays and that was it.  This was on a third of an 81/2x11 sheet and fit just over the newsletter in a number 10 envelope.  Again, because it had stats, thanked the donor, shared with the donor what the community accomplished, referenced a successful client and made an ask I think it is a successful round 1 attempt.

Here is the text we came up with that went out as part of the August newsletter...


Dear Friends,

I want to take a moment to say THANK YOU!

It is because of your generosity that 76 guests have moved into their own homes and 78,041 meals have been served so far this year. I am sincerely grateful for your dedication to our important work.

Your gift truly make a difference in the lives of our guests. In the newsletter you'll meet a lovely women named Yvette, who is a successfully housed guest. She worked her whole life  to take of her family and other people's families, but then found herself out of work and homeless. Thanks to our caring community, you helped us get her back on her feet and now she has keys to her own home!

Every day guests like Yvette count on us for food and shelter. Without your support, we could not continue to open our doors to our homeless neighbors on their journeys to homes of their own. I hope you'll consider a gift to support our life-changing work. 

Your support is critical to moving our homeless neighbors from the streets to our shelter to their own homes. With your help, I know we can end homelessness one person at a time. Thank you!

Sincerely,

Jaclyn Cherubini, MPA
Executive Director

Policy and Positioning: Game, Set, Match (Cecile Richards at the DNC)

I must admit that I did not watch any of the coverage of the RNC 2012.  I realize that I should be more politically-minded prior to making such a big decision but I had a few reasons not to watch.

1. I already am 100% sure which way I am voting.
2. I hate to get all riled up before bed.
3. There was an NCIS marathon.

I had not intended to watch any of the DNC 2012 (just to be fair) but the promise of Cecile Richards, Sandra Fluke, and most importantly the Foo Fighters had me at hello.

Cecile Richards spoke Tuesday night and gave, in my opinion, a great speech. During the following commentary, I realized not only was it great because I believed in what Cecile said but because she'd set everything up perfectly.  She gave the facts, she gave the human touch, she incited a little fear, and she rallied us at the end. There were some great takeaways in her speech for us fundraisers as authors of marketing materials and donor communications.

Cecile was introduced by Libby Bruce, a PP patient and supporter who spoke of the great care she received as a patient.  During her speech Cecile spoke about policy but she humanized the policy by referring to Libby and the stories of several other patients who were in need of the services offered by this organization.

As mentioned, after she spoke and they went to commentary the CNN folks said that Cecile had perfect set up in her speech (light bulb for me). The commentator said she spoke about the policies and politics and she humanized it by positioning the organization with stories about the real people in need of real services. I also thought she gave a strong call to action to get out and vote in terms of the positioning. You can see Cecile Richards speech here.

The way Cecile and the organization garner support for PP through her speeches, emails, and mailings is full of this aspect of policy and positioning.  It's a great method for communicating what they do.  And it's great for any organization.

I recently wrote about the Shelter's inclusion of a note within the August newsletter.  What Cecile did in her speech is what I had hoped to achieve with the note - that balance of information and humanizing the issue.  I wanted people to know the hard numbers, what we'd been doing, and what we had yet to do but also to hear about the real people who were, with the help of this organization, getting keys to open their doors. Then we make the ask - the call to action. 

There was a lot we could take away as good fundraisers from watching the conventions, particularly about how we communicate. I think, for me, though while Clinton and Michelle gave excellent speeches and many others rallied the crowd tremendously, Cecile's speech stood out for me because it reinforced many of the good direct mail/communications concepts I learned at PP. 

To look at the specifics - this is one paragraph from her speech, which states the policies that have come about this year but also puts a little bit of fear into her audience.
"Two years ago, when John Boehner, Paul Ryan, Todd Akin and the Tea Party took control of the House of Representatives, they promised to create jobs and jump-start the economy. But, instead, on day one, they came after women's health. And they haven't let up since. They voted to end cancer screenings and well-woman visits for five million women, end funding for birth control at Planned Parenthood, and for good measure, they even tried to redefine rape. And now, Mitt Romney is campaigning to get rid of Planned Parenthood and overturn Roe v. Wade. This year women learned that if we aren't at the table, we're on the menu. So this November, women are organizing, mobilizing and voting for the leaders who fight for us."

Now the humanizing aspect.
"Women like Libby Bruce, the patient you just heard from. Women like Brandi McCay, a 27 year-old whose stage two breast cancer was caught at a Planned Parenthood health center. She is now cancer-free. Or the woman who went on Facebook, after Paul Ryan voted to defund Planned Parenthood, and posted, "I guess they don't understand that us military wives go to Planned Parenthood when the doctor on base can't see us.""

And the call to action...

"So, this November, we're going to keep moving forward, and we are going to re-elect President Obama."

Game, Set, Match, Great Job Cecile!

Cultivation & Engagement: Beginning A Strategy

I have been volunteering for the Hoboken Shelter for the past two years in a development capacity and it has been a great pleasure to help and advise them on putting their donor information on paper and track it, create concrete and initiatives as well as an operational plan, and develop communication/new media efforts.

One of the initiatives was to implement a strategy for donor cultivation and engagement as well as tracking.  This required the help of volunteers and board because the E.D. is incredibly knowledgeable about donors but also always time crunched.  I mentioned in a previous post that we were holding an upcoming meeting where we could discuss our top donors/supporters.  We pulled together a small group to discuss how to engage and cultivate donors.  We chose this small group because they were interested in doing cultivation and engagement rather than just events, they knew many of the supporters and we thought the group would be manageable and would help us keep on top of sensitive donor information. 

I plan to keep a log of how our strategy proceeds to share with others who may be unsure of how to make the leap to cultivation and engagement with a bare bones staff.  We've taken the steps to:

1. Go through a list of high-level donors and identify donors who've given recently and we don't know why or who they are and donors who've been giving regularly but we've not taken the opportunity to get to know. Now we just need to narrow down the list. We had about 40 people who were highlighted.

2. Create a Donor Contact Report. We will put all donor information in a database but additional we'll prepare background on donors (much of which is in the E.D. head) inc. employment, education, hobbies, affiliations, foundations, assets, partner and family information, why they give to us, as well as the results of any meetings and what the next steps are.

3. We identified an initial approach to talk to our donors about how their donation was used and find out why they give to Shelter as well as talking with them about the Shelter's future and what programs they know about as the Shelter turns 30 this year.

4. Identified ways to thank our donors and cultivate and engage them:  cultivation events, friend-raisers and in-home parties, newsletters, invitations to special events, personalized notes, etc.

5. Agreed to hold a next meeting to begin to discuss the narrowed down list and start to find out what we know about our donors and plan who will make initial contact.

This is all very exciting and will hopefully mean that more donors feel a part of a family of donors who are well aware of where their dollars are going and will help rally more people to give. 

New Facebook Page Cover Image for the Shelter

Last week I made a change to the Shelter's cover image on Facebook. I wanted to share what I had done.

I slightly "stole" the idea from images I saw used by other shelters/food pantries nationwide.  If I had a number one piece of advice for learning social media - it would be follow your friends and follow your enemies. I had meant to update the cover image after the event but never quite seemed to find the time until now. I would like to identify more images we can use for the Shelter in the future and definitely want to check and make sure they have a digital camera at their disposal.  I don't think we (or anyone else) need anything to fancy.  I think some images can be simple. I had asked Jaclyn (who probably thought I was nuts - trust is a wonderful thing though and I love her for it) for images of food piled up and she said she had tons of bread. We have been finding ways to thank donors since our May event and I thought this was another good way.

What are some good images you've used and do you feel it's important to rotate the cover image on your page?

Tri Point Support: Year End Already?

Sometimes it's great to get a reminder about a task.  As a fundraiser, you wear so many hats it's often hard to remember what foot is going in front of the other.  (Especially not good for someone who is also a runner - albeit a slow one). 

I just got the email from Amy Eisenstein regarding year end fundraising. My first thought was, "is it really that time?"  But really, it is.  We've already started a conversation as to how we'll approach year-end giving but it may be time to kick it into high-gear. Fortunately, it seems we are on the right track with our brainstorming. Also, read Amy's post - she and it are fabulous.

1.  Get in touch with donors:  Our upcoming meeting is a great time for us to identify our donors and start a conversation, tell them where they investments in the organization went this year and remind them about upcoming fundraising goals.

2.  The letter:  The Shelter sends out three newsletters each year as their only snail mail communications with donors.  Prior to this past newsletter, the only newsletter accompanied by a note or letter was end of year giving. They are pretty committed to this type of communication; however I got them to agree to put a note in the summer newsletter and we'll see how that plays out.  It had stats on how many people served to date, referenced a story in the newsletter about a client and told a little about her, and made an ask directly. And it said thanks in advance.  We have already started talking about gathering client stories, pictures, and more for the winter newsletter. Our last meeting we talked about a particular volunteer we'd like to highlight for the newsletter.  I think a few more testimonials couldn't hurt and some great stats.

3. Online: I usually don't donate to them online; however I donate everywhere else online.  I think this means their website could use some work and are we featuring the donate now in EOY emails?  That's usually when I get reminded to donate to my favorite organizations. I like things to land in my inbox. I am certainly an advocate for emails on the 27, 29, 31 or some combination of dates.

4. Social Media: I had spoken with one of the chairs of our holiday event about upping our holiday exposure via social media by collecting stories on Facebook about volunteering at the holidays. More than 400 residents from near and far gather at various holidays from Nov-Dec to help the  Shelter and we should be sharing their stories and getting some great photos. We should also see if we can get the video of Buddy of Carlo's Bakery online to repost. His popularity is certainly not waning. There had been talk of creating a video and if we cannot get a video done from an outside source I think we should do a rough cut video created with my mac to show pictures and what funding has done this year. I also think we need to have pictures taken at the holidays so we can post immediately to tell funders their dollars feed people and maybe a new picture for our Facebook page with people eating at Thanksgiving that says "thanks be to all." 

5. Tooting our Horn:  We'll have to make sure we share our stats in the newsletter.  I stated some ways to toot our horn via Facebook and video. We'll be having a holiday fundraiser, which would be a great place to share a mission centered video.  We'll be doing press releases leading up to that but we can do a post release on all we accomplished - we have some pretty great press contacts.

Unique ideas (off the top of my head):

• For our 30th event in May we created little cards (3x5) with our donation needs - perhaps we can have those reprinted with our statistics. 
• The ED is such an ever-present face for the Shelter - it might be nice to do a EOY video with her thanking the community and asking for their support, which we could also use as a press release. 

If anything else pops up in this tired ol' brain I'll be sure to post it.  I also plan to post a copy of the note we worked on that I mentioned above. 

Top 5 Takeaways from MIE’s Annual National Fundraising Conference

From July 11-13, I attended the MIE National Fundraising Conference in Boston, MA.  As a newbie to the legal aid fundraising world, the conference provided some great insights that will help as we prepare for year-end fundraising and the coming year.  The location also provided the opportunity to take in some of Boston’s sites during morning runs, including the Charles River and Boston Common.  My favorite way to explore a city is on foot, and since I had not been to Boston in quite a while the location offered great places to explore. 

Attending this conference for the first time was a good opportunity to get a better understanding of what works in the legal aid world of fundraising.  Feeling the pinch of ongoing funding cuts, fundraisers from legal aid organizations were certainly looking to improve and sharpen their skills.  Attending the session for those new to legal aid fundraising, I learned that while there are some differences, the tactics I learned from my previous positions with other types of nonprofits are applicable. 

This year conference focused on the “The Power and Importance of Private Philanthropy” and brought together an impressive group of speakers.  Below are my top takeaways from the conference.

1.        Talk to your donors more than you call your mother.  You know how mom always gets upset without that update as to how you’re doing and what’s new?  Our donors want to know what we are up to as well.  And they don’t want to know only when we send them an appeal asking for money.  Simone P. Joyaux’s plenary, “Seeking the Holy Grail of Fundraising…Donor Loyalty” talked about relationship building and experiences. Bottom line? Stewardship is a process but in the end it will secure donations for your organization. 

2.       You, I, we, me, it… The second day’s plenary from donor communications expert Tom Ahern, “Love Thy Reader: The Science and Secrets of Effective Donor Communications” focused on how we talk to readers of our communications (be they in newsletter, appeal or any other form).  Ahern had some great examples of some of his favorite (and not so favorite) communications and how they were donor centered.  Bottom line: we’re not telling the donors what we did; we’re telling them what we accomplished thanks to their generous support.  I think my favorite slide was of an organization’s web page where he pointed out how many times they’d use we/us.  How many times can we say thank you before it’s too many?  Exactly. 

3.       What is fundraising really about…Fundraising is emotional.  We, as fundraisers, are helping people live out their passions. We (board, staff, volunteers) must, Joyaux says, adopt a lifestyle where we find out if our friends connect with our passions.  Bottom line: those who share your passions will likely be good, if not great, donors. 

4.       The right tool for the job.  Before board members and/or staff can go out and fundraise on behalf of your organization, they need to be armed with the proper tools and an understanding of fundraising in order to be effective fundraisers.  Bottom line: invest time in arming and preparing your board and staff to make “the ask.” 

5.       It’s a donor-centered world.  In order to get our donors to be loyal, we must build trust – how do we do that? According to Joyaux, it’s as simple as keeping our promise and saying thank you.  Bottom line: Make phone calls, say thank you, steward donors and give people extraordinary experiences. 

Bonus Takeaways

Form a Committee.  Development is not for everyone.  Susan Kruse, Donor Relations Manager at Legal Aid Justice Center in VA, talked about creating a development committee that meets monthly (separately from the board) and focuses on development issues, including events, to get the work done.  

Keep Knockin’.  Everyone in a nonprofit is busy. People wear many hats and often do too much for one person.  However, as good development advocates we must continue to ensure letters get signed, phone calls get made and stewardship marches on. Kruse advised persistence when getting development work done and dealing with senior level staff. 

Join a board to understand the process from outside in. 

Young Supporters: Untapped Potential & No More "It's Been a Tough Year"

Living in a Hoboken, I live in an area that's populated by the word young. Be that young professionals, young families, or with regard to nonprofits in the area, young donors. Recently there has been a great deal of buzz online with regard to how to attract these young donors and the effect their presence will have on an organization's bottom line. Most importantly some things I took away from reading pieces on the Millennials and my own Gen Y.

1. Don't ignore them.  They are ready to give and are going to be an important source of revenue.
2. Don't expect us to volunteer in the same way as previous generations.  I say "we" because I agreed with the study that I when I looked to volunteer I wanted to know how I could bring my professional skills to the volunteer game.  So many of us are looking to advance in careers, get a job, or grow our skills and we've learned that nonprofit volunteering is a great way to do that.  All the things that your volunteer do are wonderful; however I don't know any nonprofit that would (or should) turn away expertise in fields like marketing, fundraising, special events, graphic design, etc. And hold us to a high standard. 
3.  Know where to reach us.  I'm reading my email on the train and checking FB and Twitter while I walk home and my Ipad in Starbucks and so are many other people.  I am NEVER checking my mail.  I hate my mail.  You know what comes in my mail?  Junk, bills, and crap from local politicians.  I take out my Entertainment Weekly and your #10 envelope stays lost.

What's the best strategy for reaching young supporters?  Penelope Burk in an article from the Chronicle of Philanthropy suggests going the social media route and doing more fundraising peer to peer.  This makes me want to sit down with some of the young people in our organization and discuss SM strategy for recruitment and donating and also peer to peer fundraising through some of our local events.

Also, I think every appeal I've read at my own nonprofit, the local nonprofit I work with in 'Boken and anywhere else has started "In these tough economic times...".  I was wondering when the shoe would drop on that tactic and evidently the time has come. 

What takeaways did you find from this article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy?

Thanks Gail Perry for Sharing!

This article from Sandy Rees was shared on Fired Up Fundraising by Gail Perry and it pretty much sums up a lot of the strategies I've been trying to implement with the help of the Development Committee at the local shelter.  Much like she mentioned, you can't know where you want to go unless you know where you are starting from and where it is you want to go. 

Do we want to raise money, get more friends, acquire sponsors?  I thought this was worth sharing and I hope in the future to share with you what's been successful as the committee creates and works a plan. We have been successful so far in identifying what we've done, what works, what doesn't and put together a draft plan, including what we plan to do. I think we need to clarify our goals.  We've stated some but I think we need to be clearer as to what they are. Our clear goals right now are that we need to raise $50,000 in funds and we need to acquire new donors.  Right now we're working in a 6 month timeline.  

Steps to a Powerful Fundraising Plan

Happy Fundraising from Hoboken - I'll keep you posted - our team meeting is next week.  And I just checked back in from a great Cali vacation so I need to review my notes this weekend. :)

RSS of Asking

Unless you're a naturally born salesperson, of which I believe there are few, sales are hard.  Really hard. Even those who've put in year in the business may admit to having tripped over their own words or not crafted the messages they'd imagined.  Living with someone who works partly in sales, I see the parallels between the my job in fundraising and the sales aspect of my partners. I have had my fair share of "sales failures" as well as successes in fundraising and have seen each as a learning experience.  Fortunately, I also have had several professional development opportunities to help me learn to craft messages. Most clearly, a former professor telling me to be specific - what did I want and what did I need? 

Recently, I was reminded on this while listening to a colleague's call. They felt a product needed rebranding and remarketing but couldn't (had not) identify beyond that what their needs were. They'd gotten a national advertising agency on the phone to ask for support but when the company wanted to drill down exactly what they wanted, they were unable to come up with an answer.  As I thought about how the call could've gone better, I came up with a few strategies. 

The timing of this post coincides also with recent conversations I've been having with a Hoboken Shelter pal about exploring options to do more Corps and Foundation Fundraising. While the Shelter is grassroots; that's no reason to go to a meeting unprepared. Speaking with another acquaintance, who works at a foundation, she said nothing was more appealing than a nonprofit coming in with a business plan, and that an organization that uses a PowerPoint made a big impact on her decision. My pal and I were glad that our initial thoughts about giving the agency a strong business model, branding our materials and having rich visuals like a PowerPoint, video and strong website were on target. So because I've been thinking about the "ask" and strategy...I developed my RSS of making the ask.

Now what do I mean by RSS of asking...

Research- Research the heck outta your potential ask.  What kind of projects are they supporting? Who do they do business with? Is it any of your supporters?  During the meeting I might ask them about what they are looking for in a partner or what do they know about my organization?  But you should know all about them but let them tell you about themselves.

Strategy - Before the meeting, determine who should say what.  Be prepared for all different types of questions and have materials with you that you may need.

Specify - Know what you are asking for and what you need.  Are you asking a bank to back your financial literacy program, say so! And know how much you need.  Are you asking a graphic designer to design your invite for your gala, say so! Be specific. And know what benefits it will have for your partner.  Will the financial literacy program feature options to be recognized on the website, news and other venues? Will the graphic designer be able to put their logo on the back of the invite and get recognized at the event?  Know what's important to your partner and be specific on your ask.  Bouncing around will likely lead to a no.

Am I perfect at all these things - no!  But I've certainly come along way from my initial meetings and that class in 2005. Recognizing what you need to do and analyzing your past performances is the best way to improve all future yes's.

Nonprofit New Media and Online Communications

I was asked to put together a presentation on social media for fundraising for my nonprofit.  Thanks to the books and bloggers below I came up with the following simple guidelines and tips I've used.

Good buy – The Nonprofit Marketing Guide. By Kivi Leroux Miller

Follow Beth Kanter and AFP TechKnow

Thanks to these resources for their 

1.     Don’t “Just Do It”

Think strategically before you pick which social media to choose. There are many different social media venues, don’t jump on every bandwagon because the technology is there.  The purpose of social media is to communicate, consistently and effectively. Pick only as many networks as you can afford to devote time to.  And you need to be checking the web and responding to items on the web.  For your organization, the site you choose may depend on your audience, for the majority of nonprofits the best approach has been Facebook.  However if you’re nonprofit has a lot of great video or pictures you may also choose to create a you tube channel or set up a Flickr account. Just remember: You’re providing a tangible link to your organization.

2.     Be consistent

Make sure you have time to donate to your social media efforts; you can’t tweet on a Wednesday and then again 2 weeks later.  Out of ideas – consider finding a list of inspirational quotes that relate to what you do – find 52 you love – post those once a week, you’re down to 4-5 days you need to find something.  

3.     Timing is Everything

That said, think about your supporters, when will they be going online, is it in the morning, mid day, late afternoon.  Keep track of your analytics and also when you get the best response from supporters.  Use that time of day to touch base with supporters and send them messages.  

4.     Include Calls to Action/Give Posts Purpose

Social Media may not make you millions, but in can certainly guide your public.  Outraged?  Frustrated? Excited?  Get your supporters revved up!  Give them something to tweet about, create a hashtag, share a response on Facebook and ultimately drive them to your website. Once the website you should make sure they can DO something when they are there sign up for your newsletter, for more information, sign a petition, donate a dollar, or share a speech from your Executive  Director on your homepage.

5.     Always watch the competition

Follow, Like, and watch your competition and your friends, see what people are doing that works and learn from it.

6.     Don’t ignore the cover image.

Speaking of your competition, people are doing a lot of great things with cover images. The new cover image and changes to Facebook made many people groan but the huge cover image really allows you to tell a story and know that you can and need to change  your image to have the most powerful image. Combine your image with a targeted message that tells your story. Provide a call to action in your message. You can feature an upcoming event or make an announcement.

7.     Don’t be messy.

When you post links – neaten them up on Facebook and Twitter – shorten them, once you’ve copied them, delete them out of your post on Facebook. Also, did you know you can edit the text below them? Click on the article and the text below and you can edit it. Let your supporters know why they should read the article.

8.     Interact

We’ve talked about interacting with your supporters but don’t hesitate to interact with other people who may help your marketing.  Interact with reporters and people who may help you advance you cause. I had great success interacting with a local reporter on Twitter post Hoboken Shelter 30th to let him know how much we'd raised - 2 hours after the event.

9.     You’re not asking for money, you’re cultivating

Social Media won’t make you millions, but it will give you the chance to engage and cultivate supporters by sharing your mission, purpose and services. People give because they feel connected and once they give – get their name, address and info, and it’s up to you to do the leg work.

10.Trust your tweeter and Trust your audience

Your organization and the networks you develop – Facebook, Twitter, a Blog, should sound to your supporters like an individual. Say we, us, you.  Also so long as responses from the supporters fall within your social media policies you won’t need to regulate or delete responses.  If a topic elicits a response that opposes your viewpoint, let your supporters do the disagreeing – sometimes it’s good for them to say out loud why they support you. Also, if your staff is exceptional and has a lot a great voice, perhaps they have their own professional Twitter account or a blog, you may want to invite them to team tweet about your mission.  Make sure they state that the views expressed are their own. Employees may choose to keep separate accounts or use filters.

11.What’s Successful on Facebook/Twitter may be successful elsewhere

If a topic is very popular on your blog, Facebook or Twitter and you are getting great responses – recycle it – turn it into an appeal, put it in your newsletter, send out an email asking for support. 

12.Are you sending messages to your supporters?

People may love your organization but if they aren’t hearing from you they will fall off.  More than half of supporters fall off because of a lack of attention from the supplier (you).  If you don’t have any easy listserv that allows you to quickly send supporters, consider investing in an email marketing system for supporters that allows you to send messages and ask for $$$.  Before you send messages ensure that you test them on a mobile device to make sure they can be read, by 2013 more email will be opened on mobile devices vs the desktop.

13.Link to your website

But make sure your website is worth going to.  Do you have a great website? Does it easily let individuals donate? Donate buttons shouldn’t be buried on the bottom of the page. They shouldn’t be top right, visual and appealing. You should have variety of ways for supporters to donate, online, snail mail, stocks, events, sponsorships, membership, planned giving, etc.

14.LinkedIn can be a Powerful Tool

LinkedIn is often the black sheep of the social media family but it has many great resources – we can use it research potential board members, supporters, partners and staff. Use connections to find out how you can get introduced to that person.  If you’re stumped about a particular issue, LinkedIn groups can be a great resource for next steps.

15.There are plenty of ways to promote your work

Thanks to the web you can easily create and post videos, put data into visuals using sites like visual.ly and share that content.  Don’t hesitate to make create and share data because the more people know about you the more they will continue to support you.

Today's the day...

Today's the day the Hoboken Shelter's 30th Anniversary Celebration. Fortunately we've received a lot of great press for the event - including the press release below - which I sent out on a whim last week and we got 3 hits.  Not too shabby.
http://www.nj.com/hudson/index.ssf/2012/04/hoboken_shelter_30th_anniversa.html

The jersey journal has definitely been helpful in getting our message across.

How I Met My New Job

I recently took a job in development and fundraising in NYC after an unplanned year’s absence. Getting back into the field was a little scary, but getting back to the 9-5 routine was even more frightening. You can only watch How I Met Your Mother reruns for so many days before you realize you need to put on some pants and get out of the house. If you don’t follow the show, I'm referring to plotline where Marshall quits his job unexpectedly and is constantly asking people “what are you doing?”out of complete boredom.

I, very fortunately, put in some time volunteering at the Hoboken Shelter prior to my unemployment and afterwards spent more time there, while I debated my next move. I had spent 8 years working in women's health for a domestic violence agency and Planned Parenthood - doing a variety of development diva tasks. Prior to that I had worked in public relations after graduating from Hofstra with a PR degree. I got involved with the shelter after seeing how many of my AFP colleagues were volunteers and wanted to give back in my community. It was during this time that I took on the role, in conjunction with a fellow volunteer, of Co-Chair for the 30^th Anniversary Celebration. The celebration is held every five years and, according to the E.D., the committee's initiating the event with more than six months’ time was a success in and of itself. Previously, I helped them with some planning aspects around individual giving, event planning and social media/marketing. This organization has really been working hard to bring in new donors and take their fundraising to the next level to stay competitive and I think it’s exciting to be working with them during this time.

I already have a blog going, Pasta and Power Squats: A Girl Fires Up the Gym and Kitchen, where I am able to blog about my adventures as a group exercise instructor, runner and triathlete as well as my kitchen experiments, good or bad as they are. I was certified as a fitness instructor in 2006 to supplement my nonprofit income at my first job. Now, I love both jobs equally and don’t think I could give one of them up. 

I started the fitness/foodie blog to see what it was like to manage a blog when I was working with Planned Parenthood in NJ, where I initiated the social media program. I suggested a blog for the Education Department and when met with hesitation relating to time constraints and “what do we write?" questions, I wanted to find out how I’d fare doing it myself. It was HARD. It’s only been recently that I’ve gotten into a groove. What to do then – sure start writing somewhere again.  It's hard to talk about nonprofits, fundraising, marketing and social media, community organizing, volunteering, leadership issues and social issues on a blog about spinning profiles, exercise routines and kitchen recipes. And I as I discover new things, read new resources and move ahead in my career I wanted a place to chronicle the journey. I toyed with the idea of writing about social issues on this P&PS, but I’ve mainly stayed clear and may make some comments, since I’d like this blog to speak to my group ex clients.

I'm hoping to share my thoughts and relevant comments on some of the fundraising causes I’ve been involved in: women’s health, domestic violence and homelessness as well as some experiences I have moving forward with my career . I've been doing more and more work in social media and I avidly follow several different blogs on the topic and would like to share cool tidbits and what's working and what's not. Additionally, I love living in Hoboken, and hope that by giving back the city we live in will continue to treat us well.

Work in Progress

Just launched this blog today on leap day - time to take a leap, no? Look forward to posting about my volunteer and fundraising work very soon.