I’m pleased to say that, yes, contrary to the statistics, I did receive a thank you letter.

Granted it arrived approximately four weeks after the fact.

But I did receive one.

Sadly it was the standard thank you letter.

You know.

The kind that begins:  “Dear Ms. Grow (makes me feel like my grandmother):  Thank you for supporting XYZ with your gift of $XX.  We are delighted to welcome you to our esteemed group of friends and supporters.  We look forward …  We greatly appreciate your support of our mission to …”

In other words the kind of letter that makes you think “Oh, they got my check” midway into the second paragraph and toss it in with your tax papers until next January.

A lot of folk think that “donor-centered fundraising” is just another buzz word in the nonprofit world.

It’s not.

I would venture to say that donor-centered fundraising is the only legitimate – I would go so far as to say honest – method to long-term, sustainable funding.

What we fundraisers often forget is that the “who is so much more important than the what.”

We’ll spend hours crafting our mission statement or our organization’s story – without giving the slightest thought to the person who is reading it!

One of the most important things you can learn is how to get “into” the mind of your donor.

Think about it.

• Over $308 BILLION was given in charitable donations in 2008 – and 75% of those dollars came from individuals
• On average for every six new donors an organization acquires, it loses five existing donors
• For every $6 raised, more than $6 was lost due to donor attrition

If you’re looking for long-term, sustainable funding, doesn’t it pay to give more than lip service to your thank you letters?  After all, your organization’s thank you after your donor’s first gift sets the stage for future gifts!

Here’s a sample thank you letter I wrote quite a few years ago for an inner city educational organization and why it’s worth adapting:

Dear First Name:

Thanks to you, Felicia is busy planning her future.

This year she’ll be graduating from St. Joseph’s University – the first in her family to graduate college.  She’s applied to nine medical schools with plans on becoming a pediatrician.

In 2001 when Felicia began the XYZ program, thoughts of becoming a doctor had never entered her head.  Her parents had arrived in the United States from Jamaica.  “They’ve supported me in everything I’ve ever wanted to do,” she says, “but they’ve never been to college.”

Your gift of $XXX has helped to buy the books, pay the teachers’ stipends and grow our summer programming so that kids like Felicia have a chance.

We look forward to sharing the program’s success with you in our quarterly newsletter.  In the meantime, if you would like to schedule a visit to see, firsthand, the difference your gift is making, please contact Mary Development at 555.555.5555.  Our sincere thanks for your support throughout the years.

Warmly,

John Q. Boardmember, President

First off, the letter starts out with a strong opening focusing on the donor.  Because of YOU!

Secondly, it tells a story and tells the reader exactly what you’ll be doing with their donation.

Third, the letter tells the reader when they can expect to hear from you and offers a phone number and a contact person.

Fourth, the donor’s loyalty is acknowledged.

Finally, it’s signed by someone from the highest ranks of the organization.

For more on how to craft the perfect thank you letter – and why you should – download the free report created from the call I did last year with donor retention expert Lisa Sargent..

Be sure to also check out Lisa’s thank you letter clinic at www.sofii.com.

What’s the Nonprofit Blog Carnival? Glad you asked. I wasn’t quite sure myself what it was all about, despite the fact that I agreed to host November’s, so I gave Joanne Fritz of About.com a call a few weeks ago to learn more.

The way Joanne explained it, the “carnival is a collection of the best advice and resources that consultants, support organizations, and nonprofits themselves are offering to the nonprofit community through their blogs.” (From about.com)

I have been blessed. So many of my highs (and some terrific lessons) came from my very first job working in nonprofit development.

I was fresh from nearly seven years working in programming and communications for a grant-making private foundation. While there I’d juggled a lot, including raising two young daughters, working almost full time (four days a week), attending college full-time, and handling a husband with the emotional level of a five year old.

Trust me. I knew how to prioritize.

During the course of my employment with the foundation I’d become well-versed in the Philadelphia nonprofit scene and fantasized often about working in nonprofit development, where I could “make a real difference.”

Seriously.

Just as I was about to burn out from sheer exhaustion between work, school and home life I stumbled into a fifteen hour a week job as a development director for a regional agency with a yearly budget of just under $3 million.

“Ahhhhh, this should be fun and challenging,” thought I, ready to relax for a bit and kick up my heels.

Riiiiight.

It took all of about two weeks to discover that

1. aside from writing two tiny DCED grant proposals, the previous development director had done virtually nothing in the previous five years
2. I knew zilch about fundraising
3. The date for the organization’s annual membership campaign, which had been handled by three separate mail houses in the three preceding years to disastrous results, was rapidly approaching

Yes, I was up the creek without a paddle. My initial instinct was to panic.

I thought I’d taken on much more than I could handle and had no idea where to turn first.

Thank heavens for best friend. When I went to him, overwhelmed and nearly in tears his response was “Hey, this is great! How many people get to create their own job?!”

That was the kind of personal challenge and perspective I couldn’t resist.  I set about establishing core areas needing my focus. Grants. Individual giving. Community relations. Setting up a website.

I didn’t have the time, nor the funding for any of the coursework offered by our colleges or membership organizations – but what I did have was a background in sales.

In fact, early in my twenties I had been the top display advertising salesperson at the small weekly newspaper I worked at in the Detroit area.

I had started out abysmally in sales and very nearly quit. Those who know me well know that I’ve battled shyness all my life. Fortunately, instead of quitting, I took the time to study direct marketing and read books by folks like Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill.

The marketing techniques that I had learned, as well as the time management skills from working in a commission-based environment, stood me in good stead.

Within a year, our organization’s membership had increased by 25%, we had increased our individual donor list by 30%, we’d raised over $150,000 in foundation grants alone, we had launched a well-received community health initiative, we had a new website up and running and our organization was well on its way to becoming well known in the community, thanks to a weekly column in our local paper and associations with the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary and local politicians.

The following year, when the budget went up substantially and we were allotted funds for training, I took my first professional grant-writing class.

After the class they asked me if I would be interested in teaching it.

Since then, I’ve taken any number of classes and read untold books on the topic of marketing and nonprofit development.

Frankly, for every great seminar or course I’ve attended, I’ve attended three that were utter time-wasters.

And, more often than not, I’ve spent my own money for training and books (small nonprofit organizations are notoriously reluctant to spend money on training – for shame!).

Yet, despite all of the classes and coursework I’ve completed I’m so very grateful for that earlier sales and marketing training and believe that it has been the real catalyst to my successful career in development.

Truly understanding what goes on in the mind of your prospective donor and what they respond to is at the core of all great development work.

We’re all in this kind of work to make a real difference.

And, after over thirteen years working in the nonprofit development arena, though, I’ve learned that to be genuinely effective – to truly make a difference – organizations need to be just as committed to funding their missions as they are to their mission. There is simply no way to ever not pay a price.

That first development job was one filled with mostly highs, very few lows – and a lot of lessons.

Our board had a very trusting, reciprocal approach. I proposed an entirely new strategy for individual giving – and they ran with it. I scheduled community events, and they supported my efforts. A two-page membership appeal was mailed “as is,” without the usual complaints that “no-one will read a two-page letter” or any attempts to shorten it.

There existed a marvelous sense of mutual appreciation between the board and volunteer staff and myself where they respected my expertise (despite the fact that it was so recently acquired!) and allowed me a good deal of leeway to experiment.

My work was never bastardized.

Oh the glory!

It wasn’t until I had other development jobs under my belt that I realized what a true rarity that experience was.

I learned that truly great fundraisers are marketers at heart, and that the sometimes insular and often pedestrian world of nonprofit education can be paralyzing rather than enlightening.

I learned the importance of testing, tweaking and continuing to learn – even when learning meant looking into resources having nothing whatsoever to do with “fundraising.”

I learned to appreciate the beauty of “simplicity” and, while I didn’t know it then, I was already in the process of created my Simple Development Systems method of “doing it all” for the one-person development office.

Starting from scratch can be a good thing.

I was reminded of this truism recently when the board president of an organization I am working with called to vent about their low Charity Navigator ranking.

Apparently she had been contacted by a potential donor who said that he had planned on making a contribution, but, upon checking out the organization’s Charity Navigator paltry three star ranking, changed his mind.

The fact that this particular organization receives over $2 million worth of in-kind contributions a year (a tremendous showing of community support) evidently doesn’t factor into the financial picture used to determine these evaluations … and, without an explanation, garners a low rating for this charity.

How would you handle a situation such as this?

My immediate thought was to address the situation, quickly and transparently, by way of the organization’s newsletter and website. Point out the flaw in evaluation methods and point out that another recent independent evaluation showed that every $1 donated results in $6 of goods and services!

Sounds good, right?

But stop and think about it.

Whenever a person, organization or company does anything worthwhile there will be critics and opposition. In such cases, it is important to develop a “thick skin” and remember to stay the course. (side note – often the two go hand in hand so well that you can actually plot your success by the amount of criticism you get).

There are a couple of key points to keep in mind:

- Beware taking to heart negative feedback from people that are not giving you money. Opinions are like elbows, everyone has one…er, at least one…so only listen to your direct target audience which in most cases consists of people that give you money. Even then you want some sort of critical mass before you act on it – if your organization has a hundred members, you probably want to hear the same thing from 10-20% before you act on it. Do you really think Nissan goes back to the drawing board because someone complains about not enough leg room or a button being too far away?  One person, one vote!

- Beware the magnifier/multiplier effect of bad feedback. When someone is upset or angry and you’re on the receiving end there is a tendency to magnify the problem – you perceive it to be worse than it really is. I recall an annual appeal – my first one with a rented list – where, when I got into the office the staff told me everyone was calling in and expressing how upset they were about receiving duplicate mailings …I asked, “how many people exactly?”…the response was “five”…five complaints out of nearly 70,000 letters mailed (and it turned out to generate a 27% increase in annual funds that year).  Nevertheless the few complaints raised proved to be enough to justify the ED wasting an enormous amount of staff time and energy.

- Beware the “miserables” ….I could go on ad nauseam about a portion of the population that is just miserable and looking to be offended at any opportunity. Even if you do everything right, there will always be someone to complain about something (they don’t like the color, they thought you emailed them too early/too late, you used their maiden name, etc.) so there are some things (actually quite a few) that you’ll just have to learn to roll with.

By the way, this particular organization has one of the most impressive databases I have ever seen with a loyal donor base. They also have the largest number of bequest gifts I’ve seen in a small organization. And not a one of their donors has remarked on the Charity Navigator ranking.

One of my favorite things about Relationship Fundraising is that Ken prefaces every chapter with a “Donor Profile,” an in-depth story about one particular individual and how and why they give. Each profile describes in depth a particular donor’s day to day life, his likes and dislikes, the kind of car that he drives, even his upbringing.

The very idea of donor-centered fundraising often seems to be perceived as a trend in the nonprofit world when, in reality, it is the only legitimate – I would even venture to say honest – method to long-term, sustainable funding.

What we fundraisers often forget is that the “who is so much more important than the what.”

We’ll spend hours crafting our mission statement or our organization’s story – without giving the slightest thought to the person who is reading it!

And, while a natural disaster may bring out nearly everyone’s humanitarianism (I don’t know anyone who didn’t give something to a Haiti relief agency), you will strengthen your development efforts by spending some time really getting to know your donors.

One direct marketer I follow goes so far as to attempt to whittle down your ideal client – in our case this would be our most loyal and dedicated donor – and she refers to that individual as your “tarquet.”

Do what Ken Burnett does and truly envision that person. What they do for a living, what they wear, where they live, how many children they have, where they worship – give that person a name!

Here’s an example: Years ago I worked with a small nonprofit organization with a dual mission: they provided inner city middle school children with the tools they needed to go beyond their oppressive public school education and go on to the city’s best magnet schools, and eventually college. The programming was taught by talented high school and college students, which, in turn, drew talented teachers into urban education where they were most needed. A definite win-win.

After reviewing a sampling of our most loyal donors, when I envisioned this agency’s “tarquet,” I arrived at “Lisa”, a 47 year old woman with a masters degree in political science. Lisa didn’t grow up in the area but moved here with her husband for his career. She considers herself a progressive liberal and an environmentalist and believes in the importance of giving back. Lisa and her husband enjoy a relatively affluent lifestyle and live in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Their eldest son is in his junior year at Berkley and their daughter is in her junior year at the local public high school. She drives a Honda Civic hybrid and shops at Whole Foods. Lisa volunteers for three organizations and serves on two boards.

Defining your donor will go a long ways toward clarifying your development writing.

If it was anything other than getting me engaged, the answer is – Zero.

Engagement for engagement’s sake is a dead end street.

Am I saying it is unimportant? Quite the contrary, I think it is vital…once we are clear about our INTENT and the CONTEXT.  You see, engagement can be about getting attention and involvement but towards what end (why, what purpose) and under which context (think ‘conditions’ – Who, When, Where)?

So, let me give you some examples:

My mom is watching TV and a commercial for a “Save Abandoned Pets” (with images of abused animals of all shapes and sizes) comes on…she gets sucked in, she cries, blows her nose and that’s it. She was engaged to the point of being moved to tears but sent no money.

I’m sure they appreciate the sentiment but would have preferred cash.

A few minutes later, a commercial comes on demonstrating how dangerous answering a phone can be if you are covered in a blanket while sitting on a couch (who knew?) and how the only solution is a “Snuggie” (essentially a fleece bathrobe in reverse without a belt). It airs for 30 seconds but that’s enough for mom to ask me to bring her the phone so she can call and order one.

I think it is safe to assume both of these commercials had the same intent – to get viewers to send money. I can tell also you the “Save Abandoned Pets” one was much more engaging and clearly came across as important (while the Snuggie seemed almost ridiculous).

So, how do we make sense of this? Well, part of the problem is the definition of “engagement”

Is it getting attention? Is it intrigue? Is it motivation? Is it game-changing? Crying? Giving money?

The answer is Yes…and No.  There is no universal definition for engagement that every organization needs to follow so you better define it for yourself…especially if you plan to measure it and generate a “Return on Engagement.”

And it can be a different definition depending on the context – can mean “not boring” when I talking about writing a newsletter but “compelled to give” when I write an annual appeal.

Pretty difficult to measure a variable that is undefined, no?

As I write this, the Red Cross is getting donations by just flashing something along the lines of “Donate to help the people of Haiti at Redcross.org” on some cable channels. Not sure I would classify that as engaging but it is definitely generating an ROI.

This informs me that there are opportunities where I need not be engaging in order to create value from people that are already engaged.

Okay, an example that isn’t about money -
The Obama campaign was clearly a success. Putting donations aside, we can point to the high level of engagement (in terms of sheer number of volunteers who rallied around the cause) as a key component of his victory. Now, not all of them hit the pavement to knock on doors – some wore pins, some emailed friends, some spoke with strangers, some drove people to the polls, etc.

And yet, the whole thing would have been for nothing if not enough people voted for him.

Seems like we have two different metrics for engagement going on – the one as it relates to the volunteers has a spectrum (I’ll wear a pin but I won’t knock on doors to I’ll do anything that is needed of me) while the one for voters is a threshold or on/off switch (we engaged them enough to get the vote or we didn’t).

While all voters are equal and count for just one vote, are all volunteers equal?

I’m sure the Obama campaign was grateful for everyone’s support but do you really believe the person who only put a bumper sticker on his car was worth the same to them as the woman who knocked on doors every night for three weeks? In terms of being engaged? In terms of engaging others?

If you were managing these volunteers, would you give equal time and attention to the bumper sticker crowd as to your door knockers? Is that a Return on Engagement decision? Feels more like a Return on Investment for Engagement, doesn’t it?

And we haven’t even begun to discuss the role of Engagement in keeping people involved in a dialog with you for an extended period of time (think retention) or how people become more valuable when their level of engagement increases (there is a high correlation to contribution and identification as a member of a particular group).

I guess that’s the problem with talking about ENGAGEMENT in a vacuum…it is meaningless. It needs to be defined and specified who, what, when, where, how.

Btw, a few weeks ago you mentioned how some organizations were questioning the value of social media. Well, I think you have your answer. Tweeting because everyone is tweeting is just dumb and pretty hard to defend BUT being part (better yet a pillar) of your online community and enabling your community to connect/communicate with you in a way they want to now (may change in the future)…that’s an engagement that definitely has an ROI!

I spent a few years in the educational publishing business, and it was a word I saw trotted out again and again, to describe every latest and every greatest. Engaging resources. Engage your students with this product. It’s all about engagement. After a while, a word loses it’s efficacy, particularly in a market where extremely similar products are being hawked to the same customer base, over and over again. And the unfortunate effect is that the problem these products tried to solve – lack of student engagement (or boredom), which is a real problem if you’re a teacher or a parent, becomes diluted in gobbledygook, over-used messaging. The messaging itself becomes boring. Not “engaging”. Talk about buzz-kill.

Engaged means not bored. Engaged means not thinking about something else. Engaged means busy. Honourable outcomes, yes, but kinda middle of the road. How about intrigued? Inspired? Motivated to act? Lit candle under posterior body part? Game-changing?

Can we realistically ask this much of companies, organizations, campaigns?

A short while ago, I posted my resolutions for 2010.

Top of the list was a pledge to consciously use the term Return on Engagement vs Return on Investment. ROE instead of ROI.

Return on Engagement isn’t my idea, but it is one that appears to be gathering steam as organizations and campaigns realize that they need to connect with real people, to tell stories and make change that resounds beyond an easily measured analytic, and beyond a dollar figure increment indicator of success.

Return on investment is important. It’s important for you in terms of structuring your day. The time you devote to one particular thing means, possibly, that other deliverables get pushed back, delayed, or not done. If your boss pays you $50,000, does your output result in a greater profit that that? If you spend $30,000 on a new website, does it result in a measurably higher level of visits, sales, click thru, donations, profits?

All of these are important. Accountability is important. Money is important. Making and raising money is important.

But doing all this without thinking about real engagement is only doing it half way. And thinking about the returns you want to achieve from really inspiring your audience is an exercise worth doing.

If a website is engaging, it might convince me to sign up for a newsletter, or to bookmark, or to share with my friend. If it’s not boring, bland, status quo, hard to use, cluttered, indecipherable, confusing. If a campaign is engaging, it makes me care, or helps me rationalize why I do care. I’ll want to tell people about it, in the hopes that they too will care and it will connect us. It will grow legs because it’s worth talking about.

So let’s take the next step. Let’s get engaged. Really engaged. The relationship kind – the kind where we make a pact to be together, and express it to the world in a physical manifestation. Let’s plan to walk down the aisle in the near future, plan our honeymoon, dream about our offspring.

If we get engaged, that means I’m going to wear your ring. Or your campaign t-shirt. Or your badge on my blog or social network. Since you really should meet my friends and family and develop relationships with them, I’ll invite you into our lives. I’ll tell them about you. I’ll show them all the evidence….the photos, the footprint. I’ll be so enraptured that I’ll want to tell the world. I’ll shout it from the rooftops. I’ll blog about it. I’ll tweet it out. I’ll click a little gold star to show my appreciation. I will (mostly) stop seeing other people, because I’m pretty happy with what you give me.

And in return, I’ll expect some respect in our courtship. I’ll expect you to treat my mum, my Nana, and my friends in the same caring and responsive way you treat me. I’ll expect you to make an extra effort, or at least to be consistent, in showing them how wonderful you are. Once you’ve put the ring on my finger, you won’t disappear. You won’t start seeing other people either. You’ll connect me to people I should meet. You’ll continue to enrich my life somehow, and to make things easier and more enjoyable for me. Your thoughtful touches when least expected are like Easter eggs in the spring (props to Tara Hunt’s Whuffie Factor).

Will we go through with the wedding? Were we engaged…enough? Did it matter? Was a relationships forged? Was the (measurable) action taken as a result of real engagement, forethought, and progress? Seth Godin wrote a very thoughtful post on measurement that matters, and measurement that doesn’t matter. With limited resources, we need to make it matter, because it has to help us move forward to make the world a better place.

That’s the difference between ROI and ROE, or perhaps, where the 2 need to converge. Campaigns need to be measurable – the bean counters demand this. Your board probably demands this. But if we can start talking about the differences we made – how the ROI leads to the ROE – then we’re doing justice to our creativity. We’re addressing the “why” – and making it easier to propose future innovations.

Aerin is the Director of Communications at the Wellesley Institute in Toronto, Canada, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to urban health issues.  Her background includes marketing, communications, technology and publishing, but not necessarily in that order.  Aerin is a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator, and consults with non-profit organizations on communications strategy and making the most of the online space. Aerin’s parents made her play outside instead of with a Coleco Vision, but she is now making up for lost time by immersing herself in communications theory, social media tools, and technology for positive social change.  You can find her here:
www.gospacerace.com
www.twitter.com/aeringuy
www.linkedin.com/in/aeringuy
www.facebook.com/aeringuy

…and learn about the work of the Wellesley Institute at www.wellesleyinstitute.com
www.twitter.com/wellesleyWI



When I worked for a grant-making foundation, you wouldn’t believe how many times my colleagues and I would look at each other with dropped jaws:  “Did they even BOTHER to read the guidelines?” we would wonder.

It’s truly astonishing how many organizations fail on this basic.  They omit to include their 501c3 letter.  Project budgets are left out.  The audited financial report is missing.

Here’s a tip:  Take note of what is to be included and state it directly within the cover letter:

• In addition to our grant proposal, enclosed you will find the required:
• 501c3 tax exemption letter
• audited financial report
• etc.

With the checklist directly in the body of the letter, you’ll be less likely to omit key pieces.

2.  Have you contacted the foundation funder?

In the past, I’ve always believed that an organization’s first grant proposal served as an introduction.  However, with current economic conditions, I am more inclined to follow the advice given by Steve Cebalt of Do It Yourself Communications in his recent blog post, Adapting to the ways foundations have changed in the new economy.

I recently took on a new client and discovered a foundation providing an ideal match between my organization and the foundation’s stated funding mission.  Two problems:

• my organization had applied twice in the past and been declined
• the deadline was the next day

On the plus side, there was a new executive director at the helm of this foundation (someone another funder had assured me would be more receptive), past experience had taught me that the third time is often “the charm,” and, finally, all that was required was a simple 2-page letter of intent.

It was a no-brainer.  I spent the next hour drafting a scathingly brilliant (if I do say so myself) letter of intent and hand-delivered it that day.

The declination letter arrived the following month.

When I called to speak with the program I learned that the programming area under which I had applied had been added during boom economic times.  I also learned that, until the economic climate improved, only previously funded organizations were being invited to apply.   If I had made that call initially I could have saved some time and gas.

3.  Are you putting the reader to sleep?

Foundation program officers are people too.  Imagine being assigned 15 different grant proposals to review, each one bearing the same tired, standard lingo?

Yes, you need to provide statistics and outcomes, but use creative storytelling to paint a picture in the mind as well.  Try to find actual examples to accompany your stats.  Maintain files of stories and simple quotes and regularly use them.

4.  Have you done your homework?

In addition to regularly researching funders using services such as the Foundation Center Foundation Finder or Grantstation, I recommend an additional review of the foundation’s 990.  In fact, I generally download the past 3 years of a foundation’s IRS form 990 to get the best possible indication of a foundation’s operations.  For more information, see my article Six Critical Things to Look for in a Foundation’s 990 for Successful Grant Funding.

5.  Have you proofread your proposal?

Spelling and grammatical errors are a big no-no in a grant proposal.  While the best proposals are not drafted by committee, it pays to have another set of eyes proofread your work.

6.  Is the proposal neat and easy to read?

Use small blocks of text.  Break up paragraphs.  Match the format of the funder.  Stick to Times New Roman or Ariel font.  Lose the justified paragraphs.  Seriously – just lose them.

7.  Is your proposal filled to the brim with the latest jargon?

You don’t need me to tell you that this went out of style in the 90’s.  Simplicity is key.  Save the vocabulary lesson.

8.  Does your budget match the narrative?

If you’re writing for a specific program, develop the budget for that program first – and then write your proposal.

While, yes, I stuck to my fitness plan (for me that’s a no brainer.  Exercise has been an integral part of my life for 20something years),  I realized that I’d fallen off the diet wagon.

No, I’m not talking about the latest fad diet – don’t believe in ‘em.  But, I’m not twenty anymore and my days of eating pizza, cookies and burgers on a regular basis and counting on exercise to burn it off are over. Eating more protein, greens and simple food has to be a part of the plan.

So, while I wasn’t entirely on target, I met quite a few of the goals I established in January of 2009.  A lot of times, though, I relate to LuAnn …

However, then I stumbled upon a new perspective to the whole “setting resolutions” business in this post from Mari Smith, in which she tells how, every year, she arrives at a theme for the upcoming year.

She notes that she begins thinking about the theme around the beginning of December and simply “sets the intention that the essence of the word will come” to her.

As I reflected upon Mari’s post, the one word that has resonated with me throughout 2009 was gratitude.

Gratitude played a major role in my 2009, beginning with the passing of my beloved Grandmother in March.

My grandmother lived gratitude and not a day went by when she did not express her gratitude in word and action.  How well I recall sitting around the table at the farm with my adult cousins talking, and how it happened to come up that I was her favorite grandchild.

We were all pretty surprised to discover that every one of us thought that we were her favorite.

Now that is a rare gift.  And I am so very grateful that we had my wonderful grandmother for 99.9 years.

So as we are midway into the first month of 2010, I vow to not complain and remain grateful at every turn.

• I am grateful for the challenges presented by a diverse clientele base.
• I am grateful  for the opportunity to get the message of donor-centered, efficient, shoestring budget fundraising out to a loyal, growing base of subscribers.
• I’m grateful for the social media tools that have brought about so many very special connections  – as well as a wealth of knowledge
• And I am ever cognizant of the vital role that gratitude plays in a truly effective individual giving plan.

But, hey, wait a minute … Chris Brogan’s got THREE words!  So does Beth Kanter and Marc Pittman!

I’m totally late to the party!  A day late and a dollar short!

Easily solved.

What have I been reiterating in all of 2009’s blog posts and newsletter articles?

Systems.

I happen to believe that systems are a critical key for nonprofit organizations – and crucial for the time-strapped one-person shop.

Simplified systems for grants, systems for individual giving, systems for social media, systems for stewardship … you get the picture.  It can all be done – it must all be done.  The only way to truly create sustainable funding is with multiple streams of income.

The day that nonprofit organizations realize that their focus on funding their mission needs to be as strong as their dedication to the mission itself, the pieces of the puzzle will begin to fall together.

And the one component tying them all together?  Relationships.

Building upon your relationships with your donors in engaging ways that use the variety of tools – many of them free – available today.

What is your theme?  What are your three words?

Regular readers of my newsletter, The Grow Report, know that I am a huge fan of the online fundraising resource SOFII.

SOFII showcases exhibits from the best fundraisers in the businesses – people like Mal Warwick, Ken Burnett, Tom Ahern and Lisa Sargent.

In fact, SOFII is the nonprofit development person’s best swipe file!

Ask many nonprofit fundraisers and they’ll have no idea what a “swipe file” is.

Fortunately I began my career in marketing and sales and any good marketer worth his or her salt has developed their very own swipe file that they are constantly adding to.

So should you!

According to web terminology definitions, a swipe file is “a collection of noteworthy examples of various items of interest that can be used by a writer or editor to promote creativity or to assist in developing copy for publication.”

You’ve probably developed your own “swipe files” without even realizing it.  I’m talking about those flashes of brilliance when you managed to put onto paper exactly what you wanted to say.  Those little gems that help you along, so that you aren’t continuously reinventing the wheel.

A few weeks ago I wrote a perfect paragraph describing the new agency I’m working with – a succinct slice-of-life piece – that I’ve already resurrected several times since for other proposals and letters.

Along with SOFII, There are any number of books I turn to for openers when designing an annual campaign.

Books like Mal Warwick’s How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters feature appendixes like “Ninety Ways to use the Word “You” in a Fundraising Letter” offering phrases like “You are among the first …” or “I don’t know about you, but I …”

You know.  Simple phrases that can jumpstart your brain when it’s operating in feeble mode.

I also make a practice of collecting both appeal letters that I receive from other organizations – and the thank you letters I receive following a gift.  I’d like to say that I keep them for “swipe file” purposes, but, sad to say, more often than not I keep them as examples of what not to do.

If you haven’t already made a conscious effort to create your own swipe files, there’s no time like now to start.

And the best way is by bookmarking www.sofii.org.   Go ahead.  Do it now. Once you see how valuable it is, make a donation.

For more on swipe files for the nonprofit writer, be sure to read Lisa Sargent’s excellent article:  Swipe Files Revealed over at SOFII.

It was a fascinating time to be working in government, particularly in the field of mental health.  I worked for a brilliant, compassionate individual by the name of Joseph Young, Sr.  Joe had experienced, first-hand, the ravages of mental illness with his own son, a schizophrenic, and was actively involved in prevention well ahead of his time.

The House Mental Health Subcommittee had recently passed the budget and we were conducting a joint meeting with the Senate Mental Health Committee to finalize the plan before taking it before the House for vote.

On our subcommittee was a rookie legislator, rare for Appropriations, but a favor must have been involved somewhere.  Midway into the joint meeting the rookie legislator piped in with a question about a $250,000 line item.

You could have heard a pin drop in the room.

I swear the silence lasted all of 30 seconds.  And then, without missing a beat, the meeting continued as if a question had never been asked and the budget was passed.

Walking back to our offices, I asked Joe about the $250,000 line item.  I had no idea what it was for either.

Reading the news coverage, I’m convinced there isn’t a reporter alive who can truly read an appropriations bill.

“That’s for Senator X’s wife’s clinic,” Joe responded, “she gets it every year.  No one ever questions that line item.”

Of course Senator X was the Chair of the Senate Mental Health Subcommittee of Appropriations.

Sometimes it really is who you know.

Many years ago I was working for the Philadelphia Bar Association at their offices on South Market (near the famous Reading Terminal Market … about the only positive about working for the Philadelphia Bar Association .

My husband and I lived near the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in the city’s Fairmount section, and I boarded the #43 bus every day to go to work.

It was a particularly sweltering August day and the bus was packed with people coming home from their jobs when a 30-something woman boarded.  She wore a dress and low heels, was heavily pregnant and was also, quite plainly, miserably uncomfortable.

I remember observing as others on the bus, several of them male, deliberately avoided eye contact with this woman.  I can recall distinctly thinking to myself “what jerks!” (or worse) and wondering why no one had the common courtesy to offer their seat up to that woman.

And then it hit me.

While gentlemanly gallantry might be dead, good manners didn’t have to be.

I stood and offered my seat to her.  She accepted gratefully.

It was a small gesture and really not a big deal.

But just think, if every day, you made one small difference how much better our world would be.  Not to mention yours.

If you’re like me, you’ve spent the better part of 2009 exploring the explosion of emerging social media tools.  This year has brought a lot of “wow”, a little “whoa!”, and a whole lot of “what next”? The jury is out on Google Wave, as many of us who received our beta invite seem to be waving out into the abyss.  The ‘new wavers’ asked the same question of Twitter in many cases, “what exactly is the value proposition here. Who cares?”

For many organizations, this was the year of the try, of the first tentative toe dips into the social technologies that may become the cornerstone of our strategic plans. The first tweets. The inaugural Facebook page. Wrapping our heads around the coming of the Cloud. The opportunities that technology presents for campaigns, collaboration, networking, and audience building are vast and far-reaching.  The walls are crumbling, my friends.  Very recently, a director on our board (certainly not a den of tech mavens) suggested a secure section on our website dedicated to their ongoing work on annual plans, finance documents, and the like.  Could this mean a wiki?  Be still, my heart….

At this time of year, we reflect on the brickbats and bouquets of the last year, often presented in the form of a retrospective Top 10 list.  I’d like to tweak that retrospective into a plan for the future.  In 2010, what tools are you going to try? In honour of those who have seen evidence of a softening of resistance to new tools within their respective organizations, I’d like to present a gift.  Here are my 2010 New Year’s Resolutions.  You might also consider them stocking stuffers to unwrap and add to your 2010 toolkit.

1. I will consciously rephrase Return on Investment with Return on Engagement.
2. I will make a big effort to respect and segment my audiences. I will avoid spray and pray messaging, and give my email list the ability to opt out easily, or to tell me what information they value from me.  I will investigate excellent email clients like MailChimp and Vertical Response, which offer free accounts and discounts for non-profits.
3. I will build networks with colleagues from near and far to explore best practices. We’re all in this social change business together. I will explore the WeAreMedia project and participate in the building of a toolkit and learning community for non-profits.
4. I will bolster my budget by exploring TechSoup’s technology wishlist, which brings donated software to non-profits for only an administration fee.
5. I will stop lamenting my design challenges and the cost of Photoshop by downloading Gimp and Piknik and learning to make beautiful things. I won’t get frustrated and throw a banana at the window, because skill-building takes time and Rome wasn’t built in a day.
6. I will establish channels to achieve a greater reach. I will add to the growing repository of quality information on Slideshare, YouTube/Vimeo, and wikis.  I’ll try to start my own with WikiSpaces or pbworks.
7. I will share my Twitter lists as a method of movement building.
8. I will become a better content creator by embracing the visual and getting to know Jing, Skitch, xtranormal, and Prezi. I will be a dynamic presenter and not put people to sleep (although I will try to get a good 7 hours myself).
9. I will commit to the principles of great storytelling, and use humour and vision as a means to engage my audiences.  I’ll indicate what could be rather than what isn’t. I’ll look at the amazing content that Freerange Studios creates, and get inspired.
10. I’ll expand my audiences beyond the 18 blocks of my organization by using great online meeting and presentation services, like DimDim and UStream.
11. I’ll consciously moderate and engage with the comments readers have written on my blog.
12. I will take a good, hard look at the content on my website. I will make sure that it is readable, accessible, and interesting.
13. I will make analytics my responsibility and share the diagnoses with others.  I will look at what isn’t being read. I’ll make RSS easy and accessible.
14. I will help to connect people by building and participating in communities of common purpose.
15. I will re-read Nudge, because I care about our collective well-being and want to build a better world.

You’ll notice that none of my resolutions revolve around chocolate consumption or treadmills.  That was a conscious, realistic decision.  Happy holidays!

Aerin is the Communications Advisor at the Wellesley Institute in Toronto, Canada, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to urban health issues.  She is also Director of Social Media for Edvantage Interactive (a Canadian science publisher), and Mission Control at SpaceRace (her company). Her background includes marketing, communications, technology and publishing, but not necessarily in that order.  Aerin is a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator, and consults with non-profit organizations on communications strategy and making the most of the online space. Aerin’s parents made her play outside instead of with a Coleco Vision, but she is now making up for lost time by immersing herself in communications theory, social media tools, and technology for positive social change.  You can find her here:
www.twitter.com/aeringuy
www.linkedin.com/in/aeringuy
www.facebook.com/aeringuy

…and learn about the work of the Wellesley Institute at www.wellesleyinstitute.com
www.twitter.com/wellesleyWI

Got a fundraiser on your holiday gift list? Put together a selection of any of these books and I guarantee they’ll be delighted!

Here’s the list, in no particular order:

1. The Zen of Fundraising: 89 Timeless Ideas to Strengthen and Develop Your Donor Relationships - Ken Burnett
2. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Robert Cialdini
3. Donor Centered Fundraising – Penelope Burke
4. The Pollyanna Principles: Reinventing “Nonprofit Organizations” to Create the Future of Our World~ Hildy Gottlieb
5. Revolution in the Mailbox – Mal Warwick
6. Storytelling for Grantseekers – Cheryl A. Clark
7. Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications & Stronger Relationships – Tom Ahern
8. Hidden Gold – Harvey McKinnon
9. Marketing to the Affluent – Thomas Stanley
10. How to Write Knockout Proposals: What You Must Know (And Say) to Win Funding Every Time -  Joseph Barbato
11. Fundraising for Social Change by Kim Klein

I think there are some great donor retention lessons to be learned here:

I’ve been a member of the CharityChannel listserv community now for probably nine years. It’s been an amazing resource for me throughout my career – and also a barometer for the mindset challenges that tend to drag nonprofit organizations down.

Recently I read the following post:

“The non-profit I’m interning for (name omitted) assists the homeless with job skills
and matching the person with a business and mentor within the
company.The name of  the program is XYZ. Any
suggestions on how to go about creating a logo (no money to hire
someone to do it), would be appreciated. the only background I have
with logo creation in higher education.I recall that very few ideas
were liked by any number of people and coming up with an original idea
was tough to do.”

As it has in the past when I’ve read similar posts, my jaw literally dropped.

In addition to my consulting business, I am an Internet marketer. Right now I’m in the process of developing a new program and, as a matter of fact, I am looking for a new logo for that program. As a divorced mother of two daughters – one approaching college age and the other in college – most of my funds are tied up, leaving little for marketing expenses. So I turned to craigslist. Within minutes of posting an ad, my inbox was flooded with replies from highly qualified graphic designers. I could just as well have utilized the services of Sitepoint or 99 Designs.

The ease of which one can find immensely qualified virtual help at the click of a mouse, however, is not the point of this post.

Clearly the organization posting the question has bigger problems than scraping up the $50, $75 or even $150 for a decent logo (and, heck, I know individuals who earn six figure incomes who possess neither a logo or business cards so my first question would be “why all the time and energy spent on the logo issue in the first place?”).

The problem lies in the mindset of this organization and thousands others like it.

That mindset that one sees so often in nonprofit organizations of wanting everything for free. That mindset of being utterly committed to their organization’s mission – but not at all committed to the basics of funding their organization’s mission (remember an earlier post where I reprinted verbatim a local job listing for a nonprofit development director with a pay rate of $12 an hour?).

No wonder nonprofit organizations are in so much trouble.

Aauugh!

So I paid a visit to their website to make a donation and copy the url.

I searched and searched for a way to give.  I knew that they had the capability because yours truly had set it up all those years ago.

After searching through several pages, I finally came across this paragraph at the bottom of one page:

If you would like to donate via the internet please go to www.JustGive.org or www.guidestar.org . Once on one of those sites you can just search for ORGANIZATION’S NAME. You will then be lead to our donation page.

Folks I couldn’t make this stuff up.

Aaugh!

One of the first rules of thumb is to make it EASY TO GIVE.

If you’ve been in the field of nonprofit fundraising as long as I have – particularly if you’ve been working with smaller organizations – you may well recall the time when boards argued endlessly about whether or not their organization should even have a website.

Ahem.

According to the 2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, while 2008 certainly wasn’t a red-letter year for fundraising in general, even in today’s tight economic times, nonprofit organizations showed a 43% increase in online gifts.  In fact, the total amount of money raised online increased 26% from 2007 to 2008.  Further, studies show that about half of those who receive your appeal for funds in the mail will go first to your website (the same holds true for that program officer reviewing your grant proposal, by the way).

It goes without saying that your organization should be collecting email addresses (my newsletter, The Grow Report, recently featured  simple, step-by-step instructions for setting up your web-site’s email opt-in box and systematizing your email newsletters).

Now, optimize your website for online giving by following these two simple rules:

1. Make giving an online donation as easy as possible.  Include a conspicuous “Donate” button on every page of your site.  Yes, conspicuous.  Yes, every page.
2. Include a hyperlink “Donate” button on every email sent out by every staff member within the signature line (and what’s to say you can’t request that your board do the same?).

Yes, I know you’re swamped.  Yes, I know your resources are limited.  Yes, I know that there’s more to online giving than these two steps.  Confucius say:  “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

First off, ask yourself a few questions:

Will you be mailing out your letters in-house or using a mail house? If you’re using a mail house, what is their timeframe for getting the appeal out within your time frame?

Will you be segmenting your mailing? By that I mean will you be mailing the same appeal to your board members as to your donors?

Who will be signing the letter? In my opinion, you never want your development director signing your appeal letter.  Depending upon the theme of your letter, the appropriate signer should be your Executive Director, CEO, Board Chair or even a volunteer.

How long will your letter be? You’d be surprised (or maybe not at what an issue this can become.  Testing done by organizations far larger than any I have ever worked with consistently shows that longer letters perform better.  Yet executive directors and your board of directors will be urging you to go with a one-page letter.  Why?  Who knows!  The truth is that a compelling, 2-4 page letter will outperform a 1 page letter every time.

Note that I said “compelling.”

What does make a compelling end of year appeal letter?  What kind of letter makes the reader walk away from the trash basket, where they have been sorting their mail, sit down, read to the end and pull out their checkbook?

I’ll give you a hint.  You won’t get that kind of letter by penning the kind of letter that every other nonprofit organization is sending out.  You won’t get it by bragging about your past accomplishes, by expressing your need for funding for next year’s programming or by whining about the economy and its affect on your organization.

People respond to people.  It’s why they watch Oprah, it’s why they open their wallets.  Whatever your organization may be, it has so many amazing stories – use them! Don’t be afraid either, depending upon the quality of your printing, of using a judicious photograph or two within the body of the letter.  Photographs make a story come alive.

What will your reply device look like? Every direct mail piece needs a reply device. While you don’t need to hire a graphic designer, you do need a piece that will replicate the donor’s name and address and provide check off “ask” amounts.

What kind of return envelope will you use? Will you make your donor put a stamp on it? Or will you use a business reply indicia?

Five Tips to Ramp it Up

1. Brainstorm for new connections. While segmenting your mailing list, think about other connections you may not have utilized in the past.  When I ran a membership campaign for a regional EMS provider, I targeted the local business – to great results.  Have you approached your vendors, area businesses or volunteers?  Mass email your board for additional suggestions.  By the way:  Never include foundation funders in your annual appeal.
2. When writing, Use I and You (but mostly you).  One of the many take-aways from Mal Warwick.  This is an appeal from one person to another – not a white paper.  You’re not writing for your college English prof; write conversationally.
3. Bring in the Board.  I have traditionally – and this will depend upon the size of your list – provided all of my board members with a listing of donors who have typically given over a certain amount three to four weeks ahead of the scheduled mailing date.  I then schedule, within a one to two week time-frame, times for board members to hand-write notes on selected letters.
4. Include a P.S. Our P.S.? What are you talking about?  We don’t use a P.S.!  Time to start.  Your P.S. and even P.P.S. are generally the first things your prospective donor will read.  Make your P.S. every bit as compelling as your letter.  One of the best ways to start your P.S.?  “Thank you again for …”
5. Handling everything in-house? If you don’t have the funds for a graphic designer, have no fear.  Times are tough.  Good graphic design can be had for a song by contracting with someone on craigslist.   Post your request in “gigs” and watch your in-box flood with responses

“Twitter is just a bunch of noise about people eating lunch.”

“Our customers aren’t online.”

“We already have a website.”

Sound familiar?  There are plenty of reasons to avoid social media, it seems.  It is true that there are a zillion time-wasting testimonials out there, and a plethora of pundits sharing little, if any, value to organizations and the causes they represent.

I work for a non-profit think tank. We’re tiny, but we’re smart.  With limited human resources, we have to constantly punch above our weight and consider smarter ways of doing things. Our limited communications budget means that we can’t pay a PR firm.  And doing things is our goal, of course – we want direct action from our efforts, we want to measure efficacy, and we want people to talk about us. To each other.  The vast array of tools at our fingertips has really changed the way we make things happen, and the speed at which technology solutions keep us competitive, relevant, and always on our proverbial toes.   Management and growth of our brand can’t happen without the alignment of our website to our communications strategy, and we are constantly reiterating, changing, improving, and updating so that our “hub” is a plugged-in place where constituents can connect with us and with each other.  Building in a blog brings us recency and relevancy and improved our search ratings, but it also gives us an op/ed channel that is oft-tweeted and commented on.    A simple share bar allows our visitors to take our content outside of the site and extend its’ life – to remash it, remix it, and use it as they see fit.  Without social media, we’d  be a lot less nimble, and a lot less relevant.

So here’s how I attempt to convince a curmudgeon (phrase borrowed from Charlene Li), should I encounter one.  The great thing about curmudgeons is that they usually hold the purse strings (and tie them in a triple sailor’s knot), and many social media tactics are possible without snatching the purse.  Ever heard that it’s “easier to apologize than to ask for permission”? Well, sometimes it’s better to frame your argument around “Because if we don’t….”.  Set the Doomsday scenario.  Couch it in 2012 terms if you have to.

Here’s an example:

“Because if we don’t use Twitter, we cut ourselves off from the following benefits:

1. To listen to what our community says about the issues we purport to be experts in.
2. To promote our work within and connect to a wider audience.
3. To monitor a variety of topics that we are interested in, simultaneously.
4. To let people share our work with their networks and beyond.
5. To respond quickly to our audience’s questions.
6. To participate in discussions involving our strategic focus.”

Sometimes when we just do it, the tacit approval just comes. Because the tools at our disposal often have such great measurement capabilities built in, it is possible to set metrics with realistic expectations of getting that data.  And a curmudgeon loves data, even if s/he doesn’t know what it means. Lather, rinse , repeat.
“6 Benefits of Using Twitter for Nonprofit” is a guest post by Aerin Guy.

Aerin is the Director of Communications at the Wellesley Institute in Toronto, Canada, a non-profit, non-partisan think tank dedicated to urban health issues.  Her background includes marketing, communications, technology and publishing, but not necessarily in that order.  Aerin is a frequent speaker and workshop facilitator, and consults with non-profit organizations on communications strategy and making the most of the online space. Aerin’s parents made her play outside instead of with a Coleco Vision, but she is now making up for lost time by immersing herself in communications theory, social media tools, and technology for positive social change.  You can find her here:
www.twitter.com/aeringuy
www.linkedin.com/in/aeringuy
www.facebook.com/aeringuy

…and learn about the work of the Wellesley Institute at www.wellesleyinstitute.com
www.twitter.com/wellesleyWI

I couldn’t agree more and, frankly, I just don’t get it!

Fundraising is challenging, it’s people-centered, it’s constantly learning and evolving, it’s creative – fundraising is FUN!

So why is it that so many nonprofit organizations, who have that unbridled passion for their mission, look with fear – or even disdain -upon the very work that funds their mission?

Is part of the problem that they’re simply making the idea of development into a much bigger project in their minds than it actually is?

Are they looking at all of the components of a strong development office – grants, individual giving, writing and designing a website, crafting a social media plan, donor stewardship and communications, event planning – and simply throwing up their hands, or – even worse – focusing on just one or two pieces of the puzzle and ignoring the rest?

I often tell the story of my first position in nonprofit development as an example of, yes, you can do it all, have fun doing it, and create sustainable funding for your organization.

I had spent six years working in programming and communications for one of the nation’s largest private family foundations. It had been my dream to do development for one of the many nonprofit organizations I came in contact with daily in my foundation job and I was thrilled to land my first position as development director for a regional nonprofit with an annual operating budget of $3 m.

Thrilled that is until I realized the extent of what I had gotten myself into. The previous development director had not written a grant proposal for the past five years (save a yearly DCED grant), had turned the membership program over to various mail houses who had bungled the job to the extent that donors had left in droves, and allowed nearly every key community contact to lapse.

Did I mention that this was a 15-hour a week job?

I remember going to one of my best friends in tears, telling him that I’d taken on more than I could handle.

Once he calmed me down, once I realized that I had already been used to playing multiple roles in my foundation job – and in my life – I set upon a strategy to create a sustainable funding system for that organization. My first month I focused solely on creating a grants system and reactivating community contacts. By the second month I had developed a strategy to revitalize the organization’s annual giving.

It was definitely a juggling act.

The results? In slightly over one year, we redesigned the annual individual appeal, segmenting it to target businesses as well as individual donors and showed a 25% funding increase (while decreasing costs by 31%), raised over $350,000 in foundation and corporate support, designed the organization’s website and implemented online giving, scheduled three separate “friendraising” events at no cost to the organization, established a weekly column in the local newspaper, and reestablished key community contacts.

Since that position I’ve realized that I was lucky in many respects. I didn’t have someone else’s mess to clean up after, which allowed me to create my job from scratch – without having to deal with mismanaged record keeping – I had a wonderfully amenable board and an Executive Director who did not interfere, and I had an awesome mission.

Still, I’ve replicated those exact same systems in a number of organizations since then. Each one, to be sure, held its own unique challenges.

But, by systematizing your organization’s development program, I’m convinced that any organization can create sustainable funding, even in a tight economy – and have fun doing it!