Um, yes and no.

Foundation grantseeking is is a strategic process, not a one-time grant submission.  When it comes to winning foundation grants, many otherwise intelligent people believe that there are *secret* writing tactics to writing funded grant proposals, when, in reality, the truth about winning foundation support for your mission is simple.

Yes, grantwriting requires thought, persuasive writing skills and attention to detail.  It also requires commitment and persistence.

So, how does the nonprofit organization that is new to grantseeking begin laying the groundwork for successful foundation grant funding?

Begin by following these basics to guide you in establishing your foundation grants system:

1. Study the foundation’s giving histories, preferably for the past three years. Note the range of grants – and tailor your request accordingly. Is this your first request? Come in on the low end.
2. Study the foundation’s last three 990’s you can find.  Note whether the foundation’s assets have grown or declined.
3. Target local foundations. Send as many targeted proposals regularly as possible. (Note: I did say targeted – do your research!)
4. Mine any connections you might have.  Send periodic email blasts to your board members to cross reference who knows who.
5. Clean up your website. Why? In addition to your proposal itself, your website is one of the first things a foundation will look at during the review process. Red flags? No online giving, a site that was last updated in 2005, outdated contacts …
6. Study the guidelines.  If they say no to videos, do not include your organization’s latest dvd.  If the guidelines say to include 3 copies of everything, include them.  Pay attention.
7. It’s good to have 2-3 sets of extra eyes to proofread your work – and one writer.
8. Make regular foundation research a priority, and
9. Maintain your foundation stewardship. Before you reapply to the XYZ Foundation who funded you last year, if they didn’t require a reporting, send them a gracious letter giving them an update. You didn’t miss that reporting deadline, did you?

So, what is the number one secret to winning foundation grants you ask?

The number one secret to winning foundation grants is by establishing systems for your success.  When it comes to foundation funding, it’s an unfortunate but often true reality that oftentimes *third time is the charm.*  Many organizations give up on grants following a few declinations.  Don’t make this mistake in your organization.  Seth Godin said it best:  Obsessing about the last inch of follow through ensures that the important parts of what you do get just as much (if not more) commitment.

Learn how to follow through and build genuine relationships with foundation funders.  It takes time but the rewards are worth it!

Oh, yes, I agreed with the author, Nick Allen, on most of the points.  Does your email have an effective subject header and headline?  “Does it feel like one person writing to another?”  Does it have an effective ‘From’ address?

Yet there were a couple of tips I found missed the mark and this one in particular I thought was outright bad advice:

Is there a compelling reason to send the email? Is it urgent, interesting, funny, sad? Would you forward the message to a friend or family member? If there’s no good reason for it besides ‘it’s on the calendar,’ consider taking the day off.

Makes perfect sense and sounds right, doesn’t it?

And there’s the rub – the sometimes *sounds correct and safe* can actually be quite detrimental to your cause.

Let’s look at it differently…

Is there a compelling reason to send an email?

Well, yes, there are actually several reasons to send an email – to ask for money, build a relationship, save the cost of sending a physical letter, educate, notify, share, acknowledge, etc.  So in some respects there is always a compelling reason to send an email. I think the author meant to ask “do you have something compelling to say?” which is really a different question and is a skill you should endeavor to learn if you do not already possess. The assumption (and a bad one at that) is that some things are just “newsworthy” and therefor do not require thought to be put in a compelling form. I’m sorry but EVERYTHING you put out should be thought through and presented as best as you can.

Is it urgent, interesting, funny, sad?

Yes, some things do have intrinsic urgency like a national disaster but that doesn’t mean we can’t create urgency. I’d give you some examples but I’m pressed for time so the first three people to share their examples will win a free gift (hmm, was that an example?). Likewise the same holds true about saying things in a funny way, sad way or making them interesting. The danger is telling people they need to wait for some external event in order to communicate with their people…and that is simply not true.

Would you forward the message to a friend or family member?

I kind of get this but it assumes that your friends and family members are into your cause. I may be an animal person but not all of my friends or family members are so asking the ones that aren’t is not likely to get you an usable information. By the way, what’s wrong with going straight to your intended recipient? If one non interesting message is enough to make them leave you have a bigger problem than a boring email.

If there’s no good reason for it besides ‘it’s on the calendar,’ consider taking the day off.

As Charlie Brown would say “Argh!”  This is just bad advice.

Study after study shows a direct correlation between frequency and donations.  A whopping 72% of the respondents in Penelope Burk’s Cygnus Donor Survey said they could be inspired to give more generously this year.   But by not having an email schedule you lose out on some import relationship building, response conditioning (yes, you can train your people to be more responsive and you’re missing out if you’re e not consciously conditioning them), community building, and money.

Ask yourself if getting money, building a relationship, educating (and inspiring) your supporters, and notifying them of some news is important enough to make a part of your calendar?

And organizations who practice sound email marketing know it too.  When I pulled up my all of the emails from one of my favorite organizations in terms of email marketing, Best Friends Animal Society, I found that they’re emailing me an average of five to six times per month.  Emails, I might add, that I invariably read and often forward.

So what do I recommend?  Set a schedule and stick to it.  I find that a huge part of the problem in establishing a system of donor communications is that the process itself becomes too big in the mind.  Organizations tend to think in terms of “our story,” when the truth is there are many stories within your mission, “acres of diamonds” as Earl Nightingale would say.  Here are a couple of suggestions for emails:

• Have a board member write a blurb about why they got involved
• Share a heartfelt “thank you” received from a client – or a note from a donor
• On a limited basis share challenges  – but keep them on an upbeat note, noting steps you’re taking to address them.  Remember, transparency sells
• Post questions/surveys to your donors
• Share a photograph or two of a program in action
• A recent memorial or tribute gift?  Share a story about the individual who inspired it

And never let the thought of scarcity cross your mind as you write – think grateful abundance.  As in an abundance of the positive mission-affirming news you’re sharing with your donors and potential donors on a regular basis.

Remember, too, that every communication from your organization shouldn’t be an “ask.”  You’ve heard it before:  your donors aren’t ATM machines.

I’ve made no secret of the fact that I believe email marketing can level the playing field for small nonprofit organizations. All of the major studies point to a continued rise in online giving. Convio’s Online Marketing Nonprofit Benchmark report revealed that online revenue increased by nearly 16% in 2011. Small nonprofits fare best, with Convio’s report showing a 26.8 percent increase for organizations with less than 10,000 email addresses.

If you’re a small shop fundraiser and you’re looking to raise serious money online, The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising Thousands (If Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars With Email by Madeline Stanionis could well be the only book you’ll need.

If you think that nonprofit email is all about blasting your Outlook contacts with a mass email, think again. While email is relatively cheap (in comparison with direct mail) and has a reputation of being easy, Stanionis doesn’t shy away from the fact that “it’s in the list” (sing it to the tune of “It’s in his kiss”). Email marketing is, as Madeline points out, “a numbers game,” and growing your email list needs to be at the forefront of your strategy for raising money online. She shares tips you can incorporate year-round for bringing in new names, including quizzes, giveaways and contests.

What else? It helps to know that email is ephemeral. Stanionis reminds us that “you must send the right message to the right person at the right time.” On the other hand, with email if the first time was the wrong time, the next time may well be the right time.

How do you find your best subject line? What time of the day do you send your emails? What kind of email open rates should you look for? Why you need to think “campaigns” not “appeals.”

Typical of Emerson & Church books, The Mercifully Brief, Real World Guide to Raising Thousands (If Not Tens of Thousands) of Dollars With Email presents a topic that might be intimidating to the novice fundraiser in a fresh, succinct, easy-to-follow manner. You’ll come away with a solid understanding of the medium, and a roadmap to your next campaign.

Highly recommended.

Several weeks ago I received a number of angry emails in response to an enewsletter that referenced the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

Following is my response:

Thank you for your heartfelt email regarding my support of Planned Parenthood. Those who disagreed with me thought that I should not view my opinion. Frankly, when it comes to Komen, I’ve always carried a strong instinctual distrust of their ulterior motives, particularly after they partnered with KFC in the “Buckets for the Cure” program.

Throughout the years they have been neither mission-focused or donor-focused.

And, while the Komen controversy supposedly had nothing whatsoever to do with abortion, it is clear that it did.

And abortion is yet another issue that keeps us stuck in this country.

I am not pro-abortion. No one is. I am pro-choice and that stance was formed in my early 20′s when I was blessed to become good friends with a woman, then 42, who had nearly died from an illegal abortion years earlier.

She told me her story one night over dinner and wine. She spoke of being only 20 and pregnant with her fifth child with a husband who was an abusive alcoholic. She’d married at 16. She spoke of seeing no way out and how, hours after the procedure was performed in a tiny room above a theatre in downtown Detroit, she had begun to hemorrhage. She spoke of how she later left her husband and raised her four children alone. She spoke of her pride in her children, all four college graduates, every one of them uniquely successful in their own right.

To meet her you never would have guessed her story. She was a soft-spoken woman of impeccable grace, dignity and elegance. I knew her to be one of the kindest, gentlest, bravest women I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Over the years we lost touch but hardly a week goes by when I don’t remember her with gratitude.

It was because of her that I began my lifelong love of running.

For all of our talk about “life,” the issue of a woman’s right to choose has always struck me as being about about money and control. For haven’t abortions been going on since the beginning of time? Indeed, there are many never discussed illegal abortions in the pasts of more than one United States President. Even a Republican. Or two or three.

And haven’t the wealthy always had access to a safe medical procedure, even prior to Roe v Wade?

If the real issue was “life,” wouldn’t we be ensuring that the safety net was there for our seniors, for those with disabilities and others in need?

Wouldn’t we would be supporting programs like Head Start and food stamps, and adequately funding public education?

Wouldn’t we as a nation be ensuring that all have access to quality health care?

Wouldn’t we as a nation oppose the death penalty with every fiber of our being?

And lastly wouldn’t we stop dreaming up senseless wars that do nothing but line the coffers of a select few, and sending our best and brightest off to die?

My regular readers know that my daughter may well be one of them.

To show respect for all, regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation or gender, and to allow people to live with dignity is what it truly means to be ‘pro-life’.

Being both “pro-life” and pro-choice means recognizing the inherent value and potential in every living human being. In recognizing the people make mistakes, that contraception doesn’t always work, that the decision to have an abortion is not one that comes lightly, ever, but that people make mistakes and accidents do happen.

Thank you for writing.

But, for 2013, I’m urging every nonprofit to adopt this earworm…and shower your donors with love.

What take-aways can nonprofits learn?

1.  Lose the silos.  Your databases need to talk to each other.

For all the praise Obama’s team won in 2008 for its high-tech wizardry, its success masked a huge weakness: too many databases. Back then, volunteers making phone calls through the Obama website were working off lists that differed from the lists used by callers in the campaign office. Get-out-the-vote lists were never reconciled with fundraising lists. It was like the FBI and the CIA before 9/11: the two camps never shared data. “We analyzed very early that the problem in Democratic politics was you had databases all over the place,” said one of the officials. “None of them talked to each other.” So over the first 18 months, the campaign started over, creating a single massive system that could merge the information collected from pollsters, fundraisers, field workers and consumer databases as well as social-media and mobile contacts with the main Democratic voter files in the swing states.

You’ve got that Mail Chimp email database of 378 names you started last year, and your eTapestrydatabase of close to 3,000 donors and volunteers, oh and your marketing department has a database you’re not even privy to.

Take a lesson from Obama’s campaign:  lose the silos.

2.  Know who your best donors are.

The new megafile didn’t just tell the campaign how to find voters and get their attention; it also allowed the number crunchers to run tests predicting which types of people would be persuaded by certain kinds of appeals. Call lists in field offices, for instance, didn’t just list names and numbers; they also ranked names in order of their persuadability, with the campaign’s most important priorities first. About 75% of the determining factors were basics like age, sex, race, neighborhood and voting record.

Have you developed your donor profiles?  Do you know what your best donor does for a living?  How many children she has?  Their names, ages, schools?

3.  Do you have a social media strategy?

“Why did we put Barack Obama on Reddit?” an official asked rhetorically. “Because a whole bunch of our turnout targets were on Reddit.”

Before you jump into Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, do you know where your donors are spending their time online?

4.  Testing, always testing

Early on, for example, the campaign discovered that people who had unsubscribed from the 2008 campaign e-mail lists were top targets, among the easiest to pull back into the fold with some personal attention. The strategists fashioned tests for specific demographic groups, trying out message scripts that they could then apply. They tested how much better a call from a local volunteer would do than a call from a volunteer from a non–swing state like California. As Messina had promised, assumptions were rarely left in place without numbers to back them up.

Too many nonprofits never test.  Even the smallest organization can run simple tests, such as using hand-addressed envelopes in a selection of their direct mail appeals and tracking the results.

5.  Make it easy for your donors

Chicago discovered that people who signed up for the campaign’s Quick Donate program, which allowed repeat giving online or via text message without having to re-enter credit-card information, gave about four times as much as other donors.

How easy is it for your donors to make a gift on your site?  And what does Obama’s Quick Donate program tell us about the beauty of monthly giving?

Whoa…did I hit a nerve!

One CEO wrote:
“I write an appeal which is then taken to 2 committees and then the board.  Each group edits the letter, adding things for the reader to do and, in the end, confusing enough of them that they take no action.  I tell the various members that we can’t ask our donors to choose among 4 different options, but they think that more is better.”

Another DD wrote:
“Our CEO insists I write my newsletters and direct mail pieces to only highlight our great kids programs. When I try to explain that it’s less about sharing how great we are, but more about connecting to the donors, he cuts me off. I tell a lot of great stories, but he hates it when I put in donor specific requests.”

And in my Direct Mail Fundraising Course, one participant wrote:  
“We write something here and it gets edited and proofed to death.”

And a fundraising manager who had just shared a story that brought me to tears wrote:
“You asked what people struggle with when preparing a direct mail campaign. For me there is a chance I won’t be able to use this story. I tried to use it for our annual appeal and was overruled on its suitability. I am going to have another go because I believe it is absolutely stunning and to also have that photograph – well let’s just say that I believe it is fundraising gold!”

In his article, Why, oh why, don’t they trust you?, Tom Ahern writes:

The head of fundraising (the director of development, or advancement, or whatever you choose to call the position) should have sole and final approval on every donor communication, whether it’s an appeal, a newsletter, the donor portion of the website, the annual report to donors, emailed solicitations, fundraising event invitations … etc.

Print it out and post it above your desk.

Micro-managing destroys fundraising results.  End of story.

What are you missing?

Have you given any thought to the person who will be reading that appeal?

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: A few 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 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 Toyota Prius and shops at Whole Foods. Lisa volunteers for three organizations and serves on two boards.

How do you define your donor?  Never neglect this first step.  To make it easier for you, I’ve created this Donor Profile Worksheet.  Download it for free and find out who your organization’s ideal donor is.

The desire to achieve that vision is foremost in the minds of all involved. It is all about action, Action, ACTION!  Get guns off the streets!  Feed the hungry! Educate that child! Issues like policies and procedures are not the top priority.  The founding core of people usually knows that they should have such things, and “will get around to it” when they have time.

There is nothing wrong with this attitude, as long as “when they have time” does not stretch on indefinitely.  But when dealing with your donor or member list, you should be thinking about its maintenance and security at the outset.

From Day One, the most valuable item any organization possesses is its database of stakeholders, including volunteers, donors, community leaders, and those you hope to enlist in your cause.   Whether you keep this database in a specialized program like Sales Force or DonorPerfect, on a simple Excel spreadsheet, or just a handwritten list of names and notes in a notebook, you should have some simple rules for it.  The first rules should focus on WHO has access, and WHAT they are allowed to do with it.  Below, I have sketched out three basic levels, functions and needs for people working with your database.

1. The lowest level of access is for people whom only need information on donors, such as their contact information and giving history.  These staff members or volunteers are not responsible for updating or editing the information, but need this information to perform necessary functions like planning special events or fundraising appeals.
2. The intermediate level of access is for those who are responsible for maintaining this database, including creating and updating contact information and donor history.  This is a crucial function, as so much of fundraising is about cultivating and maintaining relationships.  This staffer documents the donor relationship by capturing not only how much donors give, but also whenever they have contact with your organization.  If they call to compliment you on a well-run event or an excellent article in your newsletter, or if you call them to ask for assistance like an introduction to someone, this is the staffer who notes it in the database.  This staffer should also be able to recommend changes and improvements to the database design, such as adding another field to capture more information or eliminating one that is not relevant.  As your organization grows, this function will also grow.
3. The highest level of access is the person in charge of all others with access to the database.  This is the person who implements and enforces your access policy, which covers who has access and at what level.  In a small organization, this will likely be the executive director.  As the organization grows, this may be delegated to an administrative person.  But wherever the responsibility lies, this function guards the security of your database.  This staffer has to know who is using the database and why.  Who has Level I access so that they can organize a fundraiser, direct mail appeal or send out the newsletter?  Who has Level II access and inputs changes and updates on a regular basis and can recommend improvements in design?  In addition, this person needs to maintain control over the passwords, know what they are, keep them secure and change them when necessary.

When organizations are in the start-up phase (which can last for years in some cases) developing guidelines and policies may seem like a luxury you do not have time for.  If that is the case, a founder, staffer or key volunteer doing fundraising should at least keep these three levels of access in mind.  Segment the people and staff functions making use of your database, and assess the level of access they need.  Your database is your most valuable possession at this stage.  The people on this list are those who have demonstrated some interest in your cause, and over time you will be growing those relationships, developing allies with a stake in your future.  Keeping this information secure is one of your most important responsibilities.

Today’s guest post is brought to us by John Magisano is founder of John Magisano Consulting in New York.  He has 25 years of experience in governmental, community-based and management assistance fields and works primarily with community-based organizations, assisting them in staff development, program design and evaluation, board governance, grant writing, policies and procedures and strategic planning.  In addition to his consulting practice, john is an ordained minister with a Master’s in Divinity from New York Theological Seminary.  John can be found at www.johnmagisanoconsulting.com.

Yes.  If you follow these three tips, you’ll improve your proposal exponentially:

1.  Eliminate jargon.  I worked with a foundation vice president who quite literally took a red pen to every proposal she reviewed, circling every instance of jargon.  Get rid of it.   Say it simply.  Say it from the heart.

2.  Have your best friend review your proposal.  Here’s a little trick I’ve been using for over 10 years.  When I’ve finished my first grant proposal for a client, before sending it to the client, I send it off to my best friend in Michigan.  She’s never worked for a nonprofit.  She doesn’t have any idea what the organization I’m working with does.  If she can read the proposal and fully understand the organization’s mission and work, I know I’m on the right path.

3. Remember the 12/12/12 rule and hook the reader with your narrative.  If the book Storytelling for Grantseekers isn’t on your bookshelf, I highly recommend it.  Imagine yourself in the shoes of a program officer.  It’s midnight and she’s been working for 12 hours straight, reviewing grant proposals.  Yours is the twelfth one in the stack.  How are you going to get her attention?  How are you get her to fall in love with your organization’s mission?  The key lies in the story you tell.

You’re particularly psyched because this was your third proposal to the XYZ Foundation (the first two were declined) and it feels like this grant has been years in the making.  Your hard work has paid off.

So how can you make sure that this grant from the XYZ Foundation isn’t their last?

1. Send a thank you note
No crystal plaques or flowers please.  Thank the foundation for their partnership in no uncertain terms.  Hand-written is nice.

2. Add the funder to your database
While you shouldn’t deluge the funder with all the communications your individual donors receive, you do want to keep them updated on your progress.  Think about repurposing content and developing a “foundation letter” that would go to current and past foundation funders.

3.  Send in your report on time
Please, please, please, don’t make the funder come after you for your report.  And please, show them that you did what you said you’d do.

4. Was a contract included?
Make sure that any contracts included with your check are sent back, appropriately filled out and in a timely fashion.

Is that all?  No.  Go celebrate!  You deserve it!

To truly build a base of solid foundation grant support, you’ve got to be vigilantly tracking the scent of money on a consistent basis.  How regular?  If your organization is new to the world of foundation grant seeking, you can and should reserve a minimum of 30 minutes a day for the sole purpose of foundation prospect research.

1. Don’t be afraid to ask your colleagues.  You see from their website that Darla from the food bank across town got a grant from the Smithereens Foundation.  How’d she do it?  Don’t be shy – call her up and ask!
2. Check to see if your region has a Grantmakers Association.   Peruse their member list and download their common grant application form.  If you can create a single proposal template that will be accepted by a specific community of funders, you’ll save yourself a heckavu lot of time.
3. Got a prospect?  Maintain a listing of all of the trustees and/or staff members from the foundations with a strong fit with your mission and run it by your own board, staff and volunteers for possible connections.
4. Learn how to read a foundation’s 990.  Foundation websites are great for giving you the latest grant application guidelines, but they don’t begin to give you the depth of information as the Form 990-PF Return.
5. Ask your current grant funders for suggestions.  Grant funders are generous souls – and everyone appreciates being asked their advice.   Are there other foundations who would support our mission?  What advice would you have for us to fund our new educational initiative?   You’ll also want to reach out to your local community foundations.

Always keep your eyes open. Remember, your foundation grant research never ends!

Quite simply:

1. Strong boards
2. A 100% commitment to fundraising efforts
3. A CEO who carves out the time to spend with major donors and major potential donors
4. A development director who the board trusts and invites to their regular board meetings
5. A CEO who has complete confidence in the development director

Click to play

How does your organization measure up?

When I came on board, the foundation had only recently transitioned from a casual, privately run organization with the founder and his wife sending out checks to their beloved charities to an organized grantmaking entity.

There were growing pains during those early years.  I well recall the delighted surprise of  organizations who received more than they had requested in their grant proposals, thanks to the luck of good timing.  You see, their requests had come in near the close of our fiscal year and we had discovered that we had not expended the five percent requirement.  Private foundations are required by law to distribute an amount each year based on five percent of the average value of their net assets.

I also saw and participated in the hours of research, discussion, and tweaking that went into establishing initiatives, program areas, and grant application guidelines.

Most of all saw how seriously everyone in the foundation took their roles – to the founder’s mission, and to the community – and the care that went into reviewing grant proposals.

Giving is a joyful experience – and we received many expressions of gratitude.  But it was rare that an organization took the time to thank a foundation for their review when a proposal was declined.

What a missed opportunity!

Establishing a solid base of foundation support for your organization will take time.  Many of the books and courses talk about how to pen the “perfect” grant proposal.  But, in the end, it’s a relationship-building process.  By neglecting to show appreciation for the review process, even when you didn’t get that grant, you’re missing out, not just on the grant but on the boat as well.

During the second round of a direct mail campaign, we received a second annual donation from a long-time, loyal supporter. She is an elderly lady, on a fixed income, and contributed a single donation of the same amount every year for a number of years. When an additional cheque for the exact same amount came in, something didn’t feel right. In situations like that, following your gut is so important. It at least warrants asking a few questions. While we would have been very appreciative of the additional support, knowing her history and her situation, we thought we should follow up with her during our thank you call to clarify her intentions, and before cashing the cheque. (Sidenote: We make an effort to personally call as many of our donors as possible, to say thanks and nothing else – I love making these calls!)

We ended up speaking to her son who said that indeed she must have forgotten about her first donation, and when she saw the additional mailing, she happily wrote another cheque for her favourite cause. To us, it was clear that our donor did not intend to provide a second donation. We insisted that we would return the cheque given the situation. Her son was taken aback by this gesture – imagine a charity turning down a donation! He insisted that we keep the second donation, and that he would personally provide the funds for it, so as not to throw off his mom’s finances. He felt that if an organization cared this much about their supporters, then they deserved the donation.

We didn’t offer to return the cheque so that we would impress the donor’s family in the hope that the donation would stay with us. In fact, we “risked losing the second gift” by following up (although it was never really ours in the first place). If that was really our view, treating the donation as a boost to revenue, instead of as a gesture of generosity from a friend, it would have just been easier to cash the cheque, no questions asked. We did all of the follow-up because it’s the right thing to do.

In any meaningful and fulfilling relationship, everyone in the relationship has to act in the genuine interest of others. The donors have already done this, just by saying “I believe in you and support you enough to give you a donation” – we can never forget that charitable giving is a choice. Donations could easily be used as a mortgage payment, to buy a new pair of shoes or for a night on the town. So from the charity’s end, our duty is to show appreciation and show the impact of support towards achieving our mission.

It also goes beyond that – it means ensuring you look out for those that are close to you. Think of your donors as friends – ask yourself how you would treat a friend in any situation. Would you call them to say thanks for something kind they did? Would you share with them the impact that their support and actions have on your life? Would you let them know if you saw something that wasn’t quite right and that would affect them negatively? I hope your answer to all these questions is yes! Then you should be doing that for your donors as well. With every action, don’t do it because you are expecting more donations in return (although if you are responsive, authentic, passionate and show integrity, that’s very likely what will happen) – you do it simply because it’s the right thing to do. It’s what your supporters deserve. Period!

Rickesh is a firm believer that we are all responsible for each other’s success, whether in fundraising or living life in general. In his current role as Director, Campaign at United Way York Region, he oversees an amazing team of passionate staff and volunteers that lead an $8M annual campaign, creating huge impact on building community social services infrastructure. Rickesh is a long-term volunteer with different organizations, and an advocate that we can all give back some of our time. When he’s not fundraising or volunteering, you can find him enjoying his family, playing the drums, bike riding, camping or Tweeting as @ConstantChanges.

I am working for a non-profit and recently have begun writing agency grants as well. This organization in the past has never relied on grants, but instead on funding from two fundraisers and the state and federal monies.

However, it seems that all of the foundations we are writing to are coming back and saying that they are not funding in the state or we fall outside their parameters or no reason at all.

We are using a web-based software called Foundation Search. Any opinions on online searches?

My response:

While I am not a fan of state or federal grants and agree that your organization should not develop a reliance on grants, building a core base of foundation support should play a role in every organization’s funding stream.  And it’s really not that different than prospecting for individual donors — where most organizations fall flat is in NOT realizing that relationship building plays as big a role in foundation funding as it does in individual fundraising.  Just as you wouldn’t slap a “donate” button on your site and expect the dollars to roll in, you can’t expect that first grant proposal to yield the grant.  I’ve even heard, confidentially, from one foundation president that oftentimes “the third time’s the charm.”

But how does someone who is also acting as individual giving manager/event planner/webmaster/social media manager/marketing and PR director AND grantwriter factor in the time to write and deliver compelling grant proposals? I believe that starting with the region’s small to mid-sized foundations is key. Oftentimes both their guidelines and reporting requirements are less cumbersome than the region’s major players. Also check to see if your region or state has a grantmakers association. Oftentimes these organizations have developed their own standardized grant application – and all their members accept it.

The Foundation Directory Online is an amazing tool.  Yet there are few small organizations that can afford the $180 a month premium subscription that grants you access to all of the foundations in their database.  Fortunately there are participating collections in libraries throughout the United States.   Find out your nearest location and call to schedule an appointment.

Be prospecting for potential funders on a regular basis – not once or twice a year.  Other resources?  Check to see if your state has a foundation directory.  Check out Nozasearch, which offers searches of foundations with a free subscription.

Proposal declined? Pick up the phone and CALL! Ask the three “magic” questions:

1. What could we have done differently in our proposal?
2. Are we welcome to reapply?
3. Lastly, are you aware of any other foundations that might support our mission?

Most importantly?  Think about how you’re telling your agency’s story.  Storytelling isn’t just for your annual appeal.  Take a look at this Movie Monday’s video showing how one organization went from $0 to $1 million in the span of 15 minutes.

1.     Leslie, tell us a little bit about your job at Hope Cottage Pregnancy and Adoption Center.  When did you begin as DD there?

In August 2009 I came on board as Chief Development Officer at Hope Cottage Pregnancy and Adoption Center, Dallas’ oldest, nonprofit, nonsectarian adoption agency.  This was an agency in dire need of development work.  Despite having an almost 100 year history serving the community, relationships had been allowed to wither, contact with donors was almost nonexistent, there was no reaching out and certainly no “friend raising” going on.

Without a presence in the community,  if people do not know you are there, you cannot raise funds.  During 2011 the Development Department gave special emphasis to raising public awareness of our agency and the many services, outside of private infant adoption, we provided the community.  We blogged, we facebooked, we spoke at Rotary Clubs, we tweeted, we set up monthly newsletters for our families waiting to adopt, we produced videos in house – all with the goal of making the community aware of Hope Cottage.

2.  You’ve talked about how you’re making this year the “Year of the Individual Donor.”   What brought about this decision?

2012 has been dubbed “The Year of the Individual Donor” in the Hope Cottage Development Office.  As mentioned earlier, many relationships had withered due to neglect.  There hadn’t been a real effort to keep our supporters and friends close.  What brought about the decision to focus on our supporters was very simple.  Many, many of our supporters are people who have built their families through Hope Cottage.  Hope Cottage has always been here for our families and always will be.  That is part of our mission.  We WANT to know where our Hope Babies (children adopted through Hope Cottage) and their families are and what they are doing – even if you are 90 years old, you are still a Hope Baby.  From 1918 until the 1960’s we had babies living at Hope Cottage – just like you would see in the movies.  Who doesn’t have an affinity for their very first home?  One of our Hope Babies visited us and said the only thing he knew about his adoption was that he was left on our doorstep.  I pulled out a picture of Hope Cottage at that time and showed him the front porch where he was placed.  He stretched out his hand and caressed that picture while tears welled up in his eyes.  “Thank you for showing me this.”, he said.

3.  What are some of the ways that you’re acknowledging your donors?  Do you have any daily or weekly habits in place for stewarding?

All the things we have done to reconnect are very simple and easy to implement.

1.  We started The Hope Cottage Heritage Society – an alumnae group if you will for our Hope Babies and Hope Families – giving current Hope Families a chance to build Hope Families of the future.  Members of the society are invited to member only events and  are listed in the quarterly agency e-newsletter.
2. We thank our donors.  You would be surprised at how many nonprofits don’t send out a simple typed thank you letter, even with an auto signature for donations received.  I know of which I speak.  I have donated to a few organizations and never received an acknowledgement for my gift.  Believe me – they don’t get a second gift!  If my department of 1.5 people can get letters out the door, then anyone can.
3. Each donor receives a letter, hand signed by the CEO which can also be used as their tax receipt.  Each donor receives a handwritten thank you note from me.  I laugh and say “who knew that having a mother who insisted I learn to write a proper thank you note could be turned into a career!”  Also, each donor receives a call from either a board member or a staff member thanking them for their donation.  Even the CEO helps make the calls.  Sometimes we bring the board members together to our office one evening and make it a “Thank A Donor” Call Night.  Sometimes board members make the calls on their own time.  If the donor has given to a particular program, I make sure a staff member from that area calls them.   Our goal is that every donor receives at least one phone call during the year.  Many times the donors think we are calling to ask for an additional donation and are pleasantly surprised when we tell them we are just calling to say thank you.  There are some donors for which we do not have contact information – these are usually people who donate to us through the United Way, but if we have your information, we are going to let you know how much we appreciate what you do for Hope Cottage.
4. We send birthday cards to supporters and our families.  Also, if we find out they have won an award, we send a congratulatory card.
5. Post event, I send out a thanks for coming letter with pictures of them at the event.

4.  How are you tracking stewardship?

In our donor database, we keep track of each phone call made, each letter sent, any personal meetings with that donor.  At the end of the year, we should be able to compare that to a donor’s giving history.  What matters most is that we are planting and cultivating.  We all know that you don’t always see an immediate return on your development efforts, however, keeping in touch with our supporters is the right thing to do.

5.  What types of reactions are you receiving from your donors?

Since we started reaching out to reconnect with our supporters we have had people donate that haven’t given in ten years or more and some have never donated before.  Donations aside, it is extremely gratifying just to have a connection again with our families and supporters.

Donor care is important – put yourself in the donor’s place.  Wouldn’t you want to know that what you did was important?  That what you did helped someone?

At one of my previous nonprofits, we had a camp for children with a particular disease.  One of our favorite things to send out, and for our donors to receive, was a couple of pictures from camp and a handwritten thank you note from a camper (done during rest time) all framed together.   A lovely thank you for little hard cash spent.  People love pictures – send a couple of pictures showing “your donation at work”.  You may not be able to share pictures of clients at the food bank, but what about a picture of the shelves filled with donations with a note saying “thank you for making sure our pantry is stocked.  Because of you, five families were able to have a hot meal tonight.”

6.  What have your results been?  What would you tell other organizations about donor care?

With our program of paying attention to our individual donors, currently we have doubled individual donations over this time last year.  There is a saying in dentistry that you should only pay attention to the teeth you want to keep.  Conversely stated “if you ignore your teeth, they will go away”.  That can apply to donor relations too – “if you ignore them, they will go away.”

7.  Anything else?

I have been a fan of Simple Development Systems for a couple of years now.  I have never been part of a large development department – in fact in most places I was answering the phones and paying the bills at the same time I was running programs and fundraising.  Pamela has such wonderful ideas and is so willing to share her knowledge.  I appreciate she brings together the “best” in the field of fundraising to help those of us who are still learning.  The newsletters are like little mini seminars I don’t even have to leave my office to attend.  The twice monthly Twitter chats are invaluable – you have the opportunity to learn from people who are actually “in the trenches”.  Pamela Grow and Simple Development Systems are in my “top five to follow” list that I recommend to any and everyone I meet in fundraising.

Leslie Clay has worked in the nonprofit arena since 2000 in both programming and development.  Before joining Hope Cottage she served as Director of Community Development for Literacy Instruction for Texas, Director of Programs and Development  for the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas and Education Manager for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of North Texas.  She earned her BA from Stephens College, concentrating in TV-Radio-Film and Advertising and her Master of Liberal Arts from Southern Methodist University.  She is the Immediate Past President of the Rotary Club of Dallas-Uptown and has served on the board of Dallas Christian Women’s Job Corp.  Her favorite thing to do besides reading and singing?  Talking fundraising!

I have just mailed my second donor survey, and I’m pretty excited. I thought I’d share with you why I’ve added these to my calendar, and why I think you might want to as well.

Two years ago I was looking for a new way to reach out to our supporters. Like almost every other nonprofit, the down economy was taking its toll on us. We made a conscious decision to focus on donor relations and stewardship. (Retention matters!) My organization is fortunate to have a core group of long-time donors – many who have given for more than 20 years now. We wanted to be sure they knew how much we appreciate them.

I turned, as I often do, to the wealth of knowledge shared online. Jonathon Grapsas had written several posts about donor surveys that made so much sense. I had to try it!

(You can find Jonathon’s original posts on survey here: http://jonathongrapsas.blogspot.com/2009/01/surveys-part-one-five-reasons-surveys.html, and also in SOFII’s collection here: http://www.sofii.org/node/420  I urge you to read it all).

I was looking at this survey as an engagement tool. I knew its value would be more anecdotal than statistical. But the data I could collect seemed particularly useful because we don’t have the opportunity to meet many of our supporters face to face. We really needed a way to get to know them better.

So I thought about what I wanted to learn – and tried to think through how best to get that information in a way that I could use it. I balanced curiosity against pragmatism and privacy. And I tried hard to keep the survey focused. (Say “survey” and watch how many people want to add a question!)

The first time, I put the whole thing on one sheet of legal-sized paper (both sides). I personalized each survey – both to insure I could tie responses to the right people and to underline that we really wanted to hear from each individual.

We sent the survey to all of our current donors, and to a smaller segment of recently lapsed donors.

I included an appeal with the survey, so that the mailing did double duty. Historically we had become heavily dependent on December gifts – scary stuff, really, for an organization whose budget runs on a calendar year. I had been working to move giving up in the year. The March mailing asked our supporters to return the survey with either a gift or a pledge of support. We explained that their gift, received near the start of our year, would give us a better idea of what to expect, and allow us to make better plans – making better use of the funds they entrust to us.

The first survey was both successful and a whole lot of fun. For me, it was a little like getting letters from old friends in the mail every day – each returned survey was full of interesting information about the supporter, personal views and great anecdotes. In other words, a treasure trove. We had a 23% response rate and an average gift that was above average.

This year I set out to do it again. But as our supporters have been so loyal, and I’d be writing to mainly the same people, I updated the survey to reflect what we had already learned.

I added some questions as follow-ups to what we had asked the first time. For instance, responses to the first survey helped me see that a donor newsletter would be a good idea – and that it ought to be a mail, not email piece. So in the second survey, I asked for responses about the newsletter and whether it was serving their needs. And I promised to use the next newsletter to share our findings with them.

I’m continually eager for anecdotes and stories from our supporters, so I left more room for open answers instead of check-boxes.

And I changed the format – printing it on an 11×17 sheet of paper so that I had room to use a bigger font and more pictures. Our base, perhaps like yours, is getting older, and I didn’t want this to be a struggle to read. And pictures tell our story well. I wanted our supporters to have visual cues right in front of them as they answered. I also organized the questions into sections to make it easier to read.

I hope this survey generates as positive a response as the last one did. I see it as a really useful tool in what should be a continuing conversation with our supporters. And a good conversation, of course, is two-sided.

So with huge thanks to Jonathon, from whom I borrowed heavily, I’ll be eagerly awaiting responses next week. And when I get them, Pamela has kindly allowed me to share with you what I’ve learned.

Note: I asked Mary what some of the responses to her survey were.

The question in 2010 that gave us the most open answers was “when did you first support Riverfront Recapture – and why?” It was the why of course that led to responses like:

“Because we wanted to improve both sides of the river so people could enjoy being near the water.”

“Because nature is in my soul.  I love observing nature and season changes…”

“I believe in making Hartford a vital, interesting city.  Parks are important to a city.”

“Because I think it is the best thing to happen to Hartford in many, many years – getting people back to the river.”

One woman told us about hearing river stories from her dad, who used to take dates out in a boat on the CT River. She used our parks, and her grandkids joined our rowing program. (We offer the program free to East Hartford and Hartford high school students). Later, I used her story for one in a series of email stories seeking support.

We asked about what people found most important about what we do – I’ve marked those responses, and they should help us target our messages in the future. We also asked about what they attend, and we track that now as well.

One interesting thing I found in 2010 was that a lot of our most loyal supporters rarely or never come to the parks themselves. They just believe in the mission and feel it’s important for the community. It’s totally not about what’s in it for them. (Bless them).

In your interview, your potential boss said, “We’re making $500,000 a year now, and I want to ramp up to $1 Million this year.” And even though you were going to be the only development staff person, you said, okay.

You’re walking to your desk, it’s now month three.

Your boss yells, “SO! Where’s my million dollar grant?” (This actually happened to me).

What do you say?

Managing Up.

If your boss is unable or unwilling to set reasonable expectations for your position, let’s go over what you can do to manage yourself, and help your boss learn how to set expectations for you.

How can you measure your results without a million dollar grant?

Your first measurements for your position cannot be dollars raised. It takes a development staff person 12-18 months just to get into the flow of their position, to learn how to talk persuasively about the mission, and to get the fundraising office standard processes in place.

Measuring Your Results
Here is how you will tell them to measure you. You can say,
“We have the capacity to engage the community. My benchmarks can’t be net income yet. It can be numbers engaged in the community, how many people we talked with, or who attended our events.”


Your Benchmarks:
For example, you could measure:
How many standardized processes you made
Number of new people on mailing list
How many times we communicated
How many personal letters, emails, newsletters, phonecalls, thank yous, lunches, face to face meetings we did

What IS Reasonable for your boss to expect
Expecting you to show up on time, work from 9-5, and go home.
Treating donors well, and giving prompt thank yous on the phone or through a letter.
Having support for each aspect of your role from mentors and your boss.
Putting systems in place to thank donors, track grants, coordinate events, etc.

What ISN’T Reasonable for your Boss to Expect.
Expecting you to raise large sums of money in the first year all by yourself. You need to put systems in place in each aspect of your role before you can effectively fundraise.
Expecting you to fundraise for a brand new program or project they just decided to throw together, without regard for your capacity and other responsibilities, without consulting you.
Making $9.00 an hour asking people on a streetcorner to give. I wouldn’t work for that little. Here’s a post about why nonprofits expect you to work for so little. http://www.wildwomanfundraising.com/life-liberty-pursuit-wealthy-donors/
Social ostracism, alienating you, trying to make you feel not included due to ethnicity, gender, financial status, family background, sexual orientation, or other reasons.

Setting Your Magnificent Boundaries
Burnout in this industry is huge, SO. Develop boundaries. Good boundaries in development include:
Address inequalities of power. Be an ACTIVIST. This means speaking up when someone is chastising another person in front of you. This means looking at whether there is a culture of continual learning at an organization, or whether there is a culture of frustration, fear, and bad attitudes.
Get to know your co-workers, pay them genuine compliments on their work, and make yourself indispensable to them. This is how you can begin to take the persuader and activist ranks.
Surround yourself with supportive people who understand (other development professionals, mentors, etc), and give yourself credit for small victories.
Insist on weekly meetings with your boss, to help set and report on priorities.
Know the work will never truly be finished, so work from 9 to 5, and then go home. It doesn’t matter if you are salaried or hourly, you need to realize the cause will still be there in the morning.
Pay attention to what you do, and keep track of your achievements so you’ll be ready to be promoted or move to a better position.

If you want to learn more about how to manage up, this is an excerpt from Mazarine Treyz’s The Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising, exclusively available at http://wildwomanfundraising.com/store .