Articles About Fundraising by Carol Weisman

FUNDRAISING IN THE YEAR OF THE PLAGUE

If you are fortunate enough to have food, perhaps this is not the best way to spend your time in quarantine.

I have two groups of friends: one group is doing things like learning a language, power-washing their homes, building fences and the list goes on. The other group is binge-watching TV, worrying and taking one too many trips to the kitchen. Unfortunately, I fall into the second group. Here is how pathetic we have become:  Frank and I are starting to watch the 12th season of Criminal Minds, which has 24 episodes/season. Regardless of how you are spending your days, we are all in mourning. Some for the loss of a loved one, some for lack of freedom, loss of employment and many of us for smaller things like a haircut or a manicure, the hugs from grandparents at Passover, Easter or a simple Sunday night dinner shared with friends.

It is time to reach out. We want our donors to be there when we need them, we need each other now.

Here are how your board members might spend a very small portion of their day: Call your donors.

Here is the rough of a script:

Hello, this is Carol Weisman. I am a board member for the Ladue Education Fund. First of all, I wanted to thank you for your long-time support and I also want to find out how you are doing. (If there was a death, follow-up with a handwritten note. With permission, let others in your organization know about the loss.)

If you have a few minutes, I would like to get your thoughts on three questions as we look at strategic planning for the future.

  1. Do you think this could happen again? LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN
  2. How prepared do you think our organization was for this pandemic? LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN
  3. What should we be doing now if you believe this might happen again? LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN
  4. If a donor wants to know what they can do, have a list ready or refer them to the appropriate person in your agency.

 

I have already been calling some clients and they all believed this might happen again. Some believe that they are doing a pretty good job, others believe the doors will have to close, and a few have come up with innovative solutions working with other groups.

Their thoughts on strategy moving forward include: working on endowment, investing in technology, looking into other streams of revenue not to mention applying for federal funds.

When I spoke to Julie Ferrie, the ED of the Ladue Education Foundation, she shared all kinds of great things that I didn’t know about including bus drivers delivering food to the families of children on the free lunch program, hooking up students with Wi-Fi and tablets for homeschooling and the list goes on.

We are going to have a short Zoom meeting with the board members who are willing to call donors so that Julie can update us on need and work in progress.

If you have time to eliminate one less trip to the kitchen or scrubbing the sidewalk around your house, please consider this easy way to forward your mission and to feel useful.

Carol

p.s. Also, take time to count your blessings. A little bragging. My husband is an ardent Sam’s Warehouse shopper, even though there are now only two of us in a condo. Thanks to Frank, we have enough toilet paper should the entire Vienna Boys’ Choir drop by after a bad meal. What are your grateful for and how can you give some of your time, or in our case, also extra toilet paper?

3 STEPS TO GETTING YOUR BOARD TO COMMIT
TO YOUR SPECIAL EVENT

You can have special events for many different reasons and with different people in charge of the event. You can have a special event to:

  • Build membership
  • Get clients
  • Introduce prospective donors to your cause
  • Thank current donors
  • Earn big bucks.

You can also have a number of people in charge of your event. You might have an event where:

  • The staff is totally responsible
  • An outside group is having an event and giving you the money
  • Partner with another nonprofit
  • Hire a party planner
  • A committee of non-board members is in charge
  • Your board is expected to take a leadership role.

If you plan to have your board committed to your event and if the purpose is to raise a lot of money, there are three steps you need to implement, otherwise the scenario will be something like this:

A board member proposes an event such as a golf tournament or gala. The board is thrilled. There is a vote. It is unanimous. Go forth and plan. 8 weeks before the event, the chair of the event starts to contact the board for their lists. He uses e-mail. No response. Another two weeks goes by. He starts to call. Then the curtain starts to unveil a picture that isn’t pretty. The board had assumed the event chair was going to do all the work. You get every excuse from, “I can’t bring a foursome to the golf tournament because the country club was racially segregated in the 1950’s” to “You know we always go to Florida this time of the year” when in fact, no one knew. The chair hears everything but , “The dog ate my calendar. ” Three weeks before the event, the chair is aware he is in it alone. He is thrilled that he comes from a big family or has a lot of employees. Everyone is conscripted. Despite everything, the event is a modest success. The next year, everyone assumes he is doing it again.

Here are three steps to get off this hamster wheel if you expect your board to be a major part of your events:

  1. Don’t just take a vote whether to do the event or not. Spend a few more minutes and ask each board member for a specific commitment. Ask what they will do to make this a success. Forget about asking everyone to sell a specific number of tickets. It won’t happen. Some people can sell 150 tickets while others can get your food or entertainment or venue for free. Some people are great at process management and can set up stations, be responsible for flow, check-in and check-out. Others can “work the room” and share with your guests what your charity does and why it is a great philanthropic investment. If people are not excited, willing to commit and are specific about what they will do, pull the plug immediately. You can hire a professional to plan the event, but that person normally will be involved in logistics and won’t bring in guests or auction items.
  2. After your event, debrief. I call this an “M and M” conference. This stands for morbidity and mortality. Doctors have these meetings to discuss their cases. Most don’t have candy M&Ms. You should. Ask your staff how much time this took them. Look at what you earned. Determine what was great and should be retained if you do the event again the next year. Decide what should be different. Write a one page report. Determine if your fundraiser was a money-maker or a friend-raiser and if that is OK for next year.
  3. If you decide this will be an annual signature event, put your expectations regarding participation in your board commitment letter so that new board members know that this is a part of their work as a board member.

Want to become a better executive? Check out Carol’s new Nonprofit Forum starting January 2012.

I need CAROL to…

232 North Kingshighway, #1802, St. Louis, Missouri, 63108  |  314-863-4422

Carol’s on

 

© 2023 · Carol Weisman
Created by Beanstalk Web Solutions