Effective Frontline Fundraising

Transcription

1 Effective Frontline Fundraising A Guide for Non-Profits, Political Candidates, and Advocacy Groups Jeffrey David Stauch

2 Effective Frontline Fundraising: A Guide for Non-Profits, Political Candidates, and Advocacy Groups Copyright 2011 by Jeffrey David Stauch All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner and the publisher. ISBN-13 (pbk): ISBN-13 (electronic): Trademarked names, logos, and images may appear in this book. Rather than use a trademark symbol with every occurrence of a trademarked name, logo, or image we use the names, logos, and images only in an editorial fashion and to the benefit of the trademark owner, with no intention of infringement of the trademark. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. President and Publisher: Paul Manning Lead Editor: Jeff Olson Editorial Board: Steve Anglin, Mark Beckner, Ewan Buckingham, Gary Cornell, Morgan Ertel, Jonathan Gennick, Jonathan Hassell, Robert Hutchinson, Michelle Lowman, James Markham, Matthew Moodie, Jeff Olson, Jeffrey Pepper, Douglas Pundick, Ben Renow-Clarke, Dominic Shakeshaft, Gwenan Spearing, Matt Wade, Tom Welsh Coordinating Editor: Adam Heath Copy Editor: Chandra Clarke Compositor: Mary Sudul Indexer: BIM Indexing & Proofreading Services Cover Designer: Anna Ishchenko Distributed to the book trade worldwide by Springer Science+Business Media, LLC., 233 Spring Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY Phone SPRINGER, fax (201) , orders-ny@springer-sbm.com, or visit For information on translations, please rights@apress.com, or visit Apress and friends of ED books may be purchased in bulk for academic, corporate, or promotional use. ebook versions and licenses are also available for most titles. For more information, reference our Special Bulk Sales ebook Licensing web page at The information in this book is distributed on an as is basis, without warranty. Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this work, neither the author(s) nor Apress shall have any liability to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this work.

3 To my teachers. JDS

4 Contents About the Author...vii Acknowledgments...viii Introduction... ix Chapter 1: Nonprofits, Cash Flow, and Philanthropy... 1 Chapter 2: The Role of a Fundraiser...13 Chapter 3: The Gift Cycle...23 Chapter 4: Assembling Your Team...35 Chapter 5: The Basic Tools...55 Chapter 6: The Annual Plan...71 Chapter 7: Crafting Your Message...93 Chapter 8: Stewardship Chapter 9: Face Time Chapter 10: The Ask Chapter 11: Major Gifts Chapter 12: Political Fundraising Chapter 13: Charity, Advocacy Group, or Both? Chapter 14: Get Out There and Start Asking Appendix A: Additional Resources Appendix B: Example Appeals and Websites You Should Envy Appendix C: Funding Sources beyond the Individual Donor Index v

5 About the Author Jeffrey David Stauch received his BA in political science at Middlebury College and his MA in social sciences at the University of Chicago. He started his career in fundraising in Boston with Grassroots Campaigns, Inc., and Telefund, Inc. Jeffrey is currently the assistant director of principal gifts at a small, elite liberal arts college. He is also the volunteer giving officer for Betasab ( a home for orphaned children in Ethiopia. When not at work, he runs, coaches youth hockey, trains in the martial art of Aikido, and writes creative non-fiction. He has a pet rabbit. Photo Credit: Alex Roca Sala

6 Acknowledgments I would like to begin by acknowledging the team at Apress, specifically Jeff Olson and Adam Heath for their guidance and patience while this book came together. Chandra Clarke made us all look good with her expedient and thorough copyediting. Special thanks to Jeff for trusting that we could pull this off in the first place, and for giving me the opportunity to put my thoughts to paper. I would also like to thank my mentors past and present Lisa, AJ, Hyam, Mama Duck, Stephanie, Matt, Meghan, Mike, and Sue K (twice now!) for being generous with their time and wisdom over the years. Much of what is expressed in this book is owed to the lessons that I learned under these very talented fundraisers. And, of course, thanks to all those donors who support the important work of the nonprofits out there. viii

7 Introduction There s No Such Thing as Luck My first job as a fundraiser was not glorious. I was working for a for-profit company that contracted with progressive nonprofits that had opted to outsource their fundraising operations. While the job was far from glamorous, it was a great training ground, and I was fortunate to meet many people dedicated to what we called internally the movement, or the left-wing conspiracy. My first year, I was put in charge of directing the street canvassing office in Boston, in the lead-up to the mid-term US elections. Our client at the time, not surprisingly, was the Democratic National Committee (DNC). I worked six to seven days a week, averaging more than 60 hours a week (and oftentimes pushing 80). Three or four of those days, I was out with my crew, clipboard in hand in a bright blue DNC t-shirt, waving down pedestrians with a smile and a question along the lines of, Do you have a minute for the Democrats? or Have a second to talk about the mid-terms? The work was grueling, and there were certainly moments when I questioned what I was doing. Back at the office, the saying went: The hours are long, and the work is thankless, but at least the pay sucks. One of the first lessons I learned, direct from the mouth of one of the vice presidents of the company, let s call him Stan, during our week of intense training in Newton, Massachusetts, was there s no such thing as luck. It was an interesting thought, and just counterintuitive enough to make all the young, starry-eyed liberals in the room pause for a second to internalize what exactly that meant. Stan s point was that becoming an effective fundraiser is about developing a skill set, just as in any other job. His conviction proved true first in my job canvassing on the streets of Boston, then down the hall as I grew the call center of the canvassing company s sister organization, and now, at a small college in New England, soliciting six- and seven-figure gifts and coordinating eight-figure solicitations in collaboration with the college administration. ix

8 We often get into fundraising by accident; that was certainly the case for me. I was fresh out of graduate school, and I took the first job I was offered. Despite the long hours and lackluster paycheck, I was fortunate to have a solid training program and great supervisors who were goal driven and checked in weekly on how my staff was doing (or more frequently if performance was down). In most of the nonprofit world, this type of diligence and attention to quantitative data, at least with respect to the development shop, is rare. Granted, this organization was a for-profit, whose sole duty was to raise money for nonprofits. The fact that nonprofits are outsourcing, however, is a sign that they aren t terribly good at doing the development work themselves. This can bring with it a number of problems, especially as an organization first turns toward making its fundraising department a professional shop. Many clients that this company brought on were quite large: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Sierra Club, Save the Children, the Democratic National Committee. All of these organizations were able to make that investment to outsource significant components of their development operations to a third party. Smaller, younger nonprofits do not have that luxury. First, you might not have the money to spend to pay the vendor. Second, and more important, it is unlikely that you would be taken on as a client. The company I worked for operates on a profit motive, so it wants to concentrate on clients that already have name recognition, nonprofits readily recognizable to the average passerby on the street as canvassers like me tried day after day to flag someone down. Name recognition matters. In fact, the company I used to work for is now turning away business. So instead, young, protean nonprofits are left to their own devices when it comes to fundraising. Even if it were financially viable for your organization to consider outsourcing, I would recommend against it. As you ll read later on, when I discuss messaging in Chapter 7, when you outsource your fundraising operations, you are also sacrificing a certain degree of quality control. You risk your message getting convoluted by a profit incentive as opposed to a sincere dedication to the mission that your nonprofit represents. This book is intended to guide you through the steps of setting up a professional development shop, to help you come up with ambitious but achievable annual goals, to make you aware of the important behind-the-scenes aspects of the shop that are essential to moving your operations forward, and, of course, to provide you with the necessary tools to solicit gifts ranging from a one-time donation of $25 to a five-year commitment of $1 million or more. x

9 You should walk away from reading this book with the confidence to approach your nonprofit s top decision makers with a strong case for why you need to develop and staff a fundraising shop, and why it is a wise (and necessary) investment in the organization you represent. You should also be able to recruit, train, and manage a top-notch development team; come up with a strong annual plan; craft effective messaging; and follow it up with solid stewardship, which in turn prepares you to resolicit your donor base all over again. Another lesson, which I learned in my second fundraising post working with a college s Young Alumni program was this: You are not responsible for the outcome of the conversation, but you are responsible for the preparation going into that conversation. To that end, this book will also teach you how to plan a great fundraising trip, how to provide your prospects with meaningful follow-up, and how to shine in your face-to-face meetings with prospects small and large. This book will also provide you with lessons on how to solicit by phone and e- mail, which will in turn help you to train volunteers to do so. In short, you will learn how to ensure your organization has an impact on society for decades to come. Before we get into the details, however, let s first look at philanthropy within the context of the nonprofit world. xi