Build Your Fundraising Capacity!
Working closely with staff and boards, Janet Levine Consulting will help you increase fundraising capacity and build sustainability. Our philosophy is one of collaboration, where together we develop and implement comprehensive programs that fit the needs and resources of your organization. Call or email today for your FREE 30-minute consultation
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GET GRANTS!
A comprehensive and easy-to-follow guide to writing winning proposals that will teach you to:
--Assess your organizational readiness for grant funding
--Develop programs that are fundable
--Turn those programs in successful grant proposals
--Find appropriate funders |
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Greetings!
Like everywhere, London has become a city of chains. As I walk
 | | My London apartment building, next to a Starbucks! |
Mdown streets I see the same stores, shops, coffee houses-yes, there is a Starbucks every few blocks-and even if most of the names are different than what I see in LA, the concept is the same.
Sameness, is what seems to sell. The comfort of what we know; the pleasure in understanding precisely how something works. And yet, this sameness is so limiting. Why bother to travel across continents and oceans only to end up somewhere that looks suspiciously like home?
It goes against the grain of every marketing precept: Find your unique selling point. Talk about what makes you different. And yet, clearly sameness sells.
Selling, of course, is something many nonprofits have difficulty with. I have lots of fundraising colleagues who baulk at the idea that we sell anything. But no one gives you money for nothing in return. Good feelings, the knowledge that you have made a difference, seeing your name on a building or on a wall--all these are what our donors are buying. It is our job to make sure that they are getting something of value to them.
It bemuses (and confuses) me when clients tell me they don't have a case for giving. They may not have something formal-and I agree it takes certain skills to tell that story well-but our case is our purpose. Why do we exist? What happens because we exist, or conversely, what wouldn't happen if we closed our doors?
This is where familiarity comes in. What we do, the impact we have must resonate. And that means that people need to feel comfortable with what you accomplish.
Being outside one's comfort zone is often the reason that people don't want to fundraise. It is uncomfortable, makes one edgy. It's the reason board members always want elevator speeches and why we are always looking for the words that will, magically, make someone reach into his or her pocket without actually being asked.
In this issue, Toni Roldan talks about growth and the ways that you and your organization can spring into action. We'll also talk about that ask: when do you know it's time? And once someone says yes-how many ways can you determine to say thank you?
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Need help in increasing your fundraising capacity or getting your Board to participate? Help is here. Email me or call 310-990-9151.
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Now is the Time
Toni Roldan is the founder of Rolmay Solutions. Productivity & Business Skills Specialist and Performance Consultant an On-demand Business Support Services company. Learn more at www.rolmay.com and www.everydayassist.com
Take a look out your window and you can see the buds on the trees as they have sprouted for the spring and the turn to summer begins. As you awake each morning, it may also seem like there is a greater abundance of birds taking flight as their sounds resonate loudly during the quiet morning hours. Nature inherently knows when to shift gears from being dormant to springing free and moving into its growth phases. In this way, nature's lead offers optimism for organizations to let their spring growth be free too.
Your organization can start to prepare and steady yourself to align to this growth. A prudent approach might be to look smartly and objectively at where your organization is now and start to look to the future optimistically.
- Identify any strengths or weaknesses that could be propelling you forward or holding you back respectively. Leverage the strengths (S's) and look for ways to mitigate your weaknesses (W's). Is an evaluation like this part of your normal routine? o
- Your action: Do a high-level assessment of your S's and W's to get a pulse of your exposure. If you have more time, do a deeper dive. In either case, put an action plan together to minimize your risk.
- It might be a good time to see where you can streamline your workflows and processes such that your organization runs more efficiently. Are you and your staff doing things most effectively? Are there areas that can use improvement.
- Your action: Make a list of the top 3 and look for ways to improve them. (READ MORE)
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The Right Ask
Successful fundraising has famously been defined as the right  person asking the right prospect for the right amount for the right project at the right time in the right way. Getting all those "rights" right, of course, is the challenge. Or, as that old saying goes, the devil is in the details.
And yet, we tend to focus most of our anxiety not on all those rights but on the one word: Asking. We agonize about the ask, instead of considering all those things that go into making it successful.
First, of course, is who is the right prospect? Someone wealthy? Perhaps. But more importantly, someone who is connected in some way to your organization or your cause. Typically that means someone you know or at least, know quite a bit about. It also means someone to whom you have access.
Access-that brings us to the right person. First you need the person who can open the door, make the introduction, bring the prospect to the table. That's often a friend or colleague of the prospect. And therein lies the rub.
Friends don't really like asking friends for support. Who can blame them? Too often it turns to a quid pro quo. I'll give you $X if, in return, you give me $X. The reason for the giving gets lost. In fact, oftentimes, major donors can tell you how much they gave and to which friend or colleague-but they cannot name the organization that benefitted from the gift. This is not successful fundraising. It is merely musical money. Truly successful fundraising develops supporters as well as support. (READ MORE)
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25 Ways to Say....
Saying thank you is arguably the most important thing a fundraiser can do. Indeed, you cannot say it often enough. But like everything, you need to be able to say thank you in as many different ways as possible. So here is a (starter) list:
- Write a thank you letter (that is, in addition to the acknowledgement letter that (should) be going out automatically)
- Make a thank you call
- Showcase the donor and the gift in your newsletter
- Don't have a newsletter? Put it on your website or your facebook page. Or on both
- Put it on your website even if you do have a newsletter
- Send out an announcement about the gift to your local newspaper--showcase the donor more than your organization
- Make an announcement at an event
- Create an event just to say "thank you"
- Bring the donor to your facility and show him/her just what the gift has meant
- Bring others to your facility and show them what a donor's gift has meant
- Ask your donor to sign your annual appeal letter, saying "Join with me in supporting this fabulous organization" (READ MORE)
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- Are your fundraising results down?
 - Board members bored?
- Or are thinking about a campaign?
Whatever your capacity building needs, Janet Levine Consulting can help.
Send me an email or give me a call at 310-990-9151 to schedule a free 30-minute consultation.
I look forward to meeting with you.
Sincerely, 
Janet
Janet Levine
Janet Levine Consulting
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