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Welcome to Vantage Business Support & Insurance Services
VANTAGE has been servicing the nonprofit industry for over 35 years. Over the years we have accumulated much knowledge, contacts and experience in helping to establish nonprofits and help them grow. As such, we will be publishing a semimonthly newsletter geared toward providing nonprofits with the latest news, products, and guidelines to assist in their success and growth. Please feel free to comment and/or request topics that are important to you for us to research.
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7 Ways to Prove Your Charity Can Be Trusted
 Try using case studies, success stories,
Do Sweat the Small Stuff
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has reported that in the U.S. about 35 percent of people don't trust charities. The good news is that there are lots of people who do feel good about the work nonprofits do. The bad news is that there is a considerable number who feel suspicious.
Everyone in the charitable sector would like donors to look beyond financial indicators such as the overhead ratio and evaluate nonprofits on how well they achieve their missions. However, the fact is that for now donors typically do rely on financial concerns when they decide where to donate their money. They are concerned about overhead expenses, executive salaries, and how much is spent on fundraising.
In today's environment, where the public is, for good reason, spooked about being scammed, nonprofits must work harder than ever to prove that they are trustworthy.
Here are some actions you can take to make sure potential donors don't blacklist your nonprofit:
Use Credible and Cost-Effective Ways to Fundraise.
Look as professional as possible. People may buy products from you or frequent your bake sales, but that is not where the big money is. Not even the Girl Scouts depend totally on selling cookies, nor does the Salvation Army reach its fundraising goals with its holiday bell ringers.
Use smart, well-organized fundraising techniques to convince donors that you know what you are doing. As businesses have learned the hard way, customer service is king, and a good reputation is mandatory to even be in the game. The same is true...perhaps even more so...for nonprofits.
Look hard at your organization through the eyes of your donors and prospective donors, and make your nonprofit the one they instinctively trust.
Be Accountable.
Keep your financial house in order and make sure that most of your donor dollars go right into programs. Keep your overhead expenses reasonable and be transparent about that ratio.
Make your financial information available on your website and in your publications. Hire an outside auditor to look at your books and report back. Follow good accounting practices and adopt the principles of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
To help donors move from just considering simple financial markers such as overhead, find ways to document your results. Find the right metrics to gather to prove that your programs work, and then report those results to your donors. Measure, report, and then ask for donations.
Make Donors Your Most Important Audience.
If bad news about your organization appears in the media, consider your donors your most important audience. Get to them quickly with the facts and reassure them that you have things under control. Always be prepared for a crisis with an emergency plan and a communications plan.
Make your donors your best friends. Find ways to include your most reliable donors in your inner circle. Invite them to serve on your board, provide them with opportunities to volunteer their expertise, consult them on big changes.
Respond Quickly to Questions and Complaints
If you invite people to contact you through your website, have a staff member assigned to respond immediately. Also, provide plenty of ways for people to contribute...through your site, at your office, through the mail, or at their homes and offices.
There is nothing sadder than a potential major donor who wants to give but cannot find anyone to talk to. Unfortunately, this happens all too often, even at large institutions with hundreds on their development staffs.
Expect support staff to use good customer relations techniques and to know how handle the most common problems that people call about. Set up your website so that anyone can find the right person to contact. Avoid contact forms and add photos of key staff with email addresses.
Publish an Annual Report.
Even though nonprofits are not required to publish an annual report, do it anyway. It is necessary to your professional image and provides another avenue to keep your donors informed.
Annual reports today needn't always follow traditional forms. Your report could be online only, or a video. Just make sure that, at least annually, you report on the financial health of your organization and just how donations are actually helping the people you serve.
Keep Your Paperwork Up-to-Date.
Make sure that all of your paperwork is up-to-date. Nothing turns off a donor more than finding that tax records are not available or that they are out-of-date when they look you up at the major nonprofit tracking sites such as GuideStar or CharityNavigator.
In addition, have those documents readily available at your office and on your website. That means that the receptionist doesn't say "Huh?" when asked about them, or the office doesn't have to be turned upside down to find them.
Make Someone Responsible for Thanking Donors and Keeping Them Happy.
It is not enough to just send out an acknowledgement of each donation. Donors must be well informed and reminded frequently that they are important to you.
If possible, provide a hot line that donors can call if they have a question or a problem. Send out thank you letters and notes, make a thank you telephone call, and send newsletters either through the mail or by email. The worst thing your organization can do is to take your donors for granted. They will notice.
SOURCE: Joanne Fritz
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DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY
Our firm provides the information in this e-newsletter for general guidance only, and does not constitute the provision of legal advice, tax advice, accounting services, investment advice, or professional consulting of any kind. The information provided herein should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional tax, accounting, legal, or other competent advisers. Before making any decision or taking any action, you should consult a professional adviser who has been provided with all pertinent facts relevant to your particular situation. Tax articles in this e-newsletter are not intended to be used, and cannot be used by any taxpayer, for the purpose of avoiding accuracy-related penalties that may be imposed on the taxpayer. The information is provided "as is," with no assurance or guarantee of completeness, accuracy, or timeliness of the information, and without warranty of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of performance, merchantability, and fitness for a particular purpose.
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Vantage Business Support & Insurance Services
4096 Piedmont Ave # 616/ Oakland / CA / 94611
28346 Alava / Mission Viejo / CA / 92692
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