Spend LESS Time to Raise MORE Money Reinvent Your Annual Giving - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

ì Spend LESS Time to Raise MORE Money Reinvent Your Annual Giving Campaign By Jennifer Hull for SV Creates jenn_hull@yahoo.com

Fundraising feels like a means to an end so we can spend more ?me We want to spend less doing this. ?ming doing this,

What you will learn today ì Expose you to an efficient way to run an Annual Giving Campaign that will inevitably: ì Raise more money; ì Use your limited resources efficiently & effec?vely; ì Allow you to more spend ?me focused on organiza?onal priori?es and stewardship; ì Train your donors to give annually.

Session goals ì To not bore you J ì Believe that you can design an efficient campaign that will work with your organiza?on’s available resources. ì Walk away with viable tool to increase your fundraising efficiency.

Development 101: The Components of Fundraising Plan • ANNUAL • Grants GIVING • Sponsorships CAMPAIGN • Special Events • Memberships • Stewardship • Special Events • Stewardship Individual Corporate Government Founda?ons • Grants • Grants • Stewardship • Stewardship

What is an Annual Giving Campaign? Any organized effort by a giW- supported organiza?on to obtain giWs on a yearly basis, usually to support in part or totally, general opera?ons. ~ NSFRE Glossary of Fund-Raising Terms, 1986

Annual Giving Campaign Objectives To build and develop a base of donors, and through this ì process to establish habits and pa6erns of giving; To raise annual unrestricted or restricted money; ì To get the gi:, to get it repeated, and to get it upgraded; ì To inform, involve, and bond the cons?tuency to the ì organiza?on; To use the donor base as a vital source of informa?on to ì iden?fy poten?al large donors; and To promote giving habits that encourage the contributor to ì make larger giWs in the future. Source: learningtogive.org

The 5-Week Annual Giving Campaign * ì A short , strategic, efficient and well-planned campaign is manageable for staff. ì The no?on of “less fundraising” will be appealing to your board, volunteers and donors. ì Allows your organiza?on more ?me during the year to steward and connect your donors to the “WHY” of what you do vs. asking them to give. *Original 5-week Annual Campaign concept and some presenta?on elements by Michael Larson, The Fay School

Don’t Forget Basic Fundraising Psychology ì The WHY is the golden egg of fundraising. ì To mo?vate one to give, you must connect the donor’s feelings about your organiza?on to to the WHY of what you do.

Connect donors to the WHY vs. the ASK Timeline of a year-long campaign Ask Cul?vate Steward VS. Timeline of 5-week campaign Steward Cul?vate Ask A five-week campaign model gives organiza:ons significantly more :me to steward gi>s and rela:onships, leading directly to cul:va:on for the next year and creates a perpetual advantage.

The 5- Week Campaign Works! ì Focusing donors during a 5-week campaign has proven to: ì Increase percentage of donor par?cipa?on ì Increase number and amount of dona?ons ì Success Stories ì At the Fay School, campaign totals jumped over 36% in one year and the number leadership giWs ($2,500+) increased from 31-53. ì At Almaden Country School, campaign totals increased 55% over three years and leadership giWs ($1,500+) increased 66 – 103 during that ?me.

That’s great, but… How do we run a campaign with a very small staff and limited resources?

What do you need to run a 5-week campaign? ì Have one staff person or volunteer (part-:me is ok) dedicated to prepare for and staff the campaign. ì Have a system in place to accept giWs (check, credit card, etc.), track dona?ons, thank and receipt donors. ì Have or create a database of possible donors. ì Recruit a chairperson ( It is best if person is an ac:ve volunteer or known member of your community. Could be board member or if necessary, a staff member. ) ì Recruit subsequent commiqee members (ideally volunteers) willing to: Be trained to be campaign solicitors ì Give 5-10 hours of ?me during the 5-week campaign ì ì Create a reasonable and doable marke?ng plan.

Before moving forward, remember… ì There is no “one size fits all” campaign. ì You must determine how, and at what level, your organiza?on can execute the 5-week campaign.

Campaign Preparation: Campaign Timing & Goals ì Your campaign goal should be a SMART one! ì S pecific, M easurable, A qainable, R elevant, T ime- Based. ì Ideally, your campaign should happen towards the beginning of your fiscal year. ì Easier to make any necessary adjustments to your annual opera?ng budget earlier in the fiscal year. ì Campaign should run during a ?me when you can easily engage donors. ì It’s more effec?ve to ask donors to give when they are engaged and ac?ve in your organiza?on.

Campaign Preparation: Gift Acceptance and Receipting? ì How do you plan to accept giWs? ì Online ì Checks through the mail ì Pledges ì Corporate matching giWs ì Iden?fy who is responsible for giW tracking, thank you leqers and giW receip?ng. ì IRS requires that all giWs over $250 are receipted. ì Best prac?ce is to send a receipt for all giWs.

Campaign Preparation: Create a Donor Database ì Collect all possible contact informa?on (email, mailing address and phone numbers) from: ì Ticket buyers/audience members ì Social media followers ì Newsleqer subscribers ì Board members ì Par?cipa?ng ar?sts

Campaign Preparation: Recruit solicitors to make peer-to-peer asks The most effec:ve and proven way to fundraise is to personally ask someone to make a gi>. Best prac:ce is for the chair and solicitors to be volunteers, not staff. ì Recruit a chair as well as subsequent solicitors that can reach out to donor prospects in your database. ì Educate solicitors on how to make the ask. ì Suggest that you provide them sample script or talking points, basic facts on the org, sample email follow ups, how to handle a “no.” ì Possibly seek organiza?onal development grant for peer-to-peer fundraising consultant available. ì Or, there are great sample resources are available online.

Campaign Preparation: Sample Volunteer Structure Each volunteer should ideally commit to contac:ng 10-15 prospects over 5 weeks. The number of solicitors needed will depend on how many individuals your organiza:on can personally reach. Campaign Chair(s) Team Team Team Captain #1 Captain #2 Captain #3 Solicitor 1 Solicitor 2 Solicitor 1 Solicitor 2 Solicitor 1 Solicitor 2

Campaign Preparation: Marketing Communications ì Determine how you are going to market your campaign. Think about how your donors best receive informa?on from you. Mul?ple communica?on methods are recommended. ì Snail mail, email, newsleqers, text alerts, social media, videos, social event ì How will you best communicate your story? ì Leqers with photos, videos, personal reflec?ons ì Make sure you offer a response device ì Online giWs, pledge or dona?on form, mail-in checks Note: There is liRle ROI on spending money to crea:ng slick campaign collateral .

Sample Campaign Timeline Pre-Campaign Prepara?on Establish Dona?on Recruit & Train Prepare Database Create Marke?ng Plan Mgmt. System Volunteers Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 • Snail Mail • Solicitor f/u via • Solicitor f/u via • Solicitor f/u via • Solicitor f/u via Solicita?on email & phone email & phone email & phone email & phone • FB/Instagram • FB/Instagram • FB/Instagram • FB/Instagram • FB/Instagram Announcement Campaign Campaign Campaign Campaign Update Update Update Update • Phonathon • Email Video • Social Event • Phonathon • Par?cipa?on Request (e.g.. Pre-show Deadline Happy Hour) Week 6: Campaign Wrap Up – Final GiW Commitments, Thank You and Results Announcement

Reflections from one who has done it ì Spending the ?me to pre-plan the campaign will enhance your ability to execute. ì Year 1 took more ?me to prepare than all the following years. ì At the end of the campaign, evaluate the lessons learned from the donor data and your experience to inform how you run the campaign in future years. ì Donors take a year or two to get use to your new fundraising program… but then they are trained. J ì Take any nega?ve campaign feedback with a grain of salt. Change can be difficult…but it’s worth it!

Any Ques?ons?

(Optional) Campaign Preparation: Early Benchmarks ì Early Benchmarks are cri?cal to building momentum. Demonstra?ng commitment from those closest to the organiza?on incen?vizes prospec?ve donors. ì Prior to campaign kick off, strive for: ì 100% Board Par?cipa?on (this should be a requirement!) ì 100% Staff Par?cipa?on (any level is OK!) ì 100% Volunteer Campaign Solicitor Par?cipa?on ì Do you have a donor than can match giWs?

(Optional) Campaign Preparation: Establishing Giving Levels & Perks ì Create giving levels & perks to help donors iden?fy what level they want to give. ì Data shows that giving donors a target will produce higher average dona?on levels. ì Helpful to demonstrate how their dona?on may be spent. ì Be aware that IRS rules around donor perks.