Fundraising for Non-Profits

Presentation by:Victoria Halfpenny

Vhalfpenny@yahoo.comMay 12, 2009

William Paterson University Non-Profit & Faith-Based Community Conference

Goal:To show individuals how to develop a fundraising plan for their organization and how to use that plan to help them raise funds.

What is a Fundraising Plan?

A systematic process created to help an organization raise funds.

Terms to know when creating a Fundraising Plan

Gift Chart/Pyramid Solicitation

Fund Constituent

Appeal Major Donor

Prospect Campaign

Leadership Gift

A fundraising plan includes a:

How do you do this?

1. Statement of purpose2. Budget 3. List of potential supporters. 4. List of solicitations strategies5. Timeline complete with tasks & assignments.

Statement of purpose

Ask questions such as:

What are you raising money for?» General operating support.» To start a new program.» To improve upon an existing program.

What are your goals and objectives?» are they realistic?» are they in line with your mission

statement? (avoid mission creep)

How much money you will need?

• Staff • Travel• Marketing costs• Postage costs• Technology related items• General office

What Else?

The fundraising budget

Board Members Friends

Business Leaders Corporations

Foundations Government

Federations Labor Unions

Current Donors Members

Giving Circles Clubs

Other?

Who are your potential supporters?

Creating the Gift Pyramid

Guidelines & facts about creating a gift pyramid:

• 1 gift should = a minimum of 10% of your fundraising goal.• 2 gifts should = a minimum of 10% of your fundraising goal.• 4-6 gifts should = a minimum of 10% of your fundraising goal. • As gifts get smaller on the chart, the number of gifts needed will

almost always increase. • Good rule of thumb is 80% of the money you raise will come

from 20% of your donors.

Sample Donor Gift Chart

This chart was created by a donor software company called Blackbaud http://www.blackbaud.com/company/resources/giftrange/giftcalc.aspx

Solicitation Strategies

Direct Mail Social Networking

Grants Texting/Mobile

Individual Face to Face meetings

Video Games

Earned Income Collections going from house to house.

Planned Giving Telephone Fundraising

Events In-Kind

Direct Mail

Direct Mail - Sending a letter with a focused message to a targeted list of people, with the express purpose of eliciting a response in the form of a financial donation.

Mailing Types• Acquisition mailing (list purchase)• Renewal mailing (good for membership programs)• Annual Campaign (sent out annually)

Does it work? The Direct Marketing Association claims that nonprofits have an average 5.35% response rate. Which is higher than other industries.

Grants

Grants are one of the more popular ways organizations seek to raise money. Why?

• We here about grants being given all the time from X foundation.

• The idea of writing one proposal resulting in a lot of money may appear to be easy.

• It is instantaneous and often times less time intensive than developing an individual giving program.

Facts show:

Of all the income of all nonprofits…

• About half is earned income: fees for service, tuition, products for sale, etc.

• About 30% is from government programs• 20% is from the private sector

– individuals – 75.6%– foundations – 12.4%– corporations – 4.3%– bequests – 7.8%

Individual Giving

As noted 75% of all money donated in this country comes from individuals.

Who are these individuals?

• 50%-80% of donors are middle and lower income.• Volunteers are more likely to be donors than people who

don’t volunteer.• Most people who give away money describe themselves as

religious or spiritual.

How do you get money from these individuals?

By asking, researching and connecting.

• Develop a Board Give/Get program• Do research to find out who in your area might be

interested in your organization.• Look at your current donor pool, are there individual who

may know other individuals who might be interested in your organization.

• Call and/or meet face-to-face with current or potential donors.

• Create a tracking system of your meetings to gage your progress.

Earned Income

• 50% of all non-profit revenue comes Earned Income.

• Includes fees for service and products for sale.

Does anyone here use earned income?

What are some examples of earned income?

Planned Giving

Planned Giving refers to gifts that can be funded with cash, equity, or property

• 70% of donors who made planned gifts did so because they were asked.

• 70 to 75% of planned gifts are bequests.• In one in five bequests donors have no affiliation with

the charity.• Only 1/3 of donors have informed the charity of their

bequest.• Income did not affect the likelihood that donors would

make a bequest or consider making one, in their wills.

Events

Very popular way of raising money.

Pluses:

Can receive good exposure for your organization.

Good way to involve volunteers.

Cultivate existing donors and cultivating new prospects.

How to make an event help your organization?

• Involve your board – ask them to help and bring attendees.

• Let the press know about your event.• Look for in-kind gifts from individuals and corporations to

help offset the cost of the event or to auction.• Keep track of who attended and didn’t attend the event.• Send a note and/or call thanking attendees for coming.• Don’t forget about them.• Remember they took time out of their schedule to come

to something, so they went the extra mile and are interested.

Internet FundraisingSocial Networking

Example: Facebook

Two ways to raise funds using facebook:

Changing the Present

Causes

Mobile Fundraising

General Stats:• 76% of the US population uses a cell phone.• 18.7 billion text messages were sent in 2006.http://www.guidestar.org/DisplayArticle.do?articleId=1182

Successful Mobile Fundraising AppealAt a 2008 Alicia Keys concert 8,000 fans (6-12% of the

audience) donated over $40,000 to the Keep A Child Alive organization

Using Video Games to Raise Funds and Awareness

Wolf Quest is game where individuals learn about wolf ecology by living the life of a wild wolf in Yellowstone National Park. Individuals must ensure the survival of their pack by finding a mate, hunt and raise pups. From the Minnesota Zoo and eduweb under a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Back to the Development Plan

We now know:How much money we need.Who we will ask.How we will ask.

The last thing we need to do is create a timeline.

Constituency Goal Strategy & Action Who Leads

When Expenses

Mid-Level Gifts (new members and renewals)

$4,200

(45 @ $95 avg)

Renewals: Send up to 3 renewal notices. Monthly email communication. Newsletter - 2x/year

Staff Mar, May, Sept, Nov

Printing, mailing

Small Gifts (new members and renewals)

$4,200

(158 @ $27 avg)

To recruit new members:

• Each board, fundraising committee, and staff recruit 5 new members = 55

• 20 new members from:- 2 house parties with follow-up contacts = 10- 1 annual event- Presentations to 2-3 community groups

Fundraising committee, hosts, staff and board

Nov/

Dec

Printing and mailing thank yous; outreach

SAMPLE FUNDRAISING PLANAffordable Housing Fundraising Plan, 2006 Operations -- Goal: $42,000

Need more help to do this?In Luck there are Solutions

New Jersey Center for Non-ProfitsYNPN – Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of NY

Flip – Future Leaders in PhilanthropySupport Center for Nonprofit Management

The Council of Community Services of New York State, Inc. (CCSNYS)Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York

Board NetUSA, Governance Matters and TechsoupFoundation Center

Low-cost and/or Free PeriodicalsDirect Marketing newsletter free – comes in the mail biweekly. Chronicle of Philanthropy various different subscription rates.

The Non-Profit TimesGrassroots Fundraising Journal

Stanford Social Innovation Review

Take Aways

Planning is essential to any successful fundraising plan.

Need help call one of the resources I mentioned above.

Use all of your stakeholders to help you. This includes, board members, administrative staff, fundraisers & ______

Do Research to keep up on current trends.

Don’t limit your options

Thank You

Questions?