Welter Consulting wishes you the very best in 2014 and a happy, joyful holiday!
May your stockings be stuffed with donations and grants! We are grateful for what you do year round to enrich our communities through your missions.
In the nonprofit world, success generally is measured by demonstrating impact. But before impact can be measured, funds need to be raised to perform the mission-critical tasks that lead to impact. It is Fund Accounting that can assist your nonprofit in securing those funds. Here’s how.
What major donors want to know
Most major donors have a history of giving to several favorite nonprofits. While they may initially be attracted by the work of a particular organization or have a relationship with someone high up in that organization, savvy donors want to know:
- If I make an unrestricted contribution, exactly how will that money be used?
- If I make a gift restricted to one program, how can I be sure that’s how my gift will be appropriated?
- How much of my gift is going to overhead, and how much to direct services?
- How well has this nonprofit stewarded its funds in the last two years? Do they run a deficit? If so, why?
Essentially, your major donors – whether they provide individual gifts or grants – are looking for trustworthy stewardship of funds, and also, what Charity Navigator refers to as, “Alignment of Mission, Solicitations, and Resource Allocation.” In other words, “look for signs that the charity dedicates both money and staff time in ways that are consistent with what their stated mission is, and with how they represent themselves when seeking donations.” All full 990 forms, which are publicly available, include a section on the nonprofit’s largest programs and funding for those.
What system is best to prove your stewardship of funds to donors?
First, many savvy major donors have served as Directors, or Trustees, on nonprofit boards. They know that only fund accounting can deliver the line-item detail that tracks every dollar of revenue, earned or donated, and specifically how that dollar was expensed. They can read spreadsheets, audit reports, and 990 forms.
- Whether that donor is on your Board of Directors or not, assume they understand that level of detail, and that they expect fund accounting to be the source of your reports.
- Listen to what the donor is looking for. Offer reports, based on fund accounting, at the level of detail the donor requests. One of the many advantages of fund accounting is the flexibility to provide reports at any level of detail.
These assurances of how donated funds were expended – whether in an audit report or a simple spreadsheet – can help your organization retain savvy donors critical to your mission’s success.
Second, the Financial Accounting Standards Board and the Governmental Accounting Standards Board require nonprofits to use fund accounting for financial recordkeeping, regardless of the size or scope of the organization.
Take heart. There is no need to be a CPA to use fund accounting. With today’s technology, you can – with some training – use fund accounting software and do your financial tracking in a way that allows Board members as well as other donors to trust your financial reporting.
To learn more about attracting and retaining donors by generating trusted financial reports, please contact us.
Any nonprofit organization has to be adept at fundraising if they are to stay successful. With so many organizations competing for donors, how do you set yourself apart from the crowd? Here are some easy ways to maximize your fundraising efforts in order to ensure the success of your nonprofit.
1. Make personal contact
While sending potential donors an email is easy to do, you can never guarantee that they will actually open it, much less read it. Not only that, but computer-generated emails lack a personal touch, and can be off-putting to some. In order to make people feel special, reach out to them with a personal note, phone call or visit so they won’t wind up feeling like just another number to you.
2. Share the Passion
There’s got to be something special about your group; otherwise, people will be unwilling to donate to it in the first place. Think about the reasons why your nonprofit exists, and then attempt to relay your group’s goals and visions to potential donors. If possible, provide people with some evidence of your good works so that they can feel personally connected to the work you do, and this will make them more likely to want to donate.
3. Follow up
You may encounter people who claim that donating right now is not appropriate for one reason or another. Be sure to make a list of these people so that you can follow up with them later. By doing so, you will pick up donations that might otherwise have slipped through the cracks, not to mention the fact that you will also continue getting the word out about your organization to others.
If you keep these ideas in mind, your fundraising efforts will be more successful than ever. To find out more about how to maximize your fundraising endeavors, contact us.
Your nonprofit is always considering their bottom-line, and how your organization can benefit from fundraising. However, when the holidays are around the corner does your nonprofit stop and consider community members who may not be able to afford a turkey and all the trimmings for Thanksgiving? Or that nearby families they are grasping at straws in trying to figure out how they can provide for their family a wonderful Christmas. They don’t know how they can pay all of their bills let alone purchase presents for their family members.
Fundraising is not always about furthering your mission and your incoming revenue. Around the holidays consider fundraising for members of your community. To begin your fundraising project organize a meeting with all of your upper management. Discuss how your organization can come together and raise funds for the community. Ask them to discuss the fundraising project with their departments. Then plan a meeting in the next 7 days to begin your project.
While your organization is gathering ideas, consider doing the following projects:
- Adopting a Family for Christmas- There are many individuals that adopt an entire family for Christmas. What makes this project unique is that you are able to provide a wonderful Christmas for the whole family not just the children. Typically it is the goal of the organization to provide gifts for the children and assist the family with their Christmas meal. If this sounds like a program your organization would be interested in, use a search engine and search for adopt a family for christmas. Include your city and state in your search to find a nearby organization.
- Adopting a Family for Thanksgiving is always an option also, but Thanksgiving is a few days away and may no longer be an available project for 2013. However you can consider this a community service project for 2014.
- Conducting a food drive for the holidays is also an alternative, but with this choice you are helping a nameless and faceless family. If you are considering making a greater impact, consider one of the options above.
- Another alternative to helping those in need is to contact nursing home and independent living facilities. See if there are senior citizens in your community who your organization can sponsor. You can purchase gifts but perhaps you can make it a community service project that goes beyond helping an individual during the holidays. Maybe you can sponsor a senior year-round by making weekly visits, remembering their birthday, and other special occasions.
Once your organization discusses the community service project and decides on a fundraising project, the next step is getting the employees involved. Send an email to all employees describing your community service project. List the dates that your organization will be collecting funds. Put the project in your company newsletter to ensure that all employees are notified of the fundraising project and have time to donate to the project.
During any other time of year, it is logical for your organization to focus solely on collecting revenue and your mission, but during the holidays a fundraising campaign to benefit the community is a fresh change of pace, and rejuvenates your employees.
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