Category

Fundraising

Jan 16
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Are You Adequately Prepared for Fundraising in 2015?

By | Fundraising | No Comments

Fundraising for NonprofitsIf you rely on fundraising to serve your constituents, or if like an increasing number of nonprofit organizations you are turning to fundraising in addition to grant awards, are you prepared in the areas that experts believe are key?

Rich Dietz (senior product manager for Abila) shared his five key strategies for fundraising organizations in 2015:

  1. The ability to connect and engage Millennials with your organization
  2. Treating all donors as if they are major donors
  3. Mobile and online fundraising ability
  4. Conversion optimization (improving donation flow to raise more money)
  5. The ability to share the stories of your mission, constituents and organization in a very visual way

“The nonprofit sector must continue to evolve and keep pace with behavioral changes we see in society,” said Dietz. Organizations that embrace new ways of thinking, streamline their databases, create visual stories, and adjust their engagement approaches will be successful.”

More of Rich’s thoughts can be found in the full Nonprofit Times article.

In serving nonprofits in Washington State and throughout the Western United States, we’ve observed the same factors for success. We’d add a sixth element: invest in a true fund accounting software solution to track your fund whether grants or donations or both. The better your fund accounting system, the better you can respond to reporting requests – from grantors, donors, internal constituents or your board. Welter Consulting helps you with the purchase and implementation of your Abila MIP Fund Accounting software so that you can report quickly, easily and directly from the system itself (no need for creating yet another spreadsheet).

We’ve helped many organizations in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana and beyond who believed that they were too small to be able to afford a solution like Abila MIP Fund Accounting. We found a configuration and technology platform that met their needs. So whether you are a large nonprofit in Seattle or Portland, or a small nonprofit in Helena or Coeur d’Alene – Welter Consulting can help.

As part of our commitment to nonprofits regardless of size or location, we offer the Nonprofit Enrichment Series. These online webcasts are held monthly and free of charge to nonprofit organizations – click here for a complete listing.

Dec 05
0

3 Easy Ways to Improve Your Fundraising Efforts

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iStock_000012332268XSmallAny 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.

Nov 23
0

Around the Holidays Consider Fundraising For the Members of Your Community

By | Fundraising, Nonprofit | No Comments

iStock_000011346681XSmallYour 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.

Nov 13
0

Fundraising small donor by small donor

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iStock_000006237376XSmallOne fundraiser related her story of how she got into the profession: I was working for a mid-size corporation and was asked to handle the annual United Way Campaign. I knew absolutely zero about fundraising. I first went to the Vice President for Human Resources and asked that the company double whatever I could raise. He readily answered in the affirmative. I then went to each department, talked about core United Way services that could one day help them or their neighbors or friends, and then I asked every person to contribute a dollar per paycheck. Only a dollar.

When nearly every employee signed up, the company’s match was much more significant than they had anticipated, but they followed through. The CEO was congratulated publicly, with press coverage, by the local United Way Executive Director. Everyone profited.

What are the fundraising lessons from this experience?

Don’t discount small donations; rather, encourage them, especially in a campaign for small donations from lots of donors. “Every dollar counts” has become a tired phrase, but it’s true nonetheless. Every dollar does count. One fundraiser recently heard that a performing arts school needed new tutus that were not in their budget. She asked her friends for $5 each and asked them to ask their friends for $5 each. (What is social media for, after all?) Soon there were new tutus.

People want to donate but those who only have the capacity for small donations often shy away from contributing because they don’t think their gift will make a real difference. Imagine how good they would feel if they were told, You are one of 20 people who helped purchase this tutu. Helping people see how their particular gift makes a difference will encourage them to donate. (This is true for donors at every level.)

Ask a donor with the capacity for a major gift to create a matching gift that will double or triple all donations of $100 or less in the next two months until their entire gift is matched. All of a sudden, a donor who is able to contribute $25 feels as if their contribution to that cause is much more significant. And the major gift donor also benefits – that gift helped bring in many other donors, several of whom may be new donors to that cause, which in itself is quite valuable.

Donors who have made small gifts may turn into volunteers. They may offer in-kind contributions. They may even give larger gifts if their life situations change. But donors who give a gift at any level, year after year, are key contributors to the long-term sustainability of your organization. Thank them, thank them, and thank them again, and everyone will profit.

If you or your Board need donor-tracking software to increase your ability to have effective campaigns of any size, please contact us to see how we can help.