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John Bouza, CFRE
President and founder of CanFund |  |
DO NOT:
- Assume that, because you need money, people will give it to you
With 85,000 registered charitable organizations in Canada - all "worthy
causes" - being needy is not reason enough for people to give. Your
campaign must make a compelling and visionary difference in the lives
of the people you serve.
- Focus on the facilities
Donors want to see how people will benefit from their gift. Focus on a passionate presentation of how society will be improved.
- Make a "cold call"
It is a cliché, but still true, that people give to people. Donors will respond much more readily to someone they know personally; preferably a peer.
- Figure "fundraisingi is just common sense: anyone can do it"
Fundraising
is a profession. There is a body of knowledge. There are best practices
and standards that work. Knowing the difference is critical in these
competitive times.Professionally designated CFREs can help
you objectively evaluate the experience and qualitifications of
potential staff or consultants. They know the right ways to raise
funds. Similarly, investing in the training and nuturing of quality
volunteers is essential.
- Launch a major capital campaign without conducting a planning study
The
purpose of such a study, best conducted by outside experts, is to get a
frank assessment of whether or not your constituency will support you
with the size and number of gifts needed for a successful campaign. You
will also begin to identify the volunteer leadership that is essential
for such a drive.
- Develop your own customized software for tracking donors
Don't
let a "computer expert" tell you that you need to have a cutom designed
database. There are many specialized products available that will take
all the guesswork out of developing your fundraising software. A good
place to start is the software reviews at Charity Village.
- Send out boring junk mail
The problem
isn't with too much mail; it's the poor quality of the messages. Potential
donors don't want to hear you complain about government cutbacks and rising
costs of providing your services. The donor wants to know that she can solve a
problem with her donation - that she can make a difference. - Fundraise around your anniversary
Donors won’t
give you money because you have been in existence 25 or 50 years. They want to
know how you will put their money to use in the future.
- Focus on special events - when you need more than $50,000 and you need it now
Most special
events need a minimum of two years of "growing pains" before they
become successful and very few generate more than $50,000 in net profit. - Forget about the long term - planned gifts
In the next few
years, over $1 trillion will be handed down from one generation to the next in Canada. With
all the attention paid to urgent short term needs, too many CEOs and Boards of
Directors are not willing to invest in planned giving programs: bequests, life
insurance, annuities, and deferred donations plans. Yet these sources will be vital
in the future if cultivated now. - Ignore donor recognition
Thanking and
appreciating donors is vital. People do like to be thanked both privately and
publicly. Putting up a donor wall (real or virtual on your website) seems
mundane but it helps all the parties involved in fundraising and it does lead
to more donations - both from current donors and for others who see the example
set by their friends, neighbours and peers. - Think fundraising is about fulfilling your organization's need for money
Successful fundraising programs must be built on the needs and wishes of
the donor, not of the organization. Too often we see organizations say it's too
much trouble to do things the way the donor wants. To paraphrase John F.
Kennedy:
"Ask not what your donor can do for you, but what you can do for your donor."
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