Fundraising for Non-Profits
Presentation by:Victoria Halfpenny
[email protected] 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?