http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/article/using-storytelling-engage-motivate-constituents-407710_1.html

2)  10 Temptations to Avoid in Acquisition Packages

http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/article/10-temptations-avoid-acquisition-packages-406761_1.html

3)  To the Point : Spread the Word!

http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/article/spread-word-406325_1.html

4)  Job Connections Site

http://jobs.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/home/index.cfm?site_id=614

The wonders of technology and its efficiency are not always what they seem. 

The tried and true process of direct mail fundraising is more difficult than ever, as the impetus has been placed on you, as the sender, to be sure your database is up-to-date.  This isn't the worst thing ever as it does force you to keep lists current, and this is a good practice regardless, but people have become less likely to respond to direct mail as they have gone to online giving, expected a higher level of personal contact, broadened their own giving options, and economic circumstances have hindered their ability to give.  

One development director recently related to me that her response rate on direct mail had declined from over 3% to less than 0.5% just in the last three years.  Yet, she was achieving growth in overall fundraising nonetheless, and even as the economy was in a doldrums.  

 How does this work?  For her, it meant increasing the attention she was paying to mid- and high-level donors, with personal visits, phone calls, saying thank you in new and different ways, etc.  But she runs a small shop, covering all aspects of development, from major gifts to annual fund. 

What if you are in a larger development operation and your piece is strictly limited to the annual fund through direct mail, phonathon, email and online promotions?  How do you keep up with donors' decreasing use of traditional postal services and responsiveness to phone solicitations?

Truly, you are left to pursue them directly through email solicitation.  Done correctly, this can be very efficient, unpretentious and focused.   But it also requires great attention to detail. 

Think about the logistics.  Some people live in one home, yet change email addresses often.  Others may have made multiple moves in recent years, but have maintained the sam email address.   Many people have more than one email address.  Mailboxes can be set up to screen anything they choose. 

"Opt in" services are quite valuable.  However, it is worthy of note that even people who are very welcoming of your attention early on, tire quickly of hearing from you in the maze of spam that hits their inbox every day.  You may have been moved to a folder you would have never thought of because a donor "opted in" to receive your newsletter.

Brian Lacy & Associates has many years experience helping nonprofits crack the donor code and get through the many and varied filters that exist.  Contact Brian Lacy & Associates today to find out how you can improve your results by enhancing your email potential.

Does this foretell brighter days ahead in donor giving?  Perhaps, but be cautious. Now may be a time to try to seize on the opportunities that may present themselves, but to do so with a greater level of efficiency than you may have even thought possible in the past.

Instead of planning to hire new staff this Summer, it may be wise to hold off and try to multiply the work you can do yourself.  You may or may not be able to ask more from your existing staff, but the job insecurities that are felt in everyone's work space motivate some to do extraordinary things. 

Now is a good time to take advantage of what you can.  It's also not a time to try to make due without the very basic services and things you need to enable your success.  If an upgrade to your web presence, server or other technology is needed, do what you must to avoid imminent failure.  Don't put yourself in a spot that makes it more difficult to recover later.  You still have a budget - don't be afraid to spend any of it.

Economic recoveries tend to start when people take a few chances with things they buy or investments they make.  No one knows what's going to work.  All we know is that what we're doing now isn't working.  Take risks - just don't don't take costly ones. 

The odds are more against any given initiative failing at this moment than just a few years ago.  But the payoff could be much higher.  We won't be in an economic doldrum stage forever.  We're still incredibly resilient. 

Use the consultative services of a group like Brian Lacy & Associates now in order to help be creative while you continue to be efficient.  

Below are some worthwhile clips from around the web.  Check these out and let us know what you think:

http://www.fundraisingsuccessmag.com/article/the-search-sneezers-how-find-online-fundraisers-epidemic-proportions-406920_1.html

http://danallenby.com

http://www.fundraising123.org/article/five-things-you-should-never-say-online-donor

From Brian Lacy

Positive views edging higher month by month since October 2008

Confidence among individual American donors edged higher in April 2009 to an index level of 88.2, according to a nationwide survey published by polling firm Campbell Rinker. The firm's April Donor Confidence Index topped a score of 87.5 measured in February and bested the 84.7 measured in December. This trend suggests that donors are gradually gaining confidence in 2009. 

http://www.campbellrinker.com/e-newsletter/5-2009.html

But how then do maintain a thorough and adequate database, create the message, produce the materials, or touch the donors as often or in the way you need to be able to in order to attract the resources that will enable your success?

First of all, assess what you need in order to succeed.  The list of items itself will help you identify things you may be able to outsource that you hadn't previously considered.  Check online to see what resources you can gather that are available in the broader marketplace.  Then determine what resources may be available for free and what may be discounted if you ask. 

Then look at your existing staff.  How much ownership has your program staff taken for the actual existence of the positions they occupy?   Whoa!  These are tough words - and indeed they are.  But in a depressed economy, it's just wrong to think that anyone can hold a job without taking responsibility for its funding.  Those who do are soon referred to as "former employees".

While time management is important in a larger organizational structure, it is tantamount to survival in a smaller nonprofit.  Reassess your own schedule and think about places where you might devote more time to working through the prospects for more funding.

Finally, go to your board!  This is both the course of last resort - and the first.  The entire board needs to take ownership of fund development and bring the resources the organization needs to succeed.  Go to them for personal commitments and a division of responsibilities on the board that will account for meeting every dollar in your budget. 

Granted, most boards of small nonprofits will resist - and strongly - but if you are tactful, yet direct, reinforcing, yet transparent - they have little choice but to respond or turn over the reins to those who will. 

Brian Lacy & Associates has years of experience helping small nonprofits manage through the challenges of limited staff and other resources.  Contact Brian Lacy & Associates today to learn more about how we can help.

1. It's an Employer's Market: at first, this may sound insensitive, but if you've ever been in a position when you didn't think you could find the ideal fit to meet your needs - that wasn't now. In 2009, you've got the pick of applicants.  Take your time, do multiple interviews, consider multiple options, be sure to cover your bases.

2. Fit the Person not the Position: Use whatever flexibility you have to hire the best people to bring onto your team, rather than trying to fit people into particular slots.  You'll get close to the slots anyway, job applicants usually know what they are applying for.  Plus, you never find exact matches.  That's one reason turnover tends to be so high in recent times. 

3. Effort Can Go Further than Talent: Every coach of every sport knows that a player with raw talent can be beaten by another player who is going all out to win.  This principle shows itself in the office constantly.  Truly you want everyone working for you to being giving 100% every day - find people who you trust to do that.

4. Developing Talent Takes Effort and Time: This is true of the talent that walks in the door before you get started, and it's true of the talent you build within your office too.  Using the sports analogy again, the championship team is often one that has practiced and improved its skill level so much that it can look quite effortless even as it executes perfect plays.  That is exactly what you should want on your own team.

For help recruiting the best talent for your annual giving team, contact Brian Lacy & Associates today.

Most every college, university or other nonprofit institutions I have ever worked with is eager to find out more about what motivates donors to give, why there are many who do not give or even respond, and what they would like to see the beneficiaries of their gifts doing with the money they give.

Asking for responses to a survey is typically the most efficient way to learn the answer to obtain helpful data.  But quite often, the results that are generated from surveys are inadequate for their intended purposes.  Development Directors and others reviewing the results may be left with uncertainties because of the limited number of respondents, but also because clarity is lacking in the meaning of the responses that are given.

Why does this happen?  Fundamentally, many surveys fall short in precisely targeting the information they need to uncover.  This seems to defy common sense.  If you want to know what motivates donors to give, don't you just ask them?   Well, of course you do.  So what is the problem? 

To be clear, what happens in a survey is that it takes very precise donor information, generalizes into a few categories, and then attempts to reinterpret the cumulative information that's shared, and generate very precise answers to the questions posed.  In doing this, a couple of risks are necessarily taken - relating to the decision about the data to be sought, and then in deciding what categories of responses fit your organizational needs. 

Taking these in reverse order, creating categories that the respondents can fit their answers into can cause them to leave out their best answer.  That is, given choices A, B, C, or D - if answer E would have been best , but isn't included, the data will reflect an inaccuracy.  Also, the categories themselves can be too broad or narrow, and they can also be defined in ways that aren't particularly relevant to your constituency.

Even before getting to the point of the answers available to the respondents, the author of the survey must decide what data will be sought.  While this seems easy when you first think of the organization's needs, it becomes much more tricky once you factor in problems with the categories of answers you will receive.  For example, if you want to know why there were so many donors who gave in earlier years but not last year, if the range of possible answers all pertain to the economy and changes in leadership at the institution, it may not cover the necessary ground, and you may want to add a few extra questions on this issue. 

Before you throw yourself waist deep into a very tricky process, it is very wise to consult with an expert.  At Brian Lacy & Associates, we routinely work with the Elusen Network on any matters that involve wordsmithing.  The more challenging the project, the more valuable Elusen becomes.  Please contact Andrew Thompson today for a free initial consultation on the best ways to begin the process of creating highly effective donor surveys.

Watching the production line at work at phonathons on many college campuses, I have observed lots of thorough, well organized systems for calling, connecting, conversing, and tracking results of the calls that are made.  I have seen even modest sized colleges take the information they gather and use it to bring about significant increases capital giving, major gifts and annual funds - and sometimes even planned giving.  The power of the telephone connect, especially when organized as a highly structured and intensive campaign, is tremendous. 

Yet I regularly come away from a phonathon experience feeling as if there has been so much left on the table.  Why?  Because I hear so many awkward conversations, ill conceived asks, and over-rehearsed "pitches" that there are times I cannot continue listening.  I have heard or watched too many good prospects defer a call, say "not this year", or even hang up the phone on student callers, paid staff and even Trustees, as they carefully follow their script call after call after call.

But isn't the script everything in a phonathon?  Well...it is actually, very important.  In fact, creating a strong and effective script is one of the highest priorities in preparing to have multiple callers approach your constituency.  Truly, it isn't the script itself that is likely to fall short, it's the training that goes with it that often leaves much to be desired.

Most callers, regardless of age or other life experiences, quickly become comfortable rather wooden when they have a script to read from.  They need lots of repetition in practice before they get on the phone with the first live prospect.  Of course they need lots of feedback and good coaching as well.  After they have then made an initial set of calls, they should also receive a good bit of additional training to make adjustments for the real life situations they are experiencing. 

This is challenging, as every call has a small life of its own.  Yet there are some subtle points that should be reinforced for every different situation a caller encounters. 

First and foremost is empathy - how would you feel about what's being said if you were on the other end of the call?  The most asset for any solicitor is the ability to see the conversation from the other person's perspective.  Of course, none of us can do  this fully - not even close really.  But there are lot of general and ordinary perceptions that are formed from things we say.

Second, and nearly as important, is the recognition of what it means to be talking by phone rather than in person, and not to use this as a shield or an excuse for poor communication.  The person who takes your call should feel as if he or she is talking to a long lost friend - really.  Over and over again donors say that they gave to their alma mater in response to a phone call when the caller reminded them of someone they knew in school, or memories of places, events, classes, etc., that stuck with them years later.

Training callers is not an easy task.  For most people, picking up the phone, calling someone they have never met, and asking for money is quite uncomfortable.  It should be.  It isn't natural.  At the same time, it is something, given the common ground that will exist between the caller and the prospect, that lends itself to adaptation once a person is properly trained.

You need help building the kind of phone skills in your callers you need to improve your results.  Brian Lacy & Associates are among the nation's leading experts in phonathon training.  Contact Brian Lacy today for a free consultation on phonathon training for your staff and volunteers today!

Developing a brand for the development office and how one-to-one marketing would strengthen the brand.

One-To-One Video:  Messaging and Your Brand

Email solicitation: finding value in email distribution.  Services start at just $20 for a domain and $20 per month.

One-To-Many Video:  Email Distribution Services

Growing interest in relationship mapping, in many ways more powerful than prospect research in developing major gift support.

Market Visual Relationship Mapping:    Improving Results Over Traditional Prospect Research