For people who are setting up estate plans, or updating existing ones, not knowing what proposal will emerge might be temptation to take a wait-and-see approach. But that could be a mistake.

Estate plans should be reviewed at least every five years, more often if there is a change in finances or circumstances or if health or marriage takes a turn for the worse, or if there is a birth or death in the family.
….

“With people having a lot less money than they used to, you really need to look at your documents and see if they do what you intended,” said Joshua S. Rubenstein, a lawyer with Katten Muchin Rosenman in New York. A review will allow you to use tax-planning tools that Congress may soon curtail or eliminate.

Review Your Estate Plan Before Tax Laws Change – NYTimes.com

“In terms of internet fundraising, instead of saying on the site, ‘donate, donate, donate,’ they said, ‘engage, empower, and own.’”

I suppose it’s time to get back to blogging about fundraising again. Stay tuned.

So when we left our fair fundraising consultant, he was about to visit the potential donor, the prospect, “the man” as I referred to him in the last post. Did he agree to meet with me to give me a piece of his mind, or to give me a piece of his estate? Should I mention the $5 million letter, or not? There were many questions, but one thing was clear, it was time to ask for the gift in person, the right way.

Normally if I were going to solicit a prospect for a major gift, I would insist that my client be present, and possibly do the asking. Of course I would provide a full briefing and we would rehearse the ask and all th possible answers, trying to anticipate and prepare for to parlee any objection into a good reason to make the gift.

But my client was overseas and had already written the letter. We had no indication how the man would respond, only that he had not been available to meet for several months, including the past 2 since the letter was sent. Maybe I was just the fundraising consultant, but I had started the realtionship, cultivated the donor, introduced the President, and now I would have to be the one to make the ask.

I arrived early and at the appointed hour I was shown into his office. He immediately asked me what was knew at my client’s organization and I shared with him a few minor things before noting the eagerness to make progress on the capital campaign for our latest building.

He told me of the pressures he was getting from the other charities which he had been involved in for 30 years or more. They needed to expand in the areas he believed in and with the weakness of the dollar, donations were not going as far as they used to. I responded by asking how much they raised each year. “$100 million?” I asked, knowing the number was higher than that. He noted that they raised more than that. I tested the waters, telling him that a $1 or $2 million gift to us would go much further than the same to them.

My research had told me that he might be capable of a gift that large but that the more likely gift size was $250,000. Given the $5 million letter, I thought I would try a little test and see if there was a reaction. There was very little other than an acknowledgment that I was probably right.

He told me that they were expecting a chunk of change to be coming in at the end of June and so he needed to make a decision before then. The family would be meeting in April. I asked if he needed additonal information from me, and he asked for a couple of pages of information to share. Basically, he said, their comes a time in any transaction when the sale has been made and the buyer just needs to commit. There was nothing more for us to do other than to call back after the family had met. He wanted to make the gift to us, he just needed the agreement of the rest of the family.

Clearly he already had a number in mind and was just making a decision whether it would be coming our way, or going the other way. Normally I always advocate asking for a specific number. “Please consider a gift of $500,000 that will go so far to launching our new intiative that will have an incredible impact on our youth…” I might have said. (Actually, I would have said it better and more specifically, but as you might have figured out, I’m trying to hide the identity and even type of organization of my client.) But here it was clear to me that the number was already in his head, and choosing the wrong number to ask for might be dangerous, given the faux pas of the letter.

“How much of an impact are you considering having on our institution,” I queried. He said that it would be about $250,000, just as I had thought. This would be his first gift to us and he noted that he is o push over. He listed the other instituions that had all asked and he ahd turned down. But he believed in us and our mission and that we could succeed in providing a critical service.

I asked about his friends that visited on his behalf. They both gave rave reveiws but when he had asked them to give as well they told him that they had other priorities right now. Though his plan had not worked, he had opened doors for us to two very wealthy prospects. I thanked him and assured him that my collegue will be following up with them. He was pleased that we had a plan.

Finally, knowing that the man is well into his eighties, I wanted to open a door to his estate plan. Whenever a donor tells you that he wishes he could do more, there is usually an opportunity for him to do through a variety of planned giving vehicles, or even somthing as simple as a bequest in his will.

I assured him that normally I would not bring up the subject so early in our relationship, but he had noted earlier that wishes he had more resources to give. I was curious in his long experience as a philanthropist whether he had established any charitable trusts or whether he had included his favortie institutions in his will.

He noted that they had established 2 CLATs, charitable lead annuity trusts, and I knew before he acknowledged it that their main purpose was to pass assets to the next generation. He described them, noting that the income from the trusts was going into the family foundation. It was clear that income was not an issue, so we didn’t discuss other types of trusts and it was too early to ask to be included in his will. There would be time to do that at a later date, another meeitng.

I thanked him for his time and for his tentative commitment. I promised to send him the information he asked for and I made a note to myself to have my colleage send him a list of appropriate naming opportunities, with a proposal for each one. At that level there would be 3 or 4. We agreed to talk again after April 15, and we will.

He asked me to send additional information including our financials. He looked them over and agreed to meet. After 4 cancellations, one of which came while I was on the train to New York just to see him, we finally met. Not only was he impressed, he thought we were right on target and that we were serving a need that the other more established institution was not. He told me that he wanted to hear more and that he was gong to check us out.

A month later the President of my client was in from overseas and the three of us met. The prospect loved what he heard and offered to help us. Here was his plan… He would ask his friends, all very wealthy as well, to check us out for him. Since they lived within an hour or two and he lived in NYC, it was a reasonable request. He said he would have 2-3 friends call the President to set up a time to visit.

Hungry for major gifts. the President asked whether he would be willing to ask his friends to match his gift to us. The man instead revealed his own plan. When his friends had checked us out, and reported back to him with positive feedback, he would ask them if he should make a gift to us. When they told him he should, he would aks them why, if he should, shouldn’t they? Brilliant. He was not only going to engage new donors for us, he was going to solicit them as well. Talk about a great fundraising idea and the ideal donor.

His friends visited. They were animated and the meetings were very positive. I spoke with the man and he told me he received positive reports. He was going to be traveling for a few months but we should get together when he got back after the first of the year. Then February. Now March. I meet with him in 2 days.

I had encouraged the President to call him to stay in touch, to say hi. They would meet on his next trip to NYC. But the President didn’t always like to pick up the phone. In fact, I learned just recently, several weeks after it was sent, that the President had sent the man a letter. My client never showed me the letter, but I understand he asked him for a gift of $5 million.

Yes, you may have guessed that as a fundraising consultant this is not my idea of either a great client, or a smart fundraiser. You do not ask for $5 million via a letter. The good news is that the man has agreed to meet with me. I have to assume that if he was totally offended by the letter, that he would not have agreed to meet. Then again, a colleague pointed out, perhaps he just wants to yell at me.

Now is the time to make lemonade. Perhaps we will ultimately receive a gift larger than we might have asked for intially. Usually I prefer to dance before getting intimate, to date before proposing marriage. But sometimes, things just slip out, and you work with what you are given. Of course I’ll let you know what ultimately happens.

In the mean time, do you have any ideas or advice on how you think I should handle this meeting? How would you do it?

Spam on the other hand, has few redeeming qualities. While ostensibly we can learn from those emails that continue to show up, yes, if they continually use the same ones it means they are profitable, they waste more time and resources than they are worth. Permission based marketing is the only way to go when it comes to email.

Yesterday I spoke to Doug at Estrella Marketing Solutions about testing some permission based email. He assured me that Estrella is one of only 4 email list brokers that both uses double opt-in permission and is whitelisted by AOL, where he tol me 52% of U.S. email addresses are still housed. Double opt-in means that not only odes someone have to sing up to receive email, but they have to verify a link in the first email they receive. It ensures that they want to receive offers.

I will most likely be testing a broadcast email for one of my clients. I think that prospecting is a good fundraising idea that finally ahs made its way into the digital age. Of course I will let you know the results. Ten thousand targeted names can be sent to twice for $1000. Thats a nickel per email sent. If that test works we can roll out to 200,000 in my target market for $4,000.

Some quick math shows that a 1% response rate and an average gift of $20, might even break even on the first mailing. That is heaven for any direct marketer. Most direct mailers are willing to spend 3 or 4 times the intial purchase to acquire a lead.

Now don’t try this at home kids. You don’t want to be prospecting by sending out unsolicited emails to any email address you can find. That’s called spam. If you are going to try this one, go with a reputable firm that insists on double opt-ins  and is already white-listed by AOL. You can call Doug at Estrella or track down the other firms that fit the bill.

This is one fundraising idea I haven’t yet tried. But I’m looking forward to it.

On the other hand, I just discovered that I rank #3 for Jewish Fundraising Consultants. Actually I’m the second one ranked as the first one is listed for two pages. There are a few hundred if not a few thousand of us in that category. I can tell you about this because I’m not worried about the competition coming in and targeting me for that keyword, though to be honest, now that I know, I will be gunning for #1.

I suppose it should not be a surpirse. I am doing a good amount of fundraisng for charities in Israel. In fact, there is a great review of my work as a model for raising funds for Israeli charities on Maya Norton’s blog on Jewish Philanthropy here:  Best Practices for Israeli Charities.

There seems to be a pretty strong need in Israel for Jewish fundraising consultants as colleges and not-for-profits continue to expand. I’ll do mybest to keep up with the demand, but I may need to hire an associate or two shortly.

The  goal for the campaign will be between $3 million and $5 million, to be used to renovate two existing historic buildings that currently make up the campus. Can it be done? Of course it can. Can it be done this month? Of course it can’t. This year? Perhaps. Within 3 years? Absolutely.

It is important to set powerful goals that will motivate your volunteer leadership and your donors, not to mention your staff. On of my favorite stories is about my alma mater, Tufts University. Shortly after they hired world reknown nutritionist, Jean Mayer, to be President of the University in the late ’70s, he hired a consulting firm to do a feasibility study. The study showed that with current resources, Tufts could raise $80 million in a 5 year campaign. Mayer promptly announced a $200 million campaign!

The purpose of that story is not to tell you to ignore the consultants. On the contrary, in this story, the consultants were correct. The purpose is to show you the power of big goals and dreams. Although Mayer accepted the resignations of many in is development team, he successfully reached his goal (which, by the way was more than 4 times as large as any previous campaign for the University.)

But wait, didn’t I tell you the consultants were correct?

They were.

And Jean Mayer was also correct.

With its current resources at the beginnning of the campaign, Tufts raised $80 million, just as the feasibility study had shown. Mayer’s bold plans and powerful goals brought new resources, new players, and new donors to the table. He inspired his leadership and his donors and launched Tufts from a small time fundraiser into a major fundraising university. The growth that followed during the next decade was unbelieveble with new buildings, programs, and schools enriching the University.

The difference between dreams and goals is a deadline. You need to dream big, but you also need to set reasonable deadlines to make your goals both powerful and achievable. Because if they aren’t achievable, they won’t be credible. And without credility, there is no power.

As a consultant to charities that profits from service to not-for-profits, I think I have an even greater obligation to be productive. And those who know me or have followed this blog for a while, know that my consulting practice is diverse and includes Internet business as well as charitable fundraising. With the ever present allure of the “surfboard”, it is all too easy to spend minutes or hours focused on things other than that which needs to be done now.

Yesterday I found a new tool to help me track my time. As an entrepreneur since college, I’ve known for a long time that that which gets tracked, gets improved. I was always impressed by my attorney friends who could track their time while working on multiple projects. I always found that difficult to do. Now, there is a program that will track everything you do on your computer and allow you to track what you do. It’s appropriately called Rescue Time.

Oh yes, and the best part is that it is free. Of course it is currently in “public beta” whcih means that it might not always be free. But whatever the cost, if your time is worth more than $10 per hour, then it will be worth it. For those in $100-$200 per hour range, this tool is invaluable. Sign up at http://www.rescuetime.com/. I’ve only been using it for a day and a half and already see a difference in my productivity.

If you are a manager, you’ll want your whole team using this program. Rescue Time for Business is in development. Until it is launched you can have everyone on our team use it individually and you can sign up for updates on the program. If I had a team, I’d present it as a great opportunity for each of them to take personal responsibility to become more productive. Anyone you really want on your team is going to be committed to getting better at his job.

I’d love to hear how you are using Rescue Time individually and in your charitable organization.

Unfortunately young charities or schools that grow out of the vision of one person or a small group too often continue to think small. Bake sales, wrapping paper sales, and small events all too often pass for fundraising at the immature organization.

Even large or mature organizations can make mistakes in planning events. Last year my synagogue held a gala to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the senior Rabbi. He is very involved throughout the community, Jewish, interfaith, and secular. I believe there were 400 people there and the temple netted about $40,000. Wow, $100 per head seems good to some of you reading this. I assure you that they could have easily raised more than $100,000 and probably more than $200k had they done it right.

But, to quote Jim Rohn again, “the things that are easy to do are also easy not to do.” Raising major gifts for charity is not rocket science. It can be done with events, like the one described above. But those events need to incorporate the best fundraising idea ever. Here it is:

You need to ask for major gifts.

There you have it. I just gave away the secret that every professional fundraiser knows. I apologize to my colleagues for letting the cat out of the bag. The good news, for professional consultants is that although it is easy, it is also easy not to do.

Having elementary school students sell wrapping paper and candy to family and friends may be a good idea, if you want to engage the kids in the process, build ownership, and teach them important life skills. But if you want to raise major dollars, then you need to sit down with members of your community, identify major gift prospects, cultivate them, and then ask them for major gifts.

What makes a gift major depends on the size of your organization. It could be $1,000, or $10,000 or $100,000. Whatever the level, you need to start taking the process seriously and you need to plan how you are going to start raising real money from your major gifts program. You don’t even need a professional. You could hire one if you want to. But you can do this without us.

If you want to hear more about how to do that, just fill in your name and email to subscribe to this blog and get a notice whenever I post.