I am working for a non-profit and recently have begun writing agency grants as well. This organization in the past has never relied on grants, but instead on funding from two fundraisers and the state and federal monies.

However, it seems that all of the foundations we are writing to are coming back and saying that they are not funding in the state or we fall outside their parameters or no reason at all.

We are using a web-based software called Foundation Search. Any opinions on online searches?

Here’s my answer

I can’t stand writing grants. To me, grants feel like a crap shoot or playing a one-armed bandit.

That being said, you can’t just “apply for grants” by blindly sending out grant applications. You have to do your homework. That’s just part of being a professional. It’s not worth wasting your time or their’s by applying for a type of project the funder clearly states they aren’t interested in.

Most foundation clearly states:

• what types of things they give to,
• where geographically they like to focus their giving, and
• what their funding priorities are.

I am not familiar with the web-based software you mentioned, but I really like the Foundation Center’s Foundation Directory Online. You can get incredible information there. I’m using it for a campaign right now. (If you don’t like online, you can go to one of the five centers in the USA and many libraries.)

Use the phone

One of the best things you can do is call the foundation after doing some initial research. Tell them why you think they’re a good fit and see if it sounds like something they’ll look at.

More and more funders are inviting calls. It can be hard to hear a person say your project won’t fit, but it sure beats wasting a grant application!

If this answer was way too basic for you, check out Betsy Baker’s Grant Writing Masterclass webinar on June 11. This class is NOT for beginners!

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

Other Possibly Related posts:

1. Question Marc: Is online pledging a good option?
2. What’s the One Secret to Winning Foundation Grants?
3. Question Marc!

It’s a great question.

Fundraising isn’t a business transaction. Donors aren’t picking an item off the shelf and going to the cash register. If it were that simple, asking wouldn’t even be necessary.

Here are the two phrases that are helping people the most:

1. “Would you consider a gift of $X?”

   Asking is challenging enough. A question like “would you consider a gift of ____?” accomplishes two things. First, it takes the pressure off the asker. People visibly relax when they hear that this is a good fundraising phrase. This feels like something they can naturally say.

   Second, this phrase encourages askers to use a specific dollar amount. “Will you support our cause?” is a vapid cop-out for truly asking for money. One person’s idea of “support” may be $250 when you’d rated her as a $25,000 prospect. Do the donor prospect the courtesy of plainly telling them what number you’re thinking about.

   A non-confrontational question like “Would you consider a gift of $25,000?” accomplishes just that.

2. “Honestly, I have NO idea how much to ask you for, but is a gift of $______ something you’d be able to consider?”

   Honesty is quite disarming. And despite our best research, peer reviews, and calculated guessing, there are times we really don’t know how much to ask someone for. So let them know! This is especially powerful for volunteers who’ve been coached by excellent counsel to ask at a higher level then they feel comfortable asking at.

   Most people respond well to requests for help. This is basically a request for help: Could you help me know how much I might ask you for? If you’re in the ballpark they’ll tell you. And if you’re too high, they’ll tell you too!

What to say if they ask you how you came up with the specific gift amount

From time to time, prospects will ask how you determined that number for them. Saying, “Well, we were looking at your stock holdings and the sale of your last business so $200,000 seemed reasonable” is an awful explanation. Instead, try using a printout from GiftRangeCalculator.com. “You see, Bob, the entire project is $4 million. To reach that, we need three leaders at the $200,000 level. You seemed like a great fit.”

What do you say?

Those are my favorite phrases for asking for money. What phrases and questions do you like? Tell us in the comments at the bottom of this post!

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

Other Possibly Related posts:

1. The 3 best times to ask for money
2. Do-It-Yourself Fundraising: How to Get Money for Your Nonprofit
3. How to make more money with your next silent auction

Ask!

You knew that was coming, didn’t you? Asking for money is where the magic happens!

The 3 Best Times to Ask

There are 3 optimum times to ask for a major gift:

• Before you meant to ask
• When you meant to ask
• After you meant to ask

Let’s look at these in depth.

Asking before you meant to

Successful fundraising involves cultivation, time getting to know the donor and letting the donor get to know you. Typically, these aren’t solicitation meetings. But from time to time, a donor might be so excited, they’ll indicate the level of their gift. “I’d give $30,000 to something like that!”

You have a choice: move past that comment, or acknowledge it.

You can nod and keep on “cultivating.”

Or you can stop and say, “We didn’t come here to ask you today…but since you mentioned that level of gift, would you like to make that commitment today?”

You have to get a feel for the situation. This is where asking is more art than science. Being honest– “We weren’t here to ask” — is incredibly powerful. It can work to even say, “Would you like to make that today or should we talk about that at a later meeting?”

I love being able to ask now because it gets us to thanking them so much faster! Thanking is always more fun that trying to get another appointment to set up an ask!

Asking when you meant to

It’s great when you’ve met a donor prospect, engaged them enough to have a feel for the right ask, asking is so much easier.

When you set up a solicitation appointment, be sure to say you want to get together to “talk about the project” or “discuss your involvement in the project” so they know the meeting has a purpose. If you set it up like this, getting to the ask is natural.

When that moment does come, ask for the specific dollar amount and then shut up! You need to let them process the ask. So just shut up and wait. They’ll let you know they’re done processing because they’ll be the first people to speak.

Asking after you meant to

Everyone chickens out at times. We lie to ourselves saying things like, “The timing wasn’t right.”

But remember: it is far less awkward to ask for money when you meant to then after you meant to.

Asking after you intended to means setting up another face-to-face meeting. Something that seems odd. This is where it starts to feel that you only are interested in the person’s money. But it’s important to still invite them to consider investing in your cause. So gut it out and get that next appointment!

Asking will add green to your nonprofit

Your nonprofit is making our world a better place. It’s worthy of people’s donations. So this Earth Day, commit to making your nonprofit more green by asking more often!

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

Other Possibly Related posts:

1. 3 Great Times to Ask for a Gift
2. 4 Times to Deal with Objections
3. 2 phrases to use when asking for money

There have been three main questions asked about the system, I emailed the answers to those on my newsletter list earlier today. But I figured more of you might be wondering so I decided to share them here too.

Question 1 – Will “100 Donors in 90 Days” work in a small organization or is it just for organizations with large development shops?

Answer – The “100 Donors” system was actually created for the smaller shop nonprofits. Whether you have just a few folks on staff or you’re a staff of 1 or none, this will help you find more donors. We designed it to lighten your load a bit, and make it as easy as possible for overworked folks who wear too many hats.

Question 2 – Is it really about finding donors or just more fundraising advice?

Answer – It really is all about finding donors. The Action Guides walk you through what you need to do each week to be able to bring in 100 new donors in the next 90 days.

The one exception would be the first week where Tom Ahern walks you through putting your own simple case for support together. He even walks through a real fundraising letter written by a volunteer at a small nonprofit and explains why it was so successful. Without a strong case for support, no “system” in the world will get you donors. So that’s why we included this module at the beginning.

Question 3 – Do you have a free trial?

Answer – No. But we do have a pretty amazing 30-day “give it a try” guarantee. We believe you will love this program so we stand behind it unconditionally. If you don’t start seeing results from the “100 Donors in 90 Days” system within 30 days we will refund all your money, hassle-free. And I mean “hassle free.” Call me up or send me an email saying you’d like your money back and I’ll make sure you get it. It’s that simple.

One other thing

I’ve been told by a couple people that Tom Ahern’s module (week 1) is worth the the price all by itself. As I said above, he’ll walk you through putting a simple and highly effective case for support together.

I hope that helps answer some of your questions.

Oh, and if you’d like to get “100 Donors in 90 Days“, just go to http://www.100Donorsin90Days.com.

The special introductory offer of $50 off lasts until next Friday, April 20. But the bonus of 10 free movies on stewarding donors ends tomorrow so it’s best to get the program today.

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

Other Possibly Related posts:

1. Could you use 100 new donors in the next 90 days?
2. The first 100 days of 2007
3. Donation Days!

I guess it should make sense: successful fundraisers need to be good storytellers. But as they say, your greatest strength can become your greatest weakness. Rather than using that storytelling imagination to imagine reasons why the donor might want to give, we often build stories about why this is a bad time to ask for money. And we can be quite convincing!

The good news is that if we’re already telling ourselves negative stories, we already have the skills needed to tell ourselves positive ones! As you start practicing telling yourself reasons why someone will give, it’ll probably feel like you’re lying to yourself. You may be, but no more than you’re lying to yourself with the negative story!

I jokingly call this negative use of our imagination “turning to the dark side.” Last week I was able to be in the 501 Videos studio to talk about it for yesterday’s Movie Monday.

I also talk about the phrases I use to ask for money. And how practicing these phrases helps me to actually focus on the donor during the appointment!

You can see the entire three and a half minute video at:
http://www.501videos.com/cmd.php?Clk=4684422

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

No related posts.

He wasn’t impressed by all the statistical and logical answers about donor retention and most of the money coming from those who already love us. He glazed over like I was trying to trick him with smoke and mirrors. Honestly, it even sounded to me like I was making excuses.

I wish I’d had 100 Donors in 90 Days back then!

100 Donors in 90 Days

Last fall, I started brainstorming with the folks at 501 Videos and with Pamela Grow. We wanted to put together an extremely practical tool that would help one-person development shops. Something that would help you expand your database.

100 Donors in 90 Days is the result!

30 minutes a day

We interviewed a dozen of the top fundraising experts from around the world, asking them for one or two incredibly practical ways you could add a dozen new donors each week. We recorded these conversations. And we asked each expert to create an action guide to help you put their ideas into practice during the week. Some of them are so step-by-step you hardly have to think about what to do!

In addition to conversations with Pamela Grow and myself, we interviewed:

• Tom Ahern
• Ken Burnett
• Amy Eisentstein
• Gail Perry
• John Haydon
• David Mersky
• Mazarine Treyz
• Andrea Kihlstedt
• Shanon Doolittle
• and Kerri Tilby

One fundraising expert each week

Each week after you buy 100 Donors in 90 Days, you’ll hear our conversation with one of the experts. They’ll share a couple really easy things you can do to find new donors. These recordings become yours. You can keep going back to listen to them over and over again.

But if you’re like me, conversations alone aren’t much help. Acting on the conversations is when the magic happens.

One action guide each week!

So we’ve worked with each expert to provide you an action guide each week, for 12 weeks!

These action guides will fill out the steps talked about in the conversation, provide links, and help you find at least 100 new donors in the next 90 days!

$50 off this week only!

This program is a steal at $149. But as a special offer to FundraisingCoach.com readers, 501 Videos is offering it for $50 off this week only!

Getting 100 new donors is powerful for any nonprofit. Even if your shop is bigger than one person, think of what 100 new donors in the next 90 days could mean for you!

As part of this special first week, 501 Videos is even throwing in 10 Movie Mondays episodes on stewarding donors! Not only will you attract new donors, you’ll be able to keep them!

No more awkward conversations with your boss or board

12 weeks of practical, easy to follow tips and techniques will give you a solid answer when your boss or board asks, “Who are our new donors?”

To get your discounted copy of 100 Donors in 90 Days and the bonus videos, go to www.100Donorsin90Days.com right now!

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

Other Possibly Related posts:

1. 3 Common Questions about 100 Donors in 90 Days
2. The first 100 days of 2007
3. Donation Days!

When is there an appropriate time to ask someone on twitter to follow you?

My quick answer is “never.” Asking people to follow you on Twitter makes you sound a bit whiny and desperate.

Following is a personal thing. People follow others that seem to provide them value. Value can be measured in any number of subjective ways: insights, humor, comments. Anything.

The best way to get followers on Twitter is to be interesting yourself and to be interested and interactive with other people’s tweets.

Your turn

That was my answer, do you agree? Let us know in the comments!

If you don’t see comments, click on the title of this post. Then you will.

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

Other Possibly Related posts:

1. Question Marc: Is online pledging a good option?
2. Twitter 101: Finding Interesting People to Follow
3. Question Marc

Fundraisers: Stop the political vitriol!

If we live in a democracy, we need to be active. We need to participate in the politics of our communities and countries. But as fundraisers, we need to be very, very tactful. And careful.

Unless your cause is political, your politics can seriously hinder your fundraising.

Here’s an example from the USA that will surely irritate some of you. Apologies in advance. (Links to the source data will be at the end of this post.)

You may be “right” but your most generous donors probably won’t agree

Let’s say you’re a Democrat. You think all Republicans are non-thinking, homophobic, reactionary idiots who want to throw us back to the Dark Ages. (Honestly, I’ve seen those words used by fundraising professionals and consultants in the last week!)

Being civically engaged, you tweet your views. Even during work hours.

Chances are your colleagues agree with you. Chances are you are more or less talking into an echo chamber during the work day. (Just as much as the other people that get all their news from Fox News are more or less living in an echo chamber.)

Watch out.

Your slamming conservatives saying they want to send us back into the “Dark Ages” may leak into your conversations with your board or donors. But chances are if you have 9 people in a room: 3 of them are Republican, 3 are Democrat, and 3 are independent. A study just a few weeks ago showed there are 36% of Americans calling themselves Republican and only 32% calling themselves Democrat.

More importantly for your fundraising, in the USA, studies have been done showing that Republicans are more generous donors than Democrats. Or rather, Republicans are more generous with their own money; Democrats more generous with government money.

Which source would your nonprofit prefer to get gifts from?

Don’t slam your best donors

You are free to say whatever you want. But do so realizing how your best donors might take it. If your work is largely government funded, learn to tell your story in a way that resonates with fiscal conservatives.

Whether you agree with them or not. 42% of Americans consider themselves “fiscal conservatives” about government spending.

Shut up and listen

One of the best ways to learn to tell your nonprofit’s story in a way that will resonate with people with a different world view is to be quiet and listen to them. Ask them why they support your charity. Find out what got them interested in the first place.

When you meet with them listen to the words they use to describe what you do -— especially the words and phrases you don’t normally use yourself.

Stay passionate. Be wise.

This isn’t just Democrat vs. Republican. It goes for any divide: conservatives and liberals, PETA people and carnivores, Microsoft fan boys and Apple devotees.

Your passions are good. They are what set you apart.

But democracy is made up of lots of people with different beliefs finding a middle way.

So I wanted to remind you this common sense message: Be passionate, celebrate diversity, and fundraise wisely.

- 36% Republican; 32% Democrat
http://bit.ly/GQo28n

- 42% fiscal conservatives http://bit.ly/GPaMiL

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

No related posts.

So being a social media geek, I immediately posted the question on LinkedIn’s “Answers” tool. You can see the question and the answers here:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/non-profit/non-profit-management/NNP_MGM/975753-8616660

Three basic approaches

The answers are boiling down to three basic categories:

1. If they need to be convinced, they’re too stupid/old/out-of-touch,
2. Ask for forgiveness rather than permission, or
3. Show them results

I was honestly shocked to see people answering in the tone of #1. Weird. Insulting your boss or your nonprofit board isn’t very productive. And let’s face it, social media can be an incredible time suck. It takes time to learn anything worth learning.

My answer was inline with the #2 group. Just start doing it. Begin personally so you get to know the platforms without dragging your nonprofit’s brand into it. But just get out there and do it.

But I loved the #3 group. My favorite so far is from Todd Buker:

From the viewpoint as an ED in my own organization, social media sold me on two points: 1) Amplification/reach and 2) SM’s impact on SEO.

Granted, we were late getting into it (less than one year ago). However, we have had two big events since we began seriously implementing consistent SM (Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo/YouTube and WordPress), and both events have seen noticeably higher attendance and dollars raised. Not to mention our web traffic has improved dramatically, most of it coming from Facebook. There are no lingering doubts!

Show them results

So jump and and create results. Or show them studies like Blackbaud’s annual survey.

Here’s an idea of how you might get buy in:

1. Start yourself: Social media is social. It is virtually impossible to be “successful” on social media without having a personality. Practice being a person before you get your organization on there.
2. Look for interesting people to follow: Follow people interesting to you, not necessarily people you feel you should be interested. Definitely follow people in your cause space to see how they are using the tools. But if you have an interest in bocci ball, follow them too. Social media is much easier to learn when you enjoy the people you follow.
3. Set goals: You need to know how to measure success. Define it. Tip: Do not anticipate raising much money with social media. Instead, set engagement goals. Or attendance at events. Use a link shortener like bit.ly so you can measure how many people click on your link. If you have access to your own site analytics, use those too. CrowdBooster.com also helps you see what posts get shared the most.
4. Don’t be “that guy”: Resist the urge to be incessantly telling people how incredibly cool you or your organization is. Instead be interesting. How do you know if you’re interesting? People will start following you. And retweeting you. And +1′ing your posts. And liking your updates.

Do that and you’ll be off to a great start!

How do YOU convince people?

Tell us how you convince people! Leave a comment here or over at:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/non-profit/non-profit-management/NNP_MGM/975753-8616660

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

Other Possibly Related posts:

1. Join the conversation in Twitter – get social with “social media”
2. How personal should your social media be?
3. Getting Started with Social Media

The Nonprofit Telesummit

Tomorrow is the beginning of a free three day nonprofit training event. Happening from March 7 – 9, it’s called the Nonprofit Telesummit. Nine nonprofit and fundraising experts will be sharing sessions on things like:

• How to get your board members over their fear of fundraising.
• 4 simple things that can bring quick (and big!) fundraising results.
• How to get clear, focused, and moving in the right direction with your fundraising.
• How to use and adapt stories to more deeply engage our donors
• Tips and strategies for doing it all in the one person shop
• How to attract bidders for your silent auction who have more disposable income
• About low-cost ways to connect donors to your mission
• How to use Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and YouTube for your cause
• Why building your email list may be the most important part of your social media outreach

Isn’t it time to start looking forward to record breaking achievements for your organization? Join us for this FREE telesummit and start planning for success in all areas of your organization!

Visit www.TheNonprofitAcademy.com for more information and to register.

Looking forward to ‘seeing’ you on my call tomorrow! I’ll be talking about how to use social media effectively.

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

Other Possibly Related posts:

1. Do Any Online College Classes Focus on Fundraising?
2. Free seminar and win a free coaching session!
3. FREE webinar on Monday: Social Media Increases Fundraising