If you want to improve your success rate and/or comfort level with asking individuals for contributions to your organization, you need to practice.

The subject of money is taboo in our culture, so no wonder it’s difficult for most people to have conversations about money, which is what fundraising is all about. If you’re too uncomfortable to have a conversation about money, then you can’t effectively fundraise.

While it may seem silly or unnatural, one of the best ways to improve your success rate is to rehearse (i.e., practice) before you ask.

Most people wouldn’t dream of going on stage or making a big presentation or business deal without practicing first, so why is this any different?

Practice Asking for Donations Together

If you will be going on an ‘ask meeting’ with someone else, you should practice together. Each person should have a specific role for the meeting. If you are going with a board member, you’ll want to plan out in advance. Figure out who will initiate each of the following points:

• Open the meeting with small talk. Make it personal and relevant when possible.
• Thank the prospective donor for their past giving and remind them how their previous donations have been used. (I say “remind them” because they should have already been told how their prior donation was used during the cultivation stage.)
• Make the ask (see the next section for tips).
• Thank them and arrange for follow up.

Practice the above points together as a team. Feel free to include a third person to act as the donor in your rehearsal session.

Practice Asking for Donations Alone

If you are going to the meeting alone, then you should practice in front of the mirror or with a partner in your office.

Be specific! Rehearse asking for a set amount and a specific thing.

One of the worst ways (biggest mistakes) to ask for donations is not being specific enough. You want to ask for a certain amount. Otherwise, the donor won’t know what you want.

For example, if you simply ask for a “donation”, you may get $100 or $10. The donor leaves the meeting confused and unsure of what to give. When you don’t ask for a certain amount, in writing any sized check, the donor believes they did what you asked, and you are invariably disappointed.

In addition, you will want to ask for certain “things” like computers, after school snacks, or even program staff salaries. The “thing” you ask for can be “unrestricted operating funds,” but you will want to specifically say that you are asking for operating dollars, and explain what it means and why it’s important to your organization.

After the Ask, Be Quiet!

In the potentially awkward silence after making an ask, practice being quiet.

You’ve asked, and now it’s their turn to talk. They may need a moment to collect their thoughts and think about what you’ve asked them for, so let them.

If you talk first, you lose. Once you’ve asked for a gift, and then feel the need to talk first to break the silence, you will invariably backpedal. If you talk first, you may say something counterproductive like, “I know that’s a lot of money — how about $500 instead?” when you’ve just asked for $1,000.

Be Prepared for Any Response

There are three answers a person can give once asked for a donation: yes, no, and maybe. Practice how to respond to any of these and have a follow-up plan for each.

Worried if they say “no”?

Don’t be. See my post: Asking for Donations: When Does “No” Mean “No”?

Have you ever rehearsed before asking for donations? Did it help? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Here are some terrific tips from the conference for you to implement today!

Focus on Gifts that Don’t Impact Cash Flow

Are you actively soliciting planned gifts? If not, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity.

Due to the economy, many people are more cautious about making outright gifts. Therefore, in order for your organization to receive the largest gifts possible, you need to be asking for bequests and other types of planned gifts.

According to Viken Mikaelian of Virtual Giving, there are many types of planned gifts that are easy to give and receive, such as:

• bequests
• life insurance
• stock

Instead of talking about bequests per se, use language like, “Make a gift that costs nothing during your lifetime,” to help donors understand the benefits.

Use Technology to Keep in Touch with Donors

Communicate with donors the way they are communicating with their children and grandchildren. For example, Skype and other types of video chat applications.

Thanks to these technologies, the excuse of distance and lack of time no longer apply. A ten minute video chat keeps donors feeling connected with you and your organization. Lynne Wester of Yeshiva University suggests sending planned giving donors a web cam (less than $30) and teaching them how to use Skype. It’s a great investment and a perfect way to keep in touch.

Use the Power of Social Media to Leverage your Reach

Social media isn’t a one way communication tool. It’s meant to engage people, which is why Facebook is so popular. If you’re just “making announcements” on your sites, you’re not engaging with people.

Ask questions, encourage feedback, and get into conversations. Provide meaningful information that people would want to share with others. Allison Fine, the conference keynote, encouraged audience members to practice asking questions, rather than simply “telling” on social media.

Thank People in a Heartfelt and Meaningful Way

What are you really doing to thank your donors?

Sending letters? Nice, but boring.

How do they know that you really appreciate them?

What about thank you videos?

You don’t need fancy or expensive equipment, but can do it in-house with an inexpensive camera. Some fantastic examples can be found at Philanthropy.com: How to Make Great Thank-You Videos.

Many of these suggestions apply to planned giving and other types of donors and gifts. Consider all of them and how they could work for your organization today.

Already using some? How are they working? Share your experience in the comments.

We all do.

Here are four big ones to watch out for:

Mistake #1: Treating All Donors the Same

Do you wish that donors would treat your organization like the most important charity? If so, you should be treating them like your most important donor. That doesn’t mean sending generic form letters (either appeals or thank yous).

How can you treat your donors as individuals?

• Segment and personalize as much as possible. Have different letters for first time donors, for board members, for repeat donors, and for lapsed donors. Write personal notes whenever possible.
• Have a VIP, red-carpet plan for your best donors. Contact them (by email, phone, hand-written note, and in-person) with updates throughout the year. Invite them to your events and on tours.
• Find out why your best donors give to your organization. Try to understand their motivations for giving to your specific cause.

Mistake #2: Ignoring Lapsed Donors

Lapsed donors are former donors. They might have lapsed by one, two, or three years. It’s important to try to renew them as soon as possible. The longer they lapse, the more difficult it will be to get them to give again.

Once a donor lapses for a year or two, many organizations write them off. If you can, contact them to try to find out why they lapsed. If they moved out of the area or are no longer interested in your cause, you can take them off your list.

Often, reaching out to lapsed donors will result in another gift. Securing donations from lapsed donors is much easier than starting from scratch with non-donors. This is because lapsed donors have a history with your organization and already have a familiarity with your programs and services.

If you have a huge number of lapsed donors to deal with, select the ones who have lapsed for the least amount of time (two years or less), and/or those who have given several times in the past (not just one-time donors).

Mistake #3: Not Knowing Key Fundraising Stats

Specifically, this means not knowing your donor acquisition, donor attrition and donor retention rates.

Donor acquisition is the number of new donors you attract. Donor attrition measures the number of donors you lose each year (become lapsed). And donor retention is the number of donors you keep from year-to-year.

There are many fundraising statistics to keep track of. However, donor acquisition, attrition and retention are three of the most important stats. It’s crucial to know how many new donors you attract, how many donors you lost, and how many you kept on an annual basis. Without knowing these three things, you won’t know if your fundraising program is growing or shrinking.

So if you haven’t been tracking these things, today is a perfect day to start.

Mistake #4: Relying Too Heavily on Your Board

Do you rely on your board members to bring in most of your new donors?

You may wish for board members to constantly funnel names of wealthy, prospective donors your way, but too often it doesn’t happen that way. Don’t mope about it — instead, spend your time doing your part to attract new donors.

How do you attract new donors?

There are many simple things you personally can do to bring in new donors.

I (along with eleven other leading fundraising experts) was recently asked for several out-of-the-box ways you could get 100 new donors in just three months. All twelve of these recorded conversations have been combined with detailed action guides into a program called 100 Donors in 90 Days.

To give you an idea of how helpful thes simple strategies can be, Tom Ahern (one of the fundraising experts) presented a case study based on a letter written by a volunteer for a small town library. She was a novice fundraiser who had never written a direct mail appeal before in her life. But she had taken one of Tom’s workshops — one very similar to the first week’s session of 100 Donors in 90 Days.

She raised $56,000 in a matter of weeks with that one letter.

Tom’s teleseminar and action guide alone are worth the price of 100 Donors in 90 Days. Take a few minutes to check it out and see what it’s all about. I think you’ll be very impressed!

While the organizations I work with see significant movement of board members toward this ideal, many organizations don’t take the time or resources to train board members properly.

If this is the reality at your organization, there were many sessions at 2012′s AFP Conference in Vancouver that featured tips and techniques to raise more money with or without help from your board members.

Raising Money without your Board

Below are five fundraising strategies you can use with or without your board members from the AFP conference in Vancouver.

1. Use Pictures to Tell Your Story

According to Scott Harrison of Charity Water, most nonprofit organizations don’t use enough pictures to tell their story. Harrison talked about how important it is to use images, pictures and video to tell your story and how it has helped Charity Water to grow exponentially in five short years.

Don’t simply talk about what you hope to do. Show people what you’re already doing and help them visualize how much more you could accomplish with their donations.

2. Create a Movement

Movements, as opposed to campaigns, can transform your cause, according to Jon Duschinsky of Bethechange. Movements are exciting, fun, and hopeful.

“Organizations achieve incremental change, and movements create monumental change,” according to Duschinsky. Your goal is to give people something they can be a part of. Once they are engaged, they will give.

3. Get Your Board Asking the Right Questions

Sometimes when your board won’t help, it’s really because they don’t know what to do. Fundraising expert Peter Drury from A Child’s Right talked about his “fundraising dashboard.” This fantastic tool helps development directors and board members ask the right questions with regard to their fundraising results.

Do you know the different between your average gift and your median gift?

The difference is significant. If you are interested in setting up your own fundraising dashboard, contact me.

4. Connect to Donors in a Meaningful Way

Using research as a basis for discussion, Bill Bartolini, ACFRE, of GW University, talked about the importance of being able to “read” prospects as well as understand their predispositions, in terms of what might motivate them to give and get involved with your organization.

When getting to know a donor, you can utilize stereotypes in productive, positive ways. For example, there are assumptions we can make based on a person’s age and background. Ask good questions to learn whether or not your assumptions are true when getting to know a prospective donor.

5. Don’t Wait for Board Members to Ask, Just Do It

While fundraising best practice tells us that board members should do the asking, there are times when board members can’t or won’t ask.

In my session called “Scared to Ask?” I talked about the, who, what, when, where, and why of making the ask. Participants learned that if there is no board member who is willing or able to ask, it’s far better for you to ask than to use your board members as an excuse not to ask. It’s important that the person asking is the individual with the closest relationship to the person being asked. In many cases, that’s you!

Relying on Yourself

In a perfect world, you’re able to recruit and retain great board members. But in an imperfect world like ours, sometimes you’ll just have to raise money without them. It’s times like those that these 5 strategies will be invaluable.

Do you have other ways you’ve been successful without your board members? Perhaps you received other helpful tips from the conference in Vancouver. Share your thoughts in the comments.

You’ve practiced.

You’ve overcome your fear of asking for a donation.

So you make the ask and they say “no.”

But how do you know when “no” really means “no”?

I tell my kids “no” all the time. Yet, it doesn’t stop them from asking again, and again, and again. They do this for a variety of reasons, but mostly becasue they’ve learned that sometimes “no” turns into “yes” if they ask frequently and persistently enough.

So how come as adults, we’re much more likely to take an initial no as a final no?

Turning a “No” into a “Yes”

In fundraising, some of the best development directors are those who can take a “no” and turn it into a “yes.” When you get a “no” for whatever reason, your job is to ask why? That’s the most important question you can ask. Get to the core reason, and explore if there’s a way to turn the “no” into “yes.”

Before asking a prospective donor for a contribution, you’ll want to consider all of their possible responses, so you’re prepared to respond appropriately.

In general, there are three types of response:

      1. yes
      2. no
      3. maybe

In fundraising, “yes” and “maybe” are great answers, but “no” can be good too.

“No” is an opportunity to explore, build the relationship, ask more questions, and encourage engagement.

It’s up to you to find out why the person is saying no, and how you can turn their no into a yes.

4 Reasons Why Prospective Donors Say “No”

There are many reasons why people say no. Four of the most common include:

1. Wrong time.

Money is tight at the moment for whatever reason. Six months or a year from now might be better. Or, they could need more information before making a decision.

2. Wrong project.

They love your organization. They’re really interested in the after school program — but you asked for the preschool program.

3. Wrong amount.

You asked for too much or too little. Once you ask some good follow-up questions, you may be delighted to receive a gift of another amount.

4. Wrong asker.

This is often the most difficult issue to identify, but it’s possible that your donor just doesn’t click with the board member you brought along. Keep your intuition tuned for issues like this, because they will often go unspoken.

I’ll be discussing how you can turn those no’s into yeses and a whole lot more in my upcoming session at the International Association of Fundraising Professionals’ conference.

Going Further

There are some great posts around the web pertaining to this topic. Here are two of my favorites:

• When a foundation declines to fund you, the story isn’t really over
• Overcoming the 9 Fundraising No’s

Have you ever gotten a no and turned it into a yes? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

If so, you’re not alone. As a nonprofit consultant, I spend a large part of my time teaching volunteers and nonprofit professionals how to ask, as well as how to overcome their fear of fundraising.

Scared to Ask: Getting Started with Face-to-Face Fundraising is the topic for my session at the upcoming International AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals) Conference in Vancouver. I’ll be presenting with my friend and colleague, Bill Bartolini, ACFRE.

If you’ll be in Vancouver at the conference, consider this a preview of what’s to come. And in case you can’t get to Vancouver for the conference, I thought I’d share some highlights.

How to Overcome Your Face-to-Face Fundraising Fear

If you, your executive director, or your board members think fundraising is scary, consider the alternatives as they relate to your cause.

For example, fundraising isn’t nearly as scary as sleeping on the street. If your nonprofit works to combat homelessness, then your aversion to asking leads to more people sleeping on the street. Conversely, more asking means less people sleeping on the street. I know I can sleep better in my nice, warm bed knowing that I’ve raised money for great causes — even if I was initially scared to ask.

Homelessness isn’t your thing?

How about polluted beaches?

Check out the image at right. That’s a pretty scary sight. Asking can’t possibly be scarier than that, can it?

Working on solutions to those scary problems is challenging, but rewarding. And, when done well, fundraising can be fun, not scary!

Now that you know WHY you need to ask, let’s get into the HOW.

How to Ask in 3 Easy Steps

I’ve broken “asking” down into three straight-forward steps.

1. Prepare
2. Practice
3. Ask

Step 1: Prepare

If you even consider asking without being prepared, I can understand why it might seem scary. The first step is to prepare. Preparation includes identifying prospective donors for your cause as well as cultivating those prospects.

Once you’ve prepared by identifying the people you want to ask, it’s time to move onto the next step, practice.

Step 2: Practice

What’s the old saying about getting to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice! There’s no way around it. If you want to feel more comfortable doing something, you’re going to have to do it a few times. It will only get easier and easier.

Before each ask, role play with others who will be on the ask (go as a team of two people whenever possible), as well as with those who have successfully asked before.

Step 3: Ask

As obvious as it sounds, it must be said that you won’t raise any money unless you get around to this final, yet crucial, step. However, once you’ve prepared and practiced, asking shouldn’t be nearly as scary as it first seemed.

Remember: a “no” isn’t personal.

Although the cause may be close to your heart, someone’s choice of whether or not to donate is not a reflection on you.

In Vancouver, I’ll be getting into specifics on dealing with “no,” as well as how to get a first meeting. I’ll be blogging from Vancouver and immediately upon return, so stay tuned.

Have a question about face-to-face fundraising? Let me know in the comments and I’ll try to answer it in the session and in future posts.

But it doesn’t have to…

Looking at Planned Giving in a New Way

Michael Rosen’s new book, Donor-Centered Planned Gift Marketing (an AFP – Wiley Nonprofit Essentials Book), helped me look at planned giving in a new way. It’s beautifully written and kept me up as I thought, “Just one more page.” Rosen has a unique ability to take potentially mind-numbing topics, like planned giving and marketing, and make them crystal clear and simple to understand.

As with the majority of the books I recommend, I do not earn one cent if you choose to buy this book. I’m recommending it to you because I think it’s truly a valuable resource and will help your nonprofit raise more money with simple, straight-forward thinking, which is what I’m all about.

Planned Giving Provides Opportunity

Rosen says, “While most Americans have the ability to make a planned gift, the research reveals that relatively few have actually done so and that vastly more are willing to consider such gifts.”

This means there’s a tremendous opportunity for nonprofits to educate prospective planned giving donors and receive planned gifts. While many Americans fear outliving their resources, this is the one and only way they could possibly consider making a major gift to your organization. You don’t want to miss out on the enormous potential and extraordinary generational transfer of wealth that’s just getting started.

Debunking Myths About Planned Giving

In the introduction, Rosen debunks five myths about planned giving, including myth number one, that planned giving is difficult. In this section, Rosen shows the reader that a vastly large percentage of planned gifts are bequests and stock, for which no real planned giving expertise is necessary. Almost any development director or executive director can market planned gifts and then access outside professional help as necessary for specific gifts and donors.

If you have ever heard me speak or read any of my writing on fundraising, I often break fundraising down into four steps:

1. Identification
2. Cultivation
3. Solicitation
4. Stewardship

For planned gift marketing, Rosen adds an extra step, especially important for planned giving: Education.

Most donors have never heard of planned giving and therefore, would never consider a planned gift. It’s our job to educate donors about the possibilities so they are open to exponentially larger gifts than they might be able or willing to make during their lifetimes. Rosen’s book goes into detail about how to properly educate your donors about planned giving.

In short, this is an excellent read that will help you understand the potential of planned giving in a simple, easy-to-follow manner. For Rosen’s work on the book, he won the 2011 AFP/Skystone Partners Prize for Research on Fundraising and Philanthropy. This was the first time in a decade that an author of a planned giving book won the Prize.

If you found this review helpful, or have already read Rosen’s book, share your thoughts in the comments.

Michael Rosen, President of ML Innovations, is also the host of the popular blog Michael Rosen Says. He can be reached at either website.

Missed the first two posts in this series? Go back and check them out:

Creating a Fundraising Plan: Days 1-30 (Recap)

If you’ve been following the 60 day plan, by now you have or are working on the following:

1. A list of your biggest and most loyal donors.
2. Meetings scheduled with several of your biggest and most loyal donors.
3. A list of reasons donors should give.
4. A list of programs and services that need funding at your organization.
5. A list of ways for people to get involved and volunteer.
6. Solid fundraising infrastructure at your organization.
7. One hundred percent board participation.
8. Identified grant and matching gift opportunities from board member companies.

Days 31-40: Create a Stewardship Plan

Stewardship is about thanking donors and follow-up. One of the top reasons that donors provide for not making a subsequent gift (donation) to an organization is that they weren’t thanked properly or told how their gift would be used. An important part of fundraising is making sure you keep donors giving to your organization year after year. And one of the best ways to do this is to thank your donors properly and tell them how their money was spent.

Developing a plan for thanking donors

Begin by creating thank you letters. When creating your letter templates, consider the following:

• Who is responsible for generating your thank you letters?
• How quickly will your thank you letters be sent after a gift is received? (Less than one week is highly recommended and 48 hours is considered best practice.)
• Will all donors receive the same thank you letter? Are there different letters for first time donors, repeat donors, major donors, board members, etc.? The more you customize your letters, the better your donors will feel.
• Will any letters be hand signed? Which ones? All of them? Only those over $500 or $1,000?

You (your board members and executive director) should also plan on making thank you calls. Think about the following:

• Who should receive thank you calls? Donors of what level? $100+? $500+? It’s up to you, but the more calls you make, the stronger your relationships will be.
• Who should do the calling? Board members? The executive director? Give it some thought.
• When should the calls be made? Ideally, within two days of the gift arriving.

Days 41-50: Focus on Grant Writing

Take a week or so to evaluate and improve your grants program.

1. Create a calendar for grant deadlines

If you don’t already have one, create a calendar of deadlines for current grant reports and application deadlines.

2. Build relationships with your grant funders

Take some time to build relationships with your grant funders. Add the following to your deadline calendar:

• Provide regular (quarterly) formal (written report) or informal (phone call or email) program updates to foundation staff even when they are not required. If the program isn’t going well, let them know ASAP.
• Invite foundation staff to your events and for a tour of your programs.
• Send articles, statistics, or other information that the foundations staff might find interesting or useful.

3. Research new grant opportunities

Take time to proactively identify new grant opportunities for your organization. Utilize a grant database, such as the Foundation Center to search for new grant prospects. Select two or more new funders to apply to each year. Select them based on the following criteria:

• How closely does your mission align with theirs (do you meet their criteria)?
• Do you or your board members know anyone at the foundation (staff or board members)?
• Do you have the capacity to manage the grant should you receive it?
• How much do they give? If you need to choose between applying to two foundations and one gives $10,000 and the other gives $1,000 the choice is obvious (all else being equal).

Days 51-60: Evaluate Your Fundraising Events

Many fundraising events are not worth the return on investment. They cost too much for what they generate, both in terms of staff time and money. Have you taken time to analyze your fundraising events? These last 10 days are your time to evaluate and reevaluate your events.

Commit to your BEST event

Identify your one most promising event. Commit the time, resources and volunteer committee power to help generate sponsorships and make this your signature event.

Cancel at least one or two other events that are not doing well. You already know which ones they are. These are the events your staff and board members can’t seem to let go of, but never seem to raise much money! Need I say more?

Ask, Ask, and Ask Some More

Fundraising always comes down to asking.

I was in a board meeting last week, and a board member turned to me and asked why I thought their organization didn’t receive any charitable bequests. I answered his question with another question:

“Have you asked for them?”

Of course, his answer was “no.”

For the last 30 days of the plan (and for the rest of the year hereafter) you should continue to focus on your individual giving program and regularly ask your supporters for donations. Follow these three steps:

1. Create a schedule or calendar to help you stay on track with calling and meeting with your best and most loyal donors.
2. Meet with the donors on your list to thank them for giving, provide a program update, answer questions, ask their advice, and get them engaged!
3. Once you’ve established a relationship, schedule a meeting to ask them for their donation. It should be significantly more than last year’s gift if they gave in response to a mail appeal.

Keep up your asking and enjoy the success that frequent asking brings!

For even more information, keep watching for my upcoming book, which is due out in April.

Creating a Fundraising Plan: Days 1-15 (Recap)

By now you should have identified your best donors, including your largest and your most loyal donors. Using those lists, your next step was to create a combined list of your top prospective donors (approximately 20–30 total names) and call all of them to schedule meetings. Meetings are a crucial step in the cultivation process, helping you build lasting relationships with your donors.

For more on cultivating your best donors, read about how to cultivate prospects and build lasting relationships.

For the next 15 days of your 60 day fundraising plan, I want you to focus on meeting with your donors and improving your fundraising infrastructure.

Days 16-20: Engaging With Your Donors Face-to-Face

Being prepared before each donor meeting or encounter will only make your fundraising efforts more successful. As you continue meeting with donors face-to-face through day 20 of your plan, here are three helpful tips to be best prepared to engage your donors.

1. Make a list of things for which you need support. For example:
   • $50,000 for program director
   • $30,000 for new van
   • $10,000 for 3 new computers
   • $5,000 for snacks and art supplies for kids
2. Create specific sponsorship opportunities. For example:
   • $10,000 enables one class of 15 kids to attend program for 1 year.
   • $5,000 feeds 5 families for one year
3. List volunteer opportunities and other ways for supporters to get involved.
   • One-time opportunities (speaking engagements, painting/ cleaning, etc.)
   • Office work (ongoing or periodic)
   • Direct service (ongoing)
   • Committee or board service

Days 21-25: Shoring Up Your Infrastructure

It’s important to have a solid infrastructure in place to make the most of your fundraising efforts. During days 21-25, ask yourself the following questions to begin improving your infrastructure.

• Do you have a database to keep track of donors and supporters?
  Ideally, you want to keep track of their contact info and giving history (phone, email, address, giving history, etc.).
• Do you have the capacity to accept donations (credit cards) online via your website?
  Effective fundraising in the 21st Century includes the ability to accept credit cards online. There are plenty of companies available to help you with this. Ask colleagues or visit similar organization’s websites for examples and to see what they’re doing.
• Is your website “donor-focused”?
  This means that the content is generated with a donor in mind. For example, does your site clearly explain what you do and why your organization is important? Is it easy to donate, volunteer, or contact your staff members?
• Do you have a system for sending thank you letters? Do you get acknowledgements out within a week? Are any personalized?
  One of the top reasons that donors give for not making a second gift (or donation) to an organization is that they weren’t thanked or told how their money was spent. It’s important to keep the donors you have and the best way to do this is to have a professional and personal thank you process in place.

Days 26-30: Getting the Most from Your Board

Your board is a significant part of your fundraising success. Before they can help with fundraising, they must give generously themselves. For days 26-30, spend some time focusing on getting the most out of your board.

• Do you have 100% board participation? Are they giving at capacity? Can you ask them for significantly increased gifts this year?
  Each board members should make a significant personal donation to your organization. What “significant” means will be different for each board member, but they should make a large and meaningful gift for their own personal budget.
• Are you growing your board?
  Think about how to grow your board and who you need and would like to have on your board. Consider adding three new board members this year who bring new skills, contacts, and talents to your board. Check out these 8 Simple Steps to Recruit and Retain Great Board Members.
• Do board members work for companies with corporate match? Are they submitting the form?
  If your donors (board and non-board members) have access to corporate match money for their donations, you are literally leaving money on the table by not asking them for their match form.
• Have board members looked into getting a gift or grant from their company?
  Many companies have corporate giving programs, which give priority to organizations where their employees volunteer. Ask board members to research possible grants or gifts from their companies.

For more information on how your board members can help with fundraising, check out my post on how to turn your volunteers into fundraisers.

Getting your fundraising off on a strong start takes planning. Once you have some of infrastructure, fundamentals and core materials in place, you’ll be ready to raise big bucks for your organization.

Hopefully you’re not in as dire of a position as my friend, but I believe the guidance I gave him will work for you as well to get your year off to a roaring start!

Creating a Fundraising Plan

Over the next several weeks, I’m going to walk you through creating a fundraising plan that will supercharge your fundraising for the upcoming year. Let’s take a look at what you should do in the first 15 days.

NOTE: These steps are meant to be “doable” within the context of the work you’re already doing. So the steps provided here are NOT meant to REPLACE what you’re already doing, but to supplement and enhance it.

Days 1-3: Start With Lists

You’ll begin by creating three lists.

1. List your tops.

Make a list of the donors, supporters, sponsors, and funders who’ve contributed the most to your organization over the last three years. How many people, companies, and foundations are on the list? Ideally, you want to start with a list of about 20-30 names.

2. List your loyals.

Make a list of your organization’s most loyal supporters. This would include anyone who has contributed to anything (made a donation, attended an event, come to a dinner, etc.) more than 5 times during the last five years, regardless of the dollar amount.

For additional details regarding #1 and #2 above, read more about using your database to identify your best and most loyal donors.

3. List your board.

Make a list of board members and each member’s giving history for the last three years.

When your lists are complete…

Take all three lists and review them with senior staff and critical board members (i.e., the executive committee and the development committee). Find out if your staff and board members know the people on your lists. Discuss who on the lists would make the best donors based on their giving history, involvement and other factors you know about them. Consider things like their job, life situation, home, vacations, kids in college, marriage, etc.

Next, consolidate your lists into a “top prospects” list of 20–30 individuals (or couples).

TIP: If your database is a mess and you can’t generate these lists, let me know. There are other options for getting you started. And you’ll have to start somewhere else.

Days 4-10: Cultivating Your Donors

Once you have your list of top prospects, cultivate them! That means concentrate on building relationships with your donors. In order to build relationships, you must get to know them (or get to know them better).

It’s meeting time!

Throughout days 4-10, spend some time each day to call each person on your list and ask for a meeting. This should not be over a meal. Ideally, you want this meeting to take place at their home or office (or at a coffee shop).

The reason for your meeting is to:

• Thank them for their prior giving.
• Provide them with a program update.
• Ask them why they decided to give in the first place (and why they continue to give).
• Ask them what their favorite aspect of the program is.
• Ask them what they think needs changing.
• Ask them if they would like to get more involved (volunteer).
• Ask them if they would like a tour.

Above all else, these meetings provide you with an excellent opportunity to learn about your best donors and better understand his/her interests and what specifically motivates him/her to give.

Days 11-15: Meeting With Your Donors

Days 11–15 should be filled with your first donor meetings and follow up calls to those you haven’t yet reached. Be sure to write down any valuable feedback and insights they share after the meeting or during the phone call leading up to the meeting.

By day 15, you should know who all of your biggest and most loyal donors are. You should also have made contact with each and every one of them and scheduled meetings with as many as possible. In the next post in this series, I’ll go into more detail about engaging your donors during these meetings.

As I help my friend create his 60 day fundraising plan, building relationships with his organization’s best donors will be a key component. In parts II and III of the plan, we’ll look at grant writing and fundraising events, as well as how to prepare to ask these donors for gifts. But the crucial first step is to identify and reach out to your best donors first.