Blueprint Fundraising

First Course in Vancouver in June

I’ll be teaching part of AFP Vancouver’s “First Course” again on June 26th and 27th, 2008. Sign up soon if you are interested in this course because it usually sells out. First Course provides an excellent overview of fundraising — perfect for anyone new to the field. You don’t have to be an AFP member to take part.

You can register online through AFP Vancouver.

FIRST COURSE: A Course for Volunteers, New Fund Raisers, & Allied Professionals
Thursday, June 26 & Friday, June 27
Simon Fraser University, Surrey Campus

This is a two day workshop taught by experienced fundraisers that will provide an overview of fundraising techniques. The workshop is limited to 40 participants to facilitate group discussion and participation. Participants will receive a 450 page participant manual – a valuable reference on fund raising functions.

Early bird fee (until June 13th): $325 AFP Members / $375 non-members
After June 13th: $375 AFP Members / $425 non-members

Five ways to improve response to your donation page

Donordigital has released a report called “Perfecting Your Page: Can donation page optimization boost online giving?” The answer to their question is yes — improving your page really can boost giving. The report can be downloaded here and is based on testing done with Amnesty International USA and Optimost.

From the report:

Online fundraising has become a growing source of income for many non-profits over the past 10 years. But while organizations typically spend lots of time spent developing clever, creative, and inspirational online content, they often overlook more mundane aspects of online appeals that can make a big difference in converting advocates, subscribers, and other supporters into donors. Specifically, while email and web page copy may persuade people to “click to donate now,” less than half of those who click through to the donation page (and often just a few percent) typically complete the donation transaction.

Here are five key tips:

• 1. Size DOES matter: Bigger donate buttons helped convert more donors
• 2. Color can matter too: A vividly colored donation button can strongly boost donation page conversion…but seasonality and color choice influenced whether it did (read the report for more on this… green buttons performed better than blue)
• 3. Less is more: Removing unnecessary fields from the personal information form significantly increased conversion to donate
• 4. Remind people (nicely) why they want to donate: Polite header copy (“Please make a tax-deductible gift…”) followed by short appeal copy yielded better conversion than a more forceful call-to-action (“Donate Now! Help us…”) without appeal copy
• 5. No need to be demanding: Using firmer language on the donation button (“Donate Now” instead of “Submit”) did not produce statistically higher conversions

Thanks Donordigital!

Lovely example of stewardship via email

I made a donation to my alma mater, McGill University, last year. Since then they have done a great job of keeping in touch. Here’s an example… A short email linking to an animation about the difference that McGill graduates are about to make in the world as they graduate. It’s a simple idea, but nicely timed and clearly saying “thank you” rather than “give give give.”

Here’s the note sent by email (there was also a header and footer with a salutation and all the contact info). Click to view the animation.

The university is in the midst of “Campaign McGill” a massive effort to raise $750 million. The campaign website is also nicely done and a good example of the presentation of a multifaceted case for support. Their campaign theme of “History in the Making” feels less generic to me than a lot of university campaigns (where a frequent theme seems to be general “excellence”).

Are you spending more than 35 cents to raise a dollar?

The Canadian Revenue Agency wants to hear your comments on their proposed new fundraising guidelines. Among other things, the guidelines describe acceptable and unacceptable fundraising expense ratios (what a charity spends to raise a dollar). Here’s their evaluation grid:

Ratio of fundraising cost/fundraising revenue in fiscal period

Rarely acceptable: more than 70% (charity nets less than 30%)
Generally not acceptable: 50% to 70% (charity nets 30% to 50%)
Potentially not acceptable: 35.1% to 49.9% (charity nets 50.1% to 64.9%)
Generally acceptable: 20% to 35% (charity nets 65% to 80%)
Acceptable: less than 20% (charity nets more than 80%)

What do you think about these ratios? Is your organization operating in the “acceptable” range today? To figure that out you’ll have to read the guidelines because it isn’t a straightforward calculation. For example, fundraising from government and foundations should not be part of your calculation. And you should include non-receiptable donations.

I took part in a national conference call with CRA representatives yesterday (organized by AFP and Imagine Canada — thank you!). CRA seems to be aware of the many many legitimate reasons an organization might have an “unacceptable” ratio. For example, investing in a bequest program where all the expenses are incurred today but the gifts won’t be received until far into the future. They also acknowledged that start-up organizations or causes with limited appeal or low profile may have to spend more to raise money.

I encourage you to look at the guidelines and give your comments. I’m going to. Some of the conference call participants had great ideas. For example, should this be a rolling average based on several years rather than just one, to accommodate for extraordinarily good or bad years?

Although this evaluation grid is simplistic, I’m happy that someone is attempting to address the very real concerns that donors have about unreasonable fundraising expenses.

Here are a couple of recent articles about the guidelines:

Lessons in charity
Watchdog sets charity rules
New charity rules a good first step

Countdown to The Little Give for Vancouver nonprofits

All of us working in fundraising were probably fascinated by Oprah’s The Big Give program… I really liked the show, even though it was schmaltzy and completely over-run with SUV product placements. Inspired by Oprah and hopefully featuring fewer SUVs, local PR firm Karyo Edelman has just launched a cool new corporate social responsibility initiative.

The Little Give will see $10,000 in cash, and a whole lot of time and energy, distributed to four worthy nonprofit organizations working to make a difference in the lives of children and youth.

Here’s how it will work: over a 48-hour period starting at 9 am on June 20, 2008, Karyo Edelman staff will be randomly divided into one of four teams, and tasked with creating something great for its nonprofit partner. The winner will be the team that makes the biggest impact – measured by things like leveraging Karyo Edelman’s cash contribution, bringing attention to what the nonprofit is trying to do, and making a difference in kids’ lives. One of the four nonprofits may emerge as Karyo Edelman’s ongoing CSR partner and become a pro bono client for the agency.

Visit www.thelittlegive.ca to nominate a Vancouver-based nonprofit organization (you can nominate your own organization).

To be eligible, you must be:

• A registered nonprofit organization;
• Based in Vancouver;
• Making a difference in the lives of children and youth (under 24 years old);
• Secular; and
• Available to work with a Karyo Edelman team on Friday, June 20.