Archive for 2008

Lovely example of stewardship via email

images.jpg 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”).

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May 16th, 2008 in Ideas | Permalink | Comment

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

lffl.png 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

May 14th, 2008 in News | Permalink | Comment

Countdown to The Little Give for Vancouver nonprofits

biglittle.jpg 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.
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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.

May 12th, 2008 in News | Permalink | Comment

Conducting a Major Gifts Campaign workshop April 8

regicon I’m going to be presenting a new workshop for the Alliance for Arts + Culture on Tuesday April 8th in Vancouver. It is designed specifically for arts organizations, but the concepts will apply to any type of nonprofit organization… Hope to see you there!

Conducting a major gifts campaign: A step-by-step guide
April 8 , 2008 • 9 am to 12 pm
The Alliance for Arts and Culture, Suite 100- 938 Howe Street

This workshop will guide you, step-by-step, through the planning and implementation of a major donor campaign. You will learn how to make a case for your financial need, create a gift chart, recruit a campaign team, identify prospects, develop effective solicitation tools and make “the ask. Real life case studies and examples will inspire you to create a major gifts campaign for your organization.

This workshop will be suitable for development staff, executive directors, artistic directors, board members and volunteers with at least a year fundraising experience and whose organizations already have a base of individual donors giving on an annual basis.

Workshop cost: $75 (+GST) for Alliance members and $100 (+GST) for non-members. Pre-registration and payment is required.

Please phone 604-681-3535 or email info@allianceforarts.com to register.

March 18th, 2008 in News | Permalink | Comment

Clever kid outwits Make-A-Wish Foundation!

images.jpg Remember when you were a kid, contemplating what you would wish for if a genie granted you three wishes? To live forever? To be able to make yourself invisible?

Of course the best answer was UNLIMITED WISHES!
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(I hope I don’t need to tell you that this video is a spoof. I really doubt it although some people have been fooled and the Make-A-Wish Foundation has issued an assurance that there is no such loophole.) Nice one Onion!

February 5th, 2008 in Unusual | Permalink | Comment

Mobilizing Your Evangelizers event tomorrow

Fire Vancouver’s first Net Tuesday gathering is happening tomorrow night and I’ll be there. You should come too!

The event will feature a presentation on “Mobilizing Your Evangelizers” by GiveMeaning.com’s Tom Williams. Many fundraising professionals are experimenting with how to integrate online communities into traditional fundraising strategies — this is such an important topic for anyone working in fundraising today.net2-logo.gif

Here are the details:

Vancouver’s first Net Tuesday event is this Tuesday, Feb. 5th! Every month, SOCIAL CHANGE MAKERS and WEB INNOVATORS come together at NetTuesday events to mix, swap stories, build new relationships, and collaborate on new ideas. Whether you’re working in the nonprofit/social change sector or Vancouver ’s technology hub – you’re invited to join us for great conversations, networking, and community building!

Our kick-off event will feature a presentation by Tom Williams of GiveMeaning.com – entitled “Mobilizing Your Evangelizers” – an overview of how nonprofits and social change groups can use the social web to engage members, reach out to new supporters, and explore new ways to fund raise. Followed by a presentation by Peter Endisch of the Wildlife and Environmental Activist Network, sharing his recent and unique experiences with social media and online tools. Plus a demo by the great folks behind LiveVote.ca and a conversation about how this Vancouver based startup can be used by the social change community.

This event is FREE and starts at 5:30, with presentations from 6-7pm. (approximately)

When: Tues February 5, 2008 @ 5:30-7:30 pm

Where: WorkSpace – Suite 400, 21 Water Street Vancouver

Contact: Joe Solomon @ 604-736-8512

February 4th, 2008 in News | Permalink | Comment

Showcase of fundraising innovations (and a few mistakes)

bulb_icon_100x100.jpgNeed some inspiration for your next appeal? Check out SOFII, a “Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration.” I don’t really know of anything like it. You’ll need to sign up for a free membership then you can browse through case studies and examples of some of the world’s most influential fundraising campaigns and ideas. The site has especially good examples of direct mail packages and advocacy advertising campaigns. The commentary for each case study tells you what worked, what didn’t and why the campaign was innovative at the time. There are some interesting historical fundraising pieces too. Here is Unicef’s first-ever Christmas card from 1946 and an Oxfam fundraising ad from the 1950s.

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January 25th, 2008 in Ideas | Permalink | Comment

POD applications due in February

Peapod The Partners in Organizational Development (POD) grant program has announced upcoming deadlines. If you don’t know POD, it is one of the very few capacity-building grant programs for arts, environmental and social service organizations in BC. If you need help with fundraising planning, marketing, board development or strategic planning, a POD grant might be able to help.

You can find all the details at the Centre for Sustainability.

January 22nd, 2008 in News | Permalink | Comment

10 ways to identify planned giving prospects

ToTW I attended a planned giving workshop last week, presented by local consultant Leslie Howard of PlanforGifts.com. It was a very nice introductory session and she generously provided some great handouts. I thought I would share a few of her tips for identifying planned giving prospects in your donor base along with some of my own. You might be doing these already — but what about your co-workers? Leslie made the excellent point that the person who opens your mail and processes the donations (if that isn’t you) should be watching for these things too.

1. The best planned giving prospects are female donors who are 80+ years old. Makes sense. But how do you know if someone who sends in a donation by mail fits that profile?

2. Ask for birth dates on some of your donor forms (and then you can send birthday cards too).

3. Watch for those who identify as “Miss.” Younger women tend not to call themselves Miss. Anyone who does is probably at least 70 years old. And they aren’t likely to be married or to have children. Make sure there is a “Miss” options on your donor forms.

4. Pay attention to old-fashioned names. Leslie suggested looking up popular names from the 1920s and 30s. So I did. I couldn’t find much Canadian information but the US has extensive records dating back to the 1880s. There are many names you don’t see today that were more popular in the 20s and 30s: Mildred, Florence, Ethel, Ruth, Doris, Shirley…

5. Shaky handwriting could be another indicator of age.

6. Being a monthly donor or long-term supporter. Frequency of gifts is much more important than size when it comes to planned giving.

7. Living in an affluent postal code or zip code.

8. Sending a cheque from a VIP bank account — e.g. the cheque says “Private Banking” or is from the head office branch.

9. Being windowed or divorced, having no children, or having children with their own wealth.

10. Having had a direct positive experience with your organization — as a grateful client, volunteer or board member.

January 21st, 2008 in Ideas | Permalink | Comment

Counter-intuitive rules for success in 2008

Little-blue08.jpg Happy New Year everyone! This is my first real day back at work after a holiday that was wasted away by being sick for almost two weeks. I’m better now, thanks, and just in time for work.

This time of year is always exciting to me — new beginnings, resolutions and infinite possibilities for the year ahead. I love hearing from clients about the last-minute donations they received at the end of December and I hope you had a few of those yourself.

Here’s a good way to begin 2008… Read this speech, filled with counter-intuitive secrets for success from Van Jones, a veteran of the non-profit sector and founder of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights…

There’s probably at least one person, and maybe more than one, who feels like their little not-for-profit just may not make it. There may be somebody that feels like their cause is too marginal, their constituency is too desperate, their dreams are too big, their knowledge base is too small, and they just don’t know if they’re going to be able to pull this one off. If you’re that person, I want to tell you a little bit about my story, my secret rules for success if you’re doing tough things, and to remind you how important it is that you stick this out…

Thanks to Mary-Ev Anderson for pointing me to the speech.

January 7th, 2008 in Ideas | Permalink | Comment

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