Blueprint Fundraising

This website combines so many great things that I don’t know where to start.
I am Emily X is a blog that chronicles 40 days in the lives of Planned Parenthood workers and asks readers to pledge donations based on the number of protesters they encounter.

They are on day 36 and have encountered 426 protesters — from the polite and pious, to the obscene and violent. They are raising money ($40K+ to date) and using video interviews with volunteers and workers to delve the many reasons why Planned Parenthood (and reproductive choice) is so important. The campaign and blog is a response to anti-choice groups’ “40 days for life” campaign.

Here’s a snippet from the first post:

Hello, world.

We’re in the middle of something here at Planned Parenthood (where I work). The anti-choice people call it “40 days for life.” I call it another day at the office.

Basically, the anti-choice groups have decided to picket more than 80 Planned Parenthood clinics across the country for 40 days. September 26-November 4.

I’m used to picketers. Planned Parenthood is used to picketers. It bothers me very much that the picketers aren’t just picketing our clinics — that they’re really about making it impossible for women to get health care. But…we don’t let them faze us. As for me, the more picketers there are, the harder I want to work.

So, I’ve decided to do something a little different. I’m inviting you come to work with me. Seriously. Every day, I’m posting to this blog — some notes about my day, some photos, some video. I want you to know what it’s like to work for Planned Parenthood.

That’s not all. Since the 40 days thing began, various friends and supporters have emailed us saying they’d like to donate money for every protester that shows up. So we set up a thing over there on the right, at the top of the column — please pledge 5 or 10 cents, too! You have no idea how far we can make donations go at Planned Parenthood.

I spent the last two days at the Western Sponsorship Congress in Calgary. It was an excellent event and my mind is bubbling with new ideas. I was very impressed with the conference — a rarity for me and professional development events!

Delegates included both “properties” with sponsorships to sell (nonprofits, venues, sports teams, etc.) and sponsors. This was one of my favourite aspects of the event — different than most philanthropy or fundraising conferences where almost everyone is from the same side of the transaction. Sponsors were there to network, share information and improve their own practices in building successful sponsorship programs.

I think that those of you working in corporate fundraising will already know this instinctively but everything I heard confirmed that there is a clear trend away from corporate philanthropy towards sponsorship.

Last year, an IEG report documented that a large percentage of North American corporations are switching money away from philanthropy to sponsorship. There is a feeling that the return is better with sponsorships and that companies (especially public ones) have an obligation to shareholders to see tangible ROI for every dollar spent.

In June Charity Village reported on a COMPAS Inc. survey finding that only 27% of Canadian corporate executives felt that for-profit organizations have an obligation to contribute to “the less fortunate.” When asked why Canadian companies don’t give more to charity, 42% said firms are already heavily taxed and don’t have the ability to give more; 36% agreed that it was improper for companies to give away money that belongs to shareholders; and 20% said charities don’t undergo enough scrutiny and oversight to justify giving more.

However you might feel about these sentiments the reality is that we can’t rely on compassion or a sense of obligation for corporate dollars.

In one of the sessions I attended RBC Foundation described the recognition associated with their largest “donation” made in Alberta to date ($2 million to the Reach! health care campaign, to be paid over 10 years). What was striking to the audience was the amount of recognition given — including naming the program and a physical space and logos on everything — for this donation. It wasn’t technically a sponsorship but extensive recognition was clearly key to getting the donation.

There was quite a bit of push back from the audience, asking the RBC representative how this can be considered a philanthropic donation when RBC gets so much recognition? The frustration was clear — nonprofits feel pushed by corporate partners to give benefits plus tax receipts and confused about whether to take the sponsorship or philanthropic approach. The response from RBC: you have to do both. It has to fit with their community-oriented objectives and it also has to give them lots of ways to trumpet their involvement. From a tax-receipting perspective, she said that the recognition had no clear business value (that could be defined) and so it qualifies as a donation. I think most people would agree that there is a real business value to this kind of association with a nonprofit cause. But it is a challenge to put a dollar figure on it.

I have lots more to share from the Congress… a few of the coming topics: sponsorship vs advertising, investing in activation and identifying your assets.

Today is Blog Action Day — a day when thousands of blogs (more than 16,000) and readers (approximately 12,700,000 and counting) all talk about the same topic. This year’s topic is the environment. In honour of the day, I thought I would share some suggestions on making your development office a little greener.

- Encourage the use of public transportation by providing monthly transit passes for your employees. Encourage cycling by providing secure bike parking somewhere inside your office. If your employees need a car at work, join The Company Car (or another car-sharing organization).

- Allow your employees to tele-commute. I think this is feasible, at least on a part-time basis, for many people who work in fundraising.

- Get a “duplexing” printer so that you can automatically print on both sides of paper. Don’t send single-sided letters to donors — it’s wasteful.

- Get rid of the water cooler and start drinking tap water. (Set up an alternative spot for office gossip.)

- If you live in Metro Vancouver, order your office supplies from Frogfile, which specializes in environmentally-friendly office supplies. (I love their Harbor/100 paper made from 100% post-consumer waste, processed chlorine-free, FSC-certified and produced using biomass energy!)

- Provide fresh, local, organic fruit, treats and coffee for your development team with a weekly delivery from Small Potatoes Urban Delivery.

- No matter what sector you work in, tell your supporters what your organization is doing to improve environmental practices. Donors of all sorts — whether they give to the arts, health care, or social housing — want to know that you are progressive in this way.

- Want some more ideas? Check out “50 Quick, Painless Ways You Can Help the Environment Today” from the Zen Habits blog.

And, for your enjoyment, here’s a photo of a clever World Wildlife Fund smog awareness campaign in China. The balloon says: Drive one day less and see how much carbon monoxide you’ll keep out of the air we breathe.

AFP Vancouver is offering First Course on November 8 and 9 at Simon Fraser University in Surrey. This is an intense two-day overview of fundraising, perfect for people who have less than three years experience in the field.

I’m happy to be leading the Major Gifts module again. That’s where we talk about how to cultivate major gifts and we practice asking. (In a completely fun and non-intimidating manner and not in front of the whole class, I promise. It really is fun!)

Register here before October 31 to get early bird rates of $325 for AFP members and $375 for non-members.

Over the last few months, I’ve been fortunate to work on case documents (or case statements, whatever you call them) for a diverse group of clients ranging from the Vancouver International Writers Festival to Washington’s Chelan-Douglas Land Trust, Yaletown House seniors’ centre and the Crisis Centre of BC.

Let me define what I mean by “case statement.” Most of the groups I work with are mid-sized or small. Budgets are often less than $3 million and some are as small as a few hundred thousand per year. Their development shops are small too — three people or less. They don’t tend to develop comprehensive internal case documents. They jump right to the public case for support and that’s where these tips should be helpful.

1. Before you write your first word, decide how the case will be used. Will it be emailed, mailed, used in face-to-face meetings, fit with other fundraising pieces or stand-alone? This will dictate format and length.

2. Show how you solve problems that the donor cares about – for the community, the planet or worthy people. Spend a third of your case describing the problems and the balance providing solutions.

3. Engage readers by being specific. Stories with memorable or unusual details will stay with readers longer than dry organizational facts or program descriptions.

4. Put as much care into the design and imagery as the text. Design gives energy, style and clarity to your words. It should help you stand out from your competitors.

5. Get structured feedback on the first draft from members of the intended audience. Asking donors and prospective supporters for their opinion is a wonderful way to ensure that what you say is reaching people.

This is the cover of a case I just finished with the Crisis Centre of BC. Email me and I will be happy to share a copy with you.

If you are in Vancouver and watch CBC, you might have seen this commercial. It is a nice example of storytelling by a nonprofit (or are they government? I’m not quite sure). Poignant, thought-provoking, light, short and real! (Double click on the video below to be taken to You Tube to watch the whole thing.)

I came across this funny plea “Your Fundraising Drives May Drive Me to Drink,” from a graduate who wants his college fundraising department to leave him alone. His $40,000 in student debt leaves little room for charitable giving to the school. He links to an interesting article pointing to a trend for higher-ed fundraising: the concern that as student debt rises, future alumni fundraising revenue is jeopardized. Makes sense.

I only recently made my first donation to McGill, where I spent my university days. They had my address wrong for years but they finally tracked me down. I gave not so much because I think they need the money (I don’t think so, although the English department probably isn’t their highest priority) but because I want to see their fundraising machine in action.

A few miscellaneous links:

What does it take to get the Detroit Zoo board of directors to fire their CEO? Apparently something worse than lying about having a doctoral degree.

Handy tool: an automatic gift range calculator.

A new study “Altruism and the Child-Cycle of Giving” finds that a significant portion of alumni giving is not motivated by altruism, but rather by a hope for a reciprocal benefit: the admission of the donors’ children to the school. Slate has detailed coverage.

The Toronto Star has been digging up dirt about the charitable sector again. This time they look at the Canada Revenue Agency. “Charity scams bust public trust: Toothless watchdog lets rogue agencies prey on donors and threaten a sector that raises billions of dollars a year.”

Check out Google Earth Outreach, “a program designed to empower non-profit groups with the resources, tools, and inspiration that they need to leverage the power of Google Earth for their cause.” Fly your supporters to your work, anywhere on the planet.

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I’m thinking about starting a whole category of postings on my fundraising pet peeves. I have so many! Here’s one: fundraising job postings that require the applicant to have a car or access to a car.

This is especially funnoying (a rather useful new word — a combination of “funny” and “annoying” from the Urban Dictionary) to me when the posting is for a job in a larger city. Fundraisers definitely need to get around — to meetings with donors and volunteers, special events and to run all sorts of errands. Some fundraisers are out of the office more than in.

But can’t we assume that people will figure out how to get around on their own? And if they are in a city, let’s hope it isn’t always by car. In most cities, public transit works very well. And so does walking, cycling and taking a taxi.

Nonprofits in the Lower Mainland are fortunate to have another option: car-sharing through The Company Car. It’s part of the Co-operative Auto Network and uses their fleet of 170+ vehicles. It allows businesses to join and provide their employees with access to cars — a perk for the employee, a nice environmental choice and all for a reasonable price.

And it is possible to look professional and ride your bike for work — witness Vancouver city councillor Peter Ladner!

It’s not easy to balance dark and light messages in fundraising appeals.

It’s obvious when a group goes too far into the darkness and simply turns the reader off (I’m thinking of animal cruelty mailings I’ve received that made me so uncomfortable that I threw the package away, even though I’m supportive of the cause). But it isn’t as obvious when a group goes too far into the realm of light/happy/hope and eliminates the motivation to give.

I think the United Way of Greater Toronto is going too far into the light in their recent re-branding, as graphic designer John Lepp notes in a posting on his blog the Naked Idea.

Compare the old campaign to the new. Which one gives you a real reason to donate? I have to think that they have a well-considered reason for this change in direction, but I don’t think it will help their fundraising. (Not that they really need help with fundraising — the United Way of Toronto raised $106.8 million last year putting them in second place among UWs in all of North America. Seattle came first.)

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Greenpeace does such an amazing job in communicating the importance of their work. Here is a great video from Greenpeace UK (you can watch all their videos here on You Tube) in support of Forest Stewardship Council products. The story telling and metaphor are very effective.

How would you feel is your home was torn down around you? Sir David Attenborough, Ewan McGregor and Andy Serkis (who played Gollum in The Lord of the Rings) lend their talents to this illustration of how forest communities suffer as a result of illegal and destructive logging. Directed by Julien Temple.

I just wonder why they don’t have a website in the video to tell you more about how to buy FSC products or support Greenpeace.

Found via the Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group blog.