Professional Fundraising

Maximizing Use of Technology in Major Gift Fundraising
Workplace

Customize Your CRM To Meet Strategic Fundraising Objectives

The need to develop deeper personal connections with donors and potential donors is vital to any long-term giving strategy.  When people feel strongly connected to an organization, they absorb the organization as part of their personal unit, making it a locus of much of their social activity. In turn, they attend and promote events, recruit friends to volunteer, influence and engage others on social media, and provide increasing levels of financial support. This type of kinship network (cultivated by what we term the “absorption” process) is assisted through the development and use of data management, modeling and analytics.  Many nonprofits have complex social relationships. As such, there is an imperative need for nonprofits to customize their database infrastructure so that it is providing the analytical information needed to more easily comprehend and predict donor behavior. We cannot underscore this enough – to obtain useful analytical donor information, you have to know more about the people who support your nonprofit. This also enables the organization to better segment communications and gift proposals in order to maximize fundraising efficiency and achieve campaign effectiveness. Nonprofits should do more than just have a relationship management system – it is vital to customize the system to meet specific needs.

A big question you need to ask is whether you are getting your money’s worth from your present technology.  An effective CRM allows you to customize data fields, collect and track details with precision, and integrates with other data sources such as social media.  Most importantly, your CRM should make it easy to analyze data in order to visualize the bigger picture with respect to your donor base.  If your CRM has these functionalities, the next question is whether you are maximizing its use effectively.  Are you uncovering the right prospects most promising to your major gift or annual campaign? Are you using your data to discern which solicitation appeals best resonate with any given donor? Are you generating and analyzing reports that help you develop better fundraising strategies?  Again, making certain that you customize your technology infrastructure so that it is saving you time and strengthening your relationships is essential.

Finally, if you purchased a CRM, you also need to invest appropriate time customizing fields that effectively segment constituency. Again, the goal here is to build personal connections. Your data, when customized, will help you quickly provide more personal appreciation and recognition to supportive constituents.  In segmenting data, there is certain demographic data you obviously wish to maintain such as age, gender, income level, level of involvement, and generational designation (i.e. millennial, baby boomer). But, you also want to collect and store data that is customized to your strategic fundraising efforts. For instance, if you desire to build an effective legacy program, two key elements are donor trust and donor perception.  Legacy donors need to trust and have a good perception of your financial stability and stewardship.  Thus, you may find it beneficial to track constituent perceptions over time.  In this example, you may want to particularly track the effect sharing financial reporting communications has on donor perception.  In this case, you may need to integrate your CRM with a dashboard to measure and track this key performance indicator. The last take away is that you need to make sure that your technology is working hard for you, and to make that happen requires customizing your technology to your individualized needs.  For assistance with database customization and donor modeling techniques, contact us at info@scottpractice.com.

HOW TO ENCOURAGE DONORS TO MAKE ENDOWMENT GIFTS

Senior Woman Writing Letter

Despite today’s technologically inclined society, many clients of our estate planning practice do not use e-mail or even a computer. This is why it is ideal to mail, from time to time, a compelling handwritten letter to faithful and consistent donors. These less technologically savvy individuals are possibly more receptive to the development of an endowment and the prospects of leaving a legacy. Hence, a customized message that addresses key aspects of your endowment program may generate interest from those who consistently give, but have never been personally approached by the nonprofit organization. The more you can customize the letter with information unique to the prospective endowment donor, the more effective the letter will be. An example of a customizable letter is as follows:

Dear Donor Name:

We received your last contribution of $_________, which has helped us tremendously. We gratefully appreciate your generosity and consistent support of our programs. The steadfast support we receive from donors like you has enabled us to reach important milestones such as …(list a few examples).  But, so much more needs to be done to not only meet dynamic challenges which lie ahead, but also achieve sustainable organizational growth over the next ten to twenty years.

The future foundation of our organization rests upon how well we plan for tomorrow. Despite the temptation to solely focus our efforts on immediate programing needs, we know that financial stability and viability of our organization rests upon future planning. One way we address the future is though our special endowment program. If you have ever dreamed about leaving a family legacy, our endowment program may be a perfect way to fulfil this desire. We encourage you to talk with our planned giving advisor about the possibility of making an endowment gift through your will or other estate planning device.

Sincerely,

President of …

To learn about how we help nonprofit organizations with their major gift programs go to www.scottpractice.com.

Starting a Planned Giving Program? Avoid These Common Mistakes

educational training

1. Poor Donor Cultivation

Planned Giving provides a unique opportunity for the organization to build a foundation of support from donors who share a connection with the organization’s mission. However, leadership must develop a clear strategy concerning how they will build and sustain donor relationships. Planned gifts generally materialize when there are concentrated efforts to cultivate existing and new relationships.

2. Not Investing in Donor Research

In the long run, the dividends an organization receives from its planned giving efforts can make a significant impact. The planned giving program can also be the difference that keeps the doors open when other funding sources fall short. However, planned giving is an investment of time, and donor research is one of the necessary time commitments. The organization must take the time to research and educate a large pool of prospects.

3. Lack of Program Visibility

Everyone in the nonprofit organization must be on board with promoting planned giving opportunities. The nonprofit’s planned giving program should be mentioned to existing and prospective donors at every function, on the organization’s website, in every donor newsletter, and during every donor visit.  If the nonprofit organization does not champion its planned giving program, no one else will.

4. Lack of Technical Knowledge

Planned gifts are generally substantial and formulated through complex estate planning arrangements. It is important that staff members receive proper training and development or hire outside consultants to assist with the technical aspect of the planned giving program.   Planned giving staff members should receive training on estate planning, financial planning and federal income taxation in order to present themselves confidently before prospective donors.

5. Unreasonable Expectations

Planned giving is a means to achieve a better financial future for the organization. Planned giving is about the future, not the present. Leadership must approach planned giving from a different mindset. Leadership must accept the reality of not seeing a payoff from its efforts for a long time, possibly years. However, because of the expected longevity in receiving a planned gift, the organization can set higher acceptance thresholds. For instance, the organization may require a certain dollar minimum or value before it accepts a certain type of gift. The longer the horizon before the charity receives the gift, the higher the minimum donation requirement.

For more information on establishing a planned giving program, contact us at info@scottpractice.com.

REACHING DONORS WHO WANT TO MAKE AN IMPACT

Impact

There are various perceived motives that form the basis of charitable intent. Three prominent economic models that explore altruism include 1) the public goods model, 2) the warm-glow model and 3) impact philanthropy. Many of our strategies focus on theories discussed in Brian Duncan’s “A theory of impact philanthropy”. The impact philanthropy model states that donors who give primarily to make a difference receive utility when their gift causes a direct change or impact on a social condition. These donors enjoy knowing how their gift directly benefited the cause of their concern. A nonprofit organization can increase its level of contributions by focusing its attention to impact donors. Although there are varying motives for giving, impact donors greatly enjoy the opportunity to target their donation because they appreciate seeing the impact of their giving. Conversely, these same donors do not like funding general operations because the use of their donation does not achieve a “direct” impact. For similar reasons, direct impact donors also prefer donating to smaller nonprofit organizations versus larger organizations because they perceive their donation can make a stronger impact. Nonprofit organizations who wish to target impact donors can create sponsoring agreements that showcase specific areas of need, but at the same time reinforce the general needs of the organization. The time and resources spent on attracting impact donors can be extremely beneficial for a nonprofit. Satisfied impact donors are more likely to remain involved with the organization. With the right approach, a nonprofit can also optimize the relationship, generating a charitable lifecycle of giving. For more information on our donor cultivation strategies, contact info@scottpractice.com.