Meeting Your Donors Where They’re At

A couple of weeks ago I went to my niece’s birthday party and had an interesting conversation with her grandfather. He was planning on attending a Crab Feed that I was organizing at our church and we were discussing the amount of money that came in last year verses the amount of guests who attended. He thought the giving rather low and I thought it was adequate for the level of guests that attended. In non-profit fundraising, different causes attract a certain group of people and you have to meet them where they’re at.
So far on my resume I’ve been a teacher then I entered the nonprofit world working at a homeless shelter, church and symphony. I’ve learned that in each of these fields, fundraising and the donors they attract are just as vast as the categories themselves.

Education Fundraising

Education fundraising attracts generous grandparents and family members who are usually hit up once or twice a year with jog-a-thon sponsorships, cookie dough sales and catalogs with overpriced candles and wrapping paper. These fundraisers tend to be fairly successful as prizes of cheap toys and gadgets are dangled before the eyes of sticky fingered, wide-eyed children; and what doting grandma or uncle can say “no” to little Susie when she says “Would you like to buy something to help my school?” (Currently I’ve consumed three out of five Girl Scout cookie boxes in two weeks with this approach and have two tubs of cookie dough from another niece stocked in my freezer… too bad the treats don’t come with “sucker” stickers for my forehead.)

Now I’m not saying to toss these ideas away, but my sister came up with a great idea to avoid overpaying for unwanted clutter and calories: she asks what percentage of the item actually goes to the school and then she gives a certain amount to compensate. For example, my niece sells wreaths to go to winter camp every year. It costs about $25 for a small wreath but regardless of the size, $5 goes into her account. I’d rather give her $10 and forego tossing the wreath in the trash when it dies. With Fundly she could even start her own website, e-mail friends and family members with her sales pitch and then give them the option to help with a purchase or direct donation.

School fundraisers are a great way for students to compete for and earn what their school needs, but a Fundly site would also be an ideal way to earn dollars year round. It would be perfect for a library building program, acquiring new playground equipment or buying updated textbooks. Friends and family members could get a letter or e-mail from the student and when they log on, they can see how close the school is to approaching their goal. No extra calories, no overpriced clutter, no juggling checks and cash in flimsy envelopes and all the money goes to the cause and not unwanted products.

Humanitarian Fundraising

This is one of my personal favorite areas of fundraising: homeless shelters, food banks and recovery programs. With the economy in its current state, more and more people are reaching out for help and the generosity of our communities is incredible as they are stepping up to help their fellow man. Sometimes I think that this is also one of the easier areas of fundraising because of the compassion factor: who isn’t moved by a picture of a family huddled in the cold or a before and after picture of a man caught in the grips of despair then miraculously transformed into finding hope and a future?

When I worked at a shelter, I had the privilege of being the Special Events Coordinator and I organized golf tournaments, annual banquets, Christmas gift giveaways and school supply drives. While most of our funding came through monthly direct mail campaigns, the connection with the volunteers and banquet guests kept the dollars rolling in. Currently they are incorporating more online fundraising options such as evites, e-mail campaigns and e-newsletters. I remember the budget for thousands of mailers was outrageous and I can’t imagine the savings that the internet is bringing. (However, I must also add that about 20% of the donors were elderly who prefer the traditional mailers and return envelopes. Compartmentalize your donors and focus on what works for each age group and giving level.)

Church Fundraisers

I’ve been at the same church since I was 13 years old and in those 23 years since, I think I’ve helped out and participated in just about every type of ministry with events ranging from car washes to banquets to craft fairs to building programs. From the perspectives of a child, teen, adult and parent, I’ve seen more than my share of fundraising opportunities.

Now with the church going crowd, there’s an easy side and a difficult side to garnering funds. First of all, there are moral and spiritual obligations to give… that’s the “easy” part. The difficult part is that these donors are already contributing and in a church environment they are continually asked to give more: the opportunities include tithing, missions, maybe a building program or special family in need. Then there are outside ministries such as crisis centers, inner city outreaches or clothing drives that tap into the same church-going crowd. (Now this is where this post started: the grandfather I was talking to couldn’t comprehend why people weren’t being more generous. My argument was that the guests that were attending our event were already generous and this was just an additional cause to support.)

In churches, I think that social media is a greatly underused resource. The church is already an established community and Facebook is just a visual extension of that family. When I opened my Facebook account, within two weeks I had 86 friends and 90% are from church!

So far I’ve started fundraising websites for a golf tournament and have two pending with a recovery ministry and outreach to veterans. Fundly is great for these projects because while the funding will be funneled through the church, each ministry can have its separate site to post future events, how close they are to their financial goals and they can share their mission with the friends on Facebook. Also, the cost is minimal so the funds go directly to the task at hand with little to no time, man power and effort invested.

Fundraising for the Arts

When I started working at a symphony, the dichotomy of fundraising really hit me. I was used to the homeless shelter food donations, creating something out of nothing and an entirely different clientele. Then at this creative office an expanse of Juilliard graduates, prodigies, business moguls and wealthy retired philanthropists paraded through the doors. I worked in the development department and helped with events such as food and wine tastings, concerts in private homes and an annual grand ball. Just as the causes had completely different goals, so did the donors who contributed.

While many of these supporters aided both the arts and humanitarian causes, the acknowledgement and expectations that they required from the nonprofits they contributed to were entirely different. The motivation seemed to range between moral obligations to social prestige. Petitioning for funds also required a new thought process: to attract the wealthier donors’ attention, it took a refined touch of wining and dining accompanied by bells and whistles. They had seen it all and heard it all and usually earned their money through fine business acumen; if anything less was presented, the ask was left on the table.

While relationships are the basis for any size gift, the bigger asks and more powerful donors require more in depth one-on-one attention and nurturing. However, incorporating social media is a great way to open the door to any donor. Showing a sample artists’ work, advertising events and ticket sales and petitioning funds for future projects are all perfect things to display on a fundraising page. By using Fundly, donors can also have their giving posted on Facebook to encourage their friends to join their efforts.

With every cause there are a variety of donors that come with it. Furthermore, within your donors it is important to categorize giving levels, the most effective ways of communication and the best angles to get them involved. From direct mail campaigns to online giving, the most valuable way to reach your donors is by knowing who they are.