I was at a fundraising committee meeting recently and we were talking about growing the organization’s donor base. This is a common goal for nonprofit organizations, right?  Well, I’m always delighted when folks who don’t have formal fundraising training get it, as happened that day.

As we were talking about strategies for growing the donor base, we talked about how minimizing the loss of donors would help increase our overall number of active donors.  That’s when one sweet man said “we need to put our picture on their piano.”  We giggled immediately knowing what he meant.

I remember when I was little, my Grandma had lots of photos of family and friends on her beautiful upright piano.  That was her way of keeping them close and remembering them often.  The suggestion of putting our picture on the donor’s piano was a perfect way to describe the importance we need to put on relationships with our donors.  Our donors are so much more to us than just the check they write.  Their gift is a vote of confidence in the work our organization is doing.  It’s their way of saying they support what we’re doing and they want to see us succeed.  They, too, want to see the change we’re after in the world.

And that kind of support deserves our attention and respect.  Maybe we should put their picture on our piano, too.

Missy is one of four cats that live here with us. We adopted her from a local shelter about 10 years ago and she’s a sweetie. She’s the oldest and the smallest of the pack and to help her keep weight on, we feed her canned cat food every afternoon about 4 pm.  She LOVES her “tuna” as we call it and eats every last bite.

Lately, I’ve been watching her and thinking that Missy might have something to teach us about fundraising.

She knows what her goal is. Missy knows what she wants and every afternoon, she waits in her usual spot for her dinner.

She’s hopeful. When anyone walks to the kitchen at any time in the afternoon, Missy goes too, just to see if she might get fed early.

She builds relationship. She gives out lots of love during the day to those who feed her.

She expresses appreciation. She purrs and gives out love to those who help her reach her goal.

This is all good, but sometimes she’s a pest.  In fact, we’ve started calling her “Pesty Cat” because she ALWAYS wants to be fed.  This is a danger for many nonprofit fundraising folks – always showing up with their hand out for money.

If that’s how you approach fundraising, your donors will likely get tired of it.  Make sure that you ask often enough for a gift, but not too often.  It’s a fine line to walk, but one your donors will appreciate if you can get it right. If you want to take it a step further, ask your donors how often and when they’d like to be asked for a gift.  It puts your donor in charge of the relationship and they’ll be much happier.  You’ll likely see your results go up and your expenses go down.  Wondering how to do that?  Survey your donors and simply ask them what they want.

Gotta go – Missy is ready for her dinner!

Happy New Year my friends! I hope your 2011 is off to a great start.

I’ve seen many blog posts recently about New Year’s resolutions and many bloggers are suggesting that you NOT create them. They say that too many people set resolutions that aren’t realistic, then fail quickly and beat themselves up. I think there’s some truth to that.

Here’s what I’m doing for myself this year. I’ve set a goal I want to work toward and I’m focused on the baby steps required to get me there. One goal I’m working on is weight loss. And instead of focusing on the 20 pounds I want to lose, I’m working on spending just 20 minutes a day exercising in some way and cutting down on my portions. It’s a baby step, but it’s much more doable to me that dropping 20 pounds. And I’m much more likely to stick with it because I can have a sense of completion every day.

How can you apply this principle to your fundraising office? Well, let’s say you have a goal to get 250 new donors by July 1. That’s roughly 45 new donors a month or 10 new donors a week. Depending on the strategy you choose, 10 new donors a week should be pretty easy. You should be able to talk to enough new people to gain that many. You see how this works?

Any big goal becomes doable when you break it down into baby steps. You’ve probably heard the saying that you eat an elephant one bite at a time. Same thing.

So whether you’re creating resolutions or just setting goals for the year, be sure to break them down into manageable pieces to ensure your success!

Step one in the Simple Success Fundraising Plan is to identify your assets.  What are your organization’s assets?  They are things that you have going for you that you can leverage in your plan.  Here are some examples of nonprofit organizational assets: 

• Compelling mission (like feeding the hungry or housing the homeless)
• Large donor base
• Incredible organization name recognition (like Habitat for Humanity)
• Well-known staff or Board members
• Facility that lends itself well to a tour (like a clinic, shelter, or food pantry)
• Organizational vehicles that are driven around town regularly
• Website with LOTS of daily visitors
• Opportunity for earned income (like a thrift store or gift shop)
• Well-known local, regional, or national celebrity who supports your organization
• Something else?

What are your nonprofit organization’s assets?

Want more info on the Simple Success Fundraising Plan?  Click here: www.getfullyfunded.com/simple-success-retreat.

Join me next Friday, Feb 19, as I lead a virtual retreat to help you create a detailed fundraising plan for 2010.

A virtual retreat is just what it sounds like – a time to step back and plan, but you can do it from home or your office.  You just need a phone and internet access.  We’ll be on the phone for a while, then I’ll give you an assignment and you’ll hang up and work on it.  Then we’ll get back on the phone together and do the next part.  I think you’ll really enjoy this format!

I’ll be taking you through the creation of goals, objectives, and action plans for your fundraising program this year.  We’ll talk about everything from special events to major donors, and I’ll share nearly a dozen templates and tools that I’ve developed and used over the years to help me raise money more effectively.

To read more or to sign up, visit http://getfullyfunded.com/simple-success-retreat

Yesterday, I led a webinar to teach people my “Simple Success” Fundraising Plan.  One of the things I shared was the 7 questions your fundraising plan MUST answer.  I thought you might enjoy them too, so here they are.

1. How much money do we need to raise?  You need a specific goal for your plan.  If you just want to “raise more money” you’re setting yourself up for failure.  After all, how much is more money?  $1 more? $100 more?

2. Where will the money come from?  You need a mix of revenue streams to ensure the health of your organization.  Will you raise money from individuals? Foundations? Events?  Don’t set a goal without knowing where you will raise the money.

3. Who will we ask?  Be specific.  Who will you ask for money?  This gets into creating lists of potential donors.

4. When will we ask?  Create a calendar of when you will ask.  Include grant deadlines, events, etc. to get a complete picture of your year.

5. How much will we ask for?  You need to think through the amount you will request from each donor.  You may have to do a litle research in some cases to find out how much is appropriate, particularly if you’re working with major givers.

6. How will we follow up on a gift?  You need to know how you will thank your donors, how you will steward gifts, and how you will build relationships.  Be proactive about this – not reactive!

7. How soon will we ask again?  Don’t be afraid to ask several times during the year for a gift.  If you only ask once during the year, I promise you that you are leaving money on the table!  If you are doing a good job building relationships with your donors, they WANT to support the work you are doing.  Make it easy for them by giving them multiple opportunities to give.

If you’re currently wrestling with a fundraising plan and you’d like help, I invite you to check out the virtual retreat I’m leading on Friday, Feb 19 to walk you through my “Simple Success” Fundraising Plan.  Get all the details at www.getfullyfunded.com/simple-success-retreat.

I thought I’d have a little fun here and list for you the Top 10 Reasons NOT to create a fundraising plan (David Letterman style).  Here they are:

10. You like working in crisis mode.  It makes the day more interesting.

9. You think flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants is somewhere between “coach” and “first class.”

8. If you have a plan, you might lose your membership in “Underachievers Anonymous.”

7. You think “crisis du jour” means soup of the day and you’re hoping it’s broccoli cheese.

6. Being reactive actually forces you to scurry around the office more, and it counts as exercise.

5. If you had a plan you might need to be organized, and you’re afraid of what you might find if you were to clean your office.  Some of those piles of paper have been there a LONG time!

4. You LIKE wandering aimlessly!

3. You have no more space on your bookshelf for the binder containing the plan.  (Isn’t that what we do with plans?)

2. Working a plan would mean being more efficient and you’re not sure what you’d do with all your free time.

And the number 1 reason…

1. If your plan is successful and you raise a lot of money, you might work yourself out of a job!

There are so many little things that get overlooked when we as Fundraisers get busy.  One of them is thanking volunteers.

I was coaching a busy Executive Director lately and she mentioned that she has a lot of people who are volunteering with her organiazation and doing sweet things.  I asked her if she had thanked them recently. “Thanked them? Uh, no.” 

So here’s the idea I gave her.  Go pick up a box of valentine’s and write a personal note on them, then mail them to your volunteers.  It’s simple, it’s affordable, it’s quick, and it works!  Most of the time, people just want to know you appreciate them. (This also works for some donors and other supporters.)

Brainstorm a couple of ideas throughout the year when you can do these little things to thank your volunteers.  Then get them on the calendar so you won’t forget.

Would you like more great little ideas like this?  Join me Thursday afternoon at 3 pm eastern for a free call.  Sign up and get all the details here: http://getfullyfunded.info/where-is-sandy/free-teleseminars.

Here are some of my favorite quotes about planning.

The significance of a man is not in what he attains but in what he longs to attain. Kahlil Gibran

If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.  Yogi Berra

Don’t bunt. Aim out of the ballpark. David Ogilvy

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. Thomas Jefferson

Success always comes when preparation meets opportunity. Henry Hartman

If you can dream it, you can do it. Walt Disney

Plan your work.  Then work your plan.  Anonymous

Do you have a favorite quote on planning?  I’d love to hear it!  Click on the comment link and share.

Setting goals is a key part of creating a plan.  How you create your goals is equally important.

True story:  I’ve asked nonprofits to share their goals with me and they say “raise more money” or “raise a lot of money”.  Those are not good goals.  They’re too vague.  They set no direction.  Does “raise more money” mean you want to raise $1 more?  Or $100 more?

Be as specific as you can when setting goals and you’ll be much more likely to achieve them.  Setting a goal of “raising $10,000 by July 1″ is a better goal – provided that you have the capability to raise that amount of money in that timeframe. 

Once you set a goal, be sure that you know HOW you will achieve it.  Pulling numbers out of the air and then hoping you’ll reach them is no good.  Be sure you have specific work plans to back it up.  In the case of the $10,000, if you know you can add one more direct mail appeal to your schedule and raise that money, then that’s a good goal and one you’ll be likely to achieve.