Having a compelling mission is a key to Getting Fully Funded. Watch this short video as I explain what a compelling mission is.

I had the privilege of hearing my friend and colleague Gail Perry present at the Virginia Fund Raising Institute recently.  Gail is a wonderful speaker and has a way of making her audience feel at ease so they can soak up all the information she shares.  I thought I’d share some of my notes from her presentation called “Fire Up Your Board!”

1. Help Board members reconnect with their passion for your organization.  Give them opportunities to practice talking about the organization and their experiences.

2. Redefine fundraising into friendraising.  So many Board members don’t want anything to do with fundraising.  Help them see that you are simply connecting people with the work you are doing through their gifts.  You’re developing friends who will be there to stand beside you for years to come.

3. Put them to work in easy, no-ask jobs.  Give your Board tasks to do that count as fundraising, but don’t require them to ask anyone for money.  Examples include inviting friends for a tour of your facility, calling to thank donors, and talking to friends in the checkout line at the grocery store about your mission.

Gail said, “We all get the Boards we deserve.”  Translation:  we get out of our Board what we put into it.  Don’t expect people to show up to sit on your Board and already know how to be a great Board member.  It won’t happen.  You must support people and teach them how to be a great Board member.

Thanks for a great presentation, Gail!

Thanks to my guest Hank Lewis for today’s post. I think you’ll like it.

Who Is A Major Gift Prospect ??
By Hank Lewis, MA CFRM

When the question of major gift fundraising first arises, many unsophisticated board members, volunteers and staff immediately begin talking about the “rich and famous” — with Bill Gates being the name at the top of almost everyone’s list.

The wrong assumption that many people make — and one that can become a major time waster — is that an organization’s prospect list should contain the names of every conceivable wealthy person.

Indeed, yes, the first steps of a major gifts effort should include the generation of a list of wealthy individuals. But the distinction is whether they are likely to become “prospects.”

Major Gift Prospects are people who:

1. Have wealth, and may derive satisfaction from using that wealth to advance the causes in which they believe;
2. Are accessible to you and/or (even better) to current major donors to your organization;
3. Have a need that will be satisfied by making a significant gift to your organization;

Ideally, but not necessarily, Major Gift Prospects are also:

1. Aware of the effectiveness of your programs and the business-like manner in which you operate;
2. Passionate about wanting to see your mission achieved; and,
3. Involved with your organization and/or its programs, and demonstrate a commitment to the success of your mission.

You can have a long list of wealthy people, but unless they meet the criteria, they’re not “Prospects.” They’re people you’d like to think of as likely donors, but you have no evidence to support that wishful thinking.

Bottom line is, for people to be Major Donor Prospects; you must have enough of a relationship with them to satisfy the above qualifiers, and to know them well enough to recognize/identify their needs.

Major gift fundraising is more about the needs of the donor, than about the needs of the organization.

Have a question about starting or expanding your fundraising program?
Email Hank at AskHank@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counseling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, I’ll do my best to answer your question.

This was the topic of one of my presentations at the AFP Northern Arizona Education Day last week.  Here are some key points from this session:

Donor relationships are like gardens.  They bear the most fruit when they are properly tended to.  Keep them weeded, watered, and fertilized, and you’ll be delighted with the results.

1. Good donor relationships are the key to successful fundraising. Relationships build loyalty.  Loyal donors give again and again, keeping you from always searching for new donors.

2. Two-way communication is critical to building relationships.  We can’t just speak AT our donors.  We must speak WITH them.  Always be on the lookout for ways to give your donors to communicate with you.

3. Good donor relationships are built on purpose.  We’re so used to relationships growing naturally that it feels a bit uncomfortable to do it on purpose.  But it’s really no different.  Be truly interested in your donor as a person and you can avoid feeling manipulative.

Thanks to the AFP Northern Arizona Chapter for inviting me to spend the day with them!  It was great fun!  See the pictures at the chapter’s Facebook page.

Today’s blog post is provided by my dear friend and grant writer extraordinaire, Charlaine Hood.

The biggest tip about writing a grant is to get over your fear: of failure, of not getting it right, of not including enough…what ever your mind is telling you to hold you back from ever trying to write that B-I-G grant.   However, the focus of this article isn’t about fear holding you back.  It’s about what could possibly be created if you unlocked your potential in spite of the fear.

Sandy has said many times:  ‘Reach into your heart and unlock your passion around fundraising.’  This is great advice for writing grants.  Close your eyes, (Yes, right now.) and think about what it is that you LOVE about your organization.  What just grounds you down to your toes in the work you do each day?  Now hold that image, breathe it in, experience it and let your potential flow.

From here, what would you write?  How would you speak about your clients, staff, organization, national focus and mission?  From this space of OMG I LOVE WHAT WE DO, take a sheet of paper and write:

Funding my project is important because:

We will accomplish ___ with the funds so generously given.

_#_ lives will be changed in ______ ways.

Evidence to support this is ____ (any empirical + all the years of success from past projects as well as lessons learned).

KEEP THIS TEMPLATE! Revise it, reuse it, replace components as your organization grows.  Stay away from the ‘I don’t know how’ mentality and go for writing at least one grant in this manner.

The grant request usually makes this even easier by specifying either a page or ½ a page for just this content.  And if it doesn’t, always remember that there is a committee who will be reviewing the grant requests.  Be sharp, focused and direct in what you are requesting and what your organization will be giving for those funds.

Using just this method over the last few years, I have written and received over 1.3 million dollars in grants.  Let your love of your organization inform what you do.

Charlaine Hood, LMSW is the owner of Vibrantly Alive Consulting & Nonprofit Mentoring.  She works with small to medium sized nonprofits to create strategic solutions for nonprofit issues.  She gained practical experience the last four years as a management executive at a large, faith based nonprofit managing a multi-million dollar budget with diverse programs around the East Tennessee region.  Visit her website:  www.charlainehood.com for more information of what she has to offer your organization.

Today’s blog post comes from my friend Betsy Baker, a grant-writing consultant and teacher.

As a grant writing consultant for the past 8 years for a variety of nonprofit clients, I often run into the eager beaver convinced that I can find them the “magic” grant that will alleviate all their financial woes.  Do grant monies exist that will help support present and future activities of the organization?  Certainly.  Do organizations win such grants through magical powers?  Certainly not.  (Forgive me of my overuse of “magical.”  In planning a Disney trip for my 3 year old I keep hearing “Have a magical day” at the end of every phone conversation.)

You see, nonprofits that win big grants to help sustain their activities on a more long-term basis have implemented a strategy that makes them grant ready.  It’s not about finding the grant – it’s about being ready to receive the grant.  Today, you, lucky reader, will learn what makes an organization “grant ready.”  Get ready by following The 6 Simple Rules for Winning Big Grants:

Simple Rule #1 – Demonstrate your importance – what would happen to the community you serve if you suddenly were unable to deliver service?  Don’t be gloomy but do paint an accurate picture of what your community would be missing without your services.

Simple Rule #2 – Talk about the lives you touch – Can you easily identify your target audience?  With their permission, tell their stories to back up your statistics.  The trend in fund raising is compelling story telling – not a “just the facts, ma’am” presentation.

Simple Rule #3 – Explain how your program makes a difference – Potential funders are interested in the benefits of your program, not your program’s features.

Simple Rule #4 – Be an example of best practice – are you as an organizational staff constantly working to improve your own performance?

Simple Rule #5 – Be a sound investment – keep your organization in check with “housekeeping” such as an appropriate governing body, updated personnel policies, up to date bylaws, etc.

Simple Rule #6 – Be  gracious funding partner – for example, ALWAYS thank grant partners, submit required reports on time, live up to any advertising you have promised a grantor.

For more grant writing strategies designed to help you win big grant money visit my blog at http://www.yourgrantauthority.com/Blog.aspx.  And, as always, Have a Magical Day!

Betsy Baker is dedicated to helping the small nonprofit.  Whatever your grant writing goals, trust The Grant Authority to help you realize them! Sometimes it’s possible to get more than what you pay for. See what a difference The Grant Authority can make for you! Visit Betsy at www.yourgrantauthority.com.

So Kentucky Fried Chicken is doing a cause marketing promotion for the Susan Komen Foundation. You know, the one that fights breast cancer.

And there are a lot of people scratching their heads about that.  Some are even angry.  Many are calling it a huge blunder.

It’s tough to understand how greasy fast food and fighting breast cancer go together.  It’s almost like saying “Come and eat the fast food that will give you high cholesterol and heart disease, and we’ll give $0.50 to fight breast cancer.”  There’s just something incongruent about it.

I completely understand about getting corporate sponsors and cause-related marketing deals.  I’ve done them many times in my career.  This one just doesn’t seem right to me.

My colleague Nancy Schwartz thinks Komen has made a huge blunder and that this will hurt them. Here’s what she says:

“As I see it, Komen’s decision to partner with KFC has damaged the trust that exists between it and its supporters. Specifically, their actions thus far have:

• Undermined its credibility. (It’s hard to believe they are focused on women’s health.)
• Eroded its authenticity. (What does the organization stand for if they can’t see what’s wrong with this partnership?)
• Alienated its supporters. (See the comments above from walkers and donors.)”

You can read her entire post here.

What do you think about this promotion?  I’d love to hear what you think.  Click on the comment link and leave your two cents.

If you need help putting a fundraising plan together for this year, I’d love to help!

Join me Thursday, February 4th at 3 pm easter for a free call as I present my “Simple Success” Fundraising Plan.

I’ll tell you

• Why you need a fundraising plan
• 7 questions your plan must answer
• The optimum number of goals you should set
• How to create goals that you can reach
• My proven tool to keep yourself on track each month

Plus, you’ll hear about a virtual planning retreat I’m hosting in February.

Sign up now for this free call! http://getfullyfunded.info/where-is-sandy/free-teleseminars

If you want to hear the call, but can’t be there with us, go ahead and sign up.  I’ll send you a link to the recording.

Register at http://getfullyfunded.info/where-is-sandy/free-teleseminars.

This is a guest post written by my friend and colleague Peggy Jarrett, Senior Trainer for the More to Life program.

I awoke the other morning contemplating the ritual of New Year’s resolutions.  It seems to me that often we come up with resolutions for a variety of reasons.   We ‘should’.   It’s what we do at this time of year.  They really are a ‘good idea’ and these are goals that we need to handle anyway, right?  So, I’ll make x, y and z my New Year’s resolutions.  Done!

Except that I don’t think any of the above is what RESOLVE is really all about.  RESOLVE takes passion, commitment, an unshakeable urge, or what I experience as a ‘fire in my belly’.  If the fire isn’t there, forget it.  It’s likely not going to happen.

As professionals in the non-profit sector, a fire in our bellies is essential – not just a good idea – but essential to create results and ensure the health and success of our organizations.  (A strong fire in the belly also does a lot for one’s personal life

We all need help at times to reignite the embers of our fire. Reigniting, remembering, re-visioning, re-creating…these are all the reasons that Sandy and I are bringing Transformative Leadership to a select few executive directors in January – March of this year.  I urge you not to miss it.

Read more about Transformative Leadership at www.getfullyfunded.com/transformative-leadership-training.

Continuing education is a good thing.  As fundraisers, we’ve got to keep learning so we can stay up on all the latest trends.

The Wild Apricot Blog has come up with 23 free webinars happening in the month of October.  Run on over there and check them out!  http://bit.ly/4C6eSu