A Small Change- Fundraising Blog

I am currently in career transition. In a few weeks time I will be leaving my current job to start as the Campaign Manager at a local community college. It is going to be a great opportunity to be a part of a great institution of higher education and participate in a capital campaign. I am very excited and hope this will bring a whole new skill set for me to reflect on at A Small Change.

Over the next couple of weeks I would really appreciate any input and advice from you on capital campaigns. Next week on April 21, I am hosting the Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants on the topic, “Ingredients to a Successful Capital Campaign.” Please send your submissions to me at infosmallchange@gmail.com, the last day to submit will be Friday, April 18. I really want this carnival to be a good one so if you have a few minutes to craft a creative and exciting article (on Capital Campaigns) I’d love to promote it on next weeks post.

In early May you will also see another one of my “Online Interviews.” At the end of January I interviewed a number of online fundraising experts and wrote a five part series. Come early May you will see a very similar interview on the topic of capital campaigns. Feel free to let me know of any great capital campaign resources, or pieces of advice below.

I have posted many times about online fundraising and I think I’ve explained some of reasons why. With online fundraising the stakes are the same for a large multi-million dollar organization as they are for a small $100,000 charity. Here are a few thoughts and tips about merging together online and offline funding campaigns.

Why? At this point online fundraising is growing but for most organization is only represents a small (but growing) portion of the organizations giving. But many people want to have the online option available to them but will use a paper mail product to initiate their gift. Richard McPherson in his book, Digital Giving, says “direct mail is a calm port in a storm of electronic demands. And it’s often easier than giving online.” You will find me quoting his book a number of times in the coming weeks he has a lot of incredible tangible tips on how to fundraise online.

With online giving growing and how easy it is for a donor to use it is something that your organization should start to think about. I would like to advocate for an integrated model of online & offline fundraising. In any of your paper direct mail appeals make sure that your website is on them & that there is a one click link to your donation page. Put a link to donate or visit your website at the bottom of your email signature.

What ideas do you have to integrate your current mailings & emailings?

I am excited to bring to you this month’s feature organization, Charity for Debt. They are looking for some input from you on the most effective way to bring in $1,000 donations. Please check out past Org of the Months and if you want to promote your small non-profit download the sign-up form and email to infosmallchange@gmail.com.

What is your non-profit about? And what areas do you serve?

Charity for Debt is a new non profit aimed at alleviating student loan debt in America and staffing charities with reliable, motivated individuals through a transparent and personal donor-volunteer experience. Charity for Debt serves students and recent graduates with student loan debt, non profits and charities in need of volunteers, and our donors.

The Charity for Debt model enables our donors to select a student volunteer who matches their interests and values. The student volunteer works with the donor to decide on a charity to contribute his/her time. The charity then receives a reliable, motivated volunteer to fill any labor gaps in their operation. The volunteer works for the charity for 4 to 6 hours per week, usually for 6 weeks, and at the end of this time is awarded up to $1,000 paid directly to the student’s education loan company. The donor receive weekly progress reports and activities, which are tracked and archived on the volunteer’s online portfolio. The model creates a transparent process for the donors, students, and charities to track progress and easily show the positive results that were made possible.

What are the major fundraising programs you have?

We just started the Green Light Campaign to attract $10,000, which will enable two pilot programs of the Charity for Debt model to begin in Washington DC and Dallas TX. We are actively looking for individual donors and corporations to sponsor a student volunteer for $1,000 or more in these communities. The sponsoring donor’s name will be forever attached to volunteer’s positive outcomes porfolio on the Internet to show the results the donor enabled in their community. We hope to create a personal connection between the donor and the volunteer and allow the donor to see how their dollars are being spent.

What sector do you raise money for?

We raise money for the financial debt sector and for non profit staffing needs.

What geographic area does your charity serve and where is it located?

We are located in Washington DC and are currently serving the DC and Dallas, TX areas. We hope to serve every community in the United States at some point. We have been approached by an individual in Wisconsin and South Africa who want to open Charity for Debt branches in their communities. We are working with these two amazing individuals (and our lawyers) to create an expansion system that will easily allow other communities to establish a Charity for Debt branch serving their citizens. If you would like to open a Charity for Debt branch in your community, please contact us at charityfordebt@gmail.com.

Any tips on how to approach donors in your area?

Be honest, show transparency for their dollars, create a personal connection for the donors.

Any pointers for organizations in your area that help non-profit professionals?

Explore the advantages of running non profits more like entrepreneurial ventures.

Do you have any problems or questions that you would like to ask for answers form the philanthropic community?

• What are the most effective methods to find individual donors that will give $1,000 or more?
• What donor materials (simple brochure, flier, postcard, emails) are the most effective communication tool to attract new donors?
• What are the most efficient expansion models non profits have deployed to expand to communities across the U.S., and world?

You had some really great responses to my recent article I Don’t Want to Ask for Money. I think that there are many of us in a similar place. I was really encouraged by your wisdom and responses.  Linda from Portland Women’s Crisis Line had a really encouraging comment:

I want my donors to feel like they are part of something bigger than themselves. That their check, along with each check we receive, is an indication of their commitment to the values the organization holds true.

In many ways that is exactly what I want fundraising to be about.  We have an opportunity to advocate for an idea, or belief, or person, together in a way that is bigger than ourselves. When we “fundraise” we are not just trying to get people to give money we want to see an entire shift in thinking.  Linda went onto say, “I have seen this idea bring spark to the eyes of the most reluctant board member who has to ask for money. It’s a shifting of paradigm.”  That is so encouraging I love it when donors see that they are making a difference and get excited about it.

With development professionals like you I’m really excited about the future of fundraising. I keep hearing time and time again that fund development is changing into something more personal and more intentional. Stephanie from Community Service for the Blind and Partially Sighted had a great comment too:

Development is about relationship building, not only cultivating the initial relationship, but deepening it. I used to think it was “asking for money” that was the issue. I’ve since revised that thinking somewhat when I realized there are many, many people who fear deepening a relationship.

Do you have anything to add to the conversation?  Any stories or examples that keep you going when you are raising money?

Peter Deitz on Social Actions is asking the question at this month’s Giving Carnival whether person-to-person fundraising is dead. Here is my take on the topic. Person-to-person fundraising is an exciting new frontier, as is online fundraising. I think that we are at the very beginning of a new movement for the whole fundraising field to working online.

At this point when you read a study or talk to people everyone is saying that online fundraising is on the rise. I’ve heard a lot of different numbers about how many more people are giving online. But what we are not regularly hearing is that there are some nonprofits that do all their fundraising online.

The internet has leveled the playing field for non-profits (check out my article Micro vs Macro). But even greater than that I think that the internet has leveled the playing field for philanthropy. Looking at an organization like Kiva or the Obama Campaign and you start to see the power of small online gifts. The future of philanthropy is no longer the “super rich” giving to the “super poor.” In todays world it can be people of any age, any wealth demographic, giving in almost any way (i.e. voting, blogging, awareness, financially).

I think that the world is not yet ready for peer-to-peer fundraising. All we can think about is how great it would be if we could use peer-to-peer fundraising to get our donors to ask one of their friends for money. But the real power is going to come when every day people start realizing the wealth of their personal networks. When they realize that they can raise global awareness for an issue simply by voting for it, social bookmarking it, talking about it in forums & chat rooms, and giving small monthly donations we are going to see a wave of movement.

I don’t think we really understand the capacity of peer-to-peer fundraising. To me when the “Digitally Native” generation starts to see the impact that they can have we are going to see a radical change in online giving.