A Small Change- Fundraising Blog

Foundations of the past traditionally gave a large number of small grants to many different organizations. It was about helping as many organizations as possible and granting to organizations that had the very best proposals. I think that today (and it will continue in the future) foundations are starting to become more and more strategic. They are choosing specific problems or community/global areas that they want to make a difference in and are granting in large capacities to these organizations. They want more information and they want more outcomes. They are starting to ask real questions and really want to be a part of the non-profit’s current and future success. I know it is true with business foundations and from other conversations I’ve had it seems to be true in community foundations as well that they are giving out fewer grants at a higher dollar value.

One thing that I’ve been really encouraged to see from a number of foundations is their commitment to matching dollars and multi-year giving. It is a brilliant idea for a foundation to ask a non-profit to leverage their dollars in such a way that it doubles the value of their gift. With multi-year giving it enables a non-profit to have a stead flow of support for more than one year in a small non-profit this allows the organization to spend time thinking strategically about the future and build a stronger financial position.

There is an increase in foundations that want to help small non-profits succeed. The Craigslist Foundation has created what they call a “Non-profit Boot Camp” where they have podcasts and training sessions from experts on how to start and run a small non-profit. The Mission Increase Foundation has regular workshops to train their grantees in board development, fundraising, and other high level strategic organizational issues. Every grantee is required to be a part of the program and they are doing incredible things in the communities they are in. Social Venture Partners takes an active volunteer role in the organizations that they partner with the organization and take and active role in strengthening systems, management practices, and strategies.

I’m participating in the January 21st Giving Carnival: What will foundations look like in 10, 25 or 50 years? A few predictions below:
• Granting organizations will continue to become more strategic funding only those areas.
• There will be fewer grants but at a higher level.
• There will be more “online foundations” like GiveWell.
• Today more and more foundations are starting to have blogs. I think in the future some blogs will have foundations. Who know maybe one day A Small Change will be a foundation to fund the fundraisers.

Do you have any stories or comments about what you see foundations doing in your area or with your non-profit? Do you have any predictions of your own? Leave a comment below.

A donor tour is possibly one of the most exciting parts of fundraising. Tours give you the opportunity to show off your organization and talk to your donors face to face. They provide you the chance to share all your organization’s wonderful stories and provide a context for the work that you do. In a solicitation letter you might have a brief story, or at an event you will often share a few facts about your organization, but in a tour you can explain more in-depth exactly who you are and what you do.

Here are a few things that I do on my tours that might help you as you give tours.

• Have a key program staff lead the tour or make sure to stop by a number of program staff members desks and ask them to talk about what they do (make sure to let them know you’re coming). This allows the donor to hear a “hands on” tale of what the organization is doing. And who knows their project area better than the staff member in charge of it.
• Practice your tour. Make sure that you know where you are going to go next and what you are going to say. If this means you walk through a practice run then do it, for me I take a minute at my desk and mentally think about where I’m going to go and what I’m going to say.
• Schedule enough time and take a deep breath. Pause for a minute as you go through each stage of your tour. I tend to get excited about what I’m talking about and who I’m touring. A deep breath before you get started and as you go can help you to take your time. A donor wants to see the organization unfold before their eyes not have it thrown at them all at once.
• Let the donor talk. Make sure you are allowing the donor time to ask questions and reflect on what they see. A tour should be an interactive two way dialog.
• Have a meeting room. Have a place where you can start and end the tour. This allows the donor to take off their coat and set their purse or briefcase down. It gives you a place to give a brief introduction to the organization (make sure your introduction is brief as the donor is there to see the non-profit not just hear about it). After the tour is finished bring them back to the meeting room and ask them their reflections and talk about how you can partner together.
• Have a “Tour Packet” to give to the donor at the end of the tour. Pull together a recent newsletter, your general agency brochure, and/or your annual report. At the end of your tour take out the packet and give it to them briefly mentioning what is inside. This allows the donor to have some information to take home with them if they want to learn anything more about the organization.

Do you have any great success (or failure) tour stories from your organization? Do you have any tips or advice of your own you’d like to contribute? Please leave a comment below I’d love to hear from you.

As a nonprofit today you have the opportunity to be creative and try new things you never have before. With use of email & the internet there is the opportunity to reach a greater and more diverse audience than ever before. Through mail merges and online prospect research there is the ability to personalize communication. Through blogging and e-newsletters current information is more readily accessible.

In such a technological world I think that it would be wonderful to see more CEOs or Executive Directors blogging about the work of their nonprofit. I am very happy when I see an organization sending out a quick e-newsletter update on a project area that the organization is working with or creating a distribution email to engage experienced volunteers in urgent projects.

Check out this post about what could happen in 2008 from a great blog called Tactical Philanthropy. I encourage you to try some new ideas and new fundraising programs. If you are a small non-profit your organization is often a lot more nimble and has the opportunity to try some new creative programs and I’d love to hear about them (write a comment and let me know about what you are doing). Another new and developing area in fundraising is cause marketing here is a great post on how to start from a blog called Selfish Giving.

Read Part 1 talking about presenting sponsorship levels and program history.

Make sure that you have a few different tiers of sponsorship. Have a basic level that will be your entry point for new businesses and organizations to come in. I usually put that between $500 and $1,500 depending on the size of the event. You want to have a middle level to upgrade those businesses to, and a higher level for your major supporters. The middle level could be anywhere from $1,000 to $5,000 depending on the size of your event. For a high level sponsor I’d put the level somewhere between $5,000 to $10,000. If you have a huge event you might have another level in there but do not set too many levels or it gets confusing. I think 3 to 5 levels is a good start. If you are a small event with just a couple hundred people $5,000 might be your presenting level.

Think about who you are approaching. If you are approaching a big business they probably have or with the right amount of cultivation could be a major sponsor at some point for you. If you are working with local stores and small family businesses they will probably give in the $500 to $1,000 range. Asking businesses for the right amount is important make sure you are cultivating existing sponsors and that you know something about them (see my post on Making “The Ask” and Prospect Research).

Another thing you can do with sponsors that cover hard costs is provide them with a sponsorship for an in-kind gift or in-kind and cash gift. I would only do this if they cover a hard cost. Some example might be if you have a sponsor that creates your annual video for you for no charge, or you are getting medical supplies for no charge, or services. Make sure that it is something that you will actually use not just a general in-kind service.

It is hard to set levels and set a hard rule for all events. If you have specific questions or you have sponsorship levels at your organization please post them below. Another time I will talk about sponsorship benefits and what kinds of benefits you can offer and what businesses are looking for. My next couple posts will probably be about how to find donors or transparency in giving. Thanks for your comments and please post any ideas or questions.

Do you struggle setting levels for your sponsorship events? Ever wonder what is too high or what is too low? I think those are questions everyone struggles with when you first start a sponsorship program.

Before you set your levels make sure that you have some way to steward and work with these groups (see my post on starting a business program). It is also useful to have a gift acceptance policy and have talked about beforehand how you will negotiate with sponsors regarding their cash and in-kind gifts. I’m getting ahead of myself.

When starting a sponsorship program make sure that you know your history. Many organizations have programs in place with historical sponsors to those programs. Take the levels that you currently have and have an internal discussion about if they are working. Is it really easy for you to get a high level sponsor (then your levels might be too low)? Do you traditionally have a lot of major sponsorship gifts or is it all small size gifts (levels too high)?

Before I say anything about levels I should say that your sponsorship levels really change depending on the size of your event, your organization, what kind of benefits you can offer, etc. So this is more of a starting place than a definitive reference on how to set your sponsorship levels. It makes a difference what businesses or groups are geographically near where you work, are you in a big town with lots of small middle and large businesses? Are you in a small town that has mostly small businesses?

Often times non-profits will either ask for way too much or way too little. If your fundraising office raises between 2 to 7 million dollars a year it is going to be a long time before you are able to find a presenting sponsor at the $50,000 level. I would say set your presenting level at somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000. It might take a couple of years to get there but at least you have a starting place. If you have a great event with a sizable number of prominent people coming don’t sell yourself short.

Part 2 will have more specific information about sponsorship tiers, what levels different size businesses will give, and a musing about in-kind sponsorships.

Note: I want this blog to be about what your nonprofit needs and questions are. Please let me know if I am talking about information you are interested in or if you have specific or general questions. If your questions are not about this topic, post them on the ideas, questions, and answers page.