Campaigns & Solicitations

I’m going to confess something… I’m afraid to ask for money. I love talking to people and starting new conversations… I even like going on asks and presenting my organization. But, when it comes to that one little sentence where you actually ask for money it can be a little bit scary.

This month I have a number of posts on asking for money. Right now I’ve asked a handful of people directly for their gift and I’ve read and been taught a lot about asking for money but I would not consider myself a seasoned professional. A lot of what I’m writing about this month comes from the handful of mid-level solicitations that I have been a part of and a lot of reading, training, and thinking.

One thing I wanted to say before I right anything about asking is this. I’ve been a part of organizations that ask doing one-on-one solicitations and a part of organizations that send letters and make phone calls. These are two different things. When I talk about asking for money I am talking about one-on-one solicitations. If your organization does not cultivate your top-level donors this way you are missing a huge opportunity. Everyone will give a larger more intentional and personal gift if they are asked in person. If your key donors are not asked in person then they may increase their giving but you miss a huge opportunity to engage them.

I hope that you enjoyed this week’s posts, Key Components, Campaign Strategy, Current Trends & The Ask, and Online Strategy. I want to say a big thank you again to The Collins Group, Lipman Hearne, and Convio. Make sure to visit their sites to see what they can offer your organization when you start to think about a capital campaign.

Should all capital campaigns have third party (i.e. consulting) help? What is the advantage of this kind of help?

The Collins Group:
It’s a choice each nonprofit needs to evaluate when contemplating a campaign; not all organizations require campaign counsel. The greatest return from counsel comes from creating and driving the campaign plan, working alongside the client to develop appropriate strategies for each prospective donor, and training and preparing staff and volunteers for face-to-face fundraising activities. Often counsel can have greater effect on board members than staff because they bring new ideas and are not part of past discussions. Visit The Giving Institute website for tips on how to choose fundraising counsel.
- Dana Van Nest, Marketing Director and Kate Roosevelt, CFRE, Vice President, www.collinsgroup.com

Lipman Hearne:
It’s not a matter of whether or not, but of how much, and to what purpose. A very sophisticated and well-resourced advancement operation might need fundraising counsel only to conduct a feasibility study and provide board training and some external perspective. A less sophisticated and more scarcely-resourced organization might need fundraising counsel to do a lot more. In terms of campaign communications support, many institutions do fine in developing their case and producing materials, and others get consumed in internal conflicts that don’t let them distinguish between institutional need and donor benefit - so the case suffers - and don’t have the skills or experience to recognize and/or exploit the “special moment” that the campaign must express. Outside perspective and experience are frequently useful, as are skills that a consulting firm has in-house and uses every day, in contrast to the skills in an institution that might only be asked to devise campaign strategies every five to seven years.
- Robert Moore, Managing Partner, www.lipmanhearne.com

What can your business offer a nonprofit looking at doing a capital campaign and what is it that you do that is different than your competitors?

The Collins Group:
The Collins Group is the largest, most experienced fundraising consulting firm in the region and the largest woman-owned fundraising consulting firm in the country. We tailor our services to the specific needs and vision of each client. The Collins Group signature is innovative solutions to fundraising challenges based on broad knowledge of Northwest communities. Our innovative approach to the application of proven fundraising methods delivers superior results to diverse nonprofit organizations. Since 1979, we have helped our clients raise more than $1.2 billion.

For organizations considering a capital campaign, we would start with a phone conversation or meeting to determine their readiness. The first step in a campaign is usually a campaign feasibility study. With our studies, you not only get a report with analysis and recommendations, but also a plan to move forward.
- Dana Van Nest, Marketing Director and Kate Roosevelt, CFRE, Vice President, www.collinsgroup.com

Convio:
We can provide both the software and the services required to have an effective online component to your campaign. We work well with other agencies to drive coordination.
-Vinay Bhagat, Chief Strategy Officer and Founder, www.convio.com

Lipman Hearne:
We have been providing high quality, on-target, smart and gorgeous campaign materials to our clients for more than 30 years. We have produced materials for many of the largest campaigns in higher education, health care, and the arts, and bring both experience and an urgency for “fresh approaches” to each new assignment. We know how to work with both institutional and volunteer leadership, and we are committed to your success. While I believe that there are many firms who do this kind of work very well indeed, I don’t think that anybody does it better.
- Robert Moore, Managing Partner, www.lipmanhearne.com

Please leave any comments or advice of your own below. If you would like to see past and upcoming online interviews you can visit the Interviews page. I want this week’s posts to be used and available to as many people in the nonprofit world as possible. Please send this link to a friend, stumble this post, or simply take a minute to leave some feedback. Thanks for reading!

I hope that you enjoyed this week’s posts, Key Components, Campaign Strategy, and Current Trends & The Ask. Our final topic for tomorrow is third party help. I want this week’s posts to be used and available to as many people in the nonprofit world as possible. Please send this link to a friend, stumble this post, or simply take a minute to leave some feedback.

Do you recommend having an online fundraising strategy as part of your capital campaign? How would you go about doing this?

Convio:
Absolutely. Nowadays, I believe that it is important to incorporate a Web based strategy as part of a capital campaign. The objective is not to raise a lot of money on line per se, but to identify new prospects and to cultivate/ steward existing prospects and donors. Our research paper, the Wired Wealthy indicated that 66% of high value donors will go online to review a nonprofit’s Website prior to making a contribution to a new organization. Just like you’d make sure your facility was “up to snuff” if you had a major donor visit, the same applies to your Website. I recommend creating a campaign “micro-site” or mini Website focused on the campaign exclusively. It should have inspirational content, make it clear to donors how their funds would be applied, have an online giving option with gift levels/ asks tied to the theme of the campaign e.g. buy a brick, and have the ability to have prospects/ donors sign up for email. I also recommend an email cultivation strategy, with content segmented by prospects and donors at minimum. Major gift officers can leverage an online marketing tool like Convio to not only run the microsite and email outreach, but also to track the online engagement of prospects and donors. Often times, capital campaigns also have events associated with them. In those cases an online registration component should be included.
-Vinay Bhagat, Chief Strategy Officer and Founder, www.convio.com

The Collins Group:
Savvy nonprofits already use online fundraising in their annual fund programs to encourage regular giving. All campaigns should have some element of an online fundraising strategy, whether it’s a portal for a donor to make a pledge, a web site for sharing campaign and project updates, or emails that solicit gifts. Gifts made online are usually smaller than gifts solicited in person, but the social networking and communications values of “e-philanthropy” should not be overlooked.
- Dana Van Nest, Marketing Director and Kate Roosevelt, CFRE, Vice President, www.collinsgroup.com

Lipman Hearne:
Online fundraising is growing in importance, but more on the annual fund or operating income side than in the capital/major gifts arena. Major and leadership gifts are given as a result of direct and engaged conversations between a donor and institutional or volunteer leadership; that level of intimacy is not possible - even through Web 2.0. Ask yourself: what’s the maximum amount of money you would commit - either to a philanthropic cause or to a consumer purchase decision - through the Web without, in essence, “kicking the tires”? $500? $5,000? $50,000? In most cases, this level of commitment would not rise to the major or leadership gift strata. And major gifts drive campaigns. Online giving, properly managed, can provide a terrific new way to engage annual or operational donors, and get them in the “cultivation queue” (particularly in regard to younger donors), and online outreach can be a terrific tool in terms of stewardship, communications, and donor community engagement, but in the end the dollars are going to be brought in by the door-to-door retail slog.
- Robert Moore, Managing Partner, www.lipmanhearne.com

Please leave any comments or advice of your own below. If you would like to see past and upcoming online interviews you can visit the Interviews page. Thanks for reading!

I hope that you enjoyed this week’s posts, Key Components and Campaign Strategy. Other topics that are coming this week are including an online strategy, and third party help. I want this week’s posts to be used and available to as many people in the nonprofit world as possible. Please send this link to a friend, stumble this post, or simply take a minute to leave some feedback. Today I am asking about current trends and determining the amount for a capital ask.

What are some new and developing campaign trends?

The Collins Group:

• More organizations are creating comprehensive campaigns that bring together annual, capital, and endowment fundraising goals for a specific period of time
• We are seeing an increase in planning for endowment campaigns, particularly in sectors such as arts and culture that have capitalized over the past decade
• The community college sector is expanding its fundraising power with more and more colleges moving into their first-ever privately funded building and/or endowment campaign
• More donors are giving “tester” gifts early in a campaign and following up with additional gifts as a campaign progresses. This makes donor stewardship during a campaign more important than ever

- Dana Van Nest, Marketing Director and Kate Roosevelt, CFRE, Vice President, www.collinsgroup.com

Lipman Hearne:
As the economic disparities in our society have increased, the old 80/20 rule has become 90/10 or higher. And, campaigns continue to get bigger and the “breathing space” between them is typically reduced. It’s not unusual for us to talk about how to wrap up a current, successful campaign and how to launch the next one - all during the course of a single meeting.
- Robert Moore, Managing Partner, www.lipmanhearne.com

How do you determine the ask amount for a capital ask?

The Collins Group:
As a starting place, your organization should research the prospect’s giving history to your organization and to others, assess their level of commitment to your mission, and identify their giving capacity (e.g. professional history, assets, family history). It is most effective to have peers of the prospect involved in both establishing a respectful ask amount and soliciting the gift. Asking for a multi-year pledge can also help a donor see a way to “stretch” their giving.
- Dana Van Nest, Marketing Director and Kate Roosevelt, CFRE, Vice President, www.collinsgroup.com

Lipman Hearne:
Through the feasibility study process, ongoing conversations, prospect rating systems, and an examination of public data regarding the prospect’s financial status. One of the old truisms of fundraising is that “nobody is offended by being asked for too much” - the assumption being that the prospect says to himself or herself, “they must think I’m doing really well.” Overshooting the mark by a ridiculous amount, though, would cause a prospect to think that you haven’t really done your homework or preparation very well.
- Robert Moore, Managing Partner, www.lipmanhearne.com

Please leave any comments or advice of your own below. If you would like to see past and upcoming online interviews you can visit the Interviews page. Thanks for reading!