Future Fundraising Now

Who needs to major in fundraising?

I was a music performance major. Now I work in fundraising.

Go ahead and ask me: What's the connection?

I have my own opinions on the connection, but some could consider my entire undergraduate experience a big waste of time for my career. That's what more than one prospective employer wanted to know about early in my career. My answers didn't really satisfy them. (They were probably thinking, "This guy's a flake.")

Nowadays, you can major in fundraising at many universities. And then there's the CFRE and other certifications, available to anyone willing to do the work.

How important are these things? Read this important post from the Veritus Group Blog, at No Degree, CFRE, or Accreditation Needed:

...knowing how to DO something well and knowing how to BE the person I want to be – that comes primarily through experience. It’s true that educational inputs of any kind can help a person do and be better. But, in my experience, it’s the hands-on, real-world experience that is the best indicator about a person’s ability to perform.

I've worked with amazing people -- with and without fundraising degrees or certifications. I've also worked with people who, well, let's say they couldn't find their backside with both hands -- also with and without certifications.

I haven't seen any correlation between excellence/competence and the presence or absence of certification.

If someone has what it takes to be good at fundraising -- the attitude, passion, work ethic, ability to learn, etc. -- you'll make it work no matter what your major is, and with our without certification. If you get the certification, you'll use all you've learned to your advantage. Whatever else you've learned -- no matter how disconnected it might be from fundraising -- you'll find useful material in it for your fundraising career.

If you don't have it, no amount of schooling or test prep will make much difference.

So don't be embarrassed about your irrelevant major. Be a great fundraiser.

If you have the itch to get your CFRE or fundraising degree, do it! It'll help you be a great fundraiser.

If you're early in your career and aren't yet sure ... find mentors, listen to your heart, and keep your eyes open. You'll know before long if fundraising is for you.

If it isn't, that's okay. Keep exploring. Life is too short to waste doing something you're not good at.

3 ways to make even "difficult" fundraising work [MacGyver Fundraising]

MacGyver Fundraising: A series about getting it done in the real world

MacGyver was an US action TV show in the 80s (with a more recent reboot) featuring a brilliant professional problem-solver who could get himself out of any jam with whatever random materials were at hand. He always solved the most difficult situations. Fundraisers are a lot like MacGyver.

You've seen the fundraising that asks donors to provide meals for hungry people at incredibly low costs.

It's a classic fundraising offer, and it works.

Not everyone can go to their donors with a "$2 meal" offer. Or anything like it.

You might feel green-eyed jealousy when you see fundraising like that. But you simply can't find your own equivalent. There are many reasons you might be in this position:

• Your organization's work doesn't break down into donor-sized pieces -- like the least expensive item it a beaker used in research, which costs $600.
  
• You raise funds for something most people don't really grasp, like hospice care. (People who've been through a hospice experience understand the value. It's not easy to grasp if you haven't been there.)
  
• Your work is one or more steps removed from frontline work, like you advocate for better laws rather than directly serve.
  

There are a lot of other reasons you may be struggling for those clear, simple, elegant, donor-sized offers.

If that's you, here are three ways to tackle your fundraising and find a way to be compelling for donors of all types:

1. Know your donors. Don't worry about reaching "everyone." Not every cause is for every donor. In fact, there's no cause on the planet that is for every donor. And that can be your super-power. Your donors are a select group of people who care about what you do. The more narrow and specific your cause, the more passionate your donors and prospective donors are. You just need to find those people -- possibly tricky -- and express the passion they share with you -- possibly even more tricky. But much easier than trying to reach the whole planet.
   
2. Focus on outcomes, not processes. A lot of fundraisers struggle because they're trying to sell the way the do their thing, not the thing itself. Your processes are incredibly important. But sorry to say it, but your processes are boring to everyone except your staff. Donors want to make things happen. Focus on that, and you'll start to see fundraising offers.
   
3. Go big, not small. This is a common approach for medical charities. Rather then dissect the work down to $400 beakers and $3,000 orthopedic beds, they talk about ending the disease forever. That may be the thing your donors most passionately want. If you can make it believable, that just may be your amazing offer.
   

Before you do any of the above things, I have a challenge for you: Go through a process of discovering your own "$2 meal" offer. It might be just waiting for you to uncover it.

If it exists, your curse of knowledge makes it hard to find. But if you can find it, you will have a resource that will power your fundraising for a long, long time!

MacGyver Fundraising

5 ways to increase the power of direct mail envelopes

In direct mail, the real estate that has the most impact on success is the outer envelope.

Hands down.

What you put there matters more than anything else you do. You could have the best fundraising offer in the history of the world. Your letter could have superpowers of persuasion.

But if people don't open the envelope, none of that matters.

Here are some things to think about for your envelopes from Nonprofit Pro, at 5 Design Tips to Get Your Envelope Noticed:

1. Size. Standard #10 envelopes fill your donors' mailboxes every day. That's why it's a smart move to use other sizes: Bigger, smaller ... anything else. Unusual sizes often cost more (and in these times of supply chain troubles, sometimes they are not available at all), but it's good to vary envelope size.
   
2. Color. Whether you print a color on the envelope our use colored stock, colors other than plain white can do very well. Also: textured stock often does well. These cost more, but in many cases are worth the added cost.
   
3. Teaser. This is the hard part. An effective teaser (message you place on the envelope) can dramatically improve response. But many teasers actually drive it down. No teaser at all is a good option too.
   
4. Personalization. The donor's name and address are visible by default. Try adding more personalization, like the donor's name in large type or additional data like their city name, years as a donor, or other ways to get their attention.
   
5. Postage. In my experience, different postage rates and methods don't have a lot of impact on response. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't think about it. Whether you use stamps, meter, or indicia, think about the overall look of the envelope. You can make the postage part of the overall look.
   

If a mailing does unexpectedly well (or poorly), the first thing to examine is the envelope. That is the most likely reason for what happened. And envelopes are the main things you should be testing if you want to learn the most.

7 fundraising survival tips for a weird year

Costs are up. Response (for many) is down. Donors (some of them) are distracted and not paying as much attention. You can't get the supplies you need.

Welcome to 2022.

What should you be doing to survive all the weirdness?

Read this post from The Agitator: 7 Survival Tips for 2022. This will really help...

1. Don’t Whine. Sure, things are difficult. They may be especially difficult for you. But that's life. Grit your teeth, build a plan, and stick to it.
   
2. Re-Project and Take it Upstairs. Realistically, are you going to hit your numbers this year? If you don't see a path to doing that, let your boss or board know. Denial only makes things worse.
   
3. Advance the timetable for your year-end campaigns. Will supply chain issues improve over the coming months? Don't count on it. Start projects early and be prepared to negotiate with production houses. Don't be caught short mailing weeks behind schedule!
   
4. Resist Your Natural Instincts. It's natural to want to hide, cut back, and avoid taking chances when things are hard. Cutting back on fundraising -- especially new donor acquisition -- basically guarantees that the hard times will last five to ten years longer than it will for those who stay on track right now.
   
5. Engage your core donors as you never have before. Your best donors are your best hope for sustaining your income in the months ahead. They will understand your predicament, and historically have increased their giving during rough times. Now’s a great time to get on the phone with them or send them a letter explaining why you need them more than ever. Believe me, they’ll respond.
   
6. Do not lose the courage of your convictions. Keep connecting with your donors. Tell them the truth about the challenges you're facing. Don't decide for them that these times will keep them from giving. That's their call, not yours!
   
7. Don’t expect that the “good old days” will ever return. If your long-term plan is "hunker down until things get normal again," you are heading for a lot of pain. Assume that the old days are gone and act accordingly.
   

Top 5 blog posts of the month

In case you missed them: the 5 most-read Future Fundraising Now blog posts from the month of March:

1. Why fundraisers love boring envelopes
   
2. The 2 times your direct mail envelope should give it all away
   
3. Badmouthing your donor to their face?
   
4. The surprisingly easy way to make your fundraising "stick"
   
5. 9 important fundraising advantages of direct mail
   

When your strategy is strangling your revenue [MacGyver Fundraising]

MacGyver Fundraising: A series about getting it done in the real world

MacGyver was an US action TV show in the 80s (with a more recent reboot) featuring a brilliant professional problem-solver who could get himself out of any jam with whatever random materials were at hand. He always solved the most difficult situations. Fundraisers are a lot like MacGyver.

When your fundraising is clear, strong, action-oriented, and donor-focused, that's a good thing.

But there's something that matters even more: Good strategic direction.

Many fundraisers do great work in service of flawed strategy. That's the equivalent of being a fast runner in a race -- but running on the wrong track. Speed is great, but it doesn't mean much when you aren't going full-speed where you need to be!

Here are some common strategic mistakes that can make all your hard work not do the job you're hoping for:

• Your fundraising is built around maximizing gross revenue. The main metric you should be watching net revenue. I've seen several fundraising programs that featured one big, elaborate mailing each year that raised a lot of revenue. But it was gross revenue. It looked like a huge success, but the high cost of the mailing caused it to raise poor net revenue. Net is what funds your programs. That's your main goal for most activities.
  
• Your fundraising relies on events to get cash in the door. Some events are good at raising money. But see above: How do they do at raising net revenue? And make sure you are counting the cost of staff time. Time and money spent managing events are not being spent on more sustainable activities. Worse yet, event donors have notoriously low retention rates. If you rely on high-grossing events, take a close look at all the factors -- the event may be tanking your revenue.
  
• You "rest" recent donors. There's a myth that when a donor gives, she becomes "tapped out" for a while. She won't give, and she may even react negatively to being asked for some period -- often believed bo be four to six months. This is dramatically untrue. The person most likely to give is someone who has given most recently. When you rest recent donors, you are deciding for them that your most likely donors won't give. The impact on revenue is severe.
  
• You're always chasing huge funding sources. Sure, it would be great to find a couple of big foundations, corporations, and rich people who could pour money all over you. It happens. The problem with that they can stop funding you just as quickly as they started. Or they can exercise control over your programs and even distort your mission. Cultivating many lower donors is hard work, but it's how you create a sustainable portfolio.
  
• You don't have an upgrade plan for every donor. If your fundraising consists only of trying to get donors to give now and then, we are not maximizing your revenue. Your program should be built so donors can choose monthly giving, upgraded giving, or bequest giving. (And they can choose all three.) These areas are what make a fundraising program sustainable.
  

These are just five common strategies that keep organizations struggling to survive. Here's how you avoid bad strategy:

1. Learn: Read the blogs and books. Go to conferences. Ask experts.
   
2. Belong to a community of fundraisers like yourself. Ask questions and discover what is working and not working for others.
   
3. Outsource strategic and tactical fundraising help.
   

MacGyver Fundraising