Most fundraisers know that it is important to thank people as they consider whether to make a gift.
But an experiment by fundraisers in Indiana has also found that women are likely to give more money to charities that use words like “caring” and “compassionate” when they are thanking prospective donors for considering a gift. Men, however, aren’t influenced by those words.
Jen Shang, an Indiana University assistant professor who specializes in what she calls philanthropic psychology, recently worked with WFIU, a public radio station in Bloomington, Ind., to test the use of those and other words in their conversations with donors during the station’s annual pledge drive.
As part of the experiment, volunteers who answered calls from potential supporters were instructed to use one of five words when thanking donors for calling: caring, compassionate, helpful, friendly, and kind…
For any nonprofit, success means preparing volunteers, board members, and fund raisers alike to ask for big gifts. How much should solicitors talk, and when should they listen? What steps can an organization do to prepare the prospect beforehand?
In the latest episode of Fund-Raising Fundamentals, a Chronicle podcast, Tony Martignetti, the host asks these questions to Andrea Kihlstedt, a co-founder of Asking Matters and author of Capital Campaigns: Strategies that Work, and Megan Hodges, capital-campaign and major-gifts manager at Harlem RBI, a group that organizes tutoring and sports activities for children in East Harlem.
How does your organization prepare volunteers and employees to ask for a large donation? Post a comment to share your answer.
Michael G. Van Ness, executive director of Lynchburg Grows in Virginia, recently submitted the following draft of a forthcoming annual appeal letter as part of our Crafting Winning Appeals series.
As always, you are invited to offer your constructive critique of the letter in the comments section.
Here is his draft letter:
Dear Lynchburg Grows Supporter,
We’re in the midst of a solid fall growing season and already thinking about spring, but I’m sitting down for the moment – just a moment – to tell you about some of the amazing work our volunteers and staff sweated through this summer to make the continued growth of Lynchburg Grows possible. It’s my hope that our 2010 victories will inspire you to make a year-end donation to help us grow into 2011.
Where to begin? In our third full year of growing inside Greenhouse #1 and #2, a third of our organization’s budget came…
April T. Strickland, annual-fund manager at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach, recently submitted the following draft of a forthcoming annual appeal letter as part of our Crafting Winning Appeals series.
As always, you are invited to offer your constructive critique of the letter in the comments section.
Here is Ms. Strickland’s draft letter:
Dear NAME,
What are your favorite things about the Virginia Aquarium? Maybe you appreciate the amazing animals, exciting exhibits, or the research and rehabilitation efforts of the Aquarium’s own Stranding Response Program. Maybe you just love to watch your children engaged in an educational program or mesmerized by the sharks and rays. Whatever your favorite things might be, each is a vital part of the Aquarium, and each receives financial support from the Annual Fund.
Mandi Hawley, a development associate with Friends of the River in Sacramento, Calif., recently submitted the following draft of an upcoming year-end appeal letter as part of our Crafting Winning Appeals series.
As always, you are invited to offer your constructive critique of the letter in the comments section.
Here is Ms. Hawley’s draft letter:
Dear <<Salutation>>,
California is the river state. Nearly 200,000 miles of rivers and the water they provide fuel the 8th largest economy in the world and sustain our population of over 37 million people. Many years ago these rivers ran wild and free, teeming with salmon and steelhead. Now, most of the fish are gone and all but a few rivers have multiple dams or diversions which move the water far from the river banks.
The call for more water development has NOT slackened and if not met with opposition, our few remaining…
Are you looking for an outside opinion on a direct-mail appeal?
Prospecting is dusting off its popular series, Crafting Winning Appeals, which offers fund raisers the chance to submit draft versions of their appeal letters. Readers then offer their critiques as comments.
Today, Lois J. Hamilton, the president of Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing in Peoria, Ill., sent us a draft of a forthcoming appeal letter for your comments.
As always, we ask that you provide constructive advice. We’ll share the next draft of her letter once it is available.
Here is Ms. Hamilton’s draft letter:
Dear _________:
If you had an opportunity to support student scholarships, participate in building a new College of Nursing building, or create an endowment to retain qualified faculty, which would you select?
Student scholarships, a new building, and qualified faculty are…
If your organization is planning to incorporate more online fund raising this holiday giving season, you are not alone.
Holly Hall notes in the latest issue of The Chronicle that nonprofit groups are pushing more of their resources into e-mail, social media, and online solicitations as part of their year-end fund-raising mix.
She writes: “While charities are using every approach they can to attract donations, many groups are putting their bets on online giving this holiday season. At a time when most fund-raising methods—including direct mail, special events, and big-gift appeals—have faltered, online donations continue to grow.
“Network for Good, a nonprofit organization that processes online gifts to charities, found that contributions rose by 25 percent, to $31.4-million, in December 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.
“And so far this year, both Blackbaud and Convio, two…
Today’s news that more than 40 U.S. billionaires have now pledged to give at least half of their fortunes to charity is getting lots of media attention.
But how do nonprofit groups actually get on the radar of one of these wealthy donors? And how can they persuade these philanthropists to make pledges to their organizations?
Lorry I. Lokey, the founder of BusinessWire and one of the billionaires who have signed the pledge, offered advice to fund raisers during two recent live question-answer sessions with The Chronicle. During one discussion, he said:
“I like gift officers who approach me on a peer level and truly are friendly whether or not I say yes. And if I become a donor, I, in effect, am adopting that organization as if I worked there or owned it or had close ties with it. It becomes an investment that I want to follow and see success. My grants are not gifts. They are investments…
By most measures, Jill A. Warren (left) isn’t wealthy.
She and her husband, the Rev. Robert D. Schoenhals, a United Methodist minister, together have never earned more than $112,000 per year. In some years, their combined income has totaled less than $40,000.
But they are diligent givers—they donate as much as 60 percent of their annual income to charity.
They’re big givers, for sure. But they often aren’t treated that way, especially by organizations that use database-screening tools to find wealthy donors.
“We’re the folks that fly under the radar, so we don’t fit the usual prospecting assumptions,” Ms. Warren said in a live discussion today with Chronicle readers. “The most important thing—just thank us. Send an acknowledgment after each gift. A small gift might represent a significant proportion of someone’s income or assets—we’re not the one-time big-gift givers, but we give a lot …
For Julie Whyte, the most effective way to motivate potential donors is to put them in touch with the people who will benefit from their philanthropy.
But connecting donors with a cause isn’t always easy—especially when the cause is an all-girls school in Kenya.
Video, however, can bridge the gap.
Ms. Whyte, development director at the Carr Educational Foundation, in San Rafael, Calif., recently worked with Out of the Blue Films, a nonprofit documentary maker, to create a video to raise money for Daraja Academy, a school it supports in Kenya.
The Girls of Daraja, shown above, was screened as part of a recent fund-raising event in San Francisco—an event that raised more than $50,000. Nobody had to pay to come to the screening, but many people were so moved by seeing the video they made a gift after they saw the film.
“What we have learned is that having the girls and the teachers…
Prospecting follows news and trends about fundraising at nonprofits. You’ll find a mix of advice and techniques that have worked for other charitable organizations, as well as updates on new studies and forecasts that will help you do a better job seeking private money.
Holly Hall, who has covered fundraising for more than two decades at The Chronicle, edits the blog. She also writes many of the items, as does reporter Raymund Flandez, who specializes in fundraising innovations, and other Chronicle staff members.
Keep up with Holly Hall on Twitter at @HallHolly and with Raymund Flandez at @Raymundf23.
Most fundraisers know that it is important to thank people as they consider whether to make a gift.
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