Portland Wrap-Up

More than 150 strong gathered over 3 days last week at the Nines Hotel in Portland, OR for CASE’s 2012 Conference for Senior Annual Giving Professionals.  Many new friends were made and good information exchanged.  Thanks to all for making it a great event!  Click here for more information.

From the conference Wrap-Up, here’s some good advice from the faculty and speakers:

1. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.

2. While stewardship may not be your top priority, it’s usually your donor’s top priority.

3. Let your donors tell you how to communicate with them.

4. Help your donors imagine the impact of their gift.

5. Build partnerships internally and externally.

6. There is always room for improvement.

7. Test, test, test.

8. Direct mail is alive and well.

9. New frontiers remain.

10. Copy And Steal Everything (CASE.)

Join us again next year (May 8-10) at the Westin Buckhead in Atlanta, GA for CASE’s 2013 Conference for Senior Annual Giving Professionals.

Duals Asks

“Dual asks” are characteristic of sophisticated development organizations and one of the most important things to consider in building a successful and sustainable annual giving program.

Simply put, “dual ask” means soliciting a donor for current-use operating support (i.e., annual giving) as part of a larger capital gift conversation with a donor.  While capital gifts (i.e., endowment, bricks and mortar) are typically intended to strengthen an organization’s assets, annual gifts provide an organization with an important source of operating revenue.  In fact, the need for operating revenue actually increases as an organization’s assets increase.  For example, when you build a new building you also increase the need for money to operate and maintain it.

In less sophisticated advancement organizations, dual asks are uncommon.  Why is this?  One cause may be fear by gift offices that asking for additional support will distract the donor from their primary philanthropic interest or that it may simply appear greedy.

The key is not waiting until it’s too late to talk with a prospect about the importance of annual giving.  That said, the burden is on the annual giving program manger to establish an environment where major gift officers, as well as management, are comfortable with the idea of dual asks.

Talk about a balanced gift as one that builds capital assets and provides operating revenue to maintain those assets.  Talk about it consistently.  Talk about it often.

Board Giving

According to our 2012 survey, 76% of annual giving program managers say that board giving was important to their program last year.  But talking with board members about giving isn’t always easy.

Some programs make board giving expectations explicit. They set specific annual gift levels and include the annual fund in larger capital gift conversations (i.e., dual asks.)  Other programs take a softer approach asking board members to make the organization a “philanthropic priority” or request gifts that are “visibly generous in the eyes of their peers.”  They leave it up to the board members themselves to determine an appropriate gift amount.

So how do you talk with your board about annual giving?  When do you talk about it?  What do you ask for?

Multi-Year Pledge

SAMPLE PLEDGE AGREEMENT

     In consideration of others, I, <Donors Name>, promise to give $10,000 in support of <Your Organization>.  This gift, to be paid over a five year period, is designated for the Annual Fund.

     This gift will be paid over five years, as indicated below:

- $2,000 by June 30, 2012

- $2,000 by June 30, 2013

- $2,000 by June 30, 2014

- $2,000 by June 30, 2015

- $2,000 by June 30, 2016

     I understand <Your Organization> will provide me with pledge status reports on, at least, an annual basis.  I authorize <Your Organization> to publicly recognize my gift in its materials.

________________________              _______________

Donor Signature                                           Date

<Your Organization> gratefully acknowledges the generosity of its donors.

Volunteer “Can Do”s

Next time a volunteer asks you what they can do to help your institution’s development and fundraising efforts, give them this list.

1. Provide feedback to staff regarding existing fundraising strategy and materials
2. Suggest new fundraising ideas and point out what other organizations are doing to raise money
3. Provided updated information on other constituents (address, phone number, employer, job title, email)
4. Lead informal affinity fundraising campaigns (e.g., workplace)
5. Initiate and participate in discussions about your organization’s fundraising on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
6. Suggest prospect leads to staff
7. Answer calls and take meetings from staff gift officers
8. Make plans to include your organization in their will
9. Solicit peers
10. Lead by example by making a gift annually

Call Center ROI

The following chart demonstrates the return on investment for one university’s paid student calling program from 2007 – 20011. 

A few questions come to mind:

• Is this an industry trend?
• Are they calling different people?
• Do they need to rethink their staff and resource allocation?
• Should they have a mobile fundraising plan?

The answer to all of the above is yes.

Net Promoter Score

Events can play an important role in constituent engagement and fundraising, but assessing their effectiveness can be a challenge.

While attendance numbers might be an important metric to determine how well an event was promoted ahead of time, they don’t necessarily tell you how satisfied attendees were with their experience.  And asking someone to rate the quality of an event is subject to various interpretations of what quality actually means.  Instead, consider calculating a “net promoter score.”

First introduced to the business community by Fred Reichheld in 2003, a net promoter score is determined by asking customers how likely (on a scale of 1-10) they are to recommend a particular product, service, or experience to a friend or colleague.  Responses are categorized into one of three groups: Promoters (9–10), Passives (7–8), and Detractors (0–6.)

The percentage of Detractors is then subtracted from the percentage of Promoters to obtain a Net Promoter Score, which can be as low as -100 (everybody is a detractor) or as high as +100 (everybody is a promoter.)  A positive score (i.e., higher than zero) can be considered good.  Scores over 50 are widely considered excellent.

The Results Are In!

Thanks to more than 260 annual giving program managers from around the world who participated in The Annual Giving Network’s 2012 Survey.  We’re pleased to announce that the survey is now complete and will give us some great data on the characteristics, trends, and best practices in the field annual giving today.

The final survey report will be available in May 2012.  Click here to request your FREE copy today!

Are You Hungry?

Tens of thousands of eager movie watchers lined up this week for a preview of the much anticipated hollywood blockbuster, “The Hunger Games.”  In that spirit, The Annual Giving Network is pleased to offer a peak at its 2012 survey responder profile:

• 262 institutions
• 72% women
• 38.5 years of age
• 3.7 average staff size
• 15% average response rate

The survey’s final report will be available in May 2012.  Click here to request your FREE copy today!

Hot Dog Night

I once heard of a student phonathon manager who offered to dress in a hot dog suit and host a “Hot Dog Night” to motivate the students who worked in his call center.  At first the idea sounded ridiculous, but I soon came to believe that it could actually work.  That is (as my friend Jeff pointed out) as long as the suit isn’t so heavy that it makes his legs collapse up into his body.

There is not one single thing that motivates people to support a cause.  Some people are motivated out of gratitude or a positive experience.  Others might be looking for a little attention or even recognition.  And there will always be people who support a cause simply because they want to belong to something important.

Do you know what it takes to motivate your supporters?  If so, are you doing it?

* image from corgiaddict.com