Frostbite and your “hope fundraising” program

RYB Framework: Build Bridges-Phase 3, Resource Development Plan Implementation

It’s officially fall, ya’ll! I’m grateful to have made it through another summer in Atlanta. My seventeenth actually (this go round). Hmph, I remember when I first came to Atlanta to attend Clark College (now Clark Atlanta University) back in the 80’s. I was one of a handful of Caribbean students; the culture shock around the language and the food was somewhat manageable, but the weather….

Now, that I should have been more than prepared for. I was actually an island transplant, having been born in New York. I’d lived in the cold for six years before moving to the balmy Virgin Islands. Surely, my bones should have retained some memory of those winters.

My mom had taken me shopping just before the semester started. I got a few sweaters, a couple pairs of jeans and wool skirts, a pair of boots and a Navy blue pea coat. Hadn’t dressed like that since I was way little; back then I’d wear an undershirt, top, cardigan, scarf, heavy coat, hat, boots, and mittens.

Wish I’d remembered all that when Old Man Winter rolled through Atlanta—especially about the mittens. I did have a cheap pair of knit gloves, but because they kept my fingers separated, the cold went right through them.

They stayed blistered, cracked and painful for many weeks. Mittens would have been a much better option. My hands and fingers would have been kept warmer. Thinking back on it I can’t explain why I had not thought about getting a pair. All that needless suffering.

When I think about nonprofits this time of year, I’m taken back to that experience decades ago. Some NPOs approach their year-end solicitation programs much like I approached getting ready for my first winter in Atlanta.

They look at the calendar, realize that fall is here and that it’s the “asking season”. They order some letterhead, write a form letter addressed to “Dear Friend” with a few sentences about how much they need financial help especially this time of year.

Then pull together a list of names and addresses from random places – their Rolodex, last year’s Christmas card list, and old volunteer sign-in sheets. Then print, stamp, stuff, mail and hope the checks start rolling in.

There isn’t much thought that goes into the process, either because they’re satisfied doing it that way or never thought they could do better. They have no idea that they could improve their funding results all year long by creating a relationship-building process that gradually warms their shivering and neglected donor prospects. What they need is to switch from cheap knit gloves to thermal mittens.

This process of relationship-building is called resource development. Fundraising is an activity within that process. It’s not something you engage in once a year—when the leaves start falling from the trees. You’ve got to sustain it year round. You’ve got to keep your prospects warm to your mission by connecting with them regularly. And not just to ask for money. But for advice, suggestions, expertise, introductions, etc.

But even if you hadn’t done any of that this year, you can start warming them properly right now. Especially if you have a strong program, with enviable outcomes, dedicated volunteers and engaged staff and board.

How, you ask? By learning who they are, how they got connected to your organization and why, and telling them what they need to know about what you do and how you do it, in a way that makes them see themselves in your narrative and as invested in your outcomes as you are.

Sounds like quite a task, I know. But you can get started by signing up to receive registration info on my October webinar “Build Your Individual Donor Base through Year-End fundraising.” The webinar will cover how to create a fundraising plan for your individual donor prospects as well as how weaving effective storytelling into your messaging can move them from dear friends to raving fans.

So I’m curious to know how you have or would develop individual prospects into raving fans. Please share your ideas below.