by Melanie Norton

We are all under tremendous pressure to demonstrate results quickly. With such a focus on “dollars in the door” today, it is often easy to overlook the important role a strong and consistent planned giving program can serve for your organization.

I recently recorded a short video with insights into the importance of a vibrant planned giving program. I encourage you to visit the resources page to watch my video along with other useful videos created by my colleagues.

A solid planned giving program is a key and necessary part of a comprehensive development initiative. Planned giving, along with annual and major giving, helps sustain and support fundraising results, better allowing organizations to weather fluctuations in charitable giving.

Planned giving requires a long term outlook, because it is very likely that the benefit of a planned gift commitment may not be realized by an organization for several years.

Consider the following points to help position your organization to receive the most benefit from a strong planned giving program.

Benefits of Planned Giving to the Donor

• Not every prospect can afford to make a large outright gift to their favorite charities during their life time.  Planned giving provides prospects with an avenue to make a larger and more impactful gift than they ever thought possible and allows all donors to support the institution.
• Planned gifts are typically the largest and most significant gifts a donor will ever make, so the opportunity is greater than with other gifts.
• In general, women are an overlooked constituency as major and planned gift prospects. Be sure to discuss planned giving options with women as research shows that planned gifts are a preferred major gift for many women.

The Role of Planned Giving in a Development Program

• Recognize the important role planned giving plays within a comprehensive development program, ensuring the future stability of the organization and sustaining a long term, consistent funding stream.
• Determine how you will account for planned giving commitments in your program and establish measurements for success that incorporate charitable gift commitments that may not be immediately realized.
• Maintaining a consistent focus on planned giving can position organizations to better ride the wave of philanthropic fluctuations in the future.
• Integrate planned giving and major gift functions in a comprehensive program and recognize the role they each serve in providing options for selecting the best giving vehicle for donors.

Role of Planned Giving in a Campaign

• Before beginning a campaign, closely examine how planned giving can best be incorporated into the funding of the campaign components. To do this, you will need to determine what portion of the campaign goal is dependent on cash and what portion may be funded through future expectancies.
• Set a target for the campaign specifically for planned giving and establish a plan for including planned gift requests in your discussions with prospects.
• Determine how you will account for planned gifts in your campaign total and establish a protocol for recognition and stewardship of planned gifts within the campaign.

To learn more, watch a 90-second video interview about Planned Giving Programs at www.jgacounsel.com/resources

by Kris Kindelsperger

Are your special events fundraisers?  Awareness builders?  Ways to advance your mission? Or more? 

The Indianapolis Zoo recently executed a special event that was a powerful and transformative combination of many of these special event attributes.

Eight years ago the Indianapolis Prize was created by the Zoo to recognize an individual of international stature in the area of animal conservation. The Zoo has developed it into a truly “special” event, extending their mission and increasing support.

The 2012 Prize Gala was attended by more than 1,000 black tie and evening gown-attired guests, a who’s who of Central Indiana.

They were joined by conservation superstars from around the world – not to mention celebrities such as actor Josh Duhamel (some know him more as the husband of Fergie), BBC correspondent Saba Douglas-Hamilton, movie star/animal rights activist Jane Alexander, and Grammy Award winning singer Sylvia McNair and the Indianapolis Children’s Choir. Quite a lineup.

But, what was most important, by presenting the 2012 prize to Dr. Steven Amstrup for his research into the potentially devastating consequences of global warming on the world’s polar bear populations, the Gala transcended the great work of the Indianapolis Zoo and the city of Indianapolis, and joined a world-wide community.

President and CEO Michael Crowther positioned the Zoo on a world stage and lifted up animal conservation and those devoting their lives to saving the Earth’s endangered species as a cause deserving of everyone’s attention.

It was a “special event” and the panoramic screened National Geographic quality video vignettes and stories of the fight to preserve the biological diversity of our planet left everyone in the crowd saying “Wow, our Zoo is doing amazing things all over the world.”

The Zoo even furthered that impact by sending a follow up email to thank the attendees and advance the mission by providing a list of other actionable ways to impact and support conservation efforts locally and around the globe.

And, those attendees left filled with inspiration and admiration for the Indianapolis Zoo, and wanting to come back for the next Prize Gala.

 Well done indeed.

by Dan Schipp

For organizations that begin their fiscal year on July 1, the first quarter has already come and gone.   And so . . . how are you coming along with your annual fund?  Are you on target to meet your goals for the year?  Are you keeping on schedule with your mailings, events, e-solicitations, and personal contacts?  Are you working your plan?  Do you have a plan?

As important as annual giving is to an organization’s overall development effort, it’s surprising how many nonprofits don’t bother to put together an annual plan for their primary donor acquisition and renewal program.  Instead, they just continue doing what they’ve always done or they bounce from one activity to another without a clear sense of the direction they want to head and what it’s going to take to get there. 

The annual fund is the foundation of a quality development program.  It warrants taking time to step back and assess how you can make it more productive.  It deserves preparation of a “road map” – a well-considered, detailed, actionable plan.

An annual fund plan serves as a framework and guide for an organization’s annual giving activities.  It aims to create a habit of giving among the organization’s various constituencies. 

It is a plan of action with a detailed schedule for its implementation.  It not only identifies the actions to be taken, it names the persons responsible for the specific actions, and the metrics to be used in measuring progress and success.

What are key elements of an annual fund plan?  I suggest the following:

• Goals – What role do you want the annual fund to play in your overall development program?  What is the total gift income you seek to raise in annual giving?  What percentage of participation do you want from your various constituencies?  How many of your annual donors will you call on in person?
• Constituencies – What groups of stakeholders will you approach with your annual giving program?  Are their segments within constituencies that you will want to approach in different ways?
• Vehicles or Methods of Solicitation – How will you use various solicitation vehicles — personal visits, direct mail, e-solicitations, phonathons, special events, and social media?  Will you use some methods for some constituencies but not for others?
• Timetable – How will you sequence your annual fund activities?  How often will you approach your donors and prospective donors and on what schedule?
• Assignments – Who will be responsible for doing what?  What actions will be expected of staff and what actions will be asked of volunteers?
• Metrics – How will you measure success?  What performance indicators will you consistently track?  Besides total gift income raised, will you track the number of renewals, number of upgrades, results per method employed, and cost per dollar raised?

If your organization has an annual fund plan, I hope you are well on the way to successfully implementing it.  If you do not have a plan, it’s not too early to be thinking about a plan for the coming year or too late to compile one for the second half of the current fiscal year.

by Angela White

Be a part of the Nonprofit Research Collaborative study investigating charitable contributions, fundraising methods, donor retention, and how tactics have changed in these challenging financial times.  Provide information on your organization’s recent performance to gain insights into your own fundraising strategy and benchmark against other nonprofits.

Start the survey now!

Entering your organization’s Employer Identification Number means you skip a few questions, but if you don’t have your EIN, don’t let that stop you. You can look it up or just click on the grey button to start the survey without it.

Hurry though — the survey link will close on September 14th. It takes just 10 minutes to complete. With data going back to 2001, this is the only survey that provides a short-term and long-term perspective on how nonprofit organizations fare and why.

Thank you for your time and participation in the survey.

by Jeff Small

Social Entrepreneurism, or the concept of nonprofits self-funding their operations through revenue generating businesses, seems like a dream come true and has attracted considerable attention in the last 10 to 15 years. 

In many cases organizations have achieved admirable programmatic results with this approach, of which any nonprofit would be proud.  However, with almost no exceptions, these efforts have failed to generate sustainable businesses that could exist without the support of philanthropy.

Most success stories tend to be companies that can  gain an advantage through utilizing donations of products to support their business model (i.e. Goodwill Industries) or lower skill services that benefit from the warm glow customers get from feeling like they are supporting a worthwhile cause with their spending (i.e. a storage and moving company that employs the disabled ).

In all of these cases, however, there is little evidence that such ventures themselves have become self-supporting or subsidize other programs operated by the nonprofit.  Most are ultimately subsidized by donations.

The reality is that half of small businesses never generate profits and fail within a few years of being launched.  A 2001 study published in the Harvard Business Review found that 71 percent of “social enterprises” lost money.

To make matters worse, the process of nonprofit led business ventures failing can actually be more drawn out and damaging. If a regular moving company closes, it is sad; while, if a moving company that employs the disabled closes, it makes the news.

Does this mean that nonprofits should never attempt such endeavors?  Absolutely not.  Countless lives have been changed by commercial ventures launched by nonprofits.  Very few nonprofits, however, have found these ventures to be a goldmine of untapped revenue.

Fortunately nonprofits do have one area of competitive advantage over for profits that has proven to be a winning investment over time — strategic investment in fundraising.  Unlike for profits, nonprofits can provide a tax benefit to donors, something your local sandwich shop or moving company cannot.  

We also know that when done wisely, investments in fundraising produce the type of returns that few business ventures can promise.  I know if I was approached by someone promising a 300 percent return on a business investment, I would be fairly skeptical, but that would be well within the normal range of returns on good investments in fundraising.

So if your goal is to produce a social good that could partially pay for itself, social entrepreneurship may be just what the doctor ordered.  If, however, your goal is to generate flexible revenue for your existing operations, you should strengthen your fundraising infrastructure.

 by Angela E. White

Caring, compassionate, helpful, friendly, and kind.  These can be powerful words to motivate women to make gifts to your organizations.

As we know from the book The She Spot, Lisa Witter and Lisa Chen, the key to marketing to women is to get them to care — empathy is the key emotion for women.

Locally, in Bloomington, Indiana, Jen Shang, an Indiana University assistant professor, worked with public radio station WFIUto test the use of these words in their conversations with donors during the station’s annual pledge drive.   

The Chronicle of Philanthropy details how 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.

The results of this experiment back up Witter and Chen’s premise that getting women to care makes a difference in response rates.

Women donors who heard one of those five words during their conversation with a volunteer gave an average of $100. Women who heard a normal thank-you without these words gave an average of $83. These five words have no effect on giving by men.

So, how can you create an emotional bond between your issue and women who are driving philanthropic decision-making? Witter and Chen recommend the following when marketing to women:

1. Put a face on your organization – women thrive on personal connections.
2. Keep it simple and real – focus on clear, simplistic language that describes what you do; strip out jargon and get to the core of your message.
3. Tell real-life stories – tell compelling stories to help immerse women in your issues. Remember the golden rule of public speaking: In a two hour speech, people will remember a two minute story.
4. Appeal to group affiliations – women have a strong affinity for feeling a part of a community. Women are more inclined to think about how her decisions will impact the group as a whole.
5. See life transitions as opportunities to engage women with new programs and services to meet their changing needs – marriage/divorce/death of a spouse/ motherhood/empty nesting/ retirement/ sandwich generation
6. Connect with women in cyberspace – women see the internet as a plat form to communicate with others, so remember this desire to engage socially when you design and manage your online activities.

Caring, compassionate, helpful, friendly, and kind.  Five simple words that can motivate and engage women. How do you use these words? How do you target your message to different target audiences?

 by Angela White

Amid a slowdown in charitable pledges to hospitals, a study just released by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), indicates health care organizations have increased their reliance on cash-based fundraising, emphasizing annual gifts and special events, such as community runs/walk, golf outings, luncheons/dinners, etc.

However, with an ever-increasing emphasis on cash gifts, I believe that we run the risk of sacrificing our broader donor relationships that culminate in ultimate major and planned gifts.

• Are we focusing on cash gifts to fund immediate needs at the expense of listening to our donors and their desires for longer term philanthropic goals?
• Are we undervaluing planned giving as a charitable gift vehicle?
• Are we sending a signal to our donors that we are more concerned with meeting our annual goals than we are in helping them achieve their philanthropic giving plans?

Of course, all institutions need cash gifts for annual support, yet how we couple immediate gifts with a holistic approach to the donor relationship and giving is critical to the role of philanthropy at each of our institutions. 

The study showed a definite downward trend in securing multi-year pledges in the 2010 fiscal year for major and planned gifts. 

Susan Doliner, FAHP, CFRE, chair, AHP Board of Directors. points to one probable cause for the drop in pledges the report noted. “Philanthropic contributions can make an extraordinary difference in the health of our communities, yet the ongoing debate around health care costs, delivery systems and access combined with economic conditions nationwide have slowed decision-making for major donors considering gifts to health care related organizations,” said Doliner,

Another item of note from the report: “in almost all instances, organizations that devoted more staff and resources to philanthropy did significantly better when compared to benchmarks than did those with less to spend on charity programs and fewer professional fundraisers.”

Learn more about the AHP Performance Benchmarking Service, now in its seventh year,  and the FY2010 Performance Benchmarking Service survey.

 by Andy Canada

In September of 2011, the University of Chicago School of medicine received a $42 million dollar gift from Carolyn and Matthew Bucksbaum, which was one of the largest gifts to a hospital made last year. The reason they gave: they were so appreciative of the care they received from their doctor that they wanted to help train other doctors to be more like him! 

While the Bucksbaum gift is extraordinary, they are far from unique in their desire to give back to the people and organization that took good care of them.  According to the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, current and former patients contributed nearly a quarter (23.8 percent) of all donations to healthcare institutions in 2010. 

A new study published this month in the journal Academic Medicine, suggests that development staff can make more connections with potential grateful patients (and generate more gifts) by providing one-on-one coaching to physicians about their role in the fundraising process.

The study, conducted by Steven Rum and Dr. Scott Wright at Johns Hopkins University found that physicians given one-on-one coaching by professional fundraisers produced significantly more leads and more gifts than those who received either emailed education materials or small group instruction from other physicians.

The development “coaches” educated physicians about the importance of philanthropy to the institution, walked them through how to recognize cues that patients might be interested in giving back, and discussed the steps to take once a prospect was identified.

The 19 physicians who were coached individually generated approximately two referrals of prospects each during the term of the study, which led to over $200,000 in realized gifts.

The 18 physicians in the small group lecture cohort generated a total of 3 referrals during the term of the study, and those trained through email alone provided no referrals.  Neither of these groups generated any actual gifts during the term of the study.

This study is a bittersweet reminder that while patients are a wonderful source of support for healthcare institutions, the people they are most intimately connected to are often uncomfortable with or unaware of the role they can play in facilitating the gifting relationship. 

What are you doing to assure your frontline staff understand the impact they have on fundraising?

by Dan Schipp

Recently NTEN, Common Knowledge and Blackbaud released their third annual Nonprofit Social Networking Benchmark Report. The report summarizes data from a survey completed by more than 11,000 professionals from a wide spectrum of nonprofit organizations. It provides some interesting insights into how nonprofits are using commercial social networks (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) and house (or private) social networks. The 2011 report contains some surprising results. Here are a few of the key findings:

 1.  Facebook is still the leader of the pack and its lead is growing – Facebook is the most popular social network platform for nonprofits. 89% of nonprofits report having a presence on Facebook in 2011. In the last three years, Facebook usage by nonprofits grew from 74% to 89%. By comparison, Twitter declined slightly from 60% in 2010 to 57% in 2011. LinkedIn also dropped from 33% in 2010 to 30% last year.

2.  Commercial social networks are getting bigger – Nonprofits seem to be succeeding in their efforts to attract more supporters through social networks. The Facebook average community size for nonprofits increased by 161% to 6,376 members. The average Twitter follower base is up just 2% in 2011 to 1,822 followers but a huge increase of 535% from 2009 levels (287 followers.)

3.  Fundraising on Facebook is growing but it’s still a low-level effort – The number of nonprofit organizations successfully generating a small gift revenue stream ($1 to $10,000 annually) has risen each year from 38% in 2009 to 46% in 2011. The number of nonprofits raising $100,000 or more per year through social networks is very small but that number doubled this past year from 0.2% to 0.4%.

4.  Here come the newbies – Several social networking platforms made the survey for the first time. Among the newcomers, FourSquare led the way with 4% of nonprofits saying they had a presence on it. Other newcomers are Jumo, Vimeo (video sharing), Yelp (local search and review), Picassa (photo sharing), and the peer-to-peer giving sites: CrowdRise, FirstGiving, Razoo, and Causes, but each had a less than 1% usage by nonprofits.

5.  Surprise: master social fundraisers come in all sizes – Of the 27 organizations that raised more than $100,000 on Facebook last year (“the master social fundraisers”), 30% were small nonprofits with annual budgets less than $5 million. The average Facebook following of a Master Social Fundraiser is nearly 100,000 members – more than 15 times the general average. This number shows that it takes a big social community to raise big dollars by way of social networks.

I encourage you to read the entire 3rd Annual Nonprofit Social Network Benchmark Report. You will find other interesting insights into such topics as what departments are managing nonprofits’ use of social media, what types of organizations are the top performers, and what level of staffing are organizations devoting to social media.