This was a program by the St. Paul (MN) Friends/Foundation on fundraising ideas.
They outlined 12 basic foundations of fundraising, all of which were (to us) pretty elementary (i.e. create a separate 503c(3) group, have events, thank your donors, etc). They did offer some good ideas however (i.e. making personal "thank you" phone calls for any donation over $100, at all fundraising events have a phone bank and at the time, have donors call other prospective donors. We do this at the Telethon but there are other opportunities for us).
Here is one interesting fact: People that give a low level amount to an organization seven years in a row are those most likely to give a planned gift. We have quite a few of these so who knows what is in our future?...
The St. Paul group said they received $375K a year in fundraising. By contrast, we bring in around $200K between our Friends and Foundation so I would say we are doing pretty well in this area.
But we can always do better! Actually, this was a good program. A little basic but if nothing else, reassured me that we are doing a good job in the area of fundraising.
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Yay! Can't wait to be a part of next year's Telethon! If I'm in the phone bank again, I want to do the "wrap it up" signal.
ReplyDeleteSorry Margaret - the wind it up whirl is mine, all mine!
ReplyDeleteActually, one thing at this program that I thought was interesting was creating a donor nurturaing program, so that way you keep them engaged with what you are doing even when there isn't an official fundraiser.