Author Archives:
Steps for Raising $20,000
Dear Ms. Klein: I am the treasurer of the Spanish Honor Society at my local High School. My goal is to raise approximately $20,000 in order to have all our club members fly to Costa Rica. We plan to volunteer at an orphanage there where we will teach the children English and organize activities for them. The problem is, however, [...]
Ethnical Guidelines for Conveying Program Costs to Donors
Dear Kim: Are there ethical guidelines for placing values on “example” donation amounts on websites and in appeals? I see other organizations provide lists in their appeals such as ”$10 will provide toothbrushes for 5 people”; “$100 sponsors one child at event X,” etc. I’m not sure how to word example amounts without misleading the potential [...]
Inappropriate Funder Stipulations
Dear Kim: We have a funder who wants to make it a condition of a grant extension to require that we maintain the same development staff person on the grant until December. Â Â This particular staff person has been promoted to a new position within the development department with greater responsibilities and we hired her replacement [...]
Leveraging Large Gifts
Dear Kim: I’m the Director of a small non-profit and I spend about half my time on fundraising. We just got amazing news last week – a major donor just committed to giving us $40,000 a year for 3 years, with the assumption that she’ll renew after that. Our budget is pretty tiny, so that [...]
Credit Card Processing Fees
Dear Kim: I know you advise being able to accept donations by credit card, but given that the credit card company charge 3% or more, isn’t it better to have the donor write a check or give cash? ~Hate that percentage Dear Percentage: If a donor stands in front of you, offering an amount of [...]
Offers that Don’t Amount to Much
Dear Kim: We have a board member who has offered to donate $1 for every $100 people spend at his store, if they tell the clerk they are from our organization. He runs a small bakery and it would be very rare for anyone to spend $100 at one time, and so over the three [...]
Feeling Disrespected & Misunderstood as a Fundraising Consultant
Dear Kim: Do you have any advice and/or insights for dealing with people who don’t understand (or make minimizing assumptions) about being a fundraising consultant? I find myself getting snippy and making admittedly defensive remarks or puffing myself up when my career as a fundraising consultant comes up in casual conversation and the reaction is [...]
Working with Elderly Donors
Dear Kim: Last year, we phoned one of our more elderly major donors to set up a meeting to talk with her about her annual gift. To our surprise, she seemed disoriented and didn’t seem to remember us, though she’s met and spoken with our executive director and one of our board members on various [...]
Formal vs. Informal Salutations
Dear Kim: We have an ongoing debate about the use of formal (more traditional) vs. informal salutations. Historically, our default was formal unless we knew the individual(s). My question relates to how this is trending in the non-profit sector. For example, our ED is suggesting that our default be informal, e.g.: Tom and Susan Mitchell…Dear [...]
Should We Change Things Up in Our End-of-Year Appeal?
Dear Kim: I work for a small rural medical, dental and behavioral health facility serving around 5,000 local residents and beyond. We do two mailings a year. Our best results have been when we do a fall newsletter and a winter appeal letter. We did a four color newsletter for the first time this past [...]
