Category: Dear Kim
4.2 The Importance of Follow-Up
Dear Kim: I recently sent a letter to the founding director of our organization and asked her to consider being on our event committee. Â I never heard back from her and so I formed the committee without her. Â But now I have heard through the grapevine that she is a little hurt not to be [...]
3.31 Solving the Problem of Budget Cuts by Raising More Money
Dear Kim: We have lost a lot of funding in the past two years and have cut out every possible unnecessary expense. Â We are now going to cut all professional development which includes conferences and workshops. Â The fact is that each member of our staff either has a conference they love to attend, or would [...]
2.23 Complicated In-Kind Donations
Dear Kim: I have a board member who has offered to let the person who sells the most tickets to our upcoming event use her beach house for the weekend.  She doesn’t rent her house normally, so she wants to know how she can value this gift so that we can write her a receipt [...]
2.21 The Why of Grassroots Fundraising
Dear Kim: My nonprofit has recently decided to follow your advice and build a base of individual donors. Â (We have lost most of our foundation funding and see this as our only choice.) Â We are very small, with only two staff and five board members and so we want to attract a small number of [...]
12.16 Some Quick Tips to Maximize Year-End Donations
Dear Kim: Any quick tips on maximizing donations at year-end? We are still short of our goal and I want to use this time to best advantage. We have sent a year-end appeal, are seeing major donors as they are willing and available, and have a online appeal ready to go at the very end [...]
12.15 The Honorary Committee
Dear Kim: My organization is celebrating its 10th Anniversary in 2012 and is thinking about forming an honorary committee of big donors/high profile figures to help support the year’s fundraising efforts. Aside from listing committee names on letterhead for fundraising appeals and on event invitations, are there other things honorary committee members can do for [...]
What is the Added Value of an Outside Evaluator?
Dear Kim: If a funder does not require us to hire an outside evaluator to evaluate the program they funded, is there any reason to do so? We do our own internal examination and I’d like to save the money but our main goal is to provide the best program we can. Survey. Survey not. [...]
What to Expect from Phone Calls and How Do I Expand My List?
Dear Kim: I am coming up against some blocks around fundraising and need some tips from you. How do I come up with a realistic estimation of results from phone calls? I know that individual donations are the largest section of giving, but how do I gather more names and contacts? ~Lost in the Nitty [...]
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 [...]
