2. What’s your most successful
money raising activity?
How do you know?
3. Financing is...
A long-term strategy for bringing enough
money in the door to achieve your mission.
How much should we raise to
accomplish our goals?
How much can we accomplish
with what we can raise?
4. Board, Staff, Donors
Money Strategy
Infrastructure
Sustainability
Funding Sources
Programs
Message
Fundraising Financing
Worn out Excited, engaged
Annual, programs Long-term, all costs
Inadequate Fully funded
Weak
Few
Strong
GrowingFlat or declining
Diverse, Robust
Community changeNeed
6. Don’t Be Afraid
of The Math
Simple math: just +, - , x, and ÷
Ball park estimates are fine
Analyze trends, not minutia
7. Two Key Formulas
Net Revenue
$ Raised – ALL Expenses
Cost to Raise $1.00
ALL Expenses ÷ Net Revenue
8. Net Revenue
Direct Expenses
Printing, entertainment, food, space
Indirect Expenses
Staff Time
# of hours worked on activity X hourly rate
Hourly Rate = (Salary + Benefits) / 2,080 hours
Board Time
# of hours worked X value of volunteer hour
9. Why Include
Staff & Board Time?
Opportunity Costs
Limited board & staff
resources
Put to highest/best use
Understand cost of
time
10. Tracking Staff Time
Don’t get bogged down in EXACT
numbers
Use free/cheap time-tracking software
Harvest, QuickBooks, smart phone apps
OR, think in terms of:
% of a person’s job, and
% of the year
“Our Development Director
spends 25% of her time in the
4th quarter of the year on our event”
11. Cost to Raise
$1.00
Determines financial return of each activity
Compare fundraising activities
Annual Gala costs $0.97 to make $1.00
Direct Mail costs $0.75 to make $1.00
County grant costs $3.45 to make $1.00
12. Gross vs. Net
Revenue
Gross Revenue
The money you brought in
Net Revenue
The money you brought in
minus the cost to bring it in
Gross revenue is meaningless
Paints only half the picture
Doesn’t allow comparisons
Ignores THE BOTTOM LINE
13. Intangible Value
of Events?
“Goodwill” or “Raise Awareness”
Vague and un-measurable, not targeted
Pick a target audience(s) & create a specific,
measurable call to action
“Cultivate New Donors”
Create a non-revenue generating event
“Thank Board and Donors”
Create a non-revenue generating event
14. Which Event?
Cultivation Event Revenue Generating
Event
Primary Goal Get a target audience(s)
interested in learning
more about your org
Low cost to raise a dollar
Audience People who can do a lot
for your organization in
the future
People who will write a
check right now
Follow up Customized to each
person
None
Future revenue potential Large Must wait a year
Potential money left on
the table
None Much
17. $20,000 Grant
Prominent local foundation
2 years, $10,000/year
Quarterly reporting required
Some modifications to
existing program
18. % of one day’s customer receipts go to
organization
Organization must
staff the event
Gross Revenue
of $21,000
Benefit
Day
19. Comparing CTRDs
$100K Gala = $0.94
Vs.
$20K Grant = $0.82
Vs.
$21K Benefit Day = $0.12
Gala brings in more GROSS revenue, but is
less PROFITABLE than the grant.
Grant and Benefit Day bring in the same
gross revenue, but Benefit Day is more
profitable.
21. Invest: Much less than $1.00
These are your most profitable activities
Evaluate: Around $1.00
Could you make these more profitable?
Abandon: More than $1.00
Let these go!
Create 3 Lists
22. List all invested stakeholders
Board members that love the activity
Donors or sponsors of the activity
Volunteers for the activity
Staff running the activity
Determine how powerful/disruptive each is
Meet one-on-one with the most powerful
Brainstorm how to re-channel passion
How to Abandon
Activities
23. Getting Started
List all money generating activities
Calculate Net Revenue & CTRD for each
Add each activity to one of the 3 lists
Begin abandoning unprofitable activities
24. Learn More…
Calculating the Cost of
Fundraising
On Demand Webinar
Download Here
(Includes more formulas,
explanations, questions)