Fundraising in a Competitive Environment
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Donations from individuals and businesses provide critical support for museums and their programs. However, reaching donors grows increasingly more difficult as more and more issues compete for their attention. In the current museum arena there is no shortage of issues, interests, and distractions. How do you fundraise in such a diverse and complex market? Museum professionals from across the West discuss their successful strategies for cultivating donors and sponsors in a competitive environment. These presentations were given by Eric Nelson and Angelica Quiroz-Maralason. Moderator: Mitch Bishop, Management Analyst, Springs Preserve Presenters: Angelica Quiroz-Maralason, Public Information Coordinator, Springs Preserve Michael Hammond, Executive Director, Agua Caliente Cultural Museum Eric Nelson, Executive Director, Nordic Heritage Museum
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Fundraising in a Competitive Environment
- 1. FUNDRAISING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT WMA Annual Meeting. Las Vegas October 2014
- 2. FUNDRAISING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT Background and history of the Nordic Heritage Museum ·Founding in 1979 ·Early mission: Immigration, experience, and cultural traditions ·Founding Executive Director 1980: From all-volunteer corps to budget of $800K ·The constituency — Passion for legacy ·Capital Campaign - From old school building to new facilities (2017)
- 3. FUNDRAISING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT Leadership transition ·Mandate for growth ·Build budget and capacity ·Professionalize staff ·Raise $65M for new facility
- 4. FUNDRAISING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT Challenges ·Recession and economic downturn from 2008 ·Major regional funders: Shifted giving interests away from bricks and mortar ·Competing interests within existing constituent group ·Constituents: Limited orientation towards philanthropy ·Nordic cultural identity - Perceived value, and need for support
- 5. FUNDRAISING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT Strategies for growth ·Confirm institutional relevance: Re-Examining the mission and vision ·Develop a rolling 5-year strategic plan ·Restructure staff to increase capacity ·Focus programs on community relevance and mission ·Enhance awareness and broaden support
- 6. FUNDRAISING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT Successes ·Budget Growth (2007: $800K to 2014: $1.7M) ·Advancing the Capital Campaign (2007: $7.5M to 2014: $28.6M) ·Staff (2007: 13 FTE’s to 2014: 22 FTE’s) ·Volunteers (2007: 270 to 2014: 444)
- 7. FUNDRAISING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT Take Away: ·Adaptability - It’s OK to change course ·Risk – Roll the dice ·Relevance – Broaden the audience
- 8. FUNDRAISING IN A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
- 9. Fund Raising in a diverse complex market WMA Conference 2014 Angelica Quiroz-Maralason Springs Preserve October 8, 2014
- 10. Fundraising Challenges Our Founders: What Get’s You Started Isn’t What Keeps You Going The Search Is On: One Well Can Only Deliver So Much Water Social Media: Great For Exposure, But Not A Great Donor Source Most Fundraisers Face Two Big Issues: Outreach - Love the Outreach Fundraising - Hate Begging for Money Some Fund Raisers Have Other Projects Equally Important (for me the raising funds for Springs Preserve one of three): 1.LVVWD - ”On-Call” for Main Breaks and General Media, and get involved in the logistics of delivering water to customers when needed (PR activity) 2.SNWA - Water Conservation Mission - Hispanic Media Liaison 3.Springs Preserve – Special Events for Fund Raising Credit To The Staff - the variety of traveling exhibits, new displays and attraction additions to the Springs Preserve, help tremendously to “sell” the Springs Preserve
- 11. Challenges Nationally The report, UnderDeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising, describes three main challenges: 1. Organizations often pin their hopes and dreams for fundraising on one person (the development director) – Beyond creating a development director position and hiring someone who is qualified for the job, organizations and their leaders need to build the capacity, the systems, and the culture to support fundraising success. The findings indicate that many nonprofits aren’t doing this. - Almost one in four nonprofits have no fundraising plan in place. One in five have no fundraising database. - Three out of four executive directors say that board members are not doing enough to support fundraising. - Over one in four executives identified themselves as having no competency or being a novice at fundraising. - A majority of development directors reported only little or moderate influence on key activities such as getting other staff involved in fundraising or developing organizational budgets. 2. High Turnover/Revolving Door - Half the development directors surveyed said they expect to leave their current jobs in two years or less. 3. Long Vacancies -- Executive directors at organizations where the development director position was vacant said the posts had been open for an average of 6 months. Almost half reported even longer vacancies. More than half of the executives surveyed said their most recent development director search did not produce enough candidates with the right mix of skills and experience.
- 13. I’m In Business I look at fund rasing as a me being in business. I learned quickly that if I didn’t approach a potential donor (a busines) with ideas that would BENEFIT their business and help them reach out community goals, they simply were not going to be interested.
- 14. What Has Worked Changing Budgets: Cultivating sponsorship funds from marketing vs donor budget Appealing to Target Marketeers: Creating large events that create merchandising opportunities Meeting Business Objectives: Tieing events to a company’s branding Finding the “Wolf Of Wall Street” Inside: Figuring out why a company would “buy” us - Not selling out but selling in. Helping them accomplish their community and business outreach Signature Events Video – Enjoy!
Editor's Notes
- Section 1: Background and History of the Nordic Heritage Museum Founding & Early Mission of the NHM Founded in 1979 as part of a grass roots community effort to celebrate the cultural identity of the region. At the time of its founding nearly 12% of Washington State claimed Nordic heritage. Established as the only pan-Nordic Museum in the U.S., as many smaller Nordic-American organizations were folding. The mission was greatly focused on the immigration experience and cultural traditions. Founding Executive Director Came on board shortly after opening the doors to the public in April 1980. Built the organization from an all-volunteer corps to a budget of $800K in her 27 years of leadership. Institutions dependency on her leadership. Limited board and staff buy-in. The Constituency — Passion for Legacy Majority of 2500 constituents’ first generation immigrants (and their children). Enthusiastic about their cultural identity and personally involved in Museum. Conservative orientation compared to more progressive homeland. Case for the Capital Campaign Museum housed in 1907 school building Leased facility (lease hold improvements, over $3M in capital expenses) Facility inadequate for Museum purposes Premature Launch of Capital Campaign In 2003 property was purchased and the Campaign was made public with less than $4M raised on a projected $50M project. Publishing “Campaign Update” collateral to all members on a monthly basis.
- Section 1: Background and History of the Nordic Heritage Museum Founding & Early Mission of the NHM Founded in 1979 as part of a grass roots community effort to celebrate the cultural identity of the region. At the time of its founding nearly 12% of Washington State claimed Nordic heritage. Established as the only pan-Nordic Museum in the U.S., as many smaller Nordic-American organizations were folding. The mission was greatly focused on the immigration experience and cultural traditions. Founding Executive Director Came on board shortly after opening the doors to the public in April 1980. Built the organization from an all-volunteer corps to a budget of $800K in her 27 years of leadership. Institutions dependency on her leadership. Limited board and staff buy-in. The Constituency — Passion for Legacy Majority of 2500 constituents’ first generation immigrants (and their children). Enthusiastic about their cultural identity and personally involved in Museum. Conservative orientation compared to more progressive homeland. Case for the Capital Campaign Museum housed in 1907 school building Leased facility (lease hold improvements, over $3M in capital expenses) Facility inadequate for Museum purposes Premature Launch of Capital Campaign In 2003 property was purchased and the Campaign was made public with less than $4M raised on a projected $50M project. Publishing “Campaign Update” collateral to all members on a monthly basis.
- Section 2: Leadership Transition Mandate for Growth I started in January of 2008 and was tasked with growing the organization and completing the Campaign. Search Committee included Museum professionals and was conducted by a museum consulting firm, which gave the Board a framework for understanding the future needs of the organization. Build Budget and Capacity Professionalize Staff Raise $65M for New Facility
- Section 3: Challenges Recession & Economic Downturn from 2008 The day I moved to Seattle, I remember going to breakfast meeting at WAMU that indicated that Seattle would be insulated from the crash. Major Regional Funders: Shifted Giving Interests Away from Bricks and Mortar Microsoft, Allan Foundation, Boeing, Seattle Foundation, Weyerhaeuser Competing Interests within Existing Constituent Group Museum serves as a hub for the greater Nordic Community which includes over 230 Nordic organizations and groups, which occasionally leads to competing interests. The Museum is a secondary passion for many of our constituents because of its pan-Nordic (broad) scope. Swedish Club, Danish Brotherhood, Sons of Norway, Icelandic club. Jane Isakson—Swedish club, John Sjong—Norwegian America Weekly Constituents: Limited Orientation Towards Philanthropy Immigrant populations from the Nordic countries are accustomed to support coming from Government sources (hospitals, museums, libraries, etc.) Also renowned for frugality. (John Graham) Give or Get: No history of philanthropy, personal or for the purpose of solicitation. (We would rather work really, really hard than to ask someone for money- It’s very uncomfortable) I don’t need no stinking pledge form- here is my check Einar & Kaare Nordic Cultural Identity - Perceived Value, and Need for Support Many outside funders have a difficult time justifying support for a Museum that celebrates the cultural identity of Northern Europeans. We find ourselves needing to justify our scope, and are constantly being challenged to expand the audience base to include a broader demographic. The perceived NEED and VALUE of PRESERVING Nordic American Heritage is often less compelling than the need of PRESERVING African American Heritage or Mexican American Heritage, or perhaps other underserved cultural groups.
- Section 4: Strategies for Growth Confirm Institutional Relevance—Re-Examining the Mission & Vision Focus groups: navel gazing as well as desire to broaden audience. Board was convinced to revise the mission, understanding the need for institutional relevance for a successful Campaign, and to ensure a sustainable future. Develop a Rolling 5-year Strategic Plan Worked with outside consultants to provide us with an outside focus. Value of producing the document hugely helpful in creating buy-in from staff and board. Restructure Staff to Increase Capacity Increased staff incrementally in the first several years to increase fundraising/marketing capacity and professionalize programmatic efforts. (7 hats compared to the current 3 hats worn by staff) Re-organized for increased efficiency: compare Forssblad model to current. Focus Programs on Community Relevance and Mission More emphasis on QUALITY exhibitions and programs with a broad appeal. 12 exhibitions to 5 annually. Moving away from one-off programming and moving to series based programming. Investing financial resources in developing the best possible experience. Contextualizing our subject matter to make it relevant to a broad consistency (immigration, social justice, fine arts, environmentalism) Enhance Awareness and Broaden Support Investing in marketing and communications, graphic design: Spend the money to create an expectation for who you are as an organization. Recruiting partners and sponsors to broaden the audience and raise awareness.
- Section 6: Take Always Adaptability Don’t be afraid to change course: what was relevant a decade ago may not be as compelling or sustainable as it is today. Be prepared to re-visit your mission and your vision. We are living in an increasingly competitive environment. Be adaptable to changing business situations. Risk Roll the dice; risk is required for growth. However, you should understand the risk and the institutions ability to absorb the expense if it is not successful. Relevance Broaden the audience: you can make your mission and program approachable to everyone. Find critics and embrace them, and listen to what they say (within reason). Do not look at your navel.
- Section 6: Take Always Adaptability Don’t be afraid to change course: what was relevant a decade ago may not be as compelling or sustainable as it is today. Be prepared to re-visit your mission and your vision. We are living in an increasingly competitive environment. Be adaptable to changing business situations. Risk Roll the dice; risk is required for growth. However, you should understand the risk and the institutions ability to absorb the expense if it is not successful. Relevance Broaden the audience: you can make your mission and program approachable to everyone. Find critics and embrace them, and listen to what they say (within reason). Do not look at your navel.
- Our Founding Donors got everything started and are deeply involved today, but we all know that getting something started doesn’t keep it going AND Financial sustainability is just as important as environmental sustainability. The Search Is On: We’re in a desert! We know how wells run dry. Even Lake Mead depends on new snowfall in the Rockies every year. We all know how lean years can take their toll on traditional donors. New sources of funds is a constant requirement. Social Media: Maybe at some time in the future funds from Facebook will outperform stock in Facebook, but today, social media is great for exposure, but doesn’t return dollars like old fashioned pounding the pavement and knocking on doors. As fundraisers we all face two big issues: outreach and fundraising. We love the outreach but hate begging for money; always begging for money for something everybody should WANT to support. But for me, everything I do to raise money for the Springs Preserve represent one third of my job. I’m also charged with a water conservation mission. I’m on-call every six week to be available 24 hours a day for seven days to be on TV and radio, and write news releases for the Water District in the event of a main break. I have to be available to pass out hundred of bottles of water if necessary for public safety. I coordinate water conservation events, conservation training classes for landscapers, (WSC & Drip Irrigation class, shopping and purchasing items for events) spearhead media and advertising programs, AND NONE OF THAT SUPPORTS FUNDING THE SPRINGS PRESERVE!!! Credit to the staff - credit to the management and curators staff for the traveling exhibits and additions to the site
- “I must warn you, I look at fundraising differently than many others.
- Changing Budgets: Cultivating sponsorship funds from marketing vs donor budget - Budweiser example - When Budweiser stages an event, do they only for philantropiic reasons? NO!!!! They’re treating as an opportunity to increase their market Business Opportunities Appealing to Target Marketeers: Creating big events that create merchandising opportunities - Signature Events from 16 to 18 per year Meeting Business Objectives: Tieing events to a company’s branding - Funeral Home example Finding the “Wolf Of Wall Street” Inside: Figuring out why a company would “buy” us. - Not selling out but selling in. I’m not begging I’m selling So Again I AM IN BUSINESS