1. Introduction to Fundraising Planning ! Andrea Snyder Grants Collection
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4. Source: Nonprofit Almanac 2008 National Center for Charitable Statistics, the Urban Institute Other Income 2.9% Fees for Services and Goods 70.3% Private Contributions 12.3% Government Grants 9.0% Investment Income 5.4% Sources of Revenue for Reporting Public Charities
19. Andrea Snyder Grants Collection Enoch Pratt Free Library State Library Resource Center [email_address] (410)396-5320 twitter: grants_pratt
Editor's Notes
(Note: Presenter should have a flip chart with pens for group exercises) Welcome Introduction—Introduce myself Review of handout packet (Slides, evaluation, case study, etc.) Survey of audience (Has anyone developed a one year fundraising plan? Longer?) This course is an introduction that will present basic strategies for developing your organization’s fundraising plan. We will be walking through a step-by-step process of determining what fundraising strategies are appropriate for developing your fundraising plan.
This is an introductory course intended for organizations that have never developed a fundraising plan or calendar. This is a brief overview of the process of strategically thinking through the components that comprise a fundraising plan including : Conducting an assets inventory Developing a case statement Identifying fundraising partners Setting fundraising goals Preparing a fundraising plan and calendar
Planning is a critical activity for your organization’s success. Many organizations can see the advantages in planning for specific programs or organization-wide, but undertake fundraising without a clear idea or plan of how to achieve their fiscal goals. Planning focuses your organization by setting fundraising priorities. ** helps give your board and volunteers an understanding of the big picture-- the organization’s funding needs and how you plan to meet those needs. It is also the whole staff’s responsibility to understand the needs. Board involvement is critical to fundraising success . Having an agreed upon plan strengthens board commitment and involvement with the program’s fundraising goals. Diversified fundraising plan--prevents organizations from becoming over-dependent on one source. Without a plan. if an approach doesn’t work, you can lose confidence. Having a flexible plan allows you to immediately turn to other vehicles and adjust goals to the new reality. A good plan can forestall the need for crisis-mode fundraising. Setting priorities also allows you to visualize how to use your time productively and how to integrate your fundraising plan with other organizational needs. Most fundraising strategies take months to implement. Your plan should be formulated and approved several months prior to the beginning of your fiscal year. Reviewing the plan throughout the year allows you the flexibility to adjust goals to your current financial situation.
Let’s look at the big picture of all types of nonprofit revenue to answer the question, How are nonprofits supported? Looking at the nonprofit sector as a whole, fees for services (earned income) is the largest category of revenue (Aside: Can anyone give us an example or definition of earned income?). Institutional grantmakers, like foundations, fit into the “Private contributions” category, along with corporations and individual donors. As we can see, private giving accounts for only a modest proportion of charitable giving. (The vast majority of private giving comes from individuals regular people supporting their favorite religious organization or charity). Therefore, it is important to consider building several funding streams to finance your organization. Although private giving may be one component of your overall fundraising strategy, you can’t depend solely on it to meet all your funding needs. You will need to develop multiple revenue streams, which may include (especially) individual, corporate, and/or government support and earned income from fees and services (Aside: “Other income” is primarily membership fees and special events.) Source: Nonprofit Almanac 2008
Diversifying your funding sources provides stronger organizational financial stability. Think of each income stream as a leg of a stool. Implementing different fundraising methods lessens the possibility of collapse if one income strategy does not come through as planned. Foundation giving is one component of your overall fundraising strategy which may also include individual, corporate, religious institutions, governmental support and earned income from fees and services. For most organizations, a much bigger share of your revenue will come from individual donors and/or earned income than from foundations. Nonetheless foundation funding can be an important proportion of your income.
The following provides an overview of issues you need to address in order to develop fundraising strategies and goals. Presenting a strong mission statement and vital programs: What is the purpose of your organization? Do you have relevant, vital programs that flow from your basic mission? Conducting an assets inventory for your organization: taking an inventory of your organization’s skills, experiences and expertise. Creating a dynamic case for support : What needs does your organization fulfill? How? Why are your staff, volunteers and board qualified to meet these needs? Setting realistic fundraising goals: How can you present your financial needs to prospective funders most effectively? What is the annual or “special needs” amount you need to raise? Diversifying funding mix for your organization: Given your strengths and assets, what types of funders would find you a good prospect for long-term partnership?
Formulating strategies for raising money from individual donors: How do you identify the individuals most likely to provide support and what methods will work best to secure these donations? Formulating strategies for raising money from Institutions: How do you identify institutions most likely to support your work? How much should you ask for? Preparing your fundraising plan and timetable: A fundraising plan is a summary of your fundraising strategy and breaks down each component in chronological order . Making the approach/Building relationships: Who should ask for financial support on behalf of your organization? How much? When? How can you sustain and strengthen your supporters’ interests? Monitoring and evaluation: How will you monitor and evaluate your fundraising efforts? What groundwork have you developed for next year’s fundraising plan?
A mission statement briefly outlines the purpose of the organization, answering the question Why does your organization exist?. A strong mission statement establishes long-term direction that guides the organization’s daily operation. An organization’s short-term goals as well as its long-term vision should flow from a concise mission statement. You’re looking for words that provide an effective overview the target audience, values and goals. For example the National Wildlife Federation mission statement is concise but gives you a sense of the organization’s overall vision: The mission of the National Wildlife Federation is to educate, inspire and assist individuals and organizations of diverse cultures to conserve wildlife and other natural resources and to protect the Earth's environment in order to achieve a peaceful, equitable and sustainable future. Your organization’s programs should be relevant to the needs of the community: well-thought out and highly regarded; and they have to be in line with your organization’s mission statement Does anyone have a mission statement they would like to share? Many of your organizations already have a mission statement & programming in place. As we get started with fundraising it’s important to remember that all fundraising planning and activities flow from your mission and values.
What’s more, you’re going to take a serious look at your mission, values, programs, services and other activities when you create an assets inventory. The assets inventory includes evidence, past and present, that illustrates your organization’s skills, experience and expertise You bring a number of attributes to funders. Which of these attributes are the strongest assets your organization has? Donors don’t want to hear about your organization’s needs (i.e. we need to hire staff)—they want to hear about how you make a difference in the world. Strong organizations are the ones that are supported, so what strengths are you going to put forward? For your future reference, we’ve included an assets inventory outline in your handouts. We aren’t going to go through the whole thing now, but we are going to look at a case study for an organization called Youth for Community Action. Let’s take a look at this case study now and think about the strongest assets of this organization. Please take a couple minutes to read the case study.
(Refer to the Youth for Community Action case study and the assets inventory. Have the group call out answers and you write out responses on a flip chart.) Projects or programs successfully implemented: · Successfully implemented YFCA program for two years with 25 participants · Held monthly meetings, weekend retreats and one week summer camp What skills and abilities enabled you to succeed in these efforts: · Students wanted to learn organizing/leadership skills. Highly motivated. · Staff has a strong organizing background to carry out all activities In what ways can you document the success of your past work. · Most students continued into the second year of the program. DEMAND · Paper trail of educational flyers, press releases, media articles What are the qualifications of current and past board members and staff? How would you describe their talents? Can elaborate background and skills that staff brings from the previous answer. You’ll want to talk about history and background of key staff that makes them qualified to teach adolescents leadership skills. How long has the organization been in existence? What recognition has your organization received from the community? The case study doesn’t state clearly the age of the parent organization but their size and partnership with foundations, corps., social service agencies and school districts show a history of success. This is a strong asset. What are the institutions that have supported your work? What other successful forms of fundraising have occurred? Some fundraising successes would include: YFCA has successfully raised and implemented their program budget for the previous two years; YFCA has received funding from at least three foundations in the past.
Definition: Your case for support is literally a written document outlining your general argument for why your organization deserves gift support. It that states the most important facts about your organization and is primarily used internally. Uses: · Engaging potential supporters early on in the fundraising process, fostering their investment in your efforts · Drawing text language for written fundraising materials or brochures · Establish key concepts for speeches, grant proposals, or publicity vehicles · Can use as briefing papers for face to face solicitations Write this in advance of your fundraising campaign . Most common case statements for small to medium nonprofits are 5-10 pages long. This is an opportunity to amass data that demonstrate your competencies and the effectiveness of your work and will be used as a core communication tool by staff, volunteers and board members. Gather information about the program’s history and examples of prior success. Know your organization’s mission statement and expand on how your programs supports your core mission, goals and objectives Also, how much money do you need to do all this, and how will you raise it—outlining your fundraising and revenue-generating plans. The case statement should have a sense of urgency so the reader will care about your project now. Use active and visual words that stimulate a reader’s imagination and involvement. YFCA’s two years of successful seed organizing and the pressure of needing to meet increased demands are good case statement arguments. Relaying the success stories of work with several teenage participants would make this a strong communication piece.
Clearly stated fundraising goals enable you to tell prospects how their contribution will be used. Further, setting goals motivates individuals to give. Comparing your goals to what is actually raised helps you make better program decisions in the future-- gives a clearer picture of when you need to modify programs goals based on how well your fundraising goals are being met.. You should be flexible with goals and even when you don’t reach them, don’t dismiss the amount you were able to raise. (Provide example on flip chart) Annual Fundraising Goals : Take the anticipated organizational expenses and subtract anticipated income from program fees-- this equals your organization’s annual fundraising goal. For example your agency has a $150,000 organizational budget. You receive about $50,000 for fees for services. Your therefore have a $100,000 annual fundraising goal. Currently, YFCA could not use this type of fundraising goal since it has neither fees or revenue. Program Fundraising Goal: The YFCA project has a projected budget of $68,000 . You should deduct any in-kind donations, which is $15,000. This would leave a program fundraising goal of $53,000 Unit of Service: Unit of service isn’t a fundraising goal per se. But we mention it here because it is often used by direct service organizations for planning and fundraising purposes. Take the projected expenses of a program and divide by the number of clients served. So using our case study as an example, YFCA projected budget of $68,000 will provide leadership training for 50 students or to assist one student (or unit of service ) would be $1,360.
Diversifying your funding sources provides stronger organizational financial stability. Think of each income stream as a leg of a stool. Implementing different fundraising methods lessens the possibility of collapse if one income strategy does not come through as planned. Foundation giving is one component of your overall fundraising strategy which may also include individual, corporate, religious institutions, governmental support and earned income from fees and services. For most organizations, a much bigger share of your revenue will come from individual donors and/or earned income than from foundations. Nonetheless foundation funding can be an important proportion of your income.
Fundraising is a collaborative effort between a nonprofit and a group of people willing to financially support the mission and values of your organization, be they individuals, foundations, government agencies, etc. [Have the audience quickly review the enclosed Worksheet: Selecting Prospective Funding Partners for your Nonprofit Endeavor. ] [Have them mark the strongest likelihood for fundraising supporters by referring to the case study and the previous strength and asset exercise. Do this relatively quickly. Ask for partners they feel will make the strongest partners. Why?] Some possible approaches: Individuals: Membership fees (none previously). Even a $50 annual fee would bring in $2500.00 (50 members, = 2 projects with 25 members each X $50). Stronger parents solicitation (either by mail, phone or face-to-face). Built on the previous year’s $500.00 donations. Special Events: Both parents and students have indicated an interest to help with fundraising. Select the best events with the skills of the parents and students. Possibilities would include parent’s hosting house parties to attract new members, students organizing raffle, garage sale, car wash, etc. Foundations: Clarify foundations that will continue support and at what amount. Look at funders who don’t do seed funds, but look to help organizations expand their program through capacity building. If the program is something that can be replicated elsewhere, regional or national funders may be interested. Corporations: Look at previous partnership between the parent organization and corporations to see if this project is a good match. Government: Determine if school district, city, county, state, federal programs can provide funding ?
Set a goal for each fundraising strategy. Break it down to number that you believe is a reasonable goal, taking into account previous history using this strategy, amount of time and energy that can be devoted to this strategy, etc.. For example, from our case study we may want to do the following strategy goal. Membership Dues: $2,500. 50 students (25 participants from two core groups) X $50.00 (amount of annual membership dues). [ Do math on the flip chart .] Does each projected amount add up to your overall fundraising goal? If not, you may need to reduce your operating budget or increase your income projections. Estimates should be on the conservative side unless there’s a proven track record from previous fundraising experience. Determine: Tasks required to complete the strategy; Beginning and end date for each task. What follow-up is needed?; Who will do what (Staff?, Board? Volunteers?); How much will implementing the strategy cost and how much is adopting it likely to raise? You may also want to put the plan on a “Year-At-A-Glance” type of calendar so you can make sure that you have spread out the work evenly over a course of a year. Other considerations: Which months you will need the income to meet expense needs; How long will the activities take? Are there other major activities planned by your organization that may impact your fundraising strategy? Fundraising plans should be integrated with other program goals and of course your budget to form a realistic picture of the time and energy needed. Refer to the worksheets “Summary of Fundraising Strategy” and the “Fundraising Calendar.” One possible sample for the fundraising plan and calendar is shown. Quickly walk through the main aspects of both.
You build an evaluation component into your fundraising plan to lay the groundwork for next year. Schedule evaluation meetings after every special event or campaign milestone. Some questions to consider: What would you do the same way? Differently? What would enhance the success of the strategy in the future? Are there better strategies for next time?
That concludes today’s presentation. While we did cover the elements of planning, many of you may be interested in more information about how to decide which funding partners are appropriate and how to best approach them. First of all I want to encourage you to peruse the books on your resource list, the majority of which are available in our library. Further discussion of this process is available in the book Securing Your Organization Future (hold up book) or, for a more in-depth discussion for long-term planning and different methods of fundraising, the Foundation Center offers a day-long seminar, Developing a Fundraising Plan. The resource list in your handouts provides you with other useful books and web sites to help you continue to develop your knowledge in this area. Please don’t forget to fill out the participant feedback form and to join us in other training programs. Thank you
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