Recommended Content, Layout, and Uses of the Nonprofit Donation Remitance Envelope, And Why

Of the nonprofit donation remittance envelope, (the envelope of any varying legal size included as a donation request on its own, or included in a more formal donation request (such as folded into an annual appeal letter, for example), its design (layout and content) is the most important aspect of this fundraising tool.

We've all seen tons of them.  Remittance envelopes fall out of the newsletter that comes quarterly by postal mail from our favorite nonprofit; or it falls to the floor as we unfold the solicitation letter we received at the end of November asking for a year end contribution to a charity working for a cause we care about.

Let's step back for a moment.  First, what is effective, successful, and professional fundraising?

When we solicit donations from established donors and potential new donors we are not simply asking for money, holding the tin can out with a little sign taped to it that simply says 'give to this charity'.  We know, today, that according to professional nonprofit best practices, the point of soliciting a donation is not to simply raise a buck here there and wherever we can.  Rather, the point in fundraising is to make a compelling case to people, companies, governments, etc. that may (or already do) donate to your organization such that they are not just guilted into giving or are just giving because they get some tax deduction for it.  We engage potential and established donors, we inform them, and make a compelling case to them why our organization is worthy of their support.  We do it knowing (ourselves, as the nonprofit making the request) that first, we can not fulfill our mission statement's goals without community support such as donations from the public and other entities.  As such, our nonprofits' donors are requisite partners in our effort and in fact, are partners in our organizations' successes and accomplishments.  It is not simply hyperbole or sentiment to thank donors.  Frankly, when a nonprofit says "we could not have achieved organizational success without you, donors" they are not being trite but rather honest and even clear minded.  If a nonprofit does not raise funds, year round, each week of each month, they can not afford their annual operating budget.  The organization that does not raise funds but more importantly, that does not raise partners in order to provide its mission's programs today and in the future is struggling.  I am sure of it.  The nonprofit that understands that its lifeblood is its ability to deliver its mission to the community understands that without its community's current but also ongoing or future support, it is dead in the water or treading and sinking fast.

Nonprofits make a compelling case to a pool of current and potential new donors (who are as determined by professional research to be more likely than just a random group of people to give to this particular cause and organization) explaining why they should give to this particular nonprofit (such as, if it's the case, perhaps it's the only organization doing the work it does; its programs' success rates; its excellent and ethical reputation; 80% (or more) of every dollar raised goes to programs and organizational operations; and its team or staff and volunteers and their credentials, experience, and reputations in their fields).  Too, once accomplishments are achieved, all donors are in relatively short time (perhaps on the organizaiton's website and in the next quarterly newsletter) made aware of the achievements their contributions enabled in the community (perhaps even providing the demographics and service statistics for those served) and the donors are thanked.  They are told in this correspondence that your organization's board, volunteers, and staff know that without their contributions your organization would not have achieved what it has.  Finally, the donors are made aware of what current and new mission based goals (programs) the nonprofit is working on and how they can support current and future work.

So, why even include a remittance envelope at all?

Most of all fundraising is still conducted, today, through direct solicitation such as postal mail requests.  Printing in bulk is not expensive and as long as a nonprofit has a P.O. Box or street address it expects to keep for a while, printing up thousands of donation remittance envelopes (as included in the overhead or expense portion of the fundraising budget) is a small cost compared to its donations (or income) return rate.  Track it and see, if you don't want to take my word on it.  What's more, remittance envelopes (especially postage-paid ones, and using the U.S. Postal Service Nonprofit Bulk Rate when possible) are very convenient and economical modes for donors to submit contributions, right when they are asked for a donation (such as in an appeal letter).  When Susan P. Jones or Abraham Z. Smith receives your nonprofit's request for support, he or she can just write a check and pop it into your organization's included remittance envelope and then drop that into the mail on the way into work the next morning.

You may think, 'Arlene, you were saying that the design of the remittance envelope is all important, earlier?'

Yes, it is.  Here's why.  A remittance envelope (like any contact whatsoever with any potential supporter of any kind of your nonprofit) is an opportunity.  The donor, as they go to fill out the remittance envelope, will also be reading the questions you ask of them, in it; or will be made aware of other ways they can both further their contribution (when possible) or support your nonprofit in other ways IF YOUR NONPROFIT MAKES THEM AWARE OF THESE OPTIONS.  This is where layout and content in the remittance envelope become powerful.

Of course the design or layout of the envelope must be uncluttered, clear, and pertinent.  Space, of course, no matter what size remittance a nonprofit uses, is limited.  So, all of its content must only be that of the highest likelihood to produce a donation and repeat support.  This content, it just so happens, tends to also be the information that is the most helpful and informative to the donor. Click on the following image for an excellent example of pertinent and helpful content for the donor and organization:

All Rights Reserved.  Arlene M. Spencer.

When looking over the content that I've recommended, above, consider the potential donor to be someone that is interested in the cause your organization serves, and is interested in seeing the community continue to receive the services or products your nonprofit provides to your community.  Think of the potential donor as someone who is genuinely interested in your organization's welfare and further success.  If they wish to support your agency, then ask them in the remittance for the help you need, but too, let them know in what vast many different ways they may support it.  They may not know that these are the many different options they have to help your agency.  They may always say "no", of course - but at least they've been made aware.

Important things to keep in mind in the remittance's design:

__ Obviously, on the outside of the envelope you'll print your organization's name and mailing address.  You'll also include a box that either provides pre-paid postage or requests a postage stamp be affixed in the postage spot.  Finally, you'll include at least four blank lines in the return address spot.

__ Both inside the envelope flap, and on exterior of the envelope under the flap, is where the above information that I suggest in my graphic can be placed (obviously omitting what you wish or adding what you wish, such as maybe the demographics of the population your organization serves, or the reason why your organization's work is necessary, etc.).

__ What is key - especially since you do not want to be printing and then re-printing remittance envelopes (except in important instances, such as the change of the organization's mailing address, of course); remember not to put organizational information on the envelope that will become outdated quickly.  For instance, if you include the budget breakdown for your organization's operations for 2012 on the inner envelope (to demonstrate to the potential donor how well the organization is run and where each penny of every dollar raised goes - which of course is great content in the actual appeal letter) then you'll need to recycle any of the remittance envelopes with that information on it in 2013 and after!

__ Also, please keep your donor's need for privacy in mind.  In all places on the remittance where you request their contact or other information (wherever you provide a prompt for them to fill in) - be sure that the envelope flap covers it while it's in transit back to your organization through the mail.  Otherwise, people will not respond with information filled in. 

__ As such, be sure, too, that the adhesive strip that secures your remittance envelope will neither cover up (and seal over) or expose any of the donor's filled in information after they've filled it out and then sealed the remittance envelope to mail it back to you.

__ Finally, but not of least importance, the United States Postal Service provides information and suggested guidelines and helpful tips to nonprofits or other organizations that are having remittance envelopes printed up for regular postal use.  See their USPS Quick Service Guide 201c Courtesy Reply Mail guide.  It's helpful and I recommend you look at it, as you design your remittance, as well. 

Once you have your template submitted to your printer, they will offer to give you a sample or draft of a single remittance, per your design, if you wish.  I would take them up on it BEFORE authorizing the entire order be printed so that you can take that sample to one or two local Post Offices.  Actually ask a post master there what they think of the proof and if there are any changes they'd recommend or problems donors may have mailing them back to you.  Do this.  It is worth the time it will take to do.  Do it before you authorize the entire remittance print order.  This ounce of prudence can save your organization and its donors frustration, time, money, and your organization's professionalism will remain in tact.

A List of Specific Fundraising Methods Particularly Helpful At the End of the Calendar Year

We are fast approaching the end of the calendar year and there are certain fundraising methods that are particularly important at this time of year for any nonprofit to consider conducting.  Any one or more can be done for a year end boost to your organization's bottom line.

__ Year End Appeal - The year end appeal is usually similar to the annual appeal except the written and mailed request sent to everyone who donated a certain amount and above perhaps for the past two years (such as maybe $25 and above), usually lists all of the organization's accomplishments and accolades for the year clearly providing as well (perhaps in two separate pie charts or other quick but informative representation) all of the organization's spending and income, and stating what the goals are for the coming new year.  Usually, too, it is pointed out (gently) that a contribution to your group at the end of this year will provide an equivalent tax deduction (to the extent that the law allows) for the donor when they file their taxes for this year.

__ Major Donor Year End Appeal - Is a specific appeal, exactly like the Year End Appeal described above, except any major donor request is always conducted face to face with the nonprofit's major donors (again keeping in mind that the major donor is often eager to donate at the end of a calendar year to benefit their tax deductions and can also afford to give major assets such as land, stock, bonds, etc. and especially give on this magnitude at the end of the year for the tax break).

__ Grant Donors Looking to Spend Down The Rest of This Year's Giving Budget - By law foundations are required to donate a specific percentage of their total assets each year to remain in good standing with the IRS and other government entities that oversee their operations.  Sometimes a given grant donor will find, at the end of their fiscal year (which can fall, of course, on the end of the calendar year for some grant donors) that they have money left to give in order to meet either this oversight rule or to meet the giving budget for the year.  Either way, it never hurts to research grant donors, more likely to give to your specific nonprofit (see the link in this sentence to know how to determine which grant donors they are) and see if they happen to be needing to spend down this year (as it's the end of the calendar year).

__ Governments Looking to Spend Down The Rest of This Year's Giving Budget - Like the foundations described, above, (and though the economy is down still) some government agencies or programs gave budgets this year and some of those may have money to give yet in order to meet their giving goal for this year.  As suggested above, if their is a federal, state, local, or Tribal, etc. government agency that your organization knows has or would support your nonprofit, it doesn't hurt to research whether their office is looking to spending down some last unused money marked for grant donations.

__ Request Outstanding or Due Memberships, Pledges, and Other Final Quarter Donation Balances- Often, like a for-profit business, nonprofits can run their Accounts Receivable for their donations (or expected income report) for this year and see which donors (sponsors, in kind donors, etc. included along with individual, business, and foundation donors) have yet to give in full for the year if they promised or pledged a certain amount before 2013.  Requests all of these outstanding amounts.

__ Board of Director Annual Contributions - Often nonprofits raise money, annually, through annual leadership contributions which is a specific often larger amount that each board member promises to either raise or donate personally (or give through a combination of the two).  If your organization conducts Board Contributions, be sure to request any outstanding remaining balances from any board members still needing to fulfill their contribution amount for this year.

__ Employee Giving Programs - Many corporations provide their employees with the choice to give to any one (or more) of a long list of area or related nonprofits.  If, for instance, your organization operates in Dallas, Texas you might want to find out how your organization can get onto Hewlett Packard's Corporate Giving List (for their employees to select to give to your nonprofit) over the coming year - usually through a monthly (or other regular incremental) contribution deducted (pre-tax for the donor employee) from their pay check.  Another example is, if your nonprofit operates in Seattle, you could contact Microsoft's Human Resources offices and find out how to get onto their Employee Giving list for 2013 and on.  Always be sure, when requesting/receiving volunteer time or donations from any employer's employees whether the employer matches the contribution.  Often they do but if you don't ask, you don't know to request the matching contribution from the employer, once their employee's donation or volunteer time is given.

__ Corporate Used Items Warehouse Donations - Some corporations warehouse used and old office furniture, kitchen appliances, office appliances, etc. that they intend to donate (for the community goodwill and tax benefits to their company).  Some sell these items at very low prices.  If your organization is needing new equipment or furniture, for your office, contact a local large corporation and ask if they have such a giving program.

__ Thank Supporters - This is a 'no brainer'.  Always make it a point to thank volunteers, partners, and donors without asking them for anything at least four times a year (if not more often, such as thank the donor events).  As we are winding down this year, in all of your organization's year end publications remember the community that allows your organization to achieve its mission goal and the goals of its programs: the community partners, donors, and volunteers who without your organization could not operate, let alone succeed.  In your nonprofit's final newsletter, blog post, Tweet, Annual Report for the year, etc. thank them each and all.  Acknowledge the importance of the partnership you have with them.  State that your  nonprofit and its leadership knows that this ongoing relationship with them is how your organization's successes are achieved.

Like Any Successful Ride - It's What's Under The Hood That Determines How Well Any Nonprofit Raises Funds

Do Not Chase Grants, Instead - Raise Them Again and Again

A Community's Confidence In A Nonprofit Is the Ultimate Key to An Organization's Future (and success)

Nonprofit Self Evaluation Leads To Efficient, Economically Trim, Effective, Increased, & Successful Fundraising, and More

Why It Matters What the Public Thinks of A Nonprofit and How To Check

What the Special Event or Events Fundraising Method Is, and How It Works

Half of my official job duties was administration of special events when I first began working in fundraising for the now defunct Multiple Sclerosis Association of King County (MSAKC).  (In late 2008 its board of directors voted to roll the MSAKC into the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's Seattle office's programs.  This decision ended a local nonprofit that had successfully provided direct services to Seattle-area people with MS and their loved ones for more than fifty years.)

A special event is a fundraising method that nonprofit organizations use to do several things at once.  It is an event or happening that should be enticing to the general public in order to acquire the most attendees or participants possible (and thereby both encourage the largest possible number of people among the general public to know about the nonprofit and to also participate and to give).  The event allows the nonprofit to raise funds.  The event is an opportunity for the organization to market its mission, achievements, and current programs and goals to the general public and increase its public relations.  A special event, too, should engender participants' genuine appreciation for the organization's work and its cause but too - they should feel good about having participated and frankly should genuinely enjoy themselves.  This, in part is how an organization retains dedicated attendees that participate year after year.

 The special event must be repeated once it is started.  It will typically not break even (expenses to put it on compared to amount raised) until approximately year three of conducting it consistently and will probably not make a profit until year four (but this can vary depending on the event's popularity or interest in it, the event's community, the attendees, and the location).  This is the case for almost any nonprofit and for any type of special event.  In other words, the loss in the initial two years of holding it must be expected and built into the organization's fundraising plan or development plan.

The special event raises more and more money each year it is held because it should retain past participants (at least 50% to 60% of them, year to year) and also bring new attendees each year.  It can either grow in number of attendees or participants, or the cost to attend might increase (if that is a cost effective choice to make and realistic), or sponsors may increase how much they pay for of the event as the event's popularity or notoriety grows over the years thereby lessening the amount the organization, itself, pays to hold the event year after year.  Ideally, all three of these things occur! 

Often, participants must register or buy tickets to attend, sometimes they raise funds in order to participate or invite colleagues or friends to join them at their table for dinner, etc. and then they actually attend the event.  None of these steps should be convoluted, difficult to conduct or submit/return to the organization, or annoying to those who sponsor the participant or come as guests with the participant to the event.  Customer service, at every stage of their experience with the nonprofit and its special event, provided to the participants and their donors, sponsors, or guests should be of the utmost priority, always - in order that attendees not only want to participate next year again, but so do those who hear about the event from them but have not yet participated, themselves.  This is the other part that ensures more participants return to attend year after year.  This may seem "obvious" but never assume that your organization's volunteers and staff know this or know how to be excellent at customer service.  Instead arm them with each and all with knowledge and train them.

[Warning: This paragraph's information is not to be taken in lieu of understanding all of your organization's overseeing governments' laws and rules about special event fees and donations and how to collect, account for, and report them.  Ask your organization's Certified Public Accountant for all of the pertinent information.] Participants will ask what their tax deductible contribution amount is, after paying to attend your event (and will ask for a receipt).  The IRS allows for the contribution (or deductible amount from their taxes) to be the difference between the cost of their attendance/and or participation minus the actual expenses to the nonprofit for everything they pay for that they will get at the event.  In other words, if we work for an organization providing a golf tournament and we charge golfers $250 per person to play in the tournament this is the cost of their participation or attendance.  We determine that the actual cost per person who golfs, at the event this year, comes to $150 (i.e. the golf course is charging our nonprofit $100 per player to hold the event at that golf course this year, and their food and beverages costs being charged to us for the entire event is $50 per player (i.e. for drinks and light appetizers during the tournament, and then a barbecue dinner with wine or beer afterward)) and there are no other direct costs to the nonprofit for that attendee, then the attendee is donating to the organization that remaining or additional $100 charged to him or her to participate.  The math is the total cost to the attendee less the actual costs for everything they will get at the event (that the organization pays for) is the contribution amount (in this example, $250 - $150 = $100).  That $100 is the tax free donation the organization is raising on top of the costs it is passing on to the participant in the participant's registration fee.  This $100 (in this example, or the difference between attendance fee and actual costs) is the amount allowed as a deduction to whomever pays for the attendee's participation.  If the golfer's employer pays for their registration then the employer gets the tax deduction.  If the golfer, him- or herself pays for it then they get the tax deduction (as long as their employer doesn't reimburse them because then the employer would being paying the donation and get the tax deduction).


The MSAKC held approximately four or five special events a year (and this was only part of the organization's total fundraising effort each year).  Two events were usually formal dinners.  One was a 'meet the author' event where a renowned author spoke at a formal dinner and the later answered questions and signed his or her book.  The other was usually an executive level (board members) dinner with some major donors, active volunteers, and key staff attending, as well and was sponsored by one of the major multiple sclerosis medication's pharmaceutical firms.  The other two events were sporting events.  One was an annual rollerblading race (around one of Seattle's scenic bodies of water in the summer) and the other was an annual golf tournament hosted by and entirely attended by professionals in various related industries to the construction industry in Seattle and her suburbs.

Special events require specific advanced planning in order for them to go off without a hitch.  Some nonprofits choose to hire special event planning firms or consultants to plan and/or implement their special events.  A nonprofit can hire a consultant (and this, of course, is an additional expense to the organization) but it is not necessary that a nonprofit hire an outside expert to plan and/or conduct its special event.  In fact, more money is saved if a nonprofit plans, implements, and conducts its own special events.  They become experts on how to do it.  Too, they create and then maintain the relationships directly with vendors, sponsors, and donors specific to the event over the years.  This is always invaluable to any nonprofit.  A direct relationship can (and often does) lead to: donor retention and dedication, participant retention (because of ease of attending and consistent professionalism and customer service in registering and actual participation), increased sponsor involvement (anything from sponsor's employees becoming chairs of the special event's planning committee to increased sponsorship contributions, and more marketing of the event within their corporate marketing, etc.), and vendors decreasing their fees to possibly even donating their products or services out of loyalty and support to the organization, its cause, and the popularity of the event (often, for example, in exchange for their logo being included in the event brochure, or on marketing or advertising for the event).  The involvement for sponsors usually has a lot to do with their own firm's marketing goals, but too, they wish to be seen as members of the community that contribute and give back.  Once they come to know your organization (especially if they work with the same volunteers or staff each year to help put the event on) getting their involvement and increasing how much they contribute is easy for them and your nonprofit year to year.

Special events should be planned out well in advance of their being implemented and then held.  It varies, but generally you will want to be planning out a never before held new special event at least a year and a half before the actual event's plan will be implemented (and this is before its held or conducted).  For a special event that has been held year to year, one may only need to begin planning for this year's version six months before marketing and then registration begins.  This too will vary depending on how experienced the committee chair is with the event, how well the event has been conducted in the recent past, and so on. The special event should have its own committee (ideally chaired by someone directly involved with the industry or issue the event pertains to so that they can easily call on colleagues and friends, etc. who will actually attend).  The committee should work well with the executive director and development or fundraising office (volunteers or staff) in order to plan and implement the special event.  Usually the committee conducts high level planning and operations (which leaders in the community will be asked to attend or get involved as sponsors or major donors; or the event is moving to a new larger venue this year and the committee selects it) but specifics are planned and administered by the nonprofit's fundraising staff or committee (i.e.booking the event location, acquiring the mid to lower range sponsors, registering participants, planning and ordering the brochures and marketing materials, etc.).

The special event must have clear and compelling (enticing, interesting, fun) marketing and public relations: made public WELL IN ADVANCE of the event and then ongoing until the day of the event, introducing the event, inviting the general public, and clearly explaining the when, where, who, how much, how, and why of the event.  Do not create an event that allows the organization to advertise it for only a week or two before registration begins or before the event itself.  That is not enough time to promote the event (which is part of what marketing and public relations does) but too, it isn't enough notice for people to squeeze something new into their social calendars.  Provide them with at least a month's notice of an event's date and details.  It seems like I'm overstating the obvious but you do not know how many professionally held events I've read about in which the organization simply directs the public interested in attending to some website to get the basic information!  A website address is not information in and of itself!  Read my last sentence, again.  A website can provide information (and should) but asking someone who hears about your event to then go to a website after hearing about it is foolish.  The public should not have to go somewhere (like a website) to get the basic information about your event, though, EVER.  You have their attention when they read or hear about your event, right then.  You should provide the when, where, who, how, how much, and why in every public relations and marketing piece pertaining to the event.  Never ask someone in the general public to go elsewhere, after you get their attention, for information.  Give it clearly and accurately to them, in the moment, right then and there, everywhere you discuss or advertise the event.  A website is fine for registration or additionally providing basic information but the front line is the second, the moment you have the general public's attention and that's when they see anything about the event like when they read the newspaper, see an ad in a local magazine, listen to local radio, see a poster in their local restaurant's waiting room, get your nonprofit's latest e-mail, get your newsletter, or go to your organization's website, etc.  Always give all of the basic information along with even the slightest mention of the event, itself.

The special event's plan clarifies for everyone involved the who, what, when, where, how, and why of each step in implementing and conducting the event including specific tasks, benchmarks, the entire timeline, the budget, intended outcomes, etc.  Too, each special event should ask participants to review the event in a quick survey and ask for suggestions or where improvements are needed.  The special event's entire team should do a Review and Wrap Up meeting after each iteration of the special event to review participants' feedback and suggestions, determine what worked, what needs improvement, what the improvements will be, how much was spent, how much was raised, etc.  This information should be used, year to year, to improve the entire special event and to increase participation and the participants' ease of attending and enjoyment of the event.

What should the brand new special event be that a nonprofit commits to beginning and then holding annually, thereafter?  It depends.  In the third paragraph, above, I stated about how many years it takes for a nonprofit to either break even or begin to regularly make money from the new event and that "...this can vary depending on the event's popularity or interest in it, the event's community, the attendees, and the location."  This has everything to do with what special event a nonprofit selects to implement.  For example, if a nonprofit chooses to do a special event that is being done to death, already in its town or community; or if it selects a special event that is not in line with local interests or taste; or if a nonprofit picks a special event that is too pricey to attend for its region's locals, or is too difficult to get to in order to participate, etc. then the organization's gotten in the way of its own opportunity and goal.  A nonprofit must think through and even do blind polls or community feedback gathering to determine what will work best.  Remember, your organization is committing to this new special event for probably at least five years to come if not more.  Some successfully special events have been held for more than fifty years.  You'll want to consider what is possible (scale and continuing to scale upward) for your organization to do, that too entices the most participation from the general public, for the least cost to the organization, that results in the most valuable experience for the participant.  Take time to study and determine findings because it will help your organization go in the right direction for success, but too, cost less over time, and be more popular and interesting or fun.

Bottom line - the special event is a fundraising method but it's more than that.  It's truly an opportunity for the nonprofit, the beneficiaries of its work, and the general public.  A well planned and executed special event: entices the general public because it sounds fun or interesting; is easy for the general public to attend because everything required of them is clear, easy, and quick to do; both provides them with the clear message that by participating they are partnering in your nonprofit's mission success but also doesn't hammer them over the head about the organization's cause or needs; engenders the general public's care and support of the organization and its work; and raises funds.  The event should be so fun that they participant wants to attend again next year and tells a friend or two to do the same.  A special event allows the organization to interact with the general public directly (instead of only with its clientele, volunteers, and donors).  Volunteers and staff should enjoy themselves, but too, know their responsibilities and job, and how to provide excellent customer service at each step.  Well conducted special events are an opportunity for everyone to win.

There are many reputable resources that can help a nonprofit's leadership learn how to best plan and successfully implement and raise funds from special events.  If you look in my Amazon  Bookstore, above, in the middle right of this blog - you can search for books explaining the 'how to's' of special event in detail.  The books in my E Store are hand selected.  I picked each for its reputation in the nonprofit sector.  You can't go wrong.  If you locate a book you'd like to use there, but your organization can't afford to buy it - check with your local public library to see if they have it.  If they don't ask about them either acquiring it or if you can get it through inter-library loan.  One of these options usually allows the public to get a book the library doesn't have.

For Efficient But Effective Nonprofit Programs, Service, and Administration Like Fundraising - GIS Is A Tremendous Tool... And It's Free...

Technological innovations are continually offering nonprofits, whether they know about them or not, advanced, simpler to use, faster solutions for their unique needs.  For example, this past Thursday I attended nonprofit tech software and solution providers, TechSoup's webinar, "Mapping Your Impact" for nonprofits which was in part hosted by Geographic Information System (GIS) software and hardware industry leader's ESRI . ESRI's Nonprofit Organization Program account executive, David Gadsden, spoke.

Geographic Information Systems or GIS is computer software that allows a user to "...visualize, question, analyze, interpret, and understand data to reveal relationships, patterns, and trends." ( http://www.esri.com/what-is-gis/index.html )  You can imagine, if you have not used GIS for your nonprofit how it could be a powerful tool to plan, know in real time, and assess so much, including providing solutions to disseminate information and referrals, or to, in real time, currently and efficiently inform: programs' planning and evaluations, strategic planning, fundraising, beneficiaries' needs assessments, accounting or budgeting transparency for donor reporting and relationships, services management, even volunteer management, and more.  Data sets (depending on the user's needs and goals) are layered over maps and tied into real time data and allows for database connections, too.  As with any software system the results are a matter of "garbage in garbage out" or not - but assuming that an organization has on- the-ball volunteers and staff (who are well trained and continually supported by superiors as continuing education or modernizing tech infrastructure are needed) the quality of the nonprofit's data entry is likely not an issue.

Andrew Schroeder, the Director of Research and Analysis at Direct Relief International spoke during the webinar about how his nonprofit uses GIS, and specifically ESRI's Arc GIS product to: discover the specific needs that exists, in real time, in the places around the globe that Direct Relief Int'l provides emergency assistance; to survey program partners and beneficiaries to inform Direct Relief Int'l's programs designs; asset tracking; for rapid assessment in emergencies; programs' and services' effectiveness assessment; to track where service partners (i.e. FEMA, American Red Cross, local, state, and other federal agencies, etc.)  are during emergencies (in real time and live on actual maps including, for instance, where emergency evacuation routes are and whether their clinics are located on then evacuation routes); and discerning what assets the partners have on the ground (to avoid redundancy and to be efficient while being effective, overall).  Specific to fundraising, he mentioned in his presentation that Direct Relief Int'l also uses GIS to provide budgeting/spending transparency to their donors and potential donors in both reporting/donor relationship development and solicitations (in real time, visually).

ESRI's Nonprofit Organization Program currently offers a free GIS software program called ArcGIS Online that anyone can use for free.  It provides two gigabytes of storage per user; hundreds of hundreds of maps that your organization's information can be laid over as you need, including maps containing the most recent demographics information from the most recent federal census, for example (if you click on the ArcGIS Online link, above, and look at the "Featured Maps" at the bottom of the web page, you'll see even more of what maps or data sets are available); cloud computing and storage (so your organization does not need to find space on its server, for example, to store maps which can be large data files); and free tutorials and demonstrations to explain both how to use the free GIS and also how to do any number of technical operations you may choose to add information to your maps.  All of this is the free version of ESRI's GIS (and they are always adding new maps and data sets).

The caveat of using the free GIS is that it will have ESRI's branding on maps (which is a tiny price to pay).  If an organization wishes, though, to have the paid package (or variations or combinations of their offerings as needed) including applying one's organization's own branding on maps, etc. and extended storage beyond two gigabytes, among other benefits and support - you can currently purchase GIS software and/or hardware for nonprofits through ESRI, directly, and the nonprofit discount is 50% the retail price for their offerings and solutions.

Technically, today, GIS involves less hardware (compared to even the recent past) because so much data (i.e. nonprofit clientele information, donor information, and required maps) can be stored in the cloud, rather than on a network server.  ESRI is proactively planning for its cloud storage (as it's more and more commonly used in all industries) so it offers cloud computing and storage solutions in its total GIS service offerings, as of just the past couple of years.  It considers this entire package, enterprise GIS as it offers not just cloud storage computing and solutions but too, online, desktop, server, mobile, developer, and other solutions.

Gadsden, for example, shared in the webinar his recent experience of working with one of ESRI's nonprofit clients in Africa where they were ground-truthing (verifying) the nonprofit's client's needs have been met and feeding the data, as they walked around the village and spoke to people, in real time, up to the organization's database (in the cloud - even though the organization's offices are in the United States) using cell phones and an iPad (because they could access the Internet from the village as they walked around).  The data they collected then immediately renders in the organization's client database (as they chose to do) and also, in real time, on the organization's map of Africa.  Both of these tied into the client's GIS.

ESRI, Gadsden explained in the webinar, is in the process of working with TechSoup to provide ESRI's full GIS solutions (part of the enterprise offerings listed above or the total package, as needed) to nonprofits at a discount.  This arrangement has not yet (as of this date) been finalized but is expected to be available through TechSoup in the near future.  Check with TechSoup to see if they are now offering ESRI's products, if you are interested in more information.  For now, ESRI offers nonprofits GIS solutions at half off the retail prices.

If you would like to hear and see the webinar I attended (and see, too, the Power Point presentation that was given with it) for free, click on Webinar Archive: Mapping Your Impact   It is an hour long and a great introduction to what GIS can do for nonprofit organizations, specifically.

What's The Trick Nonprofits Successfully Raising Funds, Even In This Economy Use to Create Their Success? Planning. All About The Development Plan That Works...

A Development Plan, Fund Development Plan, or Fundraising Plan is the same thing and enables nonprofits to raise funds in order to ensure cash flow for operations - to fund their missions and programs.  In order to raise funds effectively and operate efficiently (especially in this economy) nonprofits plan out their coming fundraising or development work.  I will refer to this plan, herein, as a development plan.

You and I know that the key to a nonprofit's effectiveness is its ability to successfully deliver its mission goal to the community, through its programs and services, and to achieve positive outcomes based on the current as yet (mission-related) unmet needs of the organization's beneficiaries.  Part of that success, deep in a nonprofit's operations, is a nonprofit's ability to raise funds today and also tomorrow effectively in order to afford the programs, services, and overhead.  As I caution organizations to save, budget, and spend less in this blog, I've written "especially in this economy" or "especially today" a lot since 2007 and the economic downturn, but the fact is a nonprofit (like any business) is never in the clear to spend money unwisely, of course - so the real key to whether a nonprofit succeeds and survives to serve another day isn't just its programs achievements; its leadership's experience, knowledge, and oversight; but too, its ability to operate tomorrow is also based on the organization leaders' ability to be efficient in its budgeting, spending, and savings (today or in any economy).

The number one tool any nonprofit leader has to accomplish true efficiency is planning and that includes planning out the nonprofit's fundraising for the coming year or two (depending on the organization's preference). 

An effective development plan raises the necessary funds to cover all expenses or anticipated necessary cash for the coming year (or two, depending on what amount of time the organization wishes the development plan to cover).  An excellent development plan will plan to raise funds for the time period's anticipated expenses, savings goals, an unforeseen possible financial emergency, etc.  All of this is based on finalized organizational planning and budgeting having already been completed before the development plan (for the coming time period) is begun.  If an organization takes the time to have planned programs, services, and overhead (including staffing, rent, utilities, etc.) and their budgets, this will allow leadership to plan for the most realistic future.  Less money will be spent, less time will be wasted and so the more realistic the information is that the plan is based on, the more efficient the spending, and time taken.

Like any operational planning, development plans come in all different styles, formats, and frankly abilities to serve a nonprofit well or not. Formats, styles, and even implementations may vary, nonprofit to nonprofit, but the effective development plan (no matter differences) contain certain common features.

Effective development plans are born out of real data.  For the time period outlined by the organization (i.e. a one or two year development plan) the best data to inform a successful development plan comes from:
__ Organizational strategic plan,

__ Anticipated programs' and services' plans or designs and budgets,

__ Overhead planning and budgeting (or forecasted organizational operating budgets) including the fundraising plan (or fundraising volunteers', staff, and department's budget),

__ A reasonable sense of the coming regional and national economies (using reputable recent regional and national studies or forecasts),

__ The organization's donors' track record and preferences (look for local donors studies' outcomes such as feasibility studies conducted by similar organizations and analyze your organization's own donors' responses and preferences over the past year),

__ The organization's own fundraisers' skill and knowledge (it's alright to have novice or inexperienced board members but they must be trained and expected to become effective leaders in a relatively quick manner, alongside the rest of the board),

__ The staffing plan, the timeline or schedule (including anticipated benchmarks and expected accomplishments by each),

__ And the 'on the ground' logistics (locations as pertinent).

A lot of this may sound like rushing out to the local library's Reference Desk for recent studies, or sticking one's finger up in the wind to take a temperature and it is a bit of both but a development plan that really works well is more.

The more quantifiable defensible data that goes into a development plan and the process of creating the plan the better the plan will be.  What do I mean with such mathematical gibberish?  I mean - you either inform your organization's plan to raise funds successfully for tomorrow, the next month, and during the course of the next year with garbage or factual information, likely patterns, and pretty damn on-point educated guesses.  One gets your organization there successfully and without unnecessary expense and the other might result in a stapled pile of papers or a *.doc file but will be worthless and frankly, a waste of your volunteers' or staff's time.  We know that no one is a swami or able to see the future.   No nonprofit's leadership is.  But some nonprofits - many nonprofits - are pretty damn good at raising funds, even in this tight and harsh economy.  How do they do it?  Through planning but too, in using realistic and real information to inform their organization future operations, like fundraising among others.

Each nonprofit is its own unique 'being' with its own unique donors, clients, and communities.  So, some of the best sources of quantifiable data (whatever is being claimed in the data can actually be measured by another party should they wish to check your organization's claims or the data you're using to assert that claim) and defensible data (the data being used is based on real need or your nonprofit's clients actual demographics and service statistics which will demonstrate the actual need in the community that your organization is providing a solution for) is at your organization's fingertips. It goes without saying that the more current or recent the data sets, the better.

Evaluation methods built in to each of your organization's programs and services are not only excellent tools to help raise more funds and retain donors - evaluation methods' tabulated responses happen to also be excellent sets of data for a nonprofit's strategic planning, for example, but too - its development plan!  Right there you have information not about some people in your organization's region or some subset of the local community but rather YOUR ORGANIZATION'S own beneficiaries - its clients and their specific demographics, needs, and experiences.

Similarly, donor/donations analysis is actual real data about your organization's lifeblood - its support, its donors.

Your nearby public library, some government agencies (from federal to state, local, and even nearby Tribal governments) and certainly other nonprofits often provide recent studies' findings (and sometimes even their raw data sets) for free.  Always be sure to keep relevant and also succinct when reporting or selecting data to use.  These agencies may providing any of the following pertinent information: economic forecasts, the donor climate, communities' needs, communities' demographics, regional politics, trends, population growth, etc.

The development plan should also include the following information after the pertinent data is used to inform the plan:

The timeline should be clearly defined and then throughout the plan, it should be accounted for entirely.

Build a process for the development plan to be carried out through.  This may include: regular meetings, reports, follow up meetings at the end of major benchmarks, trainings, and even the utilization of online cloud solutions such as Google, Wikis, etc.to allow for trainings, meetings, communication, documentation, etc. as deemed necessary.

Identify viable fundraising methods including those conducted annually and new ones.  Make a plan for each (staff, necessary infrastructure or software, printing, event planning, intended participants, how it will be funded, etc.).  If your organization conducts special events, then create a unique individual plan for each special event, too.  State the amount anticipated to be raised by each method, into each fundraising method's plan.  Plan outreach, solicitation, networking, marketing, ongoing donor relations, donor retention, and public relations into each fundraising method's plan.  Create a budget for each. Build an evaluation method and process into each.  New fundraising methods should include a long term plan as it often takes them three to five years of consecutively being held before one breaks even or turns a profit.  Research any new fundraising methods to be sure your organization understands what they typically cost, who typically attends them, what they raise from the first year through the time they begin to break even or raise more funds than they cost and when that is, etc.

Plan out, for each fundraising method, who will be targeted as potential donors (current and new).  It is not necessary, for instance, that you have a complete list of all of the foundations your organization will approach for its fundraising for next year (your grant writer will do that and the more current the prospecting for a grant donor is the more likely your organization's chances of success).  It is effective to list, though, how donors will be targeted or identified for each specific unique fundraising method.  For example: Grant Writing - traditional best practices prospecting; Major Donors - individual donor analysis and research; Special Events - continuing X, Y, and Z annual events and adding Q, and R new events raising funds from: corporate sponsors, participants' registration fees, and get the venue and meals donated and/or sponsored.  Whatever the targeted donors are - they must be realistic and actually viable contributors.  In other words - don't list potential donors that you hope or think will contribute.  If necessary, conduct your own feasibility studies to determine what the current economy and thinking will actually produce for a newly implemented fundraising method.  Knowledge based in facts is the best insurance for the organization's future.

All staff and teams or committees should be clear about what their specific tasks and responsibilities are, what their timeline and benchmarks are, and what resources are available to them.  Everyone should understand who they report to, what they need to report, how they report to them, and how often they report.  They should be supported and enabled rather than micromanaged.  Trust talented, expert, successful volunteers and staff.  Allow people to be successful by delegating responsibilities to them, educating, and trusting them, and providing them with what they need in order to be successful.

As with all other organizational programs, the development plan should have an evaluation method built into it to assess what is working, what is going well, and what needs improvement based (yes... you guessed it) on real actual outcomes (i.e. donations analysis, various methods' success rates and response rates, donors' feedback such as anonymous donor surveys, major donors' suggestions or comments, etc.). Remember, always, that identifying proactively where improvements are needed is your organization's responsibility, is cheaper, is better off discovered by your own organization than by the press or public (for your organization's reputation), is less expensive in the long run, and an opportunity.  Finding where improvements are needed should not result in a punishment or fuming.  Rather, it should be expected.  Anticipate that at a minimum, things change and your organization will need to adapt.  But too, people make mistakes and that's just how it is.  That's not to be faulted but rather anticipated and keeping a proactive eye out for them is cost effective.  Expect them and allow the organization to be nimble enough to make improvements.  There is no organization that operates perfectly.  What the lessons that have been that have been recently learned is actually something that forward thinking grant donors, for instance, often ask for at the end of grants from grant recipients, not to condemn or berate them (!) but to learn lessons themselves (for future grant recipients' benefit) but too, to ascertain how well the grant recipient monitors its own programs and evaluations and what it does about what it finds (such as where improvements are needed).  They ascertain which grant recipients operate their organizations such that they would want to give to that nonprofit again.

Finally, build into the development plan where and how any of the planned fundraising methods, anticipated amounts raised for each, and anticipated expenses.  In other words, if some fundraisers are actual formal events - these require in their event planning renting perhaps a restaurant, a ballroom, or a specific venue.  That will require booking it, etc.  Too, obviously, it will involve either having the location's rental cost donated to your organization, paid for by one of the event's sponsors, or your organization paying for the location.  I am using the venue as an example here to discuss event planning, and venues are only one small part of event planning.  But, it demonstrates my point.

To learn more about what a development plan is, how to create an effective one, or to answer any questions you may have I strongly recommend:

The Foundation Center's free, interactive, online training Introduction to Fundraising Planning course (which allows you to go at your own pace)

6 Steps To A Fundraising Plan For A New Nonprofit by Joanne Fritz, PhD Guide to About.com Nonprofit Charitable Orgs

Nonprofit Quarterly's What Should Your Fund Development Plan Include?

My Amazon Store (in the middle right hand side of this blog) lists books considered standards in the profession, and have been hand selected by me, as such.  If you locate a book that looks helpful but can't afford it, note its title and author and see if your local public library has it.  If it doesn't, ask a librarian for it through either the library's purchasing program or its inter-library loan program.

And as always, please feel free to comment on this post with questions or suggestions that I have missed herein.

Where Your Nonprofit Has Cut Costs Or Saved In Recent Years Is Just As Important to Share With Potential Donors & Volunteers As Is Your Programs' Successes

If any of the following cost cutting or savings practices are things your nonprofit has done, for a recent time period less than or up to the past five years, tell your nonprofit's supporters and potential supporters.  Toot your organization's horn in its volunteer and donation requests and in its newsletters and annual report (among other places especially like your nonprofit's website). People, today, have been cutting costs and saving more at home over the past five years - and so they now carry that value around with them everywhere, including when they are opening postal mail or e-mail from your organization.  So, be sure to tell the general public, when you reach out to them marketing your agency or requesting support, that your organization does and values saving and cost cutting, as well.

In the first part of your making a compelling case to potential supporters, show recipients of your materials, in clear succinct charts and diagrams or a bullet list, the real numbers.  Toot!  Toot!  If you don't, who will?  Make your organization's successes known to your nonprofit's community.

How?  In any and all fundraising and volunteer solicitations (except those which content is restricted such as some grant requests), public facing reports, reporting web pages, marketing materials, and public relations explain to or show potential new and current: donors, volunteers, community partners and the general public demonstrable numbers expressing:

___ ... generally where and what your nonprofit has cut in organizational spending and expenses and how much that has saved the organization.;

___ ... similarly, for all other savings, generally where and what your organization has saved money elsewhere in the organization's standard operations and expenses such as new or increased sharing costs with other other organizations, re-negotiating contracts such that costs have been lowered, working with new lesser expensive vendors, removing middlemen from previous expenses, etc.;

___ ... generally what savings has been increased and how that level of savings has been sustained, and what the new additional savings is (sum total) that has been retained (this can include a nonprofit's actual savings account, a new or increased endowment fund, a new asset owned outright, etc.);

___ ... if there are furloughs, firings or layoffs, job sharing, extended days off that the entire staff is out and the office is closed for say a vacation (i.e. perhaps the winter holiday break for your staff is now mandatory and a week long instead of none existing before), etc. that allow for normal operation of the organization (as before) but lessen the organization's daily operations expenses (i.e. overhead such as electricity, parking, water, garbage, Internet access, etc.) and what those savings are;

___ ... equitable cost sharing such as anything the paid staff or consultants have agreed to (without controversy) where perhaps staff have less days off than they did but improved health insurance benefits from before or consultants donating more time for their services than they used to, etc.;

___ ... and anywhere else where expenses have been reduced without negatively impacting the nonprofit's services, projects, and items it delivers to the community. 

In the final part of making a compelling case to the potential donor, etc., and to the point of my final bullet list item, above; it is very important that along with any of the above information, that is included in your organization's fundraising requests that you are certain to also include demonstrable data showing at least sustained or ideally, increased number of beneficiaries receiving support, information, item, or etc. from your organization in tandem with or despite decreased spending and increased savings.  Be clear and succinct in reporting both. 

It is not enough to simply say 'donate to us because we're better with our money than we used to be', right?  A nonprofit that shows potential new and current supporters what it's saved or cut in costs while maintaining or more ideally, increasing its services provided to the community makes a compelling case to a potential donor. 

An organization must have statistics based on factual data on what services have been provided in the current year and that must be tabulated.  This, in part, is why building evaluation methods into programs and services' designs is so important today. Usually evaluations are in part or wholly beneficiaries' feedback to your organization's services, such as anonymous participant surveys.  Once the service stats results are determined, sharing that data, coupled with what cost cutting and savings has been increased shows a potential donor, volunteer, or community partner several things about your nonprofit. It proves your organization's successful track record at delivering its mission, but too, it demonstrates your organization's potential for further success now and in the future.  Second, it demonstrates that your organization is managed and operated professionally and efficiently while remaining effective.  Finally, it shows potential partners (such as donors, volunteers, and community partners) that you will report to them (ideally, openly and honestly at regular intervals) and that your organization understands that part of developing but definitely retaining supporters is communicating with supporters.  These are what you're hoping recipients of your organization's solicitations think of your nonprofit after opening and reading them.  These arguments engender trust and confidence in your organization, and the recipient of the solicitation sees your organization as successful at both achieving its mission goals but too at efficiently operating the nonprofit.  If the recipient of your solicitation cares about your organization and its cause then why shouldn't they give?

Do Something Awards Get Youth Involved and Gives Out Grants Perhaps In Part Through Crowd Sourcing Which Isn't Clear - And If It Does, It's Not Ultimately Sustainable Fundraising For Nonprofits

Do Something Awards air this Tuesday night August 21 at 9pm on VH1 (hosted by the guys from New Girl).  I am half with this philanthropic and community support rallying effort and half not.

The Do Something Awards are created by, offered through, supposedly selected by, and managed by Do Something.org 

Nonprofit Do Something.org, also Do Something, Inc., was founded in 2003 and co-founded by 1980's heartthrob actor Andrew Shue.  Current Do Something CEO, Nancy Lublin founded the well known and successful nonprofit Dress for Success in 1996.  Charity Navigator states the mission statement as: "Do Something believes young people have the power to make a difference. It is our aim to inspire, support and celebrate a generation of do-ers: people who see the need to do something, believe in their ability to get it done, and then take action. Our website is a community where young people learn, listen, speak, vote, volunteer, ask, and take action to make the world a better place. Currently, only 23% of this generation actively volunteers. Our hope is to create a do something generation: a world where more than 51% of young people are involved with community action."

While the organization provides its own support and programs besides providing the awards, youth and youth welfare is its focus.  Award applicants can only be American or Canadian twenty-five years old or younger, and according to Do Something's home page this Tuesday "...up to five finalists will appear on the... Awards ...and be rewarded with a community grant, media coverage and continued support from DoSomething.org. The grand prize winner will receive $100,000 during the broadcast."

According to the organization's website applicants apply to receive support through the Do Something website, their applications are considered over a three month period, and the applications are reviewed by previous award recipients and staff.  On VH1's Do Something Awards Nominees web page (for the event) they offer the opportunity for website visitors (to log into VH1) and vote for their favorite "Do Something Award" youth contender.  So, it is not clear if these votes are also included in the award recipient consideration or if this is the list of semi-finalists of which VH1 website visitors help select finalists or the grand prize winner.  Either way, Do Something should explain this step on its own Do Something web page, as VH1 should also explain on their Award web page.  Neither organization's Awards web pages explain what this crowd sourcing effort is or how it figures into the selection of the winner(s).

The Do Something Award community grant winners "... receive a minimum of $10,000 in community grants and scholarships. Of those five winners, one will be selected as the grand prize Do Something Award winner and receive a total of $100,000 in community grants."  "The Do Something Award community grant money is paid directly to the nominee's organization or the not-for-profit of the nominee’s choice. All winners have the option of receiving $5,000 of the total money awarded in the form of an educational scholarship." according to their site.

On their site they state:
"2.2 million young people participated in campaigns in the past year.

"We'll give away $600,000+ in scholarships in 2012.
  
"15,000 new donors registered through our 2011 Give a Spit campaign, helping to save the lives of Leukemia patients. 

"4 Star Charity Rating from Charity Navigator (only 9% of U.S. charities get 4 stars) 

"Over 2.5 million jeans collected over the past five years through our Teens for Jeans campaign." among other accomplishments.

Do Something's Grants Database and Grants Database FAQ explain how the organization assists youth to do good in their communities further.

Most of the VH1 web pages dedicated to the Do Something Awards offer site visitors the opportunity to (log in and) vote on favorite celebrities (athletes, comedians, TV, movies, even "cities") who/that are active in the nonprofit sector.  They either win awards or simply kudos for their effort at the Awards.  It is not clear.  Do Something's site offers visitors the ability to see what celebrities affiliated with the organization (it's not clear if they're past winners or current contenders here, either) are doing in the community and lets youth find out how they can get involved with that celebrity's organization or the cause. 

The organization, as it reports (to the IRS in its annual tax filings) and as Charity Navigator has reported on it, appears to operate ethically, efficiently, and on point given its mission.  It appears to do good.  While it is not clear what element crowd sourcing plays in the outcome of who wins Awards (grants), it may simply be a tool to get site visitors involved and excited about the pending Awards, community involvement, and causes supported - but it also may be more involved than that and both Do Something and VH1 need to clarify this.

I've made my feelings clear about Crowd Sourcing as a hardly sustainable method for nonprofit fundraising - meaning crowd sourcing is not a method of fundraising that will allow a nonprofit to raise funds now and in the future repeatedly by potentially retaining some of these new donors.  Crowd sourcing is not advantageous to nonprofit organizations in the long run as crowd sourcing isn't a relationship developed between the nonprofit and the potential new donor.  Nonprofits do not create relationships with those making the funding decisions (the crowd in this case).  The nonprofit's ability, when fundraising, to form relationships with potential and new donors is critical or necessary in order for charities to be able to develop, strengthen, and grow new and current donors and these supporters' understanding of what their contribution does for the organization's beneficiaries, the nonprofit, the goal of its mission, and the outcomes of its programs.  It is in this way that nonprofits bring new donors on board and retains past donors who give again.  Partnerships, in effect, are formed through these relationships that nonprofits work tirelessly to form with potential, new, and current donors.  For more on my take on crowd sourcing, see Is Crowd Sourcing A Viable Sustainable Way for Nonprofits to Raise and Retain Support?  No.

Why then does crowd sourcing exist?  It is terrific for the sponsor and their social media (marketing and public relations) goals.  See, for instance, Huge Inc.'s Pepsi Case Study.  I am not naive enough to imagine that Pepsi's altruism extends beyond its own bottom line (though I applaud its support of nonprofits).  The fact is crowd sourcing and its benefits or outcomes are often weighed based on whether the sponsor (in this case, Pepsi) benefited (by achieving its social media, public relations, or marketing goals) and not whether the recipient nonprofit organizations or community efforts ultimately benefited in the long run or whether the recipient nonprofits are able to sustain themselves beyond say receiving a Pepsi Refresh Project grant.  A nonprofit that is viable has to not just know what its doing with its programs and services, but needs to be able to fund itself so it exists today and tomorrow.  Otherwise, why fund them at all?

Don't get me wrong - getting youth involved and providing innovative, sustainable, viable projects for needy causes and issues is critical and what good philanthropy is about.  In an age, though, where we're still figuring out how Facebook makes money (or whether ultimately it does) we would be wise to stop and also worry about what the ultimate good or even whether there is a long term benefit at all to the nonprofits being put into this supposed altruism (and supposed philanthropy).

Do Something has me in its corner, if not entirely, at least up to a point.  Awarding grants based on credible, demonstrable, quantifiable data that demonstrate the mission is serving a currently unmet but real need, the organization's potential for success, and its expertise to successfully and efficiently solve this issue is one thing.  Do Something does this if not entirely, at least in part.  It's not clear.  An effective grant donor (that enables nonprofits to be viable in successfully and efficiently achieving successful outcomes for the beneficiaries) should be educated, perhaps credentialed, but experienced enough in the causes and issues it assists in order to make viable philanthropic decisions about which organization or effort best merits receiving a grant.  Asking nonprofits to solely fund themselves by throwing their hat into a ring with several or even tens of other nonprofits where some corporation then asks its website visitors to vote (from the hip) which organization should "win" isn't helpful to those organizations' beneficiaries or the organizations themselves, in the long run.  It is not clear whether this is at least in part (or even at all) what Do Something does and it should be clear.

NASA/JPL's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity's Landing (Or Not) Tonight: A Great Example of Donors Watching for Mission Based Success In Deciding Whether to Give Again Or Not

Amid the American Presidential race, the Olympics, and summer goings on, my husband is baking a key lime pie, today, to celebrate NASA/JPL's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity's expected landing, tonight, on the red planet, Mars (at approximately 10:14pm PDST with confirmation of the safe or failed landing only getting back to NASA/JPL here on Earth in a nail-biting 15 minutes later (due to the distance from Mars to our planet and the time it takes for light to travel that distance)).  We go all out for NASA ventures at the Spencer household. 

I repeatedly explain in this blog about how nonprofit organizations (which include government agencies) best increase and further their support (including financial support) through demonstrable achievements and mission-based successes.  It only makes logical sense that donors (in NASA's case - elected officials wringing hands over a federal budget) feel confident further investing (donating) in successful operations that demonstrate they are viable, efficient, relevant, and successful.  Too, current success demonstrates to potential supporters that the organization has the talent on staff to achieve further new successes in the future: this demonstrates that the organization is viable going forward.  To see a list of NASA's past and future missions see the right hand side of NASA Astrobiology Mars Science Laboratory.

So, it is with great hope that I will watch, tonight, as NASA broadcasts live the Curiosity landing on Mars because I want NASA to continue to receive funding and federal support by our leaders because our nation's ability to advance science is critical in part to NASA's future in the U.S.'s standing in: international competitiveness (financial in the private sector and in academia), employment in the sciences, science education, and finally, and in our understanding of Mars.  Curiosity's mission is to look for (microbial or fossil) evidence of life on Mars (that once existed or still exists) and to better understand the red planet's formation and natural history through geologic study, among other sciences.  Curiosity's unique feature, rolling along on board, is a state of the art laboratory.  Its findings will allow us to know more about Mars but to learn, too, about how planets form and even  to understand more about Earth's own formation.  Having data from not just another planet in our solar system but a planet that is very similar to Earth will give scientists data with which to compare Earth to and discover more.

My parents are very fond of remembering that I was twenty-three days old as I watched the 1969, NASA, Apollo 11 moon landing with them.  I don't remember watching it, but of course Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took first steps for all mankind as they, the first humans to walk on the moon, stepped off the moon lander.  As President Kennedy insisted of America in his speech on September 12, 1962 (at Rice University in Houston, Texas), "We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

As I said, it is with great hope that I will watch, tonight, as NASA broadcasts live the Curiosity landing on Mars because I want that rover to land safely and have a long and successful mission, because I want to know more about the red planet and planet formation; but too, in no small part because I know that NASA's future funding and federal support probably depends a good deal on how this landing goes.  And Earth's attempts at Mars have been failures more often than successes.  Of sixteen total attempts to either land rovers on Mars or place orbiters into its orbit only six succeeded - all of which were U.S. programs so, our record is pretty reassuring for Curiosity's odds tonight.  This unique American record among the wealthy scientifically minded nations of the world demonstrates why NASA is so critical to not just American science or planetary knowledge but really how critical NASA is to our all of Earth's scientists knowing more.  I do not want our nation's place in furthering scientific knowledge to falter to other nations willing to fund science and space exploration.

I am of the generations of Americans who are exceedingly proud of our nation's achievements in science and the space race (see Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity headed for Mars landing.  Are you ready? for broadcast times and channels).  I am also pleased that space exploration is conducted, now, in multinational space programs of collaboration and also among private companies.  Look at footage of the Apollo 11 landing's live transmission around the globe and you find people of all nations up at all hours to watch the Americans land on the moon (with the computing power used to land and return Apollo 11, at the time, of less power than one of today's cell phones, by the way).

This was an American achievement that uniquely united humanity.

In the coming months an American rover called Curiosity rolling around the red planet will probably in some smaller degree unite humanity in awe again, if it succeeds in landing safely tonight.  Please join my husband and I and cross your fingers: for Curiosity to land safely, for its mission successes, and for our U.S. leadership to continue to support and fund NASA.

Update: It is 10:55pm PDT August 5, 2012 as I type this, and I am proud to say that NASA/JPL was successful across the board.  Curiosity is landed on Mars, it sent its first Martian images back to Earth that NASA posted to its site [and NASA/JPL just announced (on its USTREAM channel) that NASA's site has crashed from all of the attempts people are making right now to see them]. 

I am so very proud to be an American right now.  Congratulations, NASA/JPL and to all of our partners in other nations that put different technologies on board Curiosity.  We've all succeeded!

What a Development or Fundraising Plan Is and How and Why It's Invaluable to An Efficient and Effective Organization

The Development Plan or Fundraising Plan is a master policy for a nonprofit to plan out, guide, and measure its fundraising for a specific period of time (sometimes one year, often two or three year periods, or more).

The Development Plan often comes about shortly after or while an organization's leadership is conducting organizational self evaluation and future planing such as strategic planning.

The Development Plan requires that the organization's leadership, prior to beginning to plan, have gathered specific pertinent information, such as: the organization's own recent fundraising record (from the current and past one or two years), its operations budget, its recent Profit and Loss statements and Balance Sheets, its programs budgets (current and recent), the region's economic forecast, and more.  Preferably, the organization has been recently conducting evaluations on its programs (asking clients or participants for anonymous feedback that is tabulated such as a client survey) because the feedback and areas where improvements are needed in order to achieve the organization's mission's goals and to successfully provide the mission to the intended beneficiary are critical for the leadership to gauge what direction the organization needs to go to improve itself operationally and fiscally (i.e. make things more efficient).  Too, the leadership needs to have current and accurate recent studies (either the organization has conducted its own needs studies in the community it serves, or it has gathered several recent and reputable demographics and statistics from the region's public library's reference desk on the beneficiary population and their current but as yet unmet needs).  All of this information is extremely important in order for the board and other pertinent leaders to be able to both assess what the organization has accomplished, at what cost, over what period of time and how that meets up with the intended timeline and budget projected before they were implemented.  Too, the information on the clients or beneficiaries of the organization allow the leadership to see where the population exists today and what needs (pertinent to the organization's missions and goals) it currently has but have not yet been met.  Finally, economic indicators (such as the organization's own recent fundraising successes and difficulties, projected economic climates by economists, the local media's projection, etc.) allow the leadership to determine while planning future fundraising what is feasible and how to budget for that.

Next, based on the above mentioned strategic planning results or outcomes (i.e. the final ratified strategic plan) and based on the organization's mission and the beneficiary population's current but as yet unmet needs the organization plans out its near future (again either one, three, or more years) programs and services.  Program evaluations, budgets, staffing, etc. are all developed along with each program and service plan.  After these are finalized and ratified by the board, the organization's executive director and board know what the reasonably projected costs will be to the organization for next year and possibly the next few year's programs and services.  Based on this information including considering economic forecasts and the nonprofit's recent fundraising successes and income the organization's leaders can next create the Development Plan.

The Development Plan, itself, is a way for all of the leaders, volunteers, and staff to know what the game plan is in terms of funding the organization and its work, specifically.  Too, it outlines when, by whom, how, how much, and expected outcomes for each fundraising event, fundraising method, and even for each board member, the executive director, and development staff member, too (for the Plan's time period).  It projects expected results and builds fundraising events (over the course of each year so that cash flow is constant and at a level as to afford the projected operating budgets) including operational details and then is ratified by the board and implemented.  Finally, as we've all learned over the past five years there are contingency or even emergency funding resources and plans included just in case.

The Development Plan is not just a key or road map but rather it is a tool that enables a nonprofit (when the Development Plan has been well informed) to confidently look to the next year and subsequent years and know that not only will it be able to afford to deliver its programs and services - it will be around.

For excellent references (either to purchase or note and then check out at your local public library) see any of the Development or Fundraising books I've hand picked in my Amazon store (above in the upper right hand corner of this blog page).

Nonprofit Self Evaluation Leads To Efficient, Economically Trim, Effective, Increased, and Successful Fundraising & More

Save Your Nonprofit Money, Raise More Money, and Succeed - Yes, Now


How Any Nonprofit Can Raise More Support, Acquire the Best Talent, Strive, and Grow...

How Nonprofits Will Save More and Raise More: Or, How To Conduct Donor and Donations Analysis

How Proof of Concept Can Improve Fundraising for a New Program and What Proof of Concept Is


Why It Matters What the Public Thinks of a Nonprofit & How To Check

What Are Endowments or Endowment Funds And Does Our Nonprofit Need One? Probably...

Nonprofits raise endowment funds (usually a larger singular amount of money that is raised and then sits over a large amount of time in the organization's bank or other financial institution of its choosing to earn investment capital), in order to have a nest egg sitting in the organization's back pocket because an endowment fund (once in place) provides that nonprofit with many different smart and even strategic benefits.

In "The Nonprofit Handbook Third Edition Fundraising" the author, James M. Greenfield, defines an endowment (also called an endowment fund) as, "...funds permanently set aside by a not-for-profit organization to fulfill a designated purpose....Endowment funds are invested and generate income to to support the charity's mission.  Endowments establish quality and permanence for the charity.  The income can be used to offset funding shortfalls caused by unforeseen economic events.  Endowments can be board-designated funds set aside for future financial needs." (Page 93).  (I explain in detail the meaning of this definition, below).

To understand how acquiring an endowment fund goes, let's say, for example, that you and I work together, in their fundraising office, for St. Paul German Historic Stein Collectors Association (SGHSCA), a Minnesota nonprofit.  Our local organization is entirely volunteer run, has existed for over fifty years, and annually, the board and our executive director plan out SGHSCA's coming year's organizational operating budget; year long fundraising plan; and each individual fundraising event's plan, operations, and budget.  As such, the organization's leadership and volunteer staff know what our expected expenses are, how we will pay for those expenses in the coming year, how much we expect to raise from which types of fundraising events (and when those will occur over the year), and more.  Our leadership sees an opportunity to raise a bit more in the coming year and decides to begin an endowment fund (the organization has never had one).

To raise an endowment, like grant writing, annual appeal letters, special events, or any other form of fundraising the campaign requires all of the usual preparation, support, knowledge, and even experience necessary to successfully raise and put that money into place for the organization.  We put a committee into place at the SGHSCA, to learn about endowment campaigns, to research other area nonprofits who have them and talk to their staff responsible for raising them, to discuss what specific accounting is required with our organization's Certified Public Accountant, and to research whether St. Paul's community right now has enough interest in steins and our organization's mission's goal to raise an endowment (in addition to all of the other funds we plan to raise) in the new year and thereafter.  This committee's initial work, as described, is a feasibility study that will (without having the organization go through fully implementing, funding, and then discovering after launching an actual endowment campaign) whether the board's feeling that the nonprofit could raise an endowment fund is really and actually not just possible (within the nonprofit's community where it fundraises) but too, whether the campaign is likely to be successful (and what successful means for this organization's campaign's first year should be predetermined based on real, recent, quantifiable, financial, demographic, economic, etc. data from the community the funds will be raised from).  The best way to not waste an organization's money is to invest some money in prudent research that results in verifiable recent data.

Let's say that our Endowment Campaign Committee spends six months in their discovery phase or feasibility study that yes, St. Paul's local community will likely support funding the SGHSCA's new endowment fund and in the coming year.  Next, the Endowment Committee must move into a planning phase that will enable the nonprofit to launch the campaign and run it efficiently and effectively.  The Committee needs to create the campaign's: description, plan, goal (which will include how much is to be raised, total), timeline, staffing (including scouting of, recruitment of, and retention of desirable reputable and experienced endowment fundraisers (volunteers) with recent local experience usually with other organizations that the SGHSCA will ask to come to volunteer on this campaign), benchmarks, budget, sustainability plan (to be able to fund/manage the endowment for the following years after it's set up), etc.

The Endowment Committee during all of its work is disseminating its findings and sources for those findings to the board and the executive director.  It will make recommendations to the board, but it is the board that will determine all final decisions on what the actual game plan will be, and they will then put proposed plans to a vote and ultimately ratify them.

In actuality an endowment fundraising campaign winds up being a lot like a major donor campaign.  Larger increment donors (such as the organization's major donors but too, grant donors, corporate donors, etc.) will be solicited for large increments.  As in any fundraising, they should be viewed as investors in the organization's mission and its potential to carry out its mission's goal.  The donor should be seen as a partner in the organization's future and its potential for success.  They should be informed as to the campaign's progress, what the ultimate result is of the campaign, and thanked (probably several times).

Earlier, I referenced Greenfield's definition of an endowment which included the sentence, "Endowment funds are invested and generate income to to support the charity's mission."  No nonprofit need to envision hiring a hedge funds manager (unless the board decides it would like to).  The finance committee is ultimately responsible for the endowment's placement and diversification in investment.  An endowment can generate income simply sitting in a savings account in the nonprofit's bank.  Whether that is the most effective way for the organization to make the most investment capital off its endowment fund, in a given year, is probably worth some serious (and perhaps even) professional consultation (with a nonprofit's Certified Public Accountant, an Endowment Fund investment adviser, or other reputable investment adviser familiar with nonprofit's unique specific needs and how endowment funds best earn money in the current economy and set of laws and best practices).

Too, Greenfield states in his definition, "Endowments establish quality and permanence for the charity.  The income can be used to offset funding shortfalls caused by unforeseen economic events."  What this means is three things.  Endowment funds, by nature, are not often touched by the nonprofit.  They are seen as assets.  Usually an endowment is a large single amount of money (i.e. $50,000 or $1 million).  By virtue of a nonprofit having that asset it has not just created a 'rainy day fund' or 'nest egg' for emergencies but it has provided the organization with a major asset which always raises a potential donor's confidence in the organization  (including grant donors and major donors) because the organization has ensured that it will be around tomorrow.  The endowment is earning income capital for the nonprofit.  It also demonstrates how well the organization is managed (or 'cared for' if you will) that the leadership has ensured the organization can make it through unforeseen (but expected) financial shortfalls.  Having said this, endowments should not be viewed as checking accounts or as a fund that will be dipped into once a month or even once every few months.  If an organization is doing this - they need to decrease their spending and increase how much they are raising, overall, immediately.  An endowment is truly meant to be a long term investment that is also available, if need be, on rare and few occasions (in order to ensure it is there over the organization's life and future, and to ensure, too, that it is earning investment money for the organization).

Finally, I end what I quote of Greenfield's definition of an endowment with, "Endowments can be board-designated funds set aside for future financial needs."  Endowments are board created, overseen, and utilized.  What this means is that an endowment is the organization's and it's there for the goals of the mission.  As such, the organizaiton's (or even mission's) overseers manage it and the overseer of any nonprofit is its board.  In other words, while the executive director usually manages and oversees day to day spending and banking, via the organization's checking and savings accounts (if it has them), an endowment is not meant to be withdrawn from much if at all.  It can be deposited to regularly (as according to the laws and best practices that deal with endowments).  Endowments are not checking accounts but rather investments and as such come under the purview of the organization's own oversight, the board.

Endowments stabilize, empower, and improve the organization, and they also strengthen the nonprofit's reputation and even how investment worthy a nonprofit is to its potential (and current) larger increment donors.