Making the Case to Raise Funds

Making the Case to Raise Funds

Building a Case for Support
Making the case
Common Mistakes while making your case
Raising Money from Individuals
Using Solicitation Letters
Hosting an Event
Foundation Giving
Business Giving
Putting Together a Plan
Pieces of the Plan
Overview of Development Plan

Building a case for support

Before getting started, councils should ask themselves – and be able to answer – these three questions:

1.Why do we need to raise funds?

2.Who do we want/need to raise money from?

3.Why should they give your LCC their money?

Making the case

When getting ready to make your case keep these questions in mind:

What community need are we addressing?
How will we address this need?
Why we are in the best position to meet this need/solve the problem?

Be ready to explain your council’s expertise to solve particular problem. Understand how you connect to the people, places and things in your community. Prepare to explain your track record of service and mission of your group. And finally, showcase the results of your grant making and service projects.

Remember people don’t give to a building, or a program, or a project, they give to people. They make donations because they feel like their money can help. Think about anytime you’ve said yes to a solicitation, what was behind your motivation to say yes?

Be clear about what the money will be used for, first to yourselves and then to the people that you’re soliciting from. Just saying that you need the money isn’t enough. Explain why your council is the best group to solve this problem or meet this need.

Common Mistakes while Making your Case

There are a few common mistakes that many people run into that your council can try to avoid by knowing them in advance. They are:

Only the goals of your project are described, and the vision is missing.
The problem or social need your council is trying to address is unclear.
Theoverall mission or vision statement for your council is unclear.

Raising Money from Individuals

Fundraising is about building relationships. You can build a relationship with another person more easily because they get fired up and passionate, and can be inspired about what you do. Also, individuals tend to be more loyal than businesses or institutions, and can support more than one cause.

Donor Motivations

Donors who feel connected to the success of your council are likely to give more generously.

Individuals often give because of the relationship they enjoy with the solicitor.
Individuals believe they can benefit from the reflected glory of the organization.

Identify possible donors

Individuals your council knows who are already involved in your cause.
Individuals connected with someone your council knows who is involved with your cause.
Individuals your council doesn’t know who are interested in your cause.

Once you identify donors begin the cycle of cultivation, asking, and recognition.

Reaching Donors

When strategizing about how to reach a potential donor, think about the donor’s wants and needs. Determine who might support you and what they will expect to receive in return for their support. Keep in mind an LCC can ask donors what is important to them ask them why they support the arts, humanities and sciences. These questions can be asked in informal conversations, through the use of a questionnaire, or in limited formal interviews.

In a 1998 national survey of donors, when asked “what information would most motivate you to give?” about one-third (35%) chose “the services the organization provides” But almost as many (28%) picked “how the donations are spent”.

Cultivation and Solicitation Activities

Face-to-face requests
Fundraising events and benefits
Solicitation letters and brochures
Telephone appeals

The common theme with all of these activities is to remember to ask. The prettiest brochure, the most entertaining event, the best conversation or well-written letter will never get you the funds you need unless you ASK.

Using Solicitation Letters

The solicitation letter should include and outer envelope, a letter, a response form, and afterwards a follow-up thank you.

The Outer Envelope

You may want to put a teaser on the outer envelope. This idea helps entice the supporter into opening the envelope.
Think about the branding of your council and if possible, include your logo.

Solicitation/Fundraising Letter

Tips for Effective Solicitation Letters

Get a clear picture of the person who will receive it
Involve the reader in the letter using the words you and your, we and our
Use lots of white space
Use type that can be read by someone who wears glasses
Be sure the letter is delivered in a timely manner (a Thanksgiving letter that arrives on December 15 is a wasted opportunity)
Ask for investment in the work of the LCC at least twice in the letter (once in the body, once in the PS)
Let the reader know that he/she is making a difference in the world or in the community.
Be effusive with your thanks
Include a personal/handwritten touch
Have LCC members sign and send letters to those people they know in the community

Solicitation Letter Format

“A simple formula for constructing a letter is (1) touch my heart, (2) tell me what the problem is, (3) tell me what you are doing about it, and (4) tell me how I can help”

-Kay Sprinkel Grace

Beyond Fund Raising(1997)

Keep in mindthe donor’s wants and needs. When writing your letter, be creative, be positive, and invite the reader to invest in the work your LCC is doing.

The letter should:

Be on official stationary
Have a personal salutation, if possible
Including a “P.S.” that is a call to action can be very effective. Research has confirmed that the reader will read the PS first and then read the body of the letter. For example. “P.S. Your support today will allow schoolchildren, who would otherwise not have the opportunity, to comeface-to-face with a masterpiece during a visit toan important cultural institution.

The Response Form

Response forms tell your donor how to make a donation. Often, it is a card that they mail back to you with a check or a written commitment of a donation.

The response formshould:

Request a response and provide a way to track your mailing.
Make it easy for the reader to send you a contribution.
Provide specific suggested amounts for the donor to give.

Follow-up Thank-you

We are always grateful to our donors and supporters. Your thank you should go out within 48 hours after you have received a gift. Treat donors the way you would treat your best friends!

Try saying thank you in these ways:

In the solicitation letter
On the reply form
After you have received a gift
In a newsletter, at an event or in a program
LCC members can call to say thank-you
Be creative…

Hosting Special Events

Special events are an opportunity to make a personal connection with your community. This is a great way to cultivate and expand donor base while building awareness of your council and its programs. Events allow you to recognize and thank your volunteers and donors while raising money for your cause.

Hosting events can be very beneficial to your council, but keep in mind that they are a major investment of time and financial resources. It takes a lot of member/volunteer time to plan and execute a successful event and it often takes a lot of cash up front to promote the event, secure a venue and offer food and entertainment. This could mean that an event might not be the most successful strategy for an LCC trying to fundraise. However, an event can help get an LCC visibility that can serve to boost future fundraising efforts.

Choosing the event:

What are goals for holding event?
Who are you trying to reach with the event?
What type of event fits in with the image of your council and its constituency?

Planning a special event includes:

Choosing the event
Setting a budget
Raising money
Forming an event committee
Compiling the invitation list
Promoting the event
Finding vendors
Follow up

Foundation Giving

Foundations often target their giving by subject, geography, type of support and dollar range of grants. Most institutions focus their giving in specific areas like education, health, arts, or the environment. Be sure to review giving guidelines of foundations that you are interested in, and look at list previously funded grant applicants. If organizations on the grants list are similar to yours, this foundation is a prospect.

Concentrate on local funders because nearly 80 percent of them have giving guidelines that limit their contributions to a certain region, city or state.Carefully check the types of support your institutional prospects will consider. This will help you frame your grant request. Examples of specific types of support include:

General operating support
Specific project support
In-kind support
Capital campaign
Endowment funding
Seed money

Match funder capacity with agency need. For example, if your LCC needs $2,500 for a new project it hopes to launch, identify a foundation that makes grants in this range - rather than a funder who gives support to larger projectsthat require more money.

Business Giving

Businesses often look for an organization that demonstrates sound fiscal management, a realistic budget, committed volunteers and qualified staff.

Direct Corporate Giving

Funds projects that increase corporate visibility or prestige.
Funds projects that will help differentiate them from their competitors.
Helps bring attention to their public charity.

Two Primary Questions

How does the population you reach match the population your corporate sponsor is trying to reach?
How would aligning with your program benefit that corporation?

You should look for a corporation whose activities clearly fit with what your council is doing. Look at the way a corporation has positioned itself and how it has traditionally supported charitable organizations. Ask yourself how you can fit into its approach and how their support would benefit their business?Remember it is up to you to explain the benefits of being associated with your council.

Putting Together a Plan

Development means developing productive relationships over a period of time –simply mailing hundreds of boilerplate letters or proposals is not development. Ninety percent of contributions are made by individuals. It can be easy to look at foundations and corporations first, but most money comes from individual donors.

A good place to start is by looking at people who are already supporting you. You can put together a profile on each major prospective donor.Look at prospects from the standpoint of personal lifestyle and activities as well as business activities - find out if a council member has a relationship or connection with the prospect.

Putting together a development plan starts with naming the fundraising tasks the council needs done, figuring out who will do them, and establishing a timeframe for doing them. There are many benefits to developing a plan before you begin. It will help your council focus on what is important, take care of all the details and track progress towards your goal.

Eight Ways Planning Boosts Results:

Prepares council for the long haul
Helps you thoroughly research prospective donors
Makes individuals a top priority of fundraising
Takes into account the people already in your camp
Encourages you to use every contact you have
Helps you to put your best foot forward
Helps turn rejection into opportunity
Ensures that everyone gets treated as a prospective donor

Pieces of the Plan

-Fundraising overview: this shows the projections of how much your council needs to raise along with a list of donors, prospects and targeted giving objectives that meet the funding need.

-Fundraising activity schedules: these show the steps required for each fundraising activity and major prospect solicitations that will occur.

-Calendars: show the various steps in events, mailings, and other fundraising activities that will occur and are derived from fundraising schedules.

-Progress reports: monitor progress of plan and can compare actual results with projections.

Overview of Development Plan

Each activity that you have planned will be a category in your plan. For each activity you will then list amounts that you reasonably expect to raise from each category and fundraising activity.

Remember to look at past giving - how has money been raised in the past?From which categories of donor?How did we attract these gifts?What methods have we used to cultivate and solicit gifts?

Next, create an outline of all the different fundraising activities for individuals, foundations, corporations, government, special events, membership drive etc. Be sure to estimate changes in giving behavior that can be expected this year compared to previous years. Ask what specific donors and fundraising activities are going to match with specific funding needs (brainstorm!). Think about the following things:

Which donors can be expected to renew their gifts? Which are expected to increase (or decrease) their gifts/has a donor’s gift remained the same for a number of years? Has it increased by a certain percentage? Analyzing giving patterns can make estimates more accurate. Do this for each donor group, major gifts, institutional donors.

Are you aware of any pending cutbacks (government funding, foundation endowment shrinking, corporate giving budgets being cut back)?

What is funding growth potential – look for patterns in increased giving.

Try to estimate conservatively, because being too optimistic can result in a large revenue shortfall.

Councils with a history of raising funds can use their history to make estimates. However, councils raising money for the first time need to estimate their expenses and their funding needs from the ground up.You will want to put together your figure needs by:

Program area (helps to package certain unglamorous costs in program budget)
Fundraising activity (mailing, membership drive, special events)
Combination of two

Fundraising planning is determining essential activities that lead up to securing contributions.

This plan establishes when these activities must occur and who does them. This includes:

Meeting submission deadlines for grant applications
Remembering and marking anniversaries of major gifts
Writing letters and developing materials for mailings
Completing all preparations for special events on time
Making preparations for effective board meetings

When creating an activity schedule, include activities that critical for each appeal or donor. Make sure activities are significant and capable of completion in a short time. And don’t forget to include tasks that occur repeatedly. Also include:

Point person in charge of the activity
Financial goal
Targeted donor prospects
Specific strategy to be used