Hey friends, I've teamed up with my friends at DOT Drives to bring you a 3-part series focused on the importance of culture in a fundraising organization, and how this will attract major givers. If you missed part 1 or 2 you can catch up here: Part 1 Part 2 Enjoy Part 3 of 3 on stewardship! - Emily Fitchpatrick, Flagship Equip How To Build A Powerful Fundraising Culture To Attract Major Givers
What is a steward? In simplest terms it is someone who cares for something. The biblical view of stewardship is that God owns everything; at most we are stewards, managers or workers serving His purposes. So what does stewardship mean in the context of your nonprofit, specifically in the context of major givers? To answer that we have to understand some basics about why givers give. Do you know why your givers give? That might sound silly… especially to you; the one they’re giving to! Let me explain: Givers give for an infinite number of reasons. Boiled down however, you’re almost always left with passion. Your givers are gifting their hard earned money to you because they believe that you have a solution to a problem that they take very seriously. What’s the best thing you can do then? Prove them right!!! Delivering timely, meaningful, real world updates that allow your givers to celebrate is the single most important thing you can do to build partnerships and trust! Does this “story” sound familiar to you?
A major gift comes in. HOORAY!! One giver blesses your organization with $50,000 to finally build that facility in Uganda you’ve been talking about for what seems like forever. You’re ecstatic, you can already see the lives being changed! You get to work, deploy the funds, and time moves on! You’ve been hard at work managing this project for 6 months, and next thing you know the giver reaches out to you: “Hi [org leader], I’m sure you’re busy but I haven’t heard any updates on the project in Uganda for the past 5 months. Just making sure everything is running smoothly?” Yikes! You’ve been hard at work doing everything you can to manage this project. The only thing, you forgot to let the Giver know that! For all they know you ran off with the cash and settled down in a nice beach town. Now you scramble to send them something. You’re reaching out to your project manager in Uganda, your local team and it’s all just a big mess! What a missed opportunity! This unfortunately is a story that I’ve heard far too often. It’s nobodies fault, it’s just the way it is in small-medium size organizations that don’t have enough money or manpower; IF you don’t have a process! So how do you solve this? Process. Process. Process. Timing and content are key. You need to deliver updates to givers with regularity and predictability. This builds trust, and shows them you’re not just “winging it” with the funds they’ve entrusted to you! A good place to start:
Send an update when you break ground on the project.
Send an update when you’re halfway through the project.
Send an update when you’re finished with the project.
Send an update when you’ve begun using the facility.
This applies to all major gifts! Event sponsorships, child sponsorships, capital projects, programming, etc. The content may be different but the importance stays the same! You also need to deliver meaningful information to them. One of the most important things here is pulling the information from the front lines. Get pictures, building plans, financial specifics, stories from the field. To do that you need a streamlined way to communicate and gather information from the field.
Let’s get specific, here’s some best practices:
Impact Achieved
Discuss what was actually achieved because of their gift
Impact Summary
Discuss how these results were achieved. Specific stories, strategies etc
Financial Update
How as the money used (BE SPECIFIC). Did you go over budget? Did you go under? What are you going to do with the surplus. How are you going to raise the remainder needed?
This is a huge opportunity to build trust. Don’t make things sound better than they are! Transparency here is a must!
Personal Thank you
This is where you get to prove your Givers right about you. You’re basically saying “Hey I really care about this thing too, and I’m going to do something about it” to get the donation. Now you can authoritatively say “See, together we made an impact!” There’s no better testimonial than that.
How to actually get started: This all probably sounds great to you, but might feel unrealistic. That’s how we felt too, which is why we built Dot Drives. To be clear, you don’t need Dot Drives to accomplish these things. But it will make it much simpler, clearer and more efficient. Pairing this approach with a Coach or Consultant to help you get started is a powerful combination that primes your team for success! We have team members that are here to do just that! Reach out to me if you have any questions: josh@dotdrives.com We built the giver updates feature to very simply accomplish everything we’re talking about above. You can assign front line individuals all over the world pre-defined information you’d like to see about specific projects and programs at specified times. Build out your updates workflow months in advance so everyone knows what needs to be done, for who, and at what point. Total clarity on responsibility. The benefit: You allow your Givers to Celebrate with you!
Did you know Flagship now offers 3 programs to help you become fully equipped and fully funded? Fundraising Academy Flagship Fundraising Academy is a virtual group coaching program designed to equip nonprofit leaders with proven strategies and best practices in fundraising and development, bringing radical change through radical generosity for the glory of God. Registration is now open for our Fall 2020 Semester. We are offering a 25% tuition discount for nonprofits with a budget under $300,000. Register here. The Anchor Program The Anchor Program is a highly structured, outcome driven individual coaching program taking you through a proven 4-step process. We will help you build capacity to reach your fullest potential and make a lasting impact in the cause God has placed in your heart. Contact Taylor@FlagshipEquip.com to discuss. Fair Winds Program The Fair Winds Program provides implementation and management of a successful fundraising program as we embed a Flagship Development Officer (FDO) into your nonprofit culture. We raise funds alongside of you while strengthening donor relationships for transformational Kingdom impact. Contact Rebecca@FlagshipEquip.com to discuss.
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