Author: Len Moisan

Want to transform your organization? Go get a transformational gift!

Clearly, there are organizations that secure multi-million dollar gifts, but they are few and far between. Why is that? Well, when it gets right down to it, few executives are willing to do the work involved in securing such a gift.

Principles of Transformation

For those brave individuals willing to do that work, I have included a few principles to aid you in your quest.

• Transformational donors need to know what you’ll do with a transformational gift.  If you don’t know that answer, you won’t influence transformational donors. They need to know you’ve done your homework. If most of your time is spent keeping the doors open, eventually they are likely to close. You have to think in a visionary way about the future and communicate that vision.
• Transformational donors need to be found.  Start first with your own database.  As fundraising consultants, when we help clients in their planning for a capital campaign we encourage them to conduct a wealth screening of their database. It gives them extensive information on net worth, liquidity and giving capacity.

One client was a bit reluctant to allocate resources to do this. However, they relented and in their own files found 18 new multi-millionaires about whom they knew nothing. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee fundraising success, but it certainly tells you where to start fishing. Beyond that, online sources can also help you find high capacity prospects.

• Transformational donors need to be informed and eventually affiliated with your organization.  Try to connect with them through someone they know who is affiliated with your organization. It might be a staff person, board member or current donor, but you will have to make a personal connection.

A recent study of people who gave $100,000 or more found the most important motivators for giving are organizational affiliation and alignment with its mission (97.2% of donors). But for new donors, having a personal relationship with someone inside the organization is an important part of getting them affiliated.

You might also invite them to volunteer. The majority of high net worth volunteers (84.3 percent) give to at least some of the organizations with which they volunteer.

However, you have to learn their values and areas of interest, and one way to do that is simply ask them. Most high net worth households (76.4%) base giving decisions on personal values.

• Transformational donors need to know their gift makes a difference in the lives of others and it’s lasting.  The late Dr. Woody Bartlett made a transformational gift of some $40 million to the Auburn University to establish the Bartlett Scholars Program.

He said, “Auburn (helped) me get ready for the type of career I wanted. I know there are a lot of young people coming along in the future. I hope the scholarship fund will give them a chance to focus on their studies and prepare themselves to do their best as veterinarians.”

• Finally, transformational donors usually need to be asked and you must consider timing.  I remember the first transformational gift request I made, which prompted a funny response. Early in my career I requested a multimillion-dollar gift from a donor. His response was simply, “I don’t feel very rich today. Come and see me when I feel rich.”

Lessons Learned

I learned two things from this encounter. First, I asked too early in our relationship. I needed some time to make the case without asking. Second, I learned to hang in there and be creative in how I approached donors. He eventually gave at the level I asked, but it took a while to get there.

Applying these principles is never a guarantee, but it certainly is a good place to start!

by Len Moisan

Leading by Keeping Your Promises

Practice Keeping Promises 

Many times as fundraising consultants, leaders talk with us about the importance of keeping promises. Walking the talk of core values as a leader involves making a commitment to keep promises, regardless of the circumstances. When promises are broken, it’s usually because one person puts his or her interests ahead of those of others. But leaders can’t afford to do that. Frank Layden is the former president and coach of the Utah Jazz of the NBA. In a conversation I had with him about leadership, he commented:

“The minute (a promise) is broken is when I say I’m more important than you are and that my goals are more important than yours. Usually, the reason we are doing this is for my benefit or for the benefit of the few. And I don’t think we (as leaders) should be able to do that. What we should rather say is that if we have a contract, then that contract is supposed to be fair to both of us.”

An Excellent Example

A real life example of taking action consistent with the principles and keeping promises regardless of the circumstances is found in the story of J. Robertson McQuilkin. He is President Emeritus of Columbia International University. For 22 years he served as the University’s President, and his tenure was arguably one of the most productive of any president in the South Carolina school’s history. By his admission, this was his “dream job.”

On a vacation to Florida, McQuilkin noticed his wife, Muriel, began to repeat stories that she had just told only minutes before. It was a pattern that eventually would lead to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. As the disease advanced, McQuilkin faced an important decision. His wife was growing less and less conscious of both the people and the circumstances around her. The doctors advised him that regardless of the person providing care for her, her condition would likely deteriorate to the point where she would not recognize who it was. Therefore, he could just as easily continue as University President, achieving his vision while caring for his wife by providing full-time nursing assistance for her.

Despite the doctors’ counsel, McQuilkin’s commitment to his wife was much stronger than his loyalty to the University. He commented, “When the time came, the decision was firm. It took no great calculation. It was a matter of integrity. Had I not promised 42 years before, ‘in sickness and in health, till death do us part?’” He eventually resigned his position to care for his wife. In speaking about keeping his promise, he said simply, “This was no grim duty to which I was stoically resigned; She had cared for me for almost four decades with marvelous devotion; now it was my turn.”

Results Will Follow

Through his actions, McQuilkin demonstrated his commitment to and his belief in keeping his promises, regardless of the circumstances. The same is true both in organizations and in fundraising. Leaders are not only responsible for embracing and articulating values, they must also demonstrate commitment to those beliefs through their actions. Apart from that they only create cynicism. It makes sense that if leaders espouse something but fail to deliver on what they espouse, they lose credibility. Simply stated, if they expect to achieve their goal of building successful teams and increasing donations, then they must also create an atmosphere of trust. That doesn’t happen without keeping promises, regardless of the circumstances they face.

by Len Moisan

2017 Trends That Could Influence Your Philanthropy (Part 3)

So far in our series we’ve looked at 4 trends that could influence your philanthropy in the course of this year. We have reviewed:

• Political differences becoming more polarizing
• Technology being used more effectively
• Unemployment and under-employment greatly influencing philanthropy, but promising to improve, and
• Less institutional trust, increased millennial involvement and more demand for projects demonstrating tangible results

Today, I’ll discuss at least two more trends:

Corporations give more where their people are involved.

According to a 2013 study, 82% of US consumers consider social responsibility in deciding what products to buy. When it influences the bottom line, corporations tend to pay attention. Not that they lack altruistic tendencies, but if corporate involvement influences sales it’s one more reason to take responsibility seriously.

While corporate giving accounts for only 5% of total philanthropy, it provides a real boost for nonprofit fundraising. So how can you get corporate employees more involved in the life of your organization? There are several ways!

Co-brand events – Each year one nonprofit organizes a fun run sponsored by a local corporation. Another one engaged a large corporation to underwrite their annual festival of new plays. Then there are sponsored events like the Nutcracker, sports tournaments, recognition ceremonies, arts festivals and much more. In fact, we’re finding that corporations are even more generous through co-branding because the money typically comes from marketing budgets.

Provide opportunities for involvement – There are lots of ways to involve others, but the responsibility for doing so lies with the nonprofit to communicate its needs and it’s not just about money needs. For example, for upcoming events call volunteers and let them know you need their support.  Also, rather than put heavy workloads on staff, think of creative ways you can utilize volunteers. For example, the United Way uses corporate loaned executives as additional staff each year.

Invite corporate employees to join your board – When volunteers demonstrate strong interest or passion for your cause, consider them for board membership. Also, when you already have a good number of corporate employees involved, gather data on the hours they contribute, what that equates to monetarily and what they’ve helped you achieve.  Send thank you notes to the corporation’s upper management and include this information. It enhances your relationship and helps build your case if and when you make a monetary request for support.

Identify the value proposition – What’s in it for the corporation? When you solicit corporate gifts in any form you must be prepared to answer this question. For example, you may show them how your mission parallels theirs.  Discuss ways you can help them reach their target audience through social media and other forms of communication. Corporate challenge grants are even more attractive, since you will communicate their challenge to your entire donor base. Essentially, you want to identify the “quid-pro-quo” prior to your visit and make that part of your discussion.

Ways to involve corporate employees are endless, but organizations that do plan and invite people to help are also ones who will secure more of their support.

Community problem solving will increasingly motivate giving.

Increasingly major donors seek to make a tangible difference. It’s not good enough just to give to annual funds or capital campaigns. Essentially, they want their gifts to be transformational, and they want to see results that clearly demonstrate those transformations.

Facilitating that requires nonprofits to have appropriate foreknowledge about donors and their interests. As fundraising consultants, we recommend a thoughtful process of donor research followed by careful planning around areas of donor interest. Of course, that planning is geared towards solving one or more problems that are in line with your mission. That way you will be able to engage donors strategically in supporting your priorities.

However, the challenge will always be to find ways to accommodate donor interests without changing your mission or key programs simply to chase dollars.

by Len Moisan

2017 Trends That Could Influence your Philanthropy (Part 2)

In this continuing series, we discuss trend information that could influence the philanthropic revenue your non-profit organization or church receives. In last week’s blog we discussed political differences becoming more polarizing and technology being used more effectively. Today we bring you two more trends.

Unemployment Rates Affecting Giving

Unemployment and under-employment has greatly influenced philanthropy. According to a recent study by the Institute for Policy Studies, charitable giving from donors with incomes of less than $100,000 declined by an alarming 34% last year.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US unemployment rate hovers at around 4.7 %. While that would normally be cause for celebration, according to a CNN report, there are some hidden facts. First, only 62.7% of adult Americans are actually working. The labor participation rate hasn’t been that low in some 40 years. Also, the average wage of the typical worker has remained flat for over 20 years.

According to a Gallup article, widely reported unemployment metrics in the U.S. don’t represent real joblessness. For example, Gallup calls a “ good job” one in which the worker is employed for at least 30 or more hours and receives a regular paycheck. According to these criteria, the unemployment rate is closer to 10%.

It’s not surprising then that the number of donors at lower income levels is declining. However, recently the prospects for job growth have improved, particularly with promised tax cuts. As fundraising consultants, our advice is to work even harder to recruit donors at all levels, and over the next few years your efforts will be rewarded. Clearly, we are likely to see increased participation from lower income donors.

Simultaneously, giving from top income donors ($500,000 or more) increased by 57% and giving from the super rich ($10 million or more) increased by 104%. While this is encouraging, there is an inherent danger here. When nonprofits depend on too few donors to meet their budgets, they must ask what happens if one or two of these donors stop giving. Will the non-profit find itself in peril? That’s why having a broad donor base is essential.

Mistrust of Nonprofits is on the Rise

Less institutional trust and increased millennial involvement will bring demand for more projects demonstrating tangible results. A recent article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review started with the following statement: “Unethical behavior remains a persistent problem in nonprofits.” The authors used EduCap Inc. as an example. Evidently the organization abused its tax-exempt status by charging excessive interest on loans and providing millions in compensation and perks for the CEO and her husband. This included using the $31 million corporate jet for travel for family and friends.

There are many more examples of abuses that cause mistrust about fundraising, but suffice it to say that mistrust for nonprofits is on the rise. In fact, the article cites a Brookings Institute study that found 33% of participants reported “not having much” or “no” confidence in nonprofits, and 70% of participants believe nonprofits waste money. Also, according to a recent Forbes study, 78% of millennials said they would likely stop donating if they didn’t know how their donation is making a difference.

Organizational Transparency Increases Trust

Taking into consideration the erosion of trust and millennials’ preferences, nonprofit organizations can no longer assume that they will automatically be trusted. Instead they’ll need to earn that trust by incorporating high levels of transparency in their operations and communicating that transparency in multiple ways. In addition, they will need to demonstrate with increasing frequency, how donations to fundraising campaigns make a difference in the lives of the people they were intended to help.

by Len Moisan

Merry Christmas!

When I pass along my greetings to you for a merry Christmas, I am wishing you the blessings, peace, joy and sacrifice that are peculiar to this season. I guess I would be more politically correct if I just said, “Happy Holidays.” Then I might also refer to our holiday gifts that were that were laid out on holiday eve, opened under our holiday tree, on holiday day when we also ate our holiday dinner.

Sure, that all would be politically correct, but somehow it misses the point. Beyond the fact that it sounds just silly, when I hear something like that I find it less warm, more sterile and greatly lacking.  Besides, the facts that Jesus lived, died and was resurrected are irrefutable.

So if Jesus actually lived here on earth at one time, why wouldn’t we want to celebrate his birth and his life? We celebrate the lives of Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Martin Luther King each year. They all were great men with amazing accomplishments, yet they pale in comparison to the accomplishments of Jesus.

You certainly don’t have to agree with this, but before you get too alarmed, consider what Charles Dickens had to say. He was considered a fairly respectable man, and he captured the spirit of what people are telling you when they pass along their wishes for a merry Christmas.

“Happy, happy Christmas,” said Dickens, “that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home. It is good to be children sometimes, and never better than Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.”

Some have gone beyond this warm and friendly greeting of Dickens to the point of hopeful criticism or criticism with a challenge to do better. Consider the words of our beloved Benjamin Franklin about Christmas,  “How many observe Christ’s birthday! How few, his precepts! O! ‘Tis easier to keep Holidays than Commandments.” It is a hopeful reminder from which we all could benefit. And knowing a little more about Franklin, tells me that he very well might have been speaking to himself.

Finally, Dr. James Allen Francis noted that Jesus was born of humble means in an obscure village to a peasant woman. He never wrote a book, held an office, went to college, visited a big city or traveled more than 200 miles from where he was born.  Consider how Dr. Francis ended his poem about Jesus.

“Nineteen centuries have come and gone

And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race

And the leader of mankind’s progress

All the armies that have ever marched

All the navies that have ever sailed

All the parliaments that have ever sat

All the kings that ever reigned put together

Have not affected the life of mankind on earth

As powerfully as that one solitary life.”

So when I wish you Merry Christmas, whether you are a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim or an atheist, I am not intending to offend you. In fact, it is much to the contrary. I’m wishing you the warmth that Dickens expressed, the hope of a better citizenry that Franklin expressed and the utter amazement that Francis expressed.

And now as I do wish you a Merry Christmas, my intention is that you receive the pure peace and joy I have experienced through Christ and now I express and wish it for you.

Merry Christmas!

by Len Moisan

Start 2017 Out Right with These 7 Fundraising Strategies

Hopefully, 2016 was a great year for you. However, whether it was or wasn’t, 2017 is coming and you have to be ready. To that end we offer the following seven strategies that can greatly improve your fundraising:

1. Bolster your board – Nonprofit organizations often talk about doing this, but very few actually do it. First, as Baby Boomers retire from your board, it will be important to replace them with younger members. That starts with Generation X but also should include Millennials.  And you probably can’t change overnight. In fact, it is helpful if you stage it over several years, so the older members can help advise the younger members before they rotate off the board.  Another way to bolster your board is to provide training from outside sources. This is particularly true in areas such as public relations, advocacy, marketing and fundraising.
2. Communicate with everyone using every vehicle, and be strategic about it – The web site is not a static vehicle. Use it to convey messages, announcements and set it up to include your Twitter activity. In addition, everything that goes out to the public is an opportunity to reinforce a message. Do some strategic planning in deciding what messages you want delivered and then repeat them in your direct mail, Facebook, newsletters, Twitter and Instagram. Finally, the best kind of visibility comes from word of mouth, so consider having board members host peer-to-peer receptions in their homes.
3. Create new events – Golf tournaments and road races have just about run out of steam. Every few years you need new and exciting events. For example, one of our clients organized an annual “Lobster Fest”, a feast of all of the lobster you care to eat. The event has a live auction and other fun highlights. Whatever the event is, announce it and get after it with enthusiasm.
4. Build your annual case around specific projects. Ditch the “annual fund” – We understand that organizations need unrestricted funds annually to support their ongoing operations, but donors see the “annual fund” as a dark hole. There are specific items that the annual fund supports each year, so as fundraising consultants we advise our clients to raise funds for those specific projects. People get a lot more out of paying for microscopes or helping kids with tuition than giving to something unknown. It helps to be transparent.
5. Tell donors what you’ve been able to do with their support – Just like trying to avoid general “annual fund” asks, you also need to avoid general thanks. If someone gives you $10,000 for school uniforms, make sure you visit them after the season and tell them who they helped and how they’re doing. Sure it takes time and effort, but that’s how some organizations distinguish themselves from others.
6. Create a monthly or sustained giving program – I wrote about this extensively in two previous blogs, but suffice it to say that if you can build a successful program of sustained givers, your organization will enhance donor retention and keep itself going for many years to come.
7. Donor retention is the lifeblood of any organization-One of our higher education clients had a 70% donor attrition rate and an annual fund goal of over $4 million. Our work with them involved raising that retention rate from 30% to over 60%. How did we do that? First, we improved their communication, so alumni heard from the college at times other than when they wanted money. Second, we helped organize a monthly giving program, which greatly improves retention. We used other strategies as well, but mainly we helped them understand that it’s less expensive and easier to keep donors you already have than recruit new ones.

by Len Moisan