Only 10 hints to make Effective Nonprofit Fundraising in a Soft Economy

Fundraising in a soft economy provides unique challenges to nonprofit organizations. The bad news is that you will find many doors that were historically open to you suddenly closed.
By: Joseph Raats
 
July 29, 2009 - PRLog -- Fundraising in a soft economy provides unique challenges to nonprofit organizations. The bad news is that you will find many doors that were historically open to you suddenly closed. The good news is that the most effective fundraisers are still capable to grow significant funds. The first understanding your organization must hug is that fundraising in a soft economy is not a yes or no question. While you may not be able to tap some resources that have historically contributed to your organization this does not mean that the funds are not exchangeable. To be effective you must reconsideration your assumptions, extend your scope, and approach your fundraising efforts with a clean slate. When you take these steps you will find chances in places that you never previously counted.

In this article we offer 10 hints for increasing your nonprofit fundraising efforts in a soft economy. These hints come directly from organizations and fundraisers who have shown the ability to consistently achieve or top fundraising goals during soft economies. We hope that these tips will help your organization grow during these challenging times.

1. Focus on the Prospect's requires In difficult times the organizations that make the most conclusive case for support get the funding. As Tom Ralser states in his book ROI for Nonprofits, When investors are shown that their money is making a difference and their investment is paying off, they are more likely to keep investing.

2. Match the Message to the aspect This sounds similar to #1 but it's somewhat different. Once you have developed a compelling case for support, in challenging times it is more crucial than ever that you match your message to each individual prospect. Remember the 8020 rule. 20% of organizations are going to get 80% of the dollars available. The ones who win are the ones who present a case for support that matters most to each person's prospect.

3. Extend Your Net This is the time to study your current list of prospects and extend it. Every organization has corporate, foundation, and individual possible donors who have never been properly invited for support. Don't limit your chances by assuming you can't extend your base.

4. Know Your Industries Historically speaking, in soft economies some industries are importantly affected while others see only a minimal effect. It is important to understand this when approaching prospects. Failure to understand the importance of this concept can greatly impact your returns. We once had a business executive at a medium-sized organization tell the following story I had this guy representing a local museum see me about getting involved during the recession in the early 90's. Before he came in I was fair acceptive. By the time he had passed the first ten minutes of our meeting talking about how bad the economy was I was no longer interested. It just so happened that the executive's business had only been marginally affected by the economy and the presenter's assumptions made the conversation to spiral down hill. Don't assume that things are bad everywhere. Do your homework before you go in.

5. Know Your Foundations Understanding the historical trends of foundations in your community can lead to large commitments. Regardless of economic cycles, many foundations are required to give out an amount of money every year. Understanding each foundation's rules for giving will lead to increased funding for your organization.

6. Concentrate Long-Term Even organizations that are struggling understand that the economy cycles and it will finally get better. Often in soft economies nonprofit organizations can procure 4-5 year assurance commitments from even the most economically affected companies. History shows that with an effective investordonor relations program more than 95% of these long-term commitments are fulfilled for the length of the commitment, which makes this a very effective tool to use during challenging economic times.

7. Keep the Goal in Mind While we have found that fundraisers may get a few more no's in a soft economy, they can still reach overall funding goals through sound campaign strategy. It may take more asks or more creative and effective approaches than it typically might, but your fundraising attempts can still be successful. Keep the end result in mind. Adequately funding your program or project is what really matters.

8. Do It Now Too many organizations reflexively hold fundraising attempts because of economic cycles. Our research has found that this is the wrong choice to make in almost all cases. When you consider the dollars you are trying to grow, the true impact of economic forces, and the competition in the market, it is usually best to move forward with your fundraising opening instead of delaying. In many cases the slow economy causes the competition for money in the market to decrease well, which actually throws the balance of dollars available relative to organizations asking in your favor.

9. Don't disturb an In Progress Fundraising Initiative When you disturb a fundraising opening mid-process you do faraway more damage than you think. First, you negatively affect your brand. Many of the people you called on during the feasibility study or who have been civilized by early campaign efforts shouldn't be left hanging. If they do not hear back from you they assume that something is wrong at the organization and may be less likely to respond favorably down the road. Moreover, a key element of most winning campaigns is projecting success and creating momentum. Nothing kills momentum or broadcasts close at hand failure more than calling a time-out. Any small advantage that might be gained by waiting for an improved economic climate will be greatly outweighed by the scaring psychological and strategic hurdles of trying to re-start a previously abandoned effort.

10. Be Positive Often the language leaders use within an organization orders the tone of fundraising and other efforts. Convergent recently conducted large research on the impact of the economy on nonprofit fundraising and found that the largest difference between the organizations who continued achieving their goals and those who did not was the attitudes of the leadership. The nonprofit organizations who consistently achieve better results saw the economy as a challenge that could be overcome. Those who over detected the significance the soft economy was going to have on their fundraising efforts saw a much greater impact on their lower line. It's a self fulfilling prognostication. Stay positive and you will see better results.

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Source:Joseph Raats
Email:***@gmail.com Email Verified
Zip:89118
Tags:Non-profit Fund-raising, Nonprofit Fundraising, Non Profit Fundraisers, Fundraiser Non Profit
Industry:Non-profit
Location:Las Vegas - Nevada - United States
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