Issue 30
October 6, 2004

NEWSNOTES is a monthly email newsletter published by Nonprofit Enterprise at Work. It includes items of interest to the nonprofit community in Washtenaw County and the surrounding areas, as well as resources available at NEW. Encourage your friends and colleagues to join nearly 330 other NEWSNOTES subscribers!

NEW would like to recognize the generous support of its Community Partners:

IN THIS ISSUE

LEAD STORY

The 10 Most Important Things You Can Know About Fundraising

By Kim Klein

[Editor’s note: The following text is an abbreviated version of a full-length article written by Kim Klein, publisher of Grassroots Fundraising Journal. See the original article and learn more fundraising basics at her Web site.]

1. If you want money, ask for it.
   Most people will not think to give you money unless you make your needs known. If you don’t ask them they will assume that you are getting the money from somewhere else.
   
   Millard Fuller, who founded Habitat for Humanity, says, “I have tried raising money by asking for it, and by not asking for it. I always got more by asking for it.”
   
   
2. Thank before you bank.
   I have found that disciplining myself not to deposit checks until I have written the thank-you notes has forced me to make them a priority. Late thank yous are better than no thank you at all. However, the long and short of thank yous is: if you haven’t got time to thank donors, you don’t have time to have donors.
   
   
3. Donors are not ATMs.
   A study of donors asked, “What is your relationship with your favorite group?” All the answers were on this theme: “I would love to be considered a friend, but I am more of an ATM.”
   
   Think of your donors as ambassadors for your group. By treating your donors as whole people who have a number of gifts to offer your organization, you will have more financial support from existing donors, more fun fundraising, more donors, and the peace of mind of knowing that you are not treating anyone as an object.
   
   
4. Most money comes from people, and most of those people are not rich.
   There are three sources of funding for all the nonprofits in the United States: earned income, government (public sector), and the private sector (foundations, corporations and individuals).
   
   In 2002, total giving by the private sector was almost $241 billion, 84.2 percent of that was donated by individuals. Middle-class, working-class, and poor people account for a high percentage of money given away.
   
   
5. People have the right to say no.
   One of the biggest mistakes I made early on was not balancing my emphasis on the need to ask for money with the reality that people are going to say no. When you can make someone feel all right about saying no, you keep the door open to a future yes, or to that person referring someone else to your group.
   
   If you don’t hear no several times a week, you are not asking enough people.
   
   
6. To be good at fundraising, cultivate three traits.
   A good fundraiser requires three character traits as much as any set of skills: a belief in the cause for which you are raising money despite set backs, the ability to have high hopes and low expectations, and faith in the basic goodness of people.
   
   Fundraising is a means to an end, a way to promote a cause, a very necessary skill in achieving goals and fulfilling missions.
   
   
7. Fundraising should not be confused with fund chasing, fund squeezing, or fund hoarding.
   To apply for a grant just because the money is available, not because it will promote your mission, is called fund chasing. On the other hand, if an organization seems to be running a deficit, cutting items out of the budget (fund squeezing) may be necessary but should not be confused with fundraising. When deficits loom, the fundraising question is “Where can we get even more money?” Lastly, savings becomes hoarding when no occasion seems important enough to warrant using the savings.
   
   
8. Fundraising is an exchange—people pay you to do work they cannot do alone.
   If you are doing good work, then you deserve to raise the money to do it. What you must do is figure out how to articulate what you are doing so that the person hearing it, if they share your values, will want to exchange their money for your work. Do not equate this with begging, which is asking for something that you do not deserve.
   
   
9. People’s anxieties about fundraising stem from their anxieties about money.
   We have been taught not talk about money or to ask for it, except under very limited circumstances. Many of us are taught that money is a private affair. Having too little or too much can be a source of shame and embarrassment, yet money is also a source of status and power.
   
   The important thing is that you keep focused on your commitment to the cause and that will propel you past your doubts, fears and anxieties.
   
   
10. There are four steps to fundraising—plan, plan, plan, and work your plan.
    Fundraising is three parts planning for one part doing. Start by defining the end result you want and when you want it to happen. Then work backwards from that point to the present.
    When you are tempted to skip planning, or to postpone planning until “you have some time,” just remember the Buddhist saying, “We have so little time, we must proceed very slowly.”
    

Additional Resources:

• Kim Klein’s Grassroots Fundraising Journal Web site has plenty of practical tips and tools to help you raise money for your organization. Hard copies of current and back issues of the Journal are available at the Nonprofit Resource Library.
  
• More about Kim Klein, a featured speaker at the Alliance for Nonprofit Management, Washington D.C., August 2004.
  
• NEW’s online bookstore recommends titles on fundraising and grantwriting.
  

FEATURED ITEMS

Fall Workshop Kick-Off

NEW’s Fall 2004 Managing for Nonprofit Excellence workshop series was given a super start on September 15 with the special event “Fundraising Relationships, Fundraising Values.” More than 100 representatives from local nonprofit organizations had the opportunity to hear Roy Muir, former Associate Vice-President for Development, and Jerry May, current Vice-President for Development at the University of Michigan, speak on the importance of building strong donor relationships. Between lectures, small groups brainstormed strategies for determining appropriate donor recognition, identifying new donors, developing “the ask,” and finding new options for donor giving.

Some lessons taken away from the morning’s lectures and discussions were:

• Plan, plan, plan your fundraising
• Make friends; don’t burn bridges
• Never apologize for asking for money
• Make a compelling case; show your passion
• Create opportunities for board involvement
• Use technology for data collection and donor tracking

NEW’s workshop series is now in full swing. Encourage staff, board members and volunteers to improve their skills in the fundraising arena or choose courses on other nonprofit management issues. Save $5 by registering online.

Leadership²Go October 29

NEW’s Leadership²Go Executive Director Series presents “Fostering Organizational Diversity” on Friday, October 29. Three local experts

Lorraine Gutierrez, PhD, Professor of Social Work, University of Michigan
Mark Jones, Director of Leadership and Workforce Development, Pfizer
David H. Yamamoto, Consultant, TransArbor Dynamics

will lead the discussion on such questions as:

• How can we, as a sector, do a better job of developing our cultural competency?.
• How can we diversify our staff and board?
• How do we preserve a commitment to diversity in the face of staff turnover and board term limits?
• Where do we turn for help?

Find Potential Funders

Resources at the Nonprofit Resource Library can help your organization create a solid fundraising plan. One aspect of that plan may be to seek grants from foundations or corporations. Use FC Search, a searchable CD-Rom database, to find foundations that are likely to support your mission. Free classes in the use of FC Search are being offered at the NEW Center on Friday, October 29, Wednesday, November 17 and Tuesday, December 7 at varying times. Advanced registration is requested. Contact Ann Gladwin (734-998-0160, ext 218) to make an appointment to use the database.

Best Managed Nonprofit Contest

Crain's Detroit Business is accepting applications for the best-managed nonprofits in metro Detroit. The contest is open to 501(c)(3) organizations in Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw, Macomb and Livingston counties. The application deadline is Wednesday, October 20, 2004. Award recipients will be selected in two categories: agencies with annual operating budgets over and under $3 million. Each recipient will be awarded a prize of $750 and will be featured in the December 20 issue of Crain's Detroit Business as well as honored at CDB's annual "Newsmaker of the Year" luncheon in February

Arts Minigrant Program

The Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs (MCACA) offers minigrants of up to $4,000 to Michigan nonprofit organizations for locally developed, high-quality arts and cultural projects that increase public access to art and culture. Grants for organizations in Region 4, Livingston, Monroe and Washtenaw counties, previously administered by NEW, are now managed by the ArtsAlliance of the Ann Arbor Area.

Organizations applying in Region 4 are invited to attend any one of three free grant assistance workshops in preparation for the next application deadline of November 1, 2004 (for projects taking place after February 1, 2005 and September 30, 2005). All workshops are 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

• Ann Arbor: Monday, October 11, 2004, Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce, 425 South Main St.
• Howell: Tuesday, October 12, 2004, Howell Chamber of Commerce, 123 East Washington St.
• Monroe: Wednesday, October 13, 2004, Ellis Resource & Information Center, 3700 South Custer Rd.

Minigrant applications and guidelines are available on the NEW Web site.

To reserve a place at a workshop or for more information, contact Tamara Real, Director, Arts Alliance of the Ann Arbor Area (734-214-0112).

Organizations outside Region 4 may check this link to find their regranting agency.

Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce Offers Help with Medical Expenses

If your organization is a member of the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce, you will want to learn about a new offering to help you afford medical care benefits for employees. The Chamber has recently introduced the TASC FlexPlan, (a division of Total Administrative Services Corporation). The average savings can be up to $300 per employee in payroll taxes through Flex$ystem’s third-party administrative services. You and your employees receive all the benefits of a Section 125 plan that allows out-of-pocket medical expenses to be deducted pre-tax from the employees check. For more information, contact Debbie Vandermade (734-214-0103).

Washtenaw County Vendor Fair

All nonprofit organizations in Washtenaw County are invited to a vendor fair on Wednesday, October 13. New and innovative products will be displayed by representatives from Staples, 3M, Hewlett-Packard, Smead, Acco, Avery, GBC, Sanford, Pentel & Plantronics, among others.

Date: Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Time: 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Location: Library Learning Resource Center, Room A, 4135 Hogback Rd., Ann Arbor

An RSVP is required to attend this event. Please contact Crystal Wake at (734-222-6761) by October 8.

Reminders

NEW’s Onsite Board Training program offers hands-on training for your Board of Directors. Choose one of our four training modules to fit your board’s unique needs:

Indiana Fundraising School class Preparing for Successful Grant Proposals
December 1 and 2, 2004

Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation Youth Council Grants deadline: November 3.

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