WHY AREN’T WE RAISING MORE MONEY?
1. My organization has a clear mission and fills a unique niche in the sector and our community.
If I met you at a cocktail party and you started talking about your organization, and I asked you what the mission was, what would you say?
2. Every one of my board makes an annual financial contribution – 100% giving.
No? Here are some ideas on how to get your board to approve a give and get policy.
3. Each of my board members knows different people.
If not, it’s important that you expand your pool of donors and volunteers.
4. We all agree on what our organization aspires to do.
This one is particularly important. Do you have a coherent and communicated vision? Need some inspiration? Here’s a small nonprofit that thinks really big.
5. Most of my board members can easily and enthusiastically offer someone a 2-3 minute elevator pitch about what the organization does, why it’s important and bring it to life with a short anecdote.
Here’s another one that is on the more important side. If you’re blowing this one, you’re hardly alone. If what I see at many board and staff retreats is true, it may be true that most nonprofit people are messing this up. Here’s how to fix it.
6. The board chair is an enthusiastic champion and excellent motivator of volunteers. May not have fundraising experience but loves the org and welcomes the opportunity to tell people about the work.
You had better have a 5-star board chair. Not sure if you do? Click the link for a checklist.
7. Our social media presence is growing and more and more folks are engaging with the content, building a very nice pipeline of prospects.
Robin Cembalest has built a social media following of tens of thousands for “the art world and beyond” and spoke with me on my podcast about how to bring a more artful approach to your social media outreach.
8. Lots of people know about us and we are quite visible. We are not a “hidden gem”.
Not the case? Here are some ideas about how to get inexpensive PR for your nonprofit.
9. Our staff leadership has an external presence and engenders trust in the organization.
The ability to speak in public is crucial for many staff leaders and an area that many of us can improve. Here are my tips for how to give a first-rate event speech.
10. We have a strong board development committee that sees its role as different and broader than a group that monitors staff progress against fundraising goals.
Particularly important… But what exactly makes for a great board fundraising committee?
11. We are committed to stewarding our donors and our retention rate is high.
But if that’s not the case, here’s how you can improve retention, renewals, and make your donors feel like a million bucks.
12. We have a healthy revenue mix and are not overly reliant on any single source.
Perhaps this is the case today. But perhaps you’re not sure what your revenue mix will look like in the future. Here’s how to properly forecast your fundraising revenue.
13. I have a strong development team.
Not yet? Not sure? Or maybe you have no development team at all? Here’s how to build a great one.
14. Our organization values diversity in an authentic way – we are building toward a culture of inclusion and in so doing are able to invite more and diverse folks to be a part of our organization.
There’s a diversity problem in the nonprofit sector. One reason is that we’re not doing a good enough job developing a diverse leadership pipeline, especially when it comes to leaders of color, and in particular women of color.
15. When we recruit board members we are clear that we will be looking to them to partner with us in fundraising.
The board interview process is critical. Here are the questions you should ask for board recruiting.
16. We have a culture where we take risks. We talk about what’s not working in our efforts to fundraise and learn when things go awry.
Look, we all make mistakes. But here’s the thing. Clarity only comes from taking action. And if we’re so afraid to take action until everything is perfect, we’ll never accomplish our big goals. You want to nurture a culture of experimentation and innovation. And that means a willingness to try things. So, when you do inevitably screw up, here’s how you can get past your fundraising mistakes.
17. If a prospective funder asked what you hope to accomplish this year, you can point to year 1 goals in a simple and compelling strategic plan.
Strategic plan? Painful, right? But when you do strategic planning right, it’s game changing.
18. We work hard to ensure that board members have the tools, resources and motivation to be great ambassadors.
And that absolutely includes keeping them engaged between board meetings.
19. We can speak to the impact of our work with something more than stories.
I’ve got a podcast episode on this topic coming up soon with Chari Smith. I highly recommend her book, Nonprofit Program Evaluation Made Simple: Get Your Data. Show Your Impact. Improve Your Programs. In fact, I even have a quote on the back of the book.
20. We have an annual board retreat that engages and enriches board members and motivates them to be vocal and visible ambassadors.
But maybe you don’t do retreats. Or everybody dreads them. If that’s the case, here’s how to run a really valuable nonprofit retreat.