You Got This Fundraising

In this BONUS episode, I want to share with you a key component of a successful fundraiser - RELATIONSHIPS. I'll tell you how I built a great donor relationship with a Pineapple Pizza. Check out the Blog: https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite: https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

This week, we visit with Dallas Haselhorst, an IT and security consultant with over 20 years of experience in numerous industries. Dallas owns Tree Top Security and also is a co-founder of BSidesKC, a non-profit educational organization designed to advance the body of Information Security knowledge, by providing an annual, open forum for discussion and debate for security engineers and their affiliates. Check out Tree Top Security at www.treetopsecurity.comand learn more about BSidesKC at https://bsideskc.org/ Check out the Blog: https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite: https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

Adrian Sargeant is the Co-Director of the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy. He was formerly the first Hartsook Chair in Fundraising at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University. Adrian is a Visiting Professor of Fundraising at Avila University and the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.Learn more about Dr. Sargeant and the Institute for Sustainable Philanthropy at: https://www.philanthropy-institute.org.uk/Check out the Blog: https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite: https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

In this episode of You Got This- Fundraising Dawn Gabel brings the second of a three-part series on how a donor management software can bring big results to a small nonprofit.Jennifer Holcomb from Bloomerang leads a coaching call with Savanah Lyon of Compass Nebraska, a nonprofit that works with foster children. Listen to the episode and learn how a small nonprofit continues the process of understanding their needs for a donor management program.Learn more about Bloomerang: https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/Check out the Blog: https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite: https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator has become the nation's largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. In their quest to help donors, their team of professional analysts has examined tens of thousands of non-profit financial documents. They've used this knowledge to develop an unbiased, objective, numbers-based rating system to assess over 9,000 of America's best-known and some lesser-known, but worthy, charities.Kyle Gardner is the Senior Development Manager for Charity Navigator. He is in charge of e-mail, mail, and digital communications to help increase the organization’s resources.Learn more about Charity Navigator: https://www.charitynavigator.org/Learn more about Bloomerang: https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/Check out the Blog:https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite:https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

Cindy Miles is the Executive Director of The Nonprofit Chamber of Service. Established in 2005, more than 175 nonprofits and funders came together to discuss how they could collaborate on building strong nonprofit organizations and develop joint activities that could build the capacity of nonprofits. Sedgwick County Government provided the opportunity for a "working group" of 20 local nonprofit directors and representatives to explore the development of a nonprofit association that could assist and be a voice for the nonprofit community in Wichita. As a result of this work, the Nonprofit Chamber of Service was established.Learn more about The Nonprofit Chamber of Service at https://nonprofitchamberks.org/Learn more about Bloomerang: https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/Check out the Blog:https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite:https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

In this episode of You Got This- Fundraising Dawn talks with Marci Penner, co-founder and director of the Kansas Sampler Foundation.Marci Penner is a big fan of exploring Kansas, promoting (and living) rural culture, and reframing the challenges of sustaining community into opportunities. When she and her father, Milferd Penner, researched their first Kansas guidebooks in the early 1990s, they saw a need to educate Kansans and network and support rural communities. They formed the public, non-profit Kansas Sampler Foundation in 1993 to meet those goals.Learn more about the Kansas Sampler Foundation at:https://kansassampler.orgLearn more about Bloomerang: https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/Check out the Blog:https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite:https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

In this episode of You Got This- Fundraising Dawn Gabel brings the first of a three-part series on how a donor management software can bring big results to a small nonprofit.Steven Shattuck, Chief Engagement Officer, for Bloomerang leads an exploratory coaching call with Savanah Lyon of Compass Nebraska, a nonprofit that works with foster children. Listen to the episode and learn how a small nonprofit begins the process of understanding their needs for a donor management program.Learn more about Bloomerang: https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/Check out the Blog: https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite: https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

In this episode of You Got This- Fundraising Dawn talks with Gail Perry, founder of Gail Perry and Associates and author of Fired Up Fundraising.Gail leads a national consulting firm that has raised hundreds of millions of dollars. She has developed training that works with boards and staff to organize successful major gift and capital campaigns. Listen to the episode and learn Gail's predictions for 2020, what she thinks about crisis fundraising, and some exciting thoughts on event planning for the future!Learn more about Gail Perry and Associates at: https://www.gailperry.comLearn more about Bloomerang: https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/Check out the Blog:https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite:https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

In this episode of You Got This- Fundraising Dawn talks with Steven Shattuck, Chief Engagement Officer, of Bloomerang. Bloomerang is a top-rated donor management software. While 2020 continues to give us uncertain times, Steven has some insights into actions that work for nonprofit fundraising.Listen to the episode and learn the three standout reasons some nonprofits succeeded in fundraising during the shut down. Join us and learn what you can still do at anytime to boost your donor base despite whatever crisis may be going on!Learn more about Bloomerang: https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/Check out the Blog: https://www.dawngabel.com/blogWebsite: https://www.dawngabel.com/Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Special Thanks To Grey Goat Marketing: https://www.greygoatmarketing.com/

Q&A With Foundation CEOsThe Annual National Conference for Growing Community Foundations is a dynamic 12-year running conference held each October and is an outgrowth of the Kansas Association of Community Foundations. This gathering is not only national in scope, but international.   https://kacf-annual-conference.com/home.html   Questions and answers were graciously given from these participants in order of appearance.Jamie Schlogel, LaCrosse Community Foundation, LaCrosse, WI Bonnie Gettys, Barry Community Foundation, Hastings, MILiza Janssen Petra, Branford & Guilford Community Foundations, Branford and Guilford, CTJoshua Gibb, Galesburg Community Foundation, Galesburg, IL  Morris Engle, Phillips County Community Foundation, Phillipsburg, KS  Eric Hozempa, Longmont Community Foundation, Longmont, CO For more information on simplifying your fundraising success, visit https://www.dawngabel.com/ For an amazing software that will keep you making more money and give you the tools you need to simplify your work life, visit https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/

Hello Fellow Simplifiers!This week I had the great opportunity to interview Viveka von Rosen, a LinkedIn expert on how you can utilize the social network to help increase your non-profit's scope and visibility. Be sure to check out my website, www.dawngabel.com for a new webinar video and a few other goodies.Have a great week,Dawn 

Hello Fellow Simplifiers! This week's podcast has some great tips on an end-of-year fundraising plan. In this episode, I refer to some free e-mail giving templates. You can access those here: https://yougotthisfundraising.mykajabi.com/forms/256980You can listen to my podcast about how important a Thank You is to your donors (or catch up with any of my previous episodes) here: https://www.dawngabel.com/podcast-1As always, I recommend Bloomerang software for your database management. Here's a link to their website:  https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/I hope you have a fantastic week and remember..... You GOT This!Dawn GabelYou Got This Fundraisingwww.dawngabel.com

Bloomerang is donor management software that will have you building relationships with donors. https://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/2 Donor Relationship Ideas and Remote WorkingThe podcast with some great examples of relationship building from California. Being an entrepreneur means I have time to help many organizations optimize their fundraising systems and technology allows me to do it from a trip with my husband to California.On our trip, two really great things happened to show me that there are examples of donor relationship building all around us. The first one was a music festival moment where board members and volunteers were invited to dance as a group. The organization was fortunate to have a leader that understood the value of cultivating a strong family bond in the board of directors. The dance they participated in, bound them together in a way that few things could.The second, was an invitation from a church for congregants to sign their name in the walls of the new wing of the church. Wow, what an opportunity to grow the relationship with the members of the church. These are just a few of the examples we come across all the time. Take a moment and note the times you were brought closer to the groups you participate in. What brought you closer? When we cultivate those relationships, the donors to your organization are emotionally bound to your impact and they grow in their interest and care of the partnership they have with you.This month, we are introducing the You Got This Fundraising Membership! Come visit us at www.dawngabel.com! 

Preferred Donor Management Software - Bloomerang. Click here to start simplifying your digital fundraising.Hello fellow Simplifiers! This little rabbit hole of anxiety is the place where many fundraisers freeze. Who has experienced this? You know the supporter is right for the organization and they have the means for the support. When you run them down the list of qualifying measures for a larger gift, a gift you get by sitting across from them and asking, perhaps even putting a figure in front of them, oh boy, wow. My palms just got sweaty.This week's episode is brought to you by You Got This Coaching. Head over to our website and Facebook page to join in on the conversation.Make it go away, make the asking anxiety leave and never come back. Well, that probably won’t happen, but we can make the asking anxiety become a part of the process and it will settle down. Here is the system for asking, yes, the simplifying system is how we will beat back this ugly anxiety monster. Simplify your fundraising success! The podcast today is sponsored by You Got This Coaching at dawngabel.com. Simple solutions to your complicated world of nonprofit fundraising. Plan VisitFirst, let’s plan the visit. When would you like to meet your donor? You have not asked her to visit with you yet, so this is your visual. When? Morning? Are you at your best in the morning, afternoon, or evening? There is probably a 50/50 chance she will ask what works best for you, so decide ahead. Don’t dither if she offers or asks what works best for you. Know what time works for you, both emotionally and on your calendar. Where, where do you see this conversation with her? I love visiting with donors in the most comfortable environment for them. Where do you feel their comfort? But, if that is a place of discomfort for you, then keep that in mind. An example here is if you are very uncomfortable in their country club environment, but they love being there. Simplify, don’t make yourself uncomfortable. I will add something here that if you find yourself feeling this way about the country club environment, find ways to make yourself more familiar with that environment. Have lunch with a co-worker there, play a round of golf or tennis there. But today, we have a goal of asking our donor if she would like to up her support. Your country club anxiety is a project to fix another day. So, you have written down two spots that are comfortable for her and for you that would work for your visit. Perhaps that is the coffee shop next to your office and then your donor’s home.Call and make the appointment. Buddy UpBring a friend, if you have another donor, board member, volunteer, etc. who knows the  prospect even better than you, invite them. If you are new at this, having a partner is a great way of helping yourself create a system that works for you. Even if you do not have a person who is close to them, that is okay, bring someone who works with the impact they appreciate the most. But, you need to have them plan with you. You must follow a couple of simple rules to make this an effective meeting. Make an agenda. No, not exactyl like a board meeting but sort of. If you create an agenda and work it out on paper, then you will follow that in your head. Make it 3 bullet points. Plan who will say what and agree to a signal that makes the other person keep on topic and another signal for them to shut up and listen. Practice these signals so you will recognize them in the meeting. Happy Happy Joy JoyBring your smile and peppy energy! Coffee? Tea? Energy drink? Exercise for endorphin release? Bring your positive game! Positive energy brings back positive energy. Nod your head yes, up and down; no negative shaking your head side to side. Practice letting your fear and anxiety go. The donor will feel your anxiety and might even unconsciously worry that the donation is in good hands. Look at photos of the people who have been impacted and note how they make you feel. This is why you do what you do. Picture them before you walk in the door and remember that feeling, that is bio feedback and it is a great tool to get over fear and anxiety. Words MatterLet’s talk. You are not asking for money, you are offering them an opportunity to make a large impact. The opportunity that will help them reach the goal of making the difference they want to see in the world. Their work so far has brought about wonderful change. Talk a bit about that. Let your partner mention the previous program success that their partnership helped to bring about.  Use the word “You” and “Your” NOT the words “Our” or “We.” Her impact is where she is focused. I don’t care if she is a $50 dollar a month donor. Her $600 dollars did what? Let her share in that glory moment with you. But here is your transition, “There is an opportunity to do ________” Future FantasyThe next step is into the future. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was __________?”Rev your engine for what the finish line of the project would look like. Let them know how you see the future. Paint a picture of the completion, that is why when there is a building campaign, we have artist’s renderings. Create a story of your project in the paint of words. Create a rendering of the impact the donor will have. “Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was ________?” Shared JourneyThis is a shared journey. The donor is with you on the path and they even have their own version of the journey. You and the organization are just a conduit for their journey. Like a car, you get them from point A to point B, but where do they want to go? I hope you and they are on the same page for the journey to the impact you both want. That is part of a feasibility study. Now, I am not a huge proponent of external feasibility studies. That is the topic of another podcast, but one of the outcomes of a study can be that you are not ready due to the fact you are not on the same page with your prospective major donors. You should know your prospect well enough that they are on the same road you are on with your individual journeys.  Help them find their way by having a conversation with them not just informing them. I know, I just told you to tell them a story of what the future could look like. But stop, let them speak, ask them what do they think about that future? I think we can all practice shutting up. When we are communicating, we fill the air with sound. If you are quiet, they will fill the air with sound. Let them. They may at this point, tell you they don’t see what you see for the future. I have been shocked at what donors have said to me during silence. They will voice their concerns that you are not on the right track. That is okay, let them talk. I have heard them tell me that I should dream bigger, fair enough! I have heard them tell me they are ready to give, hallelujah!This week's episode is brought to you by You Got This Coaching. Head over to our website and Facebook page to join in on the conversation.Listen and LearnThis is a continuance of the dialogue. Listen more than half of the time. Listen, listen, listen. Ask follow up questions to their concerns. Listen. Ask...Now…“Would you support this impact at $___?”Let them answer. Be quiet.If they say that they aren’t ready to give, ask, “What would bring you to that level of support for the program?”Let them answer. Be quiet.When they tell you what would bring them in, ask for the follow up. May I contact you when that happens? May I come back for a visit in June? May I call when we reach that milestone? Whatever fits their response. Here is a wonderful example of a visit. I and a co-worker made an appointment to speak to a banker about his bank’s foundation. He was a personal supporter of the organization and we were interested in a grant for a piece of equipment. We spoke of his personal impact support and why he was passionate about the organization. He spoke, mostly, and he asked about a program from the past. The other person who was with me knew a bit more than I did about the older program that was no longer operating and she shared about that.  He told us about a person who he had great affection for who was highly involved in the program. My partner happened to remember the individual, barely, but mentioned her recollection. Well, he let us know that he was the trustee of her personal foundation. It was dedicated but there were funds at the end of every year that were not dedicated and he had discretion on those dollars. Although we did not drop the topic of the bank’s larger foundation, he did let us know we were welcome to apply and he would give a recommendation with it. But, there was a lot of competition for the funds in that pool. He was so excited about the connection of the foundation he had governance over that he brought out his file on the lady and showed us new clippings and other memorabilia that shared the person he obviously loved. He repeated that he felt he would like to extend her interest in the organization that she had in her life with her trust he governed. We were bowled over and asked for a follow up.  He suggested three months out and he would know more about how the investments would produce and what he would be able to contribute. Three months later, I followed up. I had built a better relationship with him and so we had some things to chat about other than money. He wanted to know how the funds for the project, approximately 170 thousand, were going. I let him know of the three pledges we had received. He was very happy and excited. He wanted to know the lifespan of the equipment, I had that information for him, and I spoke of the impact the equipment was expected to give. He was excited and let me know he expected to donate from the foundation. I made the ask, since I felt from my research that this was around the amount of leftover money he was likely to have, perhaps even a little higher than he would have. Over asking is better than under asking. I asked him for $5,000.  My research was wrong, he responded he felt that he could do better than that, considerably better, with a little smile.  He would not share the amount, I tried, and he told me he would not know the exact amount until the end of October. I asked to stop by at that time, he said he would count on it. I sent him a thank you note after each visit and I also sent him an old photo I had found of the foundation’s creator when she worked on the other project. He was delighted and sent a hand written thank you for the photo. (don’t forget to keep building the relationship.) It was a beautiful day when he surprised us with a check in October for 15 thousand dollars.  I will go over the steps quickly, pick the person based on their involvement; plan the visit; bring a friend; make an agenda; bring your joy; words matter; paint the future; it’s their journey, listen, and then ask.  Remember, they love the impact already or you would not have picked them and above all, you got this!This week's episode is brought to you by You Got This Coaching. Head over to our website and Facebook page to join in on the conversation.

It is so easy to say and yet so easy to forget to do and then feel like it was just a nice thing...not an important thing. A Thank You is SO important that it may be the difference between making your budget of donations and not making it in 2019. Let’s talk about the gratitude journey of your donors, on You Got This Fundraising!For your FREE podcast action sheet, visit my website, www.dawngabel.comBe sure to like me on Facebook for additional fundraising tips. www.facebook.com/yougotthispodThis episode is sponsored by You Got This Coaching. Hello fellow Simplifiers! A question this week brings me to the topic of thank yous. I was asked if I had one thing to suggest for increasing donations in the last quarter of this year, what would it be? That is easy and even if you are doing it well, you can do it better and still increase your donations, and that is thanking the donors. I have had many nonprofits swear to me they thank their donors and I can usually bet they are considering their tax receipt of donation as their thank you. The research is in on that one, donors perceive the receipt as just that, a receipt and they put it in their tax information. Emotionally and practically, they place the letter acknowledging their gift away for their accountant. I have never seen a tax receipt sitting on the ledge of a donor’s window, but I have seen a handwritten thank you note saved and cherished.  That is all well and good, but what about hard facts.first-time donors who get a personal thank you within 48 hours are 4x more likely to give a second gift. (McConkey-Johnston International UK)a thank-you call from a board member to a newly acquired donor within 24 hours of receiving the gifts will increase their next gift by 39%. (Penelope Burk)in a databasewhere the average number of gifts made by donors is three, a thank-you letter reaffirming the difference that their donations made increased average gifts by 60% without reducing response rate in comparison to a control group of donors who did not receive this thank-you communication. (Jen Shang) Let’s take those apart a bit. A first-time donor who gets a personal thank you, not the receipt, within 48 hours are 4 times as likely to give a second gift. That is crazy huge when you consider that the likely hood of a second gift is only 22%, so even if they are half right, that is a large increase for donors. Don’t be skimpy on the thank you, call out their first- time donor status and welcome them into the ‘family’. Seth Godin in Tribes: We Need You To Lead Us said, “A group needs only two things to be a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate.” Your donor has an interest in the good work you do, we will call it impact. That impact is important to the donor. So important, they gave you money! That is easy to forget sometimes, that the donor believes in the same thing you believe it at an extremely high level, they gave you cash. Now, they must be enticed to be a part of the tribe, your tribe. Give them a means of communication. Thank them. Thank yous simplify your fundraising success! The podcast today is sponsored by You Got This Coaching at dawngabel.com. Simple solutions to your complicated world of nonprofit fundraising. Go to dawngabel.com and join us on the journey to your success! There you will find the podcast PDF for today. Take time right now to download our list of 10 Ways to Thank Your Donors! For your FREE podcast action sheet, visit my website, www.dawngabel.comBe sure to like me on Facebook for additional fundraising tips. www.facebook.com/yougotthispodThis episode is sponsored by You Got This Coaching.  The second point, from Penelope Burk’s research, says that a thank-you call from a board member to a newly acquired donor within 24 hours of receiving the gifts will increase their next gift by 39%. Whoa, they will give an extra .39 cents on the dollar more on average because we bothered to have a similar person in the tribe, a board member who is not only a leader, but a fellow donor, give them a phone call? Astounding! I hear from board members frequently, what can I do to help? Well, there you are! You as a board member can volunteer to call 10 first-time donors a month. You don’t have to ask for money to be a money making machine for the organization! I know this is true because I have seen it myself in action. When a board member does even less than this, if a board member calls donors at Thanksgiving or Valentine’s day as part of a thank-a-thon, the reaction is life affirming for both the donor and and the board member. I have had board members call to ask for more names because it made their week to speak to people who were so glad to have a call of thank you from a fellow tribe member. To expand on Seth Godin’s pathway of communication, we only have to look at the means of which we are increasing their opportunity to belong and supporting the tribe. A personal hand-written thank you gives the receiver the permission to write back because it is personal. I took the time to write you so you are allowed to take the time to write me. The formal letter is a barrier of formality. It stops the perceived possibility of return. A phone call is a step further, a literal opportunity to communicate back along the pathway. But it is even more interesting than that, if you leave a voicemail, the outcome is the same as a call that was picked up. I believe it is the same reason as the handwritten thank you note, there is a permission to respond even if they do not take you up on the permission. They are given a pathway to communicate to the tribe. Don’t stop there!Now hit them with what they really want, full membership in the communication pathway. Jen Shang’s research says that in a database where the average number of gifts made by donors is three, a thank-you letter reaffirming the difference that their donations made increased average gifts by 60% without reducing response rate in comparison to a control group of donors who did not receive this thank-you communication. This is a follow up thank you. A personal letter, it can be typed, with specific information about what their donation did, maybe that was feed ten homeless families or perhaps that sent three inner city youth to camp, whatever it was let them know. Tell a specific story about one of the recipients. If they sent a youth to leadership camp, get permission to interview that youth. A photo would be great. Get a real story about how it affected their lives to be given the gift. Include a personal note of thanks from the young person. It doesn’t really matter your impact, you will be able to link the donor to the impact in a follow up thank you letter. The letter should make them the hero. Make sure they are thanked for being the right person to do this very special thing. It is called being donor centered. Are you centered on the donor or are you centered on your nonprofit? Do not say XYZ nonprofit sent three youth to camp with your donation.  Do say, You, donor, sent Amelia to the experience of her lifetime! What a gift to know where your donation made a difference. I worked for the American Red Cross Blood Services and although we thanked donors and let them know great stories of people who were helped by their donation, Sweden’s blood services are taking it to the next level with this process in mind.Blood donation rates are in decline all over the developed world, so Sweden decided to up their texting game. Donors are sent an automatic text message telling them when their blood has been used. People who donate initially receive a thank you text. You may get that in America also, but the Swedes get a text when it makes it into someone else’s veins. Now that is some thoughtful tracking that allows the donor to receive the communication pathway. Their donation was not just to the greater good but to a real person who had a medical emergency and I know when my donation mattered. Gives me chills. What can you do to bring that communication pathway to your donor. One way on the highest levels, is to increase your personal contact with your major donors. Another way is to create the system of emails and letters that go out to every first-time donor. Do you have a drip campaign for emails to FTDs? What if you put into your donor management software a prompt to send the receipt, a hand-written note, and assign a board member to call the FTD? And, you had a programmed series of three emails that follow up with a prompt of in 90 days to send another letter of follow up that details the use of their donation? Too much? No, way. There you are, one thing that will increase  your donations this year. Simplify the process, but remember, simplifying the process does not mean there won’t be work. The bulk of the work is in the programming and planning and implementing the system. When you have control of your system, your stress level will go down. Evidence based fundraising and the technology to track and communicate with your donors.  Never forget, you got this! For your FREE podcast action sheet, visit my website, www.dawngabel.comBe sure to like me on Facebook for additional fundraising tips. www.facebook.com/yougotthispodThis episode is sponsored by You Got This Coaching. 

Episode NotesThis episode of You Got This Fundraising is brought to you by www.dawngabel.com. Join Dawn for one-on-one fundraising consulting and other great tips to simplify your fundraising success from an experienced professional. Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Got a question? Email Dawn at Dawn.Gabel@dawngabel.comEpisode TranscriptHave you ever had a friend contact you and strike up a conversation that was out of character and then have them ask you to buy their networking product? Ugh, that is the worst! Now, you are both uncomfortable, but you know she is trying her hardest and so you feel obligated to purchase.  Stop, that is NOT relationship marketing. But it is what we are talking about today...Or rather, we are talking about Not doing THAT, whatever you call it! Today, Relationship marketing and what it REALLY means on the You Got This Fundraising podcast!   Hello fellow Simplifiers! I saw a Facebook post this week that said, and I am paraphrasing, Dear Friends, I Don’t want your health food, weight loss supplements, or any other networked item. Please stop messaging me. My friend explained that he had been contacted by a friend he had not spoken to for over a year. I was interested, so I private messaged him and when I asked if he would mind if I paraphrased him on my podcast, he said he was fine I could even directly quote him and use his name because he felt so strongly about this. I have not, used his name that is, but I get it...Don’t you? Who has not been invited to makeup, jewelry, burping plastic, kitchen ware, workout clothes, and MORE networking sales parties or direct solicitations by family and friends who don’t take the time to know if that is something you want to be joining into? I have a deeply felt bias of these sort of network/relationship marketing, and I use the terms loosely,  that goes back to my childhood. When my mother was at her financial lowest after my father had left our family, a distant family member called and asked if we were up to a visit. My mother was excited and went out of her way to be very creative for the company coming. She made a nice soup meal and lovely mint iced tea so our food budget would not be too dented and yet the offerings were tasty. She was so pleased to have someone visit after the trauma of abandonment and divorce that she made us all wear our Sunday clothes and told us not to eat until the guest had made their plate. Imagine my mother’s disappointment that the guest wanted to sell her vitamins! And, although we barely had enough to feed ourselves, my mother politely ordered one bottle of vitamins because she was ashamed to admit she did not have the money.   That memory had me shying away from one-on-one fundraising, with anyone I knew, for years, but then I found the secret key to unlock the power of REAL relationship marketing, and that is...interest. When we have a positive relationship, it is a precious thing. In the best-case situations, we have a ‘know, like, and trust’ bond. My friend probably felt he knew, liked, and trusted the other person, until that person broke that trust and solicited where he had no interest. He was made uncomfortable by the ask. So uncomfortable he went on Facebook to do a blind ‘stop that’ post. How do we have a relationship and not feel like we are damaging the relationship by asking for a donation? Well, it boils down to the donor’s journey. Even with for-profit network marketing, if the individual is not on the journey with the sales person, then we are breaking the trust of the relationship. A clear indication that the person making the ask is relying solely on past relational standing, like my mother buying out of obligation and shorting our survival money. By the way, those vitamins sat on our kitchen table for a long time. They seemed to be her monument to trusting too much and bowing to social pressures. I never saw her buy out of politeness again. In relationship fundraising, we must be focused on the prospective donor and their interests. Their expression of the need they have feelings for or find a way to elevate their feelings. Is this something they have spoken to you about? Is there a way for you to bring TOGETHER a known interest your prospect has expressed and your project you are wanting to have them involved in? Here is a great example, a philanthropic family was approached to donate to landscaping of an area of town near the local university. The family felt that was a nice project, but did not jump at the suggestion. They politely ate their lunch and left and the meeting the nonprofit had arranged, leaving the executive director with nothing for her efforts.  The director was confused.  They were university supporters and they were heavily involved in landscaping projects in the city that her organization had been a part of before. Later, there was an opportunity to landscape another area of town that the nonprofit was also working on. A supporter brought the mother of the family with her to a planning meeting. After the meeting, the matriarch of the family became an interested member of the group. She took a tour of the proposed area, attended a lighting presentation by a commercial lighting company that had vintage commercial street lamps, and she even volunteered to water flower pots that were a temporary placement in the area. You know the end of this story, the family ended up being the major sponsor for the landscaping and streetscaping.  We care so deeply for our impact that we make the mistake of assuming even those who know, like, and trust us will feel our caring through our words. Don’t get me wrong, that does work, copy writing is all about feeling the caring through the words, but that is a one-time gift. First time gift retention was 22% last year and will probably be less this year. Our words are the beginning of their journey with their impact. Bring your donor to the impact both literally and figuratively. Don’t ask, show and tell. Involve them in your world. Build their interest and deepen their relationship with the impact. Have them enjoy some of the sights, sounds, and smells of the impact. Visiting the proposed landscaped site and seeing the possibility of the future with drawings, a knowledgeable guide, and some potted plants arranged so those interested see the proposed project and join into the vision, brings a donor on the journey with you rather than you telling them about your journey with the impact of the program. I can hear your mind working from here--see, hear, touch, smell--that is great for a garden but what about the homeless, cancer, hospice? I get it. I have worked in the medical nonprofit world. I know the privacy issues and the sensory issues. But, don’t let the difficult stop your creativity in bringing your donors on a journey with your impact. Bring the donor with you to places they CAN go and don’t dwell on the places they can’t go. Creative tours are not as hard to dream up as you might think if you put your mind to it. I know a children’s hospital that lined surgical beds up in the hall and had those touring pretend they were there to comfort their child as they waited for surgery. They put baby dolls in the beds and had individuals pair up across the child as if they were parents. It illustrated as no other way could the need for more space for family as they waited for a traumatic event in their child’s life, a surgery. Another organization brought end of life support to prospective donors by inviting them to a Mother’s Day Service for family of hospice patients who had passed during the year. This became an opportunity for the families to share their hospice experience. If you hear the experience that a family member has with hospice, it is less about the death and more about supporting the living. It also gave the prospective donors the opportunity to remember their own mother’s, grandmother’s, and mother figures by putting a memorial flower, provided, into the larger commemorative bouquet. Taking the donor on their own journey and understanding their interest level, guides your ability to comfortably ask the donor, when the time comes, to financially support the impact. Comfortable for you AND them. Relationship marketing is about the relationship the customer or donor has with the product or impact, not the relationship they have with you! Let me say it again, relationship marketing is defined by the relationship itself. If the relationship is within the product, or in our case the impact, then it is natural that they would receive you and enjoy the process of making the donation. If they are approached for a donation for your organization and your relationship with them is based on your high school senior year, they will be uncomfortable and so will you. They may make a small donation, peer-to-peer, but then never again donate. Well, you say, at least we have $50 we did not have before. True, but you wasted your time that could have been better spent building a donor that would have a life-time value of $5,000 or more. You also made your relationship with that person strained for all future contact. Are you going to call them every time you need money and no other time? Uncomfortable for them and for you. Simplify your fundraising success! The podcast today is sponsored by You Got This Coaching at www.dawngabel.com. Simple solutions to your complicated world of nonprofit fundraising. Got to www.dawngabel.com and join us on the journey to your success! There you will find the podcast PDF for today. Take time right now to download our Donor Relationship Decision Tree PDF and think of a prospective donor. Put their name at the top of the page. Follow the thought process for the individual. How do you know them? Does another person connected to the organization know them better? Remember the donor who was brought to the garden tour by her friend, who was already a supporter. Next, what makes you think they would be interested? On a scale of 1 to 10, are they interested in a project you are seeking funding for? Have they been involved before? Are they close to a person who has received impact from your organization? If they are interested at a level of 8, 9, or 10, take time to give them a call for an appointment to speak about the program. Would that call be better made by someone else in the organization? If they are at 5,6, or 7 level of interest, what involvement would bring them closer? If they are a 1, 2, or even 3 level of interest, why are you thinking of them? Just because they are donors of other organizations and have means does not follow they will be a good fit for a call, even if you know them from high school. That is a relationship between them and your impact that you will need to cultivate over a longer timeline than we are talking about, and if you jumped to an ask meeting, they would feel, as my friend did, insulted and upset enough that they just might make a frustrated post on Facebook. This episode of You Got This Fundraising is brought to you by www.dawngabel.com. Join Dawn for one-on-one fundraising consulting and other great tips to simplify your fundraising success from an experienced professional. Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/Got a question? Email Dawn at Dawn.Gabel@dawngabel.com

Episode Notes:Talk to us at https://www.dawngabel.comHELP! We need a review on Apple Podcast. If you are one of the first 10 to give a review, take a screen shot and tag us on Facebook with @yougotthispod, you will win a 30 minute coaching call for a nonprofit of YOUR choice! It is THAT easy, give to your favorite nonprofit—just leave a review on Apple Podcast!And, don’t forget to hit the Subscribe button!A Small Shop Like YoursThis is the first interview with a small shop nonprofit leader doing what you do, simplifying fundraising success! Jana’s Campaign https://www.janascampaign.org/  is a small but mighty organization and the ED, Kaiti Dinges, has programming and fundraising on her plate. They are focusing on sustained giving and have invested in training. Let us know what you are interested in, so we can focus on what is important right now in your fundraising journey!Recommended Donor Management Softwarehttps://bloomerang.co/partners/you-got-this-fundraising/ Kaiti is using Issuu and MailChimp in her role at Jana's Campaign. Sign up for FREE Stuff at https://www.dawngabel.comFind us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/yougotthispod/ 

Even though you might not like Pineapple Pizza - your donor might. Today we talk about building relationships and maintaining those relationships. Download the Podcast Action Sheet for this episode under the "Free for You" section at www.dawngabel.comHope you enjoy this episode - and always remember - You Got This!

Do you need donations? Are you tired of not having enough money for your programs? Are you needing a simple way to raise money?You Got This Fundraising is here to simplify your fundraising success.Dawn Gabel is an experienced fundraiser who has amazing tips and tricks to simplify your fundraising, turning your hard work into success. Find more at the You Got This Fundraising website - www.dawngabel.comDownload a copy of my Podcast Action Sheet to help you keep your goals mentioned in today's podcast.If you're interested in trying out Bloomerang, shoot me an e-mail. I can get you a special introductory offer. dawn.gabel@dawngabel.com