I’ve written before about my friend Hank Riggs. Hank oversaw all fundraising efforts at Stanford University and was enormously successful with his efforts. I’ve shared a list of eighteen of Hank’s “fundraising truisms.”
Of course the average nonprofit is a fraction of the size and scope of Stanford. I’d like to think that fundraising truisms extend across organizations of all shapes and sizes, but, of course, they just don’t. The realities of fundraising for smaller nonprofits can be miles away from their larger cousins.
There’s a short document known as “The Donor Bill of Rights.” It sets out a short group of principles and practices that can apply to all donor/nonprofit transactions. But beyond that, small is just small.
A book I was reading on the plane last weekend is called “The Little Book of Gold: Fundraising for Small (and Very Small) Nonprofits” by Erik Hanberg. Hanberg, who gained much of his experience fundraising for an NPR-affiliated radio station, has a down-to-earth, dollar-at-a-time approach to fundraising that scales small.
I enjoyed some of his insights:
- Donors don’t want to pity you. Show them what you do, tell them why it’s important, and ask them to support it.
- Donors want to give to a successful organization, an organization that has shown it can do good with the dollars it gets.
- Don’t overthink your donor letters. The most important point for you is to craft an honest, well-written letter that clearly makes a case for giving. For now, just get the letter written.
- Send donors and non-donors a regular newsletter. Or an invitation to a lecture. Ask them to volunteer at “Clean up the Park Day.” Whatever it is, include your donors in your mission.
- For small nonprofits, most events are highly inefficient—you can sink hundreds of hours of your time and volunteers’ time into an event and get little out of them.
- If they were giving $10, suggest $15. If they were giving $30, suggest $40. If they were giving $50, suggest $60. If $100, suggest $110 or maybe even $120. It’s this kind of pragmatic easy-to-implement advice that I appreciate.
Erik’s book can be found from most online booksellers: Erik Hanberg: The Little Book of Gold: Fundraising for Small (and Very Small) Nonprofits
PS: Are you looking for connection in the nonprofit world? Applied Wisdom is exploring a program to build a community for nonprofit leaders.
If you’re interested, please send me an email with the word “Community” in the subject line.