Nolo’s Fundraising Tips for Busy Nonprofits

A November 8th article in The New York Times called "Bake Sales Fall Victim to Push for Healthier Foods," by Patricia Leigh Brown, raises a question that was probably inevitable: When will general concerns for healthy -- not to mention non-allergy-producing foods -- undo bake sales' once inevitable profits?

According to the article, the traditional school bake sale is "fast becoming obsolete" in California, where state regulations forbid selling snacks to students that don't meet certain nutritional guidelines regarding saturated fat, other fat, and sugar. Other states' school districts seem to be headed in the same direction Kentucky, for example, was listed as having especially tight school regulations.

Still, if you're planning your next bake sale, I wouldn't panic yet. For one thing, even the school group featured in the article managed to do an end-run around the rules by holding their bake sale across the street from the school. The taste for sweets will probably never go away.

For another, the great thing about food is that it's endlessly versatile. Let's take the sweet issue: I held a bake sale recently (yes, in California), where I asked someone to bring cheese bread as an alternative to all the sugar. It turned out to be a popular item. Even sweet treats can be created using bananas, fruit juice, honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar in place of the sugar -- all you have to do is check the right cookbooks or websites (try ones dedicated to people with allergies or diabetes). Or if that sounds like too much work, how about creating baggies of trail mix, including colorful additions like dried cranberries? 

Also, as someone with food allergies, I can guarantee you'll have more customers if you put a sign next to each baked good explaining what's in it. Delicious baked items can be made without many of the common allergens including eggs, dairy, wheat or other gluten-containing flours, and peanuts as well as other nuts. If you really want to make an effort on this one, it's easiest to start by finding a volunteer who's experienced in baking for people with allergies.

With steps like these, you'll not only bring in profits, but feel good about what you're doing -- providing nutritious, home-baked foods in a world of junk calories.

Well, with the election now hours away, it's hard to blog about anything else. And I can't decide whether to follow every news tidbit or just tune it out until it's over. Meanwhile, my email inbox offers no lack of election-related reading material -- most of them ending with a pitch for money.

But I must say I've been impressed at the Obama campaign's ability to produce email subject lines that ignite curiosity. As another fundraising commentator pointed out (I'm sorry, I can't remember who gets the credit), one method that the campaign has used is to have the emails come from different sources -- Joe Biden, Michelle Obama (I usually open those), various campaign staffers, and Barack Obama himself. Even if they're really written by a communications person, that added sense of individual perspective goes an amazingly long way toward making me want to hear what they have to say.

Many of the emails' subject lines are also cleverly suspenseful -- things like, "Last chance," or "Our best shot in Ohio." Or they offer videos, or other special features.

Obviously, their campaign didn't invent these techniques, but they've provided a look at how any nonprofit can, despite emailing people on an almost daily basis, keep those emails from becoming an unwanted and repetitive barrage.

Sometimes a simple "thank you" is the best way to forge connections between a nonprofit and its supporters -- and that's just what People's Grocery recently did, with its "Flavors of the Garden" party. People's Grocery is a relatively new organization, developing creative solutions to the health problems in West Oakland stemming from a lack of access to and knowledge about healthy, fresh foods. Their projects include operating community gardens to grow and distribute organic fruits and vegetables, youth training, nutrition and cooking classes, and more. You can also sign up for a regular "Grub Box" of organic seasonal produce, the cost of which helps sponsor similar boxes going to low-income residents of West Oakland.

The party was billed as "a special thank you celebration for all our Harvesting Justice Table Captains, volunteers, donors, & supporters with delicious appetizers and yummy beverages crafted by local Bay Area chefs from organic seasonal produce grown at People's Grocery's gardens and farm. See the new Grub Box, meet the people who are People's Grocery, listen to live music and taste the flavor of summer with People's Grocery."

It lived up to its billing -- great food and music, good company, all in a lovely urban garden setting. But, the cynic might ask, did it directly contribute to their bottom line? Well, from my limited one-person view, I'd say yes. For starters, I was there as the guest of a volunteer, but the entry person was prepared for folks like me, and put my name on their mailing list. I know I'll be hearing more from them, but that's good -- I encourage organizations to make sure everyone who shows the slightest interest has their name captured for future contact.

And I heard one volunteer, perhaps inspired by the good time she was having, say, "I want to give People's Grocery more money after I get my next disability pension check -- I hope it doesn't go down too much with the whole economic crisis, but I'll try to give anyway." I'll let that one speak for itself.

Leyna Bernstein, of The CBO Center in California's San Francisco Bay Area, is passionate about getting board members to not only agree to but enjoy the money-raising part of their role.

But, as she notes, many board members shy away from anything to do with fundraising, perhaps picturing themselves sitting uncomfortably across the table from someone and asking them for a $25,000 check.

To hear Leyna's discussion about how to assuage board members' fears, find creative ways for them to support your fundraising efforts, and ultimately turn around an unwilling board, listen to my recent podcast.

Nonprofits worried about how the nosediving economy will affect their ability to bring in grants and donations will find lots of good material online. Here's a roundup of some choice bits of advice and encouragement:

Direct mail guru Mal Warwick, in the NonProfit Times, reminds nonprofits feeling the financial pinch not to cut the very donor cultivation efforts that will bring them steady returns over the long term. He also gives some excellent comparative analysis of how foundations, corporations, and individual donors change their giving habits during a recession.

Todd Cohen, on Inside Philanthropy, reminds everyone not to panic! He pulls together experts' advice to step up fundraising efforts, and diversify and cultivate your donor base. He quotes Doug Bauer, senior vice president at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in New York City, as saying donors will likely focus on "need-to-do giving rather than nice-to-do giving." (That obviously puts the onus on you to make sure your nonprofit looks like it's serving a vital need -- but remember, even "optional" activities like arts are vital, when you consider their ability to engage people in other educational and community activities.)

Carrie Hill, on CharityMile.com, suggests (in the context of asking for pledges), asking more people for less, and asking friends to reach out to other friends.

Reporting for Reuters, in an article called "Charities brace for Wall Street decline," Emily Chasan quotes a number of fundraisers who plan to heighten their attention to individual donors, whose loyalties may remain strong even as corporations, for example, are acting out of budgetary, not philanthropic concern.

No one's doubting that the pool of available money is shrinking -- but the consensus seems to be that, with wise management and a careful look at the most likely sources of donor interest, nonprofits will weather this rough patch -- and help those they serve to do the same. 

And now, with the election looming ahead of us like a super-sized speed bump, let's take a moment to remember what binds people together regardless of party: Helping others, or so scientists continue to say.

I confess I sometimes get tired of the arguments as to whether there's a "helping gene," or whatever -- it's obvious that some people like to give and share, while others have forgotten whatever such instincts they might have once had, and science isn't going to help fundraisers cross the latter group over into the former.

But reading an article by David Korten called "We Are Hard-Wired to Care" in the Fall 2008 issue of Yes! magazine reminded me of one important thing: For those in the business of asking other people for money, it pays to get re-inspired once in a while. And some of the scientific insights can do just that.

For example, Korten describes research with advanced imaging technology showing that people who think about another human being harmed have the exact same reaction in their brain as mothers who actually see distress on the face of their baby. Then given a chance to help out, the pleasure centers in the brains of people studied light up, which Korten says "benefits our health by boosting our immune system, reducing our heart rate, and preparing us to approach and soothe."

Okay, it doesn't get much better than that. By showing people how they can make a difference (and in the case of giving money, with minimal time commitment on their part) fundraisers can actually improve their health!

One thing that occurs to me, however, is that I don't always get that flush of good feeling from writing a check as often as I do from more direct interactions, like walking the dogs at my local Humane Society. I think that shows the importance of both good setup and follow-through. The more a fundraiser can do to make a problem come alive in the brain of a potential donor, the better. And then to complete the brain circuit loop, send a thank-you letter that doesn't sound like a generic tax receipt, but drives home the fact that the donor HAS TRULY HELPED another person, or a forest, creature, cause, or whatever. I can feel the donors' immune systems getting stronger already.

I just got a fundraising appeal from my college that contained the following:

"A fall gift is a 'green gift' as the College will remove you from the normal schedule of appeals until fall 2009, saving resources that can be better spent on education (rather than postage and printing)."

That's almost annoyingly clever. What donor doesn't get irritated when one gift just becomes a prelude to a flood of letters asking for more, and worry about the wasted resources? I have a feeling we'll be seeing this on many fundraising letters in the future. Meanwhile, I just might make that gift.

This could be the new insight into donor motivation we've all been waiting for: a study reported on by the Telegraph (U.K.), indicating that men tend to give more money when there's a pretty woman around to impress. (Women give the same amount regardless of who's watching.)

It's all a part of those primordial mating instincts, apparently. And if all is fair in love and war, then I suppose it's fair to take advantage of said instincts in the interest of a good cause.

Of course, engineering this could be tricky. It does suggest that special events or house dinners with public calls for donations, or live auctions, are a good starting point. But should they be formal dress events as opposed to masked? And how do you make sure to have a lot of women -- let alone "pretty" women, which is too subjective a standard to even touch -- at an event? Hmm...

Is a newsletter for members in your nonprofit's future? Or are you wondering why your existing newsletter isn't getting the results it should?

Check out the latest of my interviews with expert nonprofiteurs. This time you'll hear from Cheryl Woodard and Lucia Hwang, authors of Every Nonprofit's Guide to Publishing, talking about how your nonprofit newsletter can make money. Some of Cheryl's clients bring in money with every newsletter they publish, and you can do the same -- by first paying attention to important tips on budgeting, using volunteers, and writing text that excites -- rather than bores -- the reader. 

Every nonprofit that hopes to attract gifts from donors' estates knows how hard it is to find language with which to refer to that possibility in print. Words like "estate," "bequest," and "planned giving" are vague or jargony. And this is one case where simplifying the language -- for example, saying something like, "leave us money after you're dead" -- really doesn't work.

That's why my eye was caught by a page in an Audubon magazine (January 2008 happened to be the one I was looking at), with the heading: "Your Beneficiaries: There are more of them then you realize!"

Accompanied by a photo of children looking at a bird nest, it aptly, even humorously, reminds people that they care about a wider circle of life than their immediate family; and that by naming Audubon as a beneficiary in their wills or other documents, they can contribute to a better future for all.

Unfortunately, now that they came up with this nice language, it's off-limits, copyright-wise, to anyone else who might want to use it. But it's a good source of inspiration, and proof that you don't have to get into a language rut over this.