Bright One

A few thoughts on non-profit fundraising (as explained to a local cultural center)

2010-10-15T17:21:00.001-07:00

Something to think about

Before asking for donations you should have a solid mission statement. Donors and grantors expect your mission to be carried out throughout your actions and plans, in all communications: annual reports, elevator pitches, your website, the would of social media. Proof is in the pudding, as it were. Strengthen your case for giving - - money doesn't just materialize. It has to be earned.

Make sure the statement answers these key questions:

Why do you exist? (passion)
What does your organization do? (what you are best at)
What difference does it make? (the impact your nonprofit is making)

Why is your non-profit worth investing in? What does it bring to the community, to the county, to the state, to a cause, social situation, etc? What have you done, and what do you plan to do, on behalf of those groups? How will this money be put to good use?

Think about it. You expect value when you buy anything. A donation needs to have even more of a perceived value attached as there is no exchange of goods. This is true whether the gift is $5 or $500,000.

Furndraising Opportunities

Discount cards - work with local businesses to give a discount of 5-10% to support the center You can use the discount to reward memberships (usual choice) or you can sell the card to raise money!

Auctions - As discussed, auctions. An art auction around the holidays is a great time - open it up to businesses to bid as well.

You can also auction off skills (an accountant might donate doing taxes), or a local celebrity auction. Get the community involved! It is amazing what people will donate and others will buy to support a great cause. Think big!

Start raising money or connecting with constituents on geo-location social networks like Foursquare or Gowalla:

Have a sponsor donate $1 every time someone checks into their venue and shows it to the manager/cashier/etc.
If you’re coordinating an event, give attendees an opportunity to earn a swarm badge for being there with more than 50 people, or a super swarm badge for being there with more than 250 people.
Add a contest, such as a random lottery drawing of everyone who checks-in ,

Other ideas: raffles, golf tournament, buy a brick (for a side walk or for the new sign), merchandising (online as well!!!!)

People give because they want to make a difference. However, people also give to because they WANT to show they are a MEMBER of something of social importance. Keep that in mind and create tiers of membership. Associate membership on up. Giive something in exchange for membership: You can have mugs, T-shirts, calendars, etc, for those who contribute X amount. Companies, such as Zazzle.com, create on demand so there is no need to hold an inventory of items.

Sponsorships

To begin with, why do businesses sponsor?

Marketing/advertising opportunities
Access to target audience/market
Association with excellence
Name awareness
Image enhancement
Entertaining
Developing community links
PR- internal and external

A business will want to know:

Your mission

Your audience
Project or projects for which you are seeking sponsorship

The business benefits (logo on posters etc, free tickets, display space, hospitality)
The price - remember to include any costs you incur providing the benefits

What you should know about the business:

What is the image of the business-contriversal at all?
Who are the business's target customers?
Is the business familiar with sponsorships?
When does their financial year start?

What is their level of marketing?
and of course, do you know anyone at the business?

In the end, the question you have to answer is WHY the sponsorship would be right for that business. If you can have the answer ready when the business asks....

Don't forget

Press is a great way to get on the radar of groups and individuals who give. If you are showing that you are helping, contributing, educating a group/community - the gift has more perceived VALUE. Also, many foundations give money of their CHOOSING, no solicitation - so you have to seek press beyond the borders of LC. Create programs that draw the press and social media's attention. Still send out press releases!

Grants, etc

As you already know, I am sure, that it is easier to go after money for projects, than it is to support a whole center Grants are gifts awarded for specific uses. Look for grants that match your mission and goals. Most granting organizations require a detailed plan. Write a plan with carefully outlined financial and other goals. Granting organizations are like investors and they want details on how their money will be used.

Every grant requires different paperwork to be completed and a missed step can throw your application out of the running. Grant proposals follow specific formats. Take your time and write your proposal carefully, succinctly and thoroughly. Your proposal is like a sales letter. You are 'selling' the grant organization on why it should invest in you.

Of course, private donors/foundations are the last and most sought-after, but they are also the rarest. The Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule - the majority of the $$$ comes from major donors does exist- but that is CHANGING. Who donates to non-profits? Everyone, from Matures to Gen Y - in their own way.

Good luck!

Posted via email from Bright One

A quick punch list

2010-04-30T12:42:00.001-07:00

Yes, these are basic questions. But does your marketing address them?

Necessity

What is it about my business, service, or product that makes it a must for consumers or businesses?

Consumerability

What sets my product, service or ME, apart?

Communication

Do I communicate with my customers, and potential customers, in a way most convenient for them?

Location

What makes my location attractive?

Amenities

What do I have to offer?

Accessibility

Is my product or service easily accessible. Does it need to be?

Presentation

Is my product or service being presented in the best light?

Affordablity

Is my product or service affordable to my target market?

Posted via email from Bright One

What You Think You Need Versus What You Really Should Have

2010-03-18T10:22:00.001-07:00

What You Think You Need Versus What You Really Should Have

Scenario

You have just hired a web company to create your website. You think you know what you want and you're pretty confident the company knows what you want, too.

They ask you a series of questions, some of which you answer, others you don't quite understand, but you fill out the form and you hope you are going to get what you need.

They give you a quote. It seems reasonable. You give the go ahead.

Next time you hear from them, they ask you to choose which design mock up you like. You panic. Nothing looks like what you had pictured. But you want something, so you pick one of the looks.

They disappear again. Out of the blue you receive an email asking for website copy. What copy? Oh, you think, I am not a professional writer. You ask them to do it. Sure, they say. It will be extra.

Now you have started down the path...of no return. They are doing the job they said they would, but you have not done yours. What is missing?

Some thoughts

Do not assume any web company is going to take your hand and guide you through the process step by step.

Before deciding on a website - decide what the function of the website is going to be. Is it just going to be a basic placeholder? A brochure? A shopping site? A blog? Will it need to be updated constantly or not at all? Is there a time limit?

Are there sites that you like already? What do you like about them? Their look? Their functionality? The copy? Take notes. Find sites you do like, and let them know why. Next, find sites you do not like. Write down what is wrong with them. What you don't like is even more important than what you do.

A website should be part of an overall marketing plan. So how does it fit? What will drive visitors to your website? What will you offer them when they arrive? Do you need to post updates? Have a forum? Twitter? Link to Facebook? Do you even know why you want to have Twitter and Facebook and who will monitor and update them?

What are your competitors doing? What can you do better than them?

Do you already have copy written in other forms - brochures, postcards, etc, that can be re-purposed?

Knowing this before you even contact your first website company will save you time and money. Why build a website that is far beyond what you need or want? Or build a site that will fail to grow with your business? If you need to constantly update a site, you should think of a CM (Content Management) system, which makes is simple for non-techies to post updates.

Other money saving tips. Buy your domain. GoDaddy.com has very inexpensive deals - check online for coupons that drop the price even more.

Keep control of your website. Make sure the contract stipulates the ownership of the hosting site remains with you. This seems like a bother now. But it won't be if you decide to go with another website vendor down the road. There are horror stories of businesses not being able to access their own websites - and they are true.

The ideal: Finding a website company that is willing to do what you want but still educate you on what you may need. If you've done your homework, you'll know the difference.

Posted via email from Bright One

If we know better, why do we continue doing it (when it’s not even fun)?

2010-02-26T11:21:00.001-08:00

The three most important areas of a business are marketing, knowing your numbers, and customer experience – the triumphant three. We know this is common sense - we've learned it formally or in the school of hard knocks. So if we know this in our heart of hearts and our brain of brains, why then do so many businesses not follow through? The short answer is because we’re lying to ourselves, and we’re afraid to admit it.

If we were to be truly honest with ourselves, we would confess that we're not quite sure how to run effective marketing campaigns, or even if we need to.

We hold on to the false reasoning that we're too busy to run our numbers every day.

We assume that our customers experience, interact, and know our business in the way we intended. (Major hint: They don’t.)

Acknowledging these shortcomings can be difficult. They are a blow to our egos. And in the back of our minds there is the niggling suspicion everyone else gets it, while we don’t.

What can we do to have the thriving, successful business we know we should have, want to have, or once had?

Learn the difference between working on your business rather than in your business.
Ditch the ego.
It really is all about the numbers.

Working on your business vs. in your business- you are working in your business (not on it), IF:

You find yourself trying to do everything and getting nowhere
You are using a shotgun approach to marketing (a little bit of a bunch of different approaches – something has to work eventually, right?)
You are crossing your fingers that the bill collectors won’t call you today or tomorrow, or the next day…

Working on your business means the following:

You know your breakeven point every day, every month, and for the year.
You know how much daily revenue you need to bring in to operate another day.
You are marketing, and marketing effectively.
You know your customers and their perceptions of the business.
You know that your customer’s experience in dealing with your business is aligned with your perception of their experience. You also know how easily and quickly your perception and your customer’s experience can get out of touch with one another.
You have a realistic grasp on operations, and you have goals that you are meeting and exceeding.
You have a plan for where you are going, a roadmap for how to get there, and you know where you have been.

Ditch the Ego:

One of the hardest things to do is to let go of our ego. Are we willing to admit that we don’t have all of the answers, or is it just easier to dig in our heels and watch our business struggle day after day, knowing something is wrong without being able to stop the hemorrhaging? First step to ditching the ego is to understand nobody has all of the answers, so go get help – call a mentor, take a seminar, or read a book.

Secondly, failure is always an option, but learning from failure increases success and can lead to brilliance.

Third, and hardest, your company is struggling because of something you are doing or not doing. This last one is the hardest to accept, and the scariest to admit. It’s what we fear to be true, but we know deep down that it’s so. The good news is that once we can accept this statement, we can begin to tackle our problems. So, go ahead and grab a pen and a piece of paper and ask yourself, what is it that I am doing or not doing that is sabotaging my business.

Know the Numbers:

Absolutely, without a doubt you need to know how much money you will need to cover expenses for the day, week, month, and year. In the simplest of terms, if we make more than we owe we pull a profit. If cost is even with revenue, we break even. If we pay out more than what comes in – we are in trouble. Regardless of profit, break-even points, or trouble, we need to know where we stand, so we can begin to understand where our companies are financially. Once we know where we are, we can proceed to move ahead.

If you were to think of your company as a car, your finances are the fuel (or battery if it’s electric – oh, just go with the analogy). Just as you monitor your fuel gauge to see if you need more gas, so too should you with your money. However, in order to get anywhere, you still need to start the ignition and hit the accelerator – we’ll call these marketing. Add in the steering wheel and a map, and you’ve got effective marketing, which is powered by money coming in. You wouldn’t drive a car with a missing fuel gauge and a faulty accelerator, so why would you operate a business this way?

Effective marketing has been mentioned throughout this post, but here’s a quick brief on what it is and isn’t:

Effective marketing is not something you do every six months or once a year. It isn't a random postcard mailing when business gets slow. It is not a magic bullet. It is not a one-sided conversation. And especially, it is not a line item that can be dropped when profits are low.

Then what is effective marketing? It is any message, effort or action that directly and positively impacts your business' bottom line (start crunching the numbers). It is done all the time, woven into the fabric of your business. It encompasses customer experience. And if done well, it is interactive, not reactive.

Sounds simple, right?

“If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Lewis Carroll

-Kate MacKinnon Business Strategist Bright One