​The COVID-19 pandemic and the need for social distancing have changed pretty much everything about how we live and work, and for nonprofit organizers, even the way you fundraise has changed. Fundraising and fostering donors used to be a social job, one that required lots of face-to-face interaction with donors at special events. 

No longer able to engage donors in person, fundraisers everywhere are discovering new ways to keep donations coming and keep their donors invested in their cause. Here, we’re sharing 10 of the easiest, most creative, and most effective ways to engage your nonprofit donors virtually. 

10. Share a Message From The Top
Nonprofit leaders and executives have difficult, time-consuming jobs, requiring them to be excellent delegators as well as leaders. Because of this, not all nonprofit leaders manage to personally thank or reach out to donors, or only make appearances on occasion for important moments. Now, with uncertainty and confusing consuming everyone’s lives, sharing a message from the top of your organization can help to put your donor’s minds at ease. 

Recruit organization executives to share their take on the current state of the world, to offer words of advice or encouragement to donors and followers in the form of a letter or email, or to make a short video thanking everyone for their continued support through difficult times. Showing that the individuals at the top of your organization are paying attention to what the world and their donors are experiencing will help maintain active volunteer and donor active engagement in your cause. 

9. Organize a Webinar
Was your organization planning to host special events, courses, seminars, or other events in 2020? Do you already have speakers, presenters, and panelists lined up and on the schedule? Have you already sold or handed out tickets to the event? Don’t worry about your hard work being for nothing just yet; pivot your event and create a webinar where you can virtually host presentations, panel discussions, interviews, and much more. 

8. Send a Weekly E-Newsletter
With so much uncertainty in the world, it’s nice to have something you can depend on, which is why you should start sending a weekly e-newsletter to your donors. Keeping donors in the loop will not only help to remind current donors that your organization still exists and is doing good work, but can also help you to retain donors that may be unable to donate during the pandemic, encouraging them to come back and donate once they are able.

7. Create an Online Fundraising Campaign
If you have never tried fundraising online, this is the perfect moment to give it a go! There are tons of ways to set up fundraising campaigns online, most of which are so easy you can do so in just minutes. Some social media platforms now include built-in fundraising tools where followers can donate with the click of a button. You can choose a dedicated fundraising site like GoFundMe. You could even organize a simple campaign using PayPal or Venmo to collect donations. 

6. Start a YouTube Channel
Like an e-newsletter, creating a weekly YouTube video to update donors and followers about what your organization is up to during the pandemic. If donations made by your supporters go to physical goods, create a short video showing the attaining and gathering of the items paid for with donor support. If donations go to providing community services, show your donors what facilities they contribute to or how those services are accessed by the community. Anything you might share in a newsletter can easily be shown in a video, and can help you to reach a wider range of donors. 

5. Call Your Donors Personally
While you can’t meet face to face with your donors to thank them for their support, you can still reach out to them one-on-one over the phone. Personally calling and thanking donors is a great way to show them that their donation makes an impact, and will help them to feel appreciated by your organization. Even if no one picks up, a quick message personally thanking them could be the thing that brightens their day and reminds them to donate again. 

4. Host a Live Q&A
Social media platforms like Instagram and Facebook have ‘live’ functions, which allow users to stream themselves to their followers in real-time. For nonprofit organizations, this can be a great way to boost donor engagement, and answer some commonly asked questions in front of a sizable audience. 

Share with your followers a few days beforehand that someone will be hosting a live Q&A from your organization, and keep reminding them up until the time you go live. Stick around for at least half an hour and encourage followers that tune in to ask questions and engage in the chat. 

3. Post On Social Media
Using social media to raise awareness for nonprofit organizations is nothing new, but now, with mandated social distancing in place for the foreseeable future, social media will become your main way of communicating with your donors. Regularly posting to all your social media accounts and keeping your content consistent across platforms is super important for remaining at the top of your donor’s feeds, since everyone else is at home and working hard to boost their social media presence too! Consistency is key. 

2. Collaborate with Other Nonprofits 
Collaborating with another nonprofit involved in the same cause as your organization to post promotional or educational material on social media is a great way to expand your audience, and show that your organization has good relationships with other respected nonprofits. Cross-promote events, share each other’s posts, be active in the comments section, and do your best to highlight the best parts of each of your work. 

1. Share Important News
Right now, everyone could use a little good news, which is exactly why you should be sharing every positive event with your donors. When important or exciting events or milestones are reached by your nonprofit, shout it from the rooftops - or at least on your social media. Share success stories, good news from the community, exciting or positive news relating to your cause, and more.

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Some nonprofit organizers make the mistake of believing that their work with donors is done once they have received donations, but in truth, the work of fostering relationships with and connecting with donors is never complete. The first donation should be the first of many, and if you have put in the time and effort to cultivating close relationships with your donors, this will happen naturally. 

One of the best ways to create relationships with donors and to keep them interested in your organization is by regularly keeping in contact, and the easiest way to do this is through an e-newsletter. E-newsletters can be sent via email or text, and can be displayed on your website for visitors to peruse. The newsletter format helps to keep donors informed of the goings-on of your organization, and acts as a gentle reminder that you are still out there and doing work that needs to be funded. 

Sending donors and supporters of your organization regular information regarding your nonprofit’s progress and work is also a good way to build trust, since your e-newsletter is the perfect place to demonstrate good stewardship. 

What To Include In Your Newsletter

Whether you have written hundreds of newsletters, or are reading this as your first step to creating an e-newsletter for your nonprofit, the most important thing to remember is to include only information and stories your donors would be interested in. Magazines curate articles and content based on what their readers are interested in, which is why you don’t see much fashion in Bassmaster and you don’t often find mention of river safety in US Weekly. 

Like entertainment publications, you should be sticking to the content your donors want to see, like success stories from people, organizations, or communities that have benefited from your work. Donors like to see the impact of their donations, and including success stories in your e-newsletters is a great way to do just that. 

Other content that can help you to build your donor network and keep individuals engaged could include information on upcoming events, project and program updates, information on relevant news and current events, and information on how donors can volunteer, donate, and help. 

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Despite the fact that fundraising is key to the success of most nonprofit organizations, individuals doing nonprofit work often struggle with how to approach the task of actually asking for donations. Many fundraisers feel fearful of seeming too “salesy,” or in other words, they worry about feeling like they are guilt-tripping people into donating to their cause. This fear prevents many incredible organizations from gaining sufficient donor support, all because their organizers and volunteers are too afraid of turning into “salespeople”. 

Here’s the problem: technically, fundraisers are doing what salespeople do every day. Just like for-profit sales involves “selling a product” nonprofit work involves “promoting a cause”. Though nonprofit donors don’t usually walk away with a physical product, your job as a fundraiser is to convince them to buy into your cause. It’s sales!

Despite not wanting to seem salesy, fundraisers and nonprofit volunteers often fall into the trap of expecting donations rather than putting in the time and effort to build relationships with potential donors. Salespeople work to relate to their leads, to find common ground, and to grab their attention by offering them something they are already looking for. You don’t see salespeople grabbing people off the street, their customers come to them. 

As a fundraiser, you need to be prepared to meet people where they are, rather than simply expecting them to hand over their hard-earned money to a cause just because donating to charitable causes is the right thing to do. You need to be ready to use stories and conversations to engage people in the issues, which is exactly what salespeople are doing when they talk to customers about their needs and wants in a product or service. 

Back in the day, work as a fundraiser was largely about shining the light on yourself and your organization. Fundraisers were able to monologue in order to gain donations and support, but that was before people had the kind of access to information we have been afforded in the age of the Internet. 

Now, people know what they want and are able to learn about the causes they care about independently of nonprofit organizations. It is no longer about you, but instead about listening to what it is your potential donors care about. Instead of saying “you should donate because”, or “our organization is incredible and therefore you should donate”, change the narrative to be more donor-centered. 

Instead of a physical product, you are selling your donors assurance that their money is going to something they care about. You should be asking them which causes they care about, then tailoring your approach to appeal directly to those donors that are most likely to empathize with your cause. Basically, you need to stop going after donors who you know nothing about and start focusing on networking to connect with people who will resonate with the work being done by your organization. 

The Sales Funnel for Nonprofits

The “sales funnel” is simply the name given to the order of operations/tasks required to make a sale. In the business world, there are a few schools of thought regarding how many steps there are in the funnel, but here, we’ll focus on the four that are most pertinent to nonprofit fundraising. 

1. Awareness

The first step of the “sales funnel” is to cultivate awareness for your brand or organization. This step could also be called the “leads” or the “prospecting” phase, since it is all about finding those potential donors. Here is where we see many old-school nonprofits fall short, since their awareness/prospecting phase usually involves more broadcasting than networking. 

In order to find donors that will not only donate once but will become permanent supporters of your organization, it is important to dedicate the awareness phase to connecting with people who share a common interest in causes you support. 


2. Interest

Once you have generated leads, the next step is to follow-up and to build a relationship with prospective donors. Like salespeople talk to their leads about their specific needs in a product or service, fundraisers talk to their donors about how they can secure their donation. This phase is all about taking the interest you piqued at the first meeting and converting it into an intent to engage.


3. Decision

In the nonprofit sector, this phase might more accurately be described as the “asking” phase, since this period is all about getting down to the nitty-gritty and actively asking prospects if they will be willing to commit to making a donation. In sales, this phase is where the salesperson offers the final price and waits for the customer to decide. 

At this point, you’ll already have built a solid relationship with your prospective donors, so asking for donations won’t feel like you are pressuring or goading anyone into doing something they don’t want to do. Like in sales, the transaction is mutually beneficial, so practice asking for donations with confidence. 


4. Stewardship

In business, the final step of the sales funnel is “sale”, but because nonprofit “sales” are about creating long-term donor relationships, stewardship is a far more appropriate descriptor. Once your donor has made their first contribution, your final step is to maintain a relationship and an open dialogue to encourage them to donate again in the future. 

If you enjoyed this guide, and want to learn more about fundraising and building relationships with donors, visit Blackbird Philanthropy Advisors and check out our blog. ​

As nonprofit leaders, you’re facing unprecedented times in managing your workforce while also trying to maintain the level of quality in community services you’ve provided before the COVID19 crisis.

Last Friday, the $2 trillion federal stimulus package "CARES Act" passed that could offer direct relief for your organization.

I am writing to provide a summary for you of strategic options to consider as you wade through the health and economic crisis.

Under the CARES Act, unemployment benefits are confirmed upon application AND benefits are upped an additional $600/week (bringing total benefit to $800-$900/wk).

If you think it’s inevitable that you may eventually have to lay off workers soon, it might make more sense to lay off your staff immediately to unlock this program's benefits. Do the math, see if this makes sense for your team members and your operations. This program is here to help you get through this.

The CARES Act also provides up to $10,000 advance for payroll expenditures (this is called an Emergency Economic Injury Disaster Loan, approved within three days of application). If you then plan to “rehire” May 1, you could use this loan to help get you through the month of May. Then by June, it’s likely (fingers crossed) the quarantine will be over and you can fully re-open to meet client needs. This is really more like a grant, it does not need to be repaid.

This route might be able to get you through at least one month of payroll and then some payroll relief for the month of May. Something to talk to your financial advisors about, every organization is unique and requires a unique strategy.


ADDITIONAL CARES ACT BENEFITS FOR NONPROFITS 

• HALF OFF UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE: The CARES Act will reimburse you up to 50% for unemployment insurance costs through the end of 2020.

 

• FUNDRAISING INCENTIVE: Lifted the limit from 60% gross adjusted income to 100% for those who itemized donations. This very plainly means, an individual earning $100,000/year can deduct up to $100,000 in 2020. For businesses, the limitations were upped from 10% to 25% of taxable income. (Donor-advised fund gifts are excluded.)

 

• OPERATIONS LOANS AVAILABLE: Nonprofits (up to 500 employees) can borrow 2.5x monthly payroll expenses up to $10 million to cover payroll expenses, rent and utilities, and interest on mortgage and debt obligations. These “Paycheck Protection” loans must be repaid, but annual fees, collateral requirements, and prepayment penalties are waived and the interest rates are capped at 4%. Additionally, this program offers up to 8-weeks of loan forgiveness options, so long as you maintain your payroll. 

 

• FREELANCERS/CONTRACTORS COVERED: The CARES Act also provides benefits for contractual workers and freelancers, so please reach out to them as well to let them know they’re able to apply for a month of unemployment benefits for the first time ever in history.

 

• EMPLOYEE RETENTION CREDITS: If you prove revenue was down 50% or more March 31 through 2020, you may qualify for a $5,000 payroll credit per employee for keeping staff on. This may be a good option for nonprofits that choose to maintain all existing operations and who do not apply for operations loans.

If you haven’t done so already, reach out to your legal and financial counsel as soon as you can to determine what the best options are for your organization. In Indiana, we recommend Kruggel Lawton CPAs (Margene Zink mzink[@]klcpas.com) for accounting information and South Bank Legal for legal matters. Elsewhere, let me know if you’re looking and I will get you a good referral.

I am not a lawyer or a CPA. I am offering ancillary support as a nonprofit administration consultant who wants to see your important organization get through this whole and on your feet.

Feel free to reach out using our contact form if you have specific questions or need assistance during this tough period.

You’re excited. You’re a 501c3, you’ve got a great mission and now you’re ready to get some of those grant dollars you’ve heard so much about! Where do you begin? The good news is – it’s true, there are a lot of opportunities to find funders who want to invest in your cause. The bad news is, you may be a ways off from getting their attention. It’s especially difficult for brand new organizations to receive grant funding without 2-3 years of success under their belts to show they’re worth the investment. Hang tight and arm yourself with our list to get you and your team on the path to grant funding success. This article will give you an insider’s track guide to everything you’ll need to gather and have on-hand to begin applying for grants.
 

1. BALANCE YOUR BUDGET
 
Many major funders admit, the first thing they do when they read a grant application is go straight to the budget.
 
9 times out of 10, a grant application will require a copy of your organization’s annual budget.
 
On the budget, funders are looking to see that you’re fiscally solvent, fiscally responsible, and competent. How does a budget show them these things?

• Fiscal solvency: The first indicator is to look and see if your budget “zeroes out.” The income must equal expenses. If you’ve budgeted for the year and you’re still in the hole – then why would someone want to invest in you? They still may but you better have a real good compelling case for why it doesn’t and a great relationship with that funder. Most grantors will just write you off.

 

• Fiscal responsibility: The next thing funders will look at is where you’re putting your money. If they see you’re spending 75% of your budget on rent, they may wonder why you have just an expensive building. If they see your CEO is making triple what other leaders make, they may wonder about ethics. If they see you get 90% of your funding from a single source, that may worry them about sustainability. Your expenses and revenue need to be

 

• Competence: If you slapped your budget together on a sheet of line paper in a hurry then converted it into a PDF for the grant app, you’re not going to look very professional. Similarly, if you submit a budget with some random numbers on a page a no order, you won’t be taken seriously. If you can’t figure it out, then invest in some help to get your budget setup right. You should have a list of revenue buckets and amounts at the top and expense buckets at the bottom, the numbers need to match. A budget is your plan for success.

 


2. COVER YOUR BASES  

99.9999% of grant funders will require that you are 501c3 tax exempt organization. Here’s a list of the all the items the vast majority of grants require.

• 501c3 Tax Exemption w/ IRS Letter
• Mission Statement
• Organization Annual Budget
• Project or Program Level Budget(s)
• Most Recent 990
• Board Member Listing w/ Company Affiliations

 
Many grant funders will also ask for a deeper dive of information that includes:

• Year-to-Date Financials
• Strategic Plan
• Articles of Incorporation
• Recent Audit
• Resumes of Key Staff Members
• Annual Report
• Brochures or Newsletters
• Conflict of Interest Policy
• Diversity and Inclusion Policy
• Board Member Insurance Policy
• Board Member Giving Profiles (100% Giving)
• Staff and Board Member Race/Sex Profiles
• List of Formal Partnerships

 

3. KNOCK 'EM DEAD

Alright, you’ve covered all your bases and now you’re ready to actually fill out the application. What kind of information will you need to fill out the application?
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The vast majority of grant application and letters of inquiry will ask for these four elements for the program or project you’re requesting funding for:

• History
• Narrative
• Goals or Objectives
• Outcomes
• Client or Audience Demographics
• How you’ll sustain the program funding
• How you’ll publicize the program or their support

 
Many times, you’ll also be asked to include one or more (or all!) of the following:

• Logic-model or Theory of Change
• Key Accomplishments in Last 5 Years
• Detailed Program Timeline
• Geography and Other Census Data
• Staffing Plan

 

4. GET IT RIGHT
 
Finally, there are a number of random little red flags that may pop up around your application. Because grants are hugely competitive to win, a red flag might throw your whole application off. If you can get yourself grant-ready starting NOW, you won’t have to worry about that when you’re all set to apply.

• Does your Board of Directors “match” the population you’re serving? For example, if you’re a Latino Community Center, you’ll want to show that Latinos are represented as leaders of the organization.
• Do you have an audited financial statement to submit? If not, they may wonder if you’re hiding it or think that your organization is too green.
• Ultimately, you need to show that you need them. This is tough because you have a fine line of proving that you’re worthy of their investment and will deliver results based on your history, but you also need them to see your work can only continue with the support of generous donors. 

What happens when your nonprofit is engulfed in scandal? Or what if you have a board member or highly visible donor who’s reputation is significantly on the rocks? As always, being prepared for crisis and scandal is always the best policy. Every nonprofit leader should know when and how to act in times of trouble. Managing these crises is especially important when it comes to fundraising and mission advancement.

Fundraising is all about managing relationships. In times of controversy or not, nonprofit executives should be carefully navigating through their relationships with stakeholders. When there is a crisis, the trust they’ve built along the way will have the biggest impact on successfully wading through the times of murky waters. In general, it is good to have open, honest communication with all of your stakeholders so a crisis doesn’t tip you over the edge but makes everyone come out stronger.

If news breaks that a major donor was engulfed in scandal, a nonprofit executive should remain calm and act swiftly with integrity.  A solution and plan of action to mitigate the crisis should be immediately ready to go. This includes knowing who to pull into a room for immediate strategy, who to contact first, and who are the best people to carry out the plan. Communicating clearly, concisely is paramount.
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Your main strategy will need to be disassociating your mission with the person experiencing the scandal. Your core group of loyal stakeholders should continue to feel that you are an organization they can trust.  Continue to align their passions and initial interest in the work of your organization with the impact and mission you make in the world. The scandal could, in effect, give you an opportunity to engage your stakeholders in a closer, meaningful way that ignites even more respect and loyalty than before.