Check
out this sampling of articles from recent
issues of The Major Gifts Report Newsletter...
----------------------Publication
Makeovers------------------
Magazine Revamp Boosts
Magazine's Features, Interest
Get more mileage out of your publications by giving them a makeover.
Kara Kane, director of communications,
Medaille College (Buffalo, NY) says that
since revamping their alumni magazine, college
officials have received overwhelmingly
positive responses, with the majority of those surveyed rating the writing
and design as good to excellent. The undergraduate
admissions office even ordered
a second run to distribute to prospective students and parents.
Kane cites a few of the factors
contributing to the design’s success:
- They brought the magazine design in-house, saving money and time, since the design
will be used as a template for future issues.
- Alumni, staff and current students
contributed photos and feature content,
and assisted with editing and proofreading.
- Each issue focuses on a specific
theme. The premiere issue focused on Medaille
being Buffalo’s college, emphasizing
stories on alumni who contributed to the
city of Buffalo.
- The new design incorporates popular
magazine features giving it a professional
look and feel. Photos are made more artistic
with knockouts and large pictures. Pull-out
quotes, fact/statistic boxes and graphic
images/number facts are also used.
- The magazine is published to the
web as well (issuu.com/medaille), opening
up the audience to alumni and friends of
the college who may have opted not to receive
mail.
The magazine is now a twice-yearly publication
that goes to nearly 14,000 people. The time
and effort spent on the revamp was totally
worth it, Kane says, but cautions people
to take the appropriate amount of time for
planning in order to deliver a quality piece. “With
enough good ideas and subjects,” she
says, “the stories will write themselves!”
Source: Kara Kane, Director
of Communications, Medaille College,
Buffalo, NY.
-----------------------Grant
Writingl-----------------------
Seek Appropriate Permission
to Use Clients', Others' Photos
Shooting dynamic photos of
clients in action or others in your organization
and at special events
can be a great way to update your website, brochures,
or other materials.
For Laura Baker Services
(Northfield, MN) — a residential home
for developmentally disabled adults — obtaining
appropriate permission is crucial before
taking photographs, because their clientele
are vulnerable adults and their
caretakers.
Using the photo release form,
below right, staffers at Laura Baker garner
the proper approvals from clients,
family members of clients, volunteers and
staff
to use the dynamic shots for public use. The photo release also contains a
communications request where clients’ family members may share information
to be used in publicity pieces that include the photos.
To create a useful,
legally binding photo release form:
- Specify that no monetary compensation
will
be given in exchange for the photo release.
- Be sure to have the signatory date the
document as well as sign.
- Gain the appropriate signatures and
also request the signatory to print their
name
for clarification. Many signatures are
illegible and the printed name will rectify
any confusion.
When gaining permission to
photograph vulnerable adults or children,
create
a photo release
form that clearly requests the signature
of a parent or guardian. Use this photo
release example as a basis to create
a form specific
to your nonprofit that can be used
for staff, volunteers and clients.
Source:
Jane Fenton, Director of Community
Relations, Laura Baker Services, Northfield,
MN.
--------------------Give
Prospects Inside Look--------------------
Tours Get Major Donors
Passionate About Your Cause
In
February 2009, development staff with The
Clinic (Phoenixville, PA), a medical clinic
for the uninsured, began offering donor prospects
tours to get them engaged and passionate
about supporting the clinic’s mission.
The 30-minute clinic tours
are conducted near the end of business day,
between 3:30
and 4 p.m., and led by Debbie Shupp, development
director, or Krys Sipple,
the clinic’s executive director.
Tours end in Sipple’s office, with the opportunity for the participants
to chat with a board member and ask any questions.
“Involvement in the tours
makes our board members feel good,” says
Shupp. “I’ve never had a board member say they won’t do
it. They are not expected to ask for money, just to tell their story.”
About
60 percent of the board has participated in the tours, and the rest haven’t
only because they haven’t had an opportunity yet, she says: “We’ve
only held about two dozen tours so far.”
At the end of each tour,
participants are given brochures, newsletters and sometimes event invitations,
thanked and invited to come back.
Shupp recruits tour participants
when out networking at organizations, churches,
clubs and the Chamber of Commerce. “I
always give out my card and ask if they are
interested in coming in for a tour,” she
says.
She also recruits tour participants
by tracking consistent donors. “I do
this by looking at gifts that reflect the donor’s care for the
clinic,” she
says. “I call them to thank them for their gift and ask if they’ve
been here. If not, I ask them to come in for a tour.”
Once someone
is brought in for a tour, he or she is always on board, says Shupp: “We’ve
had donors say ‘You painted the walls!?’or ‘Wow,
I didn’t
expect you to have done this or that.’ When they do, I always
ask, ‘What
were you expecting?’ The donor might say, ‘Cold, cement
walls.’ And
I will reply, ‘We have great volunteers here who have worked
to paint all the rooms and keep everything nice.’”
Shupp
follows up after the tour with an e-mail thank-you. She also adds
the tour participants to the clinic’s
mailing list.
The tours have been very successful
in attracting donors, she says: “Seventy-five
percent of those who go on the tours end up making a donation. Donations
range from $50 to several thousand dollars.”
In addition to
attracting donations, the tours have also been great at building
relationships, says Shupp. For example, she says, one
tour participant
from
a local church asked to be an outreach partner for the clinic,
and another asked
to help with the clinic’s wish list.
Source: Debbie Shupp, Development Director,
The Clinic, Phoenixville, PA.
