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Check out this sampling of articles from recent
issues of Successful Fund Raising Newsletter...

--------------------Successful Calling Efforts--------------------

Three Shortcomings Your Phonathon Can't Afford

With some signs that the economy may be turning around, your phonathon has the potential to rebound this year. Just make sure the following everyday issues do not get in the way:

  • A lax phonathon manager. Is yours headed out the door at 6 o’clock every night, leaving student supervisors in charge too often? That should stop — now. Student supervisors can’t replace the real leader of the phonathon — the manager. Jason Fisher (Cedar Rapids, IA), co-author of The Phonathon Manager’s Planning Handbook, says, “The faster you realize that, the better off your phonathon will be for it.”
  • Insufficient time to reach goals. Fisher offers this formula for determining how much time you need: Identify the number of completed calls that allows you to achieve a threshold of 70 percent of your database of records. Divide that number by the average completed calls per hour you can expect from the entire program. This will give you the total number of hours needed to achieve 70 percent. Remember to consider the negative impact that cell phones, caller ID and do-not-call lists may have on your contact rates.
  • A lack of negotiation skills. “Don’t confuse productivity potential with current productivity,” says Fisher. One strategy Fisher recommends for improving negotiation is the purchase of a recording device to record calls for training purposes — just check to make sure it’s legal in your state. Once you have it, coach calls yourself until you really understand how you want your philosophies taught by your staff. Adjust your scripts according to the reactions you hear from prospects.
  • One final tip: “Consider awarding prizes based on the quality of the call … not just the quantity,” Fisher says. “Most programs overestimate the quality of their calls. By not addressing this, you’re leaving money on the table.”

Source: Jason Fisher, Senior Counsel, Advancement Solutions Consulting, A Division of RuffaloCODY, Cedar Rapids, IA.

--------------------In-house Gifts--------------------

Achieve 100 Percent Employee Giving on the First Try
In her first year as director of development and alumni affairs at Midway College (Midway, KY), Di Boyer helped achieve the first 100 percent participation rate for the faculty and staff campaign fund, with gifts averaging $250.

Boyer credits the campaign’s success to a combination of setting the bar high and encouraging practical, yet creative campaign management.

After much discussion with her staff, Boyer says she realized one reason the staff campaign had never achieved 100 percent giving was simply because faculty and staff had never been challenged to do so. So her department’s first step was to set 100 percent participation as a tangible goal.

The next decision was just as innovative:

“We did not run the campaign out of the development office,” she explains. “We specifically picked a campaign chair who was a faculty volunteer. Not only did this take the heat off the development office, whose time and talents were already overstretched, but it also forced them to throw out the old story. There would be no more walking around with pledge forms.”

Charged with encouraging giving at a college located in the heart of horse country, the volunteer committee came up with the campaign theme, “The Midway Meet.” Each faculty and staff department was treated like one horse in a race, so it became a fun challenge for each department to try to cross the finish line ahead of the others.

As a thank-you for giving, all donors were taken to see Smarty Jones — the 2004 Kentucky Derby winner — at a nearby horse farm.

Midway College has kept up the 100 percent participation streak every year since, making only a few tweaks to the program.

The annual campaign now has two co-chairs — one from the faculty, the other from non-teaching staff to equally represent both constituencies. The co-chairs choose a theme. For the 2009 Thanks A Latte campaign, donors received McDonald’s lattes and Midway coffee mugs and had their pictures taken with their mugs for their mug shots.

Source: Di Boyer, Director of Development and Alumni Affairs, Midway College, Midway, KY.

--------------------Schedule Pledge Payments---------------

Two Giving Seasons Helps Manage Cash Flow, Boost Contacts

To keep gifts flowing year-round, take steps to encourage pledge payments and donations at set points throughout the year.

Christina Thrun, development and marketing director, Big Brothers Big Sisters Northwestern Wisconsin (Eau Claire, WI), says her organization used to have a couple of really close months in terms of cash flow. Now they bring in a considerable amount of money during the summer months, which easily helps them through the fall, when giving traditionally slows prior to their holiday mailing.

So what changed?

The organization implemented a dual-invoice system that goes like this:

Donors who make multi-year pledges are invoiced twice a year (July and November/December). Summer invoicing is tied in with a summer annual giving letter. With the summer invoices, donors are asked if they prefer to be invoiced in December or want to set up a payment schedule in which gifts are automatically deducted from their bank account or charged to their credit card monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually.

Follow-up phone calls go to donors whose invoices are left unpaid after both mailings.

Along with enhancing their ability to manage cash flow, Thrun says the system has helped annual giving numbers consistently increase and strengthened the giving program through more frequent contact with donors.

Source: Christina Thrun, Development and Marketing Director, Big Brothers Big Sisters Northwestern Wisconsin, Eau Claire, WI.

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