The Fundraising Factory - Archive for April, 2010

Using the Ole Noggin’

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Creative thinking affects effective fundraising.
 

Fundraisers are just like products.  They can be tracked on the bell curve.  Slowly rising, peeking and then tiring on the downhill.

When a fundraising event takes off and grows revenue for a few years in a row we pat ourselves on the back, include it as a line item in the annual budget, and hope it lasts forever. 

Since we are aware of the bell curve phenomenon it’s necessary to take our head out of the sand, put our thinking caps on and come up with the next best fundraiser before the downhill slide begins. 

It is the development committee’s responsibility to raise the funds for the budget and to come up with the fundraising ideas.

The chance of a fundraising committee coming up with a successful new fundraiser that is meaningful and unique improves when IME elements exist.

Inspiration, Motivation, and Execution elements are achieved through creative thinking.

Creative thinking is enhanced and maximized by social stimulation, (small group brainstorming), in other words you can’t do it alone.  Creativity drives the problem solving process when unexpected dynamics are introduced to the group.  Asking a question with constraints, such as what if the fundraiser is all about blue?  Or, no one can come to the event that is under 30.  Stimulation jump starts the grey matter into looking at things from a different perspective and firing off the synapses that can lead to new concepts, new ways of thinking and new fundraisers.  

Small group participation creates inclusion.  Shared ideas can lead to “buy in” and greater motivation to bring the idea to fruition.  Execution is easy when the person with the most enthusiasm for the idea is given the leadership role to oversee or chair the fundraiser. 

 As always Happy Fundraising,

Lucinda

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Mining for Volunteers

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

I talk to non profits everyday.  The two most common complaints I hear from them is that too many board members are not actively involved with fundraisng and they need more volunteers.

Since it is National Volunteer week, I decided to do some quick research.  Don’t you just love Google?

The Bureau of Labor Statistics report,  issued 1/26/10 indicates that there were 63.4 million volunteers or 26.8% of the population between 9/08 and 9/09.

Here are some must know characteristics of volunteers that caught my eye.  

1.  The people who were more likely to volunteer have kids under 18 and work fulltime.  This surprised me.  With the current economy the way it is,  I assumed the unemployed would be contributing more time in communities.  This goes back to the old adage.  If you want something done ask someone who’s busy.

2.  Men volunteer more hours per year than women, although less men volunteer than women.  Volunteer placement by gender seems odd, but consideration as to the number of hours required for specific positions might minimize volunteer burnout and maximize volunteer happiness.

3.  Of people who volunteered, 44% did so because they were asked.  This business 101.  “You have to ask for the sale” .

Given this data, would it make sense to qualify board members and volunteers based on the above findings?

This target group is more willing to join and put in the time to get the job done.  Best of all; the only thing you have to do is ask!

Recruiting volunteers and board members that have kids, jobs and are gender specific may yield better results. 
Here’s my question.  What ways can the target audience described be mined?  Would love to hear your ideas.

Lucinda

PS.  If you are one of the 56% of the people who don’t need to be asked to volunteer and want to do so,  the Volunteers of America can help you locate a non profit in your area needing help.  

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To Facebook or Not?

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Today’s post Tom the Agitator ”the chicken or the egg” poses the question as to whether using Facebook as opposed to typical customer driven incentive marketing  makes customers loyal.

The study sited on his post shows that consumers who became Facebook fans of a cafe dessert business,  purchased, visited, and spent higher average dollars at the cafe than other customers who were not FB fans.   He asks the question.  If customers were given some form of incentive card would they be just as loyal as those who did not have one?  He thinks so.  I honestly don’t know but coincidentally, just this past week, I did a test using FB advertising as a vehicle for gaining new fans, and customers.

In just one week, fans on the Designs by Lucinda Facebook page increased by %100.  I’ve also seen an improvement of %50 more traffic on my website.   Through Google Analytics I can see they are coming directly from Facebook.  Fans are flooding my FB page with endorsements and praises of me (batting my eyelashes wildly right now) and my product as well.  From my perspective it does not matter which is better or even if one creates a more loyal customer than another.  What matters is that more people now know about my product and services, are sharing with friends,  and I can continue to build relationships with them through a medium of social networking that I can not do with incentive loyal customer punch cards.  I believe customer loyalty will come from the relationships that I nurture not the discounts I offer.

I urge all non profits to create a presence on FB and build a fan base.  It provides an easy means of expression to educate an audience, promote events, brag about accomplishments, and ask for help.   And it’s FREE!  Hello?????

Happy Fundraising!
Lucinda

PS: If you aren’t a FB fan of mine you can become one now.

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Posted in Marketing, Uncategorized, social media | No Comments »