Break Your Snail's Pace Fundraising with Big Gifts for Small Groups

You do great work in an all-volunteer nonprofit. You love what you do. You believe in your mission with great passion. Despite all these positives, does fundraising feel like an afterthought in your too long family, work and volunteer to-do list? Is your fundraising moving at a snail's pace?

Andy Robinson offers a book to break the snail's pace of your fundraising, Big Gifts for Small Groups: A Board Member's 1-Hour Guide to Securing Gifts of $500 to $5,000. 

The entire book is really a one hour guide, filled with practical encouragement like his observation from author Joan Flanagan, "All of the knowledge in fundraising can be summed up in ten words. 'Ask 'em. Thank 'em. Ask 'em again. Thank 'em again." 

The book also helps reinforce a critical point about fundraising: if you have deep passion for your mission and your work, the rest of what you need for fundraising will fall into place. You will break your snail's pace fundraising, moving forward on the firm foundation of your genuine passion! 

Want to make a wise investment in your fundraising efforts? Pick up a copy for each of the officers and/or board members of your nonprofit. Discuss what you take from the book at your next board meeting. Check in each month after that on how implementation is going. 

If you like Andy's straightforward, easy to follow style, you can learn more about his efforts and his other books here. 

What is your group doing to break snail's pace fundraising?

Photo credit above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/marckjerland/

Volunteer Value: A Quantifiable Impact

Independent Sector recently released updated state by state volunteer value information. This update is part of its Volunteering and Civic Life in America report. This study quantifies the impact volunteers have on their favorite nonprofits by serving on boards, developing programs and moving missions forward. The quantifiable impact of volunteer time keeps inching forward.

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, 26.3% of the adult population in the United States (63.4 million Americans) gave 8.1 billion hours in 2010. Using a nationwide average value of $21.36 per hour, that commitment adds up to a $173 billion impact. Thanks for the difference you make!

Full details on the report, including how value is calculated may be found here.

In the state of Iowa, the average volunteer time value for 2011 is $17.55/hour. This is the most recent year that state by state study numbers are available. For full state by state profiles on the value of volunteer time, click here.

Questions for reflection:
1. Are you tracking volunteer time given to your mission?
2. How are you communicating this value back to your donors, community and service recipients?
3. How might you be more proactive in doing so?