Milking: A Strategic Approach to Effective Fundraising

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickpiggott/

Harold J. "Si" Seymour published an early mainstream fundraising bible of sorts, Designs for Fundraising (Amazon affiliate link)  in 1966 and dedicated a legendary 50-year career to philanthropy. He is also well known for his quote about one of the pivotal truths about fundraising, as recounted in the book "Asking" by Jerold Panos:

You won't get milk from a cow by sending a letter. 

You won't get milk from a cow by calling on the phone. 

The only way to get milk from a cow is to sit beside it and milk it. 

For the full details on how you might benefit from "Asking," click here.

Mr. Seymour uses a vivid analogy to help illustrate:

1. No communication approach in the world matches the value of a face to face visit.

2. The best way to care for your donors and be able to realize the full potential of their support is to make a regular habit of visiting with them face to face.

How can you apply these lessons?

1. Review historic giving to your organization. Who are your top five to ten supporters? (or insert your own appropriate number here)

2. Will you visit these supporters at least twice a year? If your top five supporters include people who have made bequests, would it be possible to visit their descendants?

3. On the initial visit, thank them for their legacy of supporting your mission and ask their input on your current operations.

4. Follow up each visit promptly with a phone call or note of appreciation for their time. Record the basics of each visit in fundraising software or other tracking means at your organization.

5. When you sense the time is right in future visits, be ready to discuss your organization's unfunded opportunities to move your mission forward. 

By making face to face visits a priority with your top supporters, you will be amazed at the number of opportunities you will uncover to open opportunities to connect amazing donors with your good work.

What stories do you have to share of how face to face visits have worked with your organization?

Tips to Move On From the Grrr of Creating a Website for Your Department

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/squish_e/

In travels across Iowa learning from hundreds of volunteer firefighters, I've been surprised how relatively uncommon it is for a department to have its own website. I think that's because starting can make you say, "Grrr" and can feel feel frustrating.  An important part of the process that is fundraising is making basic information about the good work you do available to your communities through such vehicles as websites.  

Today's post focuses on starting tips, resources and ideas for those of you who don't have your own department website.

Ideas to increase your online presence:

1. Consider creating a Facebook page for your department. This previous FlashPoint post links you to steps on how to do so. Facebook represents the widest potential social media connection point for your department. It's important to remember it will not catch everyone in your community.

2. Discuss with your City Clerk, Councilperson or other governing body contact whether there are existing or planned online resources/websites to which you might add your department's information.This might be as simple as adding a fire department page to an existing city website.

3.You may setup a website to provide occasional posts on your training, community meals and other activities like this blog through www.blogger.com and other online blog services, many of which are free.

To create your department's own dedicated website: 

1. Figure out what you want your domain name to be. The domain name is what people will type in to visit your website. Keep this as simple as possible.

2. Determine whether your preferred domain name is available through any of the following or your own preferred domain registration site:

• www.GoDaddy.com
• www.InMotionHosting.com 
• www.NetworkSolutions.com

3. Register your preferred and available domain name. A good budget number to use for the cost of this registration is $100-$120 per year. This is based on registering one domain (i.e. www.NAMEfire.com OR www.NAMEfire.org, but not both). 

4. Make sure the name and email connected to your domain registration is someone on your department who will follow through on any communication received from your domain registrant.

5. Consider purchasing website hosting services from your domain registration company for simplicity. There are various packages available.  Purchase small. You can always upgrade down the road. Most have tools to help you build your website. A good budget number for website hosting and email address purchase would be $75/year. 

6. Work with an interested member or qualified volunteer to design and develop your site using the tutorials available through your hosting service. The template process available through these serves makes website setup much simpler than it used to be.

7. You may also hire someone to design the site for you. Possible resources for hiring include (or just Google services for your area):

• http://cyberinnovation.com/
• www.iowagraphicsdesigner.com 
• http://www.websitestoimpress.com/
  

 8. Find a contact or two willing to take on the responsibility of occasional updates to your website.


9. Launch your website and celebrate another way you are reaching the community. 




Community resources or those on your department proficient in computer skills may be able to launch a site for you with little to no design costs. Future blog posts will explore example fire department websites.


What has your experience been with websites? Please share in the comments below.