Educational Fundraising Whitepapers

Newcomers to nonprofit boards may think of development as an obsession with gathering money.
Forget what you’ve been told and what you may have been led to believe. Fund raising is one of the most natural, enjoyable, satisfying, important activities you can undertake. What could be better than discovering shared values with another person and offering them an opportunity to act on their values, specifically in support of your organization’s mission?
This chapter will explore some of the principles that contribute to fund raising success as well as the basic elements of a professional fundraising program. Gaining a better understanding of these principles will make it possible for you to help create the environment and programs that will bring financial security to your organization.
What are these principles of fundraising success? Experience suggests you need three things to motivate people to give time and financial resources for mission-based activities. They are:

⋅ 1. A worthy cause;
⋅ 2. A personal commitment to the cause;
⋅ 3. A philanthropic mind set.

A Worthy Cause
It is a revered custom in America to support the things that matter to us. We consider it a privilege to do so, and our government encourages philanthropic activity by granting tax exemption to organizations that serve the public good. Inviting others to join you in a meaningful activity is ennobling. In effect, you’re saying, “This organization matters to me, and you matter to me, and I’d like you to be involved with me in the enterprise.”

If you have agreed to give your time to an organization, you probably already believe it is a worthy cause. Reflect on why the organization was founded and, specifically, what difference it strives to make in the world. Is this something that is important to do? Will others find it a meaningful activity? If you can answer yes to these questions, you have a chance to persuade others they should invest in the organization’s mission.

Drafting a “case statement” can help members of the board and other leaders organize their thoughts in formulating a compelling presentation. The case statement is a document that articulates the passion you and others feel for the organization, and it expresses the dream of a better future through the efforts of the organization. It also lays out the purposes for which funds are being sought. It is, in short, the world’s window into the organization on whose board you serve.

A Philanthropic Mind Set

The third element essential to fund raising success is the proper mindset. If the cause is important and if you yourself are committed to it both in terms of financial support and philosophy, you will be able to make a strong and persuasive case that others will respond to.

John D. Rockefeller Jr. probably received more appeals during his lifetime than any of us. Here’s what he had to say about giving:

I have been brought up to believe, and the conviction only grows on me, that giving ought to be entered into in just the same careful way as investing, that giving is investing, and that it should be tested by the same intelligent standards.

There is no reason to be shy about seeking support for your project or organization. As Rockefeller put it:

When a solicitor comes to you and lays on your heart the responsibility that rests so heavily on his; when his earnestness gives convincing evidence of how seriously interested he is; when he makes it clear that he knows you are no less anxious to do your duty in the matter than he is, that you are just as conscientious, that he feels all you need is to realize the importance of the enterprise and the urgency of the need in order to lead you to do your full share in meeting it; he has made you his friend and has brought you to think of giving as a privilege.

Nearly everyone has a basic desire to make a positive difference in the world, and many of us would like to leave some kind of mark behind. How do you want to be remembered? What kind of mark do you want to leave behind? You can make a positive difference through support for the organization you’re involved with, and you’re offering others an opportunity to make a positive difference through your organization, too.

It is often noted that John Harvard’s body is buried in South Carolina, but his monument is in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Where will your monument be?

Competition and the Fundraising Climate

Board involvement in fundraising programs has always been important to charitable organizations, and the importance will only continue to grow, for two reasons: increasing competition for donors’ attention, and increasing demands for evidence of measurable impact.

According to the IRS, there are twice as many charitable organizations today as there were 10 years ago. It is hardly surprising that 37% of small organizations – those with less than $1 million in charitable contributions – saw charitable revenue decline in 2004, up from 29% the year before (the 2005 edition of the annual Giving USA survey). Whereas 60 percent of the largest organizations – those with charitable contributions totaling $20 million or more – reported an increase in giving, fewer than half of small organizations saw an increase in charitable revenue in 2004.

Large charitable organizations generally have larger, better trained, better resourced development offices than small organizations, and they have been at the business of donor cultivation longer; thus it makes sense that large organizations would fare better than small ones in the competition for donor support. Smaller organizations typically rely to a greater degree on volunteers – including board members – to secure the resources needed to fulfill their missions.

For several years, Professor Paul C. Light of NYU’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service has tracked the public’s confidence in charitable organizations. He decries the loss of public confidence in nonprofits that followed a surge of support in response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Professor Light’s research shows that only 19 percent of Americans believe charitable organizations do a very good job of running their programs and services.

Only 11 percent believe nonprofits spend their money wisely, versus 66% who think they waste a great deal or a fair amount of money.

Dr. Light prescribes several actions that fall under the purview of the nonprofit board: ensuring that the organization is making measurable progress toward its objectives; investing in the organization’s infrastructure to secure the resources needed for making programs and services work effectively; and reassuring donors and other volunteers that they are actually solving problems.

The Harvest is Plentiful, but the Laborers are Few

People involved with fund raising often want a cookbook solution to the problem. They are bored by the details; they just want the “recipe” so they can get to it. Regrettably, there’s no sure-fire recipe for raising money successfully because every organization is different and the milieus within which they operate are different. Fund raising isn’t like baking a cake, where you add this to that and get a good result each time. It’s more like painting. Or gardening. Gardening, now there’s a useful metaphor.

The Eastern philosopher Osho has said, "The flower comes by itself." In other words, we can't make a flower bloom. All we can do – all that is required – is to create the conditions where the flower can express itself. If philanthropy is an expression of the human spirit, what is required of us is merely to create the conditions so that expression can manifest. Given the right conditions, the flower will grow; and given the right conditions, people will want to give time and resources to make a positive difference in the world. It isn’t up to us to make it happen, but rather to create the conditions so that it can happen.

The gardener’s work, like that of the development officer, consists largely of planning, preparation, and cultivation. The time for harvesting the fruits of one’s labor is relatively brief compared to the larger season, and although the harvest may be the raison d’être for the garden, the gardener focuses primarily on cultivation. That’s because the role of the gardener is not to produce the fruit, but to create the conditions that will allow the fruit to emerge and mature.

Planning is the fundamental task for development, just as it is for the gardener. Planning begins with an assessment of the needs of the community; only then can one determine the proper layout of the garden whose produce will meet the need.Planning doesn’t end with making a plan, however. Each day’s assessment of progress and needs in the garden suggests new measures or modifications to the existing plan.

There are many threats to a successful harvest, among them pests and pestilence and too little – or too much – of any essential ingredient. But the greatest threat to yield is neglect. We’ve all seen what happens when someone who is ignored by an organization for years is suddenly asked to make a larger gift than he has ever contemplated. Nurturing is most effective when it begins early and continues without significant interruption.

One cultivates, and sows, and cultivates, and nurtures, and cultivates some more, bringing all one’s skill and talent to the purpose at hand. And, believer or not, one prays. This is not a cheap play for insurance; it is an act beyond rationality, centered in the knowledge that our work binds us to something larger than ourselves and gives meaning to our lives. Having done all one can do, one feels compelled to reach out beyond human endeavor, to invoke the mysteries of creation and life.

After all one’s efforts – and with luck – the harvest will vindicate the effort required to produce it. The time for harvest soon passes, however, and the yield is measured against expectation. If it is particularly bountiful, jubilation; if not, disappointment. In either case, work begins anew, for one never finishes in the garden.

Getting Started

An old saying, oft repeated, is, “People give to people.” It’s a reflection of the fact that the best development efforts are relational, not transactional. What is important is giving people the affiliation they desire: in other words, treating people the way they want to be treated. If this is done, the dollars will take care of themselves. In fact, if this is done, you couldn't stop the dollars from coming in.

A common mistake, however, is treating people the way WE want to be treated. It’s not the same as treating them the way THEY want to be treated. Authors Penelope Burk (Donor Centered Fundraising) and Ken Burnett (Relationship Fundraising) have transformed the way we think about engaging individuals. Donor-centered fundraising isn't an option: it is the only way to ensure success for your fundraising programs.

How do people want to be treated? The simplest way to find out is to ask them. But until you’re able to do that, here’s a guideline: People want to feel known, welcome, and important. And they also want to believe they are able to make a positive difference in support of activities that matter.

Let’s examine some basic strategies for nurturing an individual from un-involvement through support; then you can begin to think more specifically about creating a program that will make sense for your organization.

Much has been written about the “solicitation cycle” or “cultivation cycle,” and people who write about fund raising emphasize different components. For our purposes, the basic components are these: identification, information, cultivation, involvement, solicitation, and stewardship. Some would expand the list and include activities like the rating of a prospect’s capacity to give, but it is preferable to look at the relationship from the point of view of the prospective donor rather than that of the organization. Like a good gardener, we’ll start with recognizing the need to develop a plan: in this case, a fund raising plan.

Identification

It’s important, first, to be sure of one’s target audience: Who can give to your organization? Who will?

Support could come from individuals, foundations, corporations, and various government agencies. According to C. Ray Clements, chair of the American Association of Fundraising Counsel, living individuals account for three-quarters of total charitable giving in the U.S. and have done so since 1956. Of the $249 billion given in 2004, 75.6% ($188 billion) came from living individuals; so it makes sense to think individuals will be your best supporters.

As for likely supporters, whom do you know? Start with your friends – and friends of friends. Assume that people are already supporting worthwhile activities and that if you suggested they join you in supporting a cause that matters you wouldn’t be asking them to do anything they aren’t already happily doing. Wouldn’t they like to know about an organization in which you’re so interested that you give your time – that most precious asset – as well as money?

Other prospective supporters might be found on donor lists of organizations with missions similar to yours, and it may be that you, your fellow board members, or friends have access to these individuals. You can get donor lists from annual reports of organizations, from playbills, and from fund raising auctions and galas for nearly any charity in your community merely by asking.

You might consider organizing a “Rolodex Meeting” for your board, where everyone brings his or her marketing list, holiday card list, or alumni list for extending the organization's outreach.

The individuals your organization serves (and their families and friends) are obvious potential supporters. People who sell to your constituents should also be added to the list. This is particularly
important for disease-related charities and hospitals.

There are, in fact, a huge number of prospects out there. I thought of saying that everyone in America is a potential donor for you; it’s just that some are more likely to give than others. In fact, we live in a global economy, and we are a nation of immigrants. Your parent company in Bonn or your great uncle in Bombay may also be interested in your organization’s mission.

Aim to make an incremental improvement in your list of possible supporters. See if you can add 100 names to your organization's mailing list, to start. Or see if you can find a way to double the list. At the same time you are expanding your list of prospects, you will be trying to improve the ratio of prospects who become donors; and once they become donors, you can focus on getting them to give again, or to upgrade. If you aim for incremental improvement in each area of your fund raising effort, you can keep the tasks manageable and still make real improvement.

Most foundations give within a fairly narrowly described area, either geographically or programmatically. You may be able to locate a foundation that provides support to organizations in your state with missions like yours, and it would be worth checking this out. Foundations generally give start-up money for new organizations, programs, or initiatives, as opposed to general operating support. They are trying to maximize the impact of the funding they give; that is why they circumscribe support and why they are generally loath to give to operations. They want to prime the pump, as it were, but then they leave it to others to keep funds flowing. As you can imagine, funders receive requests for many more projects than they could possibly undertake, even if each one were deemed critical.

One of the best resources for information on grantmakers’ interests and requirements for submitting requests is the Foundation Directory. It is available at many libraries and can be purchased directly from The Foundation Center, 79 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10003-3076 (see their web site at www.fdncenter.org).

Before approaching any grantmakers, do your homework to ascertain their current interest and an appropriate level of support. Recognize that it may be easier to get a larger grant the second time around if you apply for a smaller amount and make something to show of their investment. Take note of the funder’s interests, and try to find a way to match their interests with your programs.

For example, if a foundation is keen on public/private partnerships, explore whether there is a possibility to affiliate with a community organization or hospital or public school to provide a joint venture that would appeal to the funder.

Having identified a target constituency, how do you approach them to begin the process of education and involvement?

Information

Most charitable organizations have developed a variety of ways to inform their constituencies, including Newsletters, Direct Mail, the organization's Web site, personal contact, and events. The best organizations are always looking to expand their reach, and sharing news of the organization's programs and services can lead to expanding the base of support.

Religious institutions, retirement communities, service clubs and business clubs are possible places to seek new supporters. Consider corporations, too: a fine-arts or performing arts organization might be able to do a presentation in the atrium of a corporate office building and thereby gain valuable exposure.

Most churches and synagogues have outreach programs, and it may be that they would be willing to sponsor support for your organization. Perhaps they could donate space, or perhaps they would allow you to make a presentation to their congregations for a special offering, or perhaps they would allow a member of the congregation (a person also involved with your organization) to talk about the work of the organization and ask those interested to identify themselves.

Sororities, Fraternities, and Service Clubs like Kiwanis and Rotary (and other business luncheon clubs) often have a speakers program, and their program chairmen are always looking for interesting presentations.

The point is to seek out opportunities to share your story and to invite people to become interested.

Three Steps to Gaining a Platform for Sharing Your Story
⋅ 1. Call to see if the club or organization has a speakers program, and obtain the name of the program chairman.
⋅ 2. Ask friends and board members of your organization whether they know a member who could propose to the program chairman that your organization be invited to make a presentation. If it isn’t possible to make a presentation, perhaps they would be willing to share your newsletter with their membership. If you have no contacts within the club, don’t hesitate to call directly. An introduction is useful, but not necessary. ⋅ 3. Ask the club sponsor or program chairman to make a pitch for support – either to those present or to the club’s board – as part of their outreach/ community service effort.

By sharing your mission with service-oriented individuals, you have a good chance to build a network of interested volunteers and donors.

Cultivation

Cultivation is the essence of building a personal relationship with an individual. As such, it is the most important part of the process of securing support for your organization. Kirk Unruh, director of donor relations at Princeton University, says, “Cultivation is not an event or even a series of unrelated events; cultivation is a process.”

The process has to do with developing a special relationship. Josiah Bunting III, president of the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, puts it this way:

I mean “cultivation” that is not sporadic and haphazard, which is not fundamentally a matter of “having a drink” or “having dinner with” a donor, but which is a matter of becoming his friend, and exciting and sustaining his interest in some aspect of our work and needs here. It is a matter of earning trust, yes; but it is also a matter of regular, thoughtful communication about matters that have nothing ostensibly to do with “fund-raising;” it is a matter of discovering the donor’s interest in certain things intellectual or musical or scientific or pedagogical or athletic, and basing at least part of a relationship on that interest.

Thoughtful communication is directly related to making people feel known, welcome, and important.

One way to make someone feel known is to add a personal note to a letter or invitation that is being sent to her. Another way is to clip an article from a magazine or newspaper about a topic of interest to her and to send it to her with a note (“knowing of your interest in Spanish cuisine, I saved this restaurant review for you”). If the article bears on your organization, all the better; but it isn’t necessary in order to make someone feel as though you took the trouble to think of what she would find interesting and then took the time to tell her.

When you encounter an individual at one of your events – whether it is a dinner or a sports outing or a reception – you can tell him how wonderful it is to see him, and make sure he is introduced to several other people so that he can carry on a conversation comfortably. We’ve all seen people at benefits for which they’ve paid a hefty admission fee, who don’t seem to know anyone; no one seems to notice whether they stay or leave early. How much better it would be if you or another board member were to stride up to the person and say, “John, I’m so glad you could join us this evening. I’ve been looking forward to having a chance to get to know you better, and I’d like to introduce you to some of our friends.” That’s how you can make someone feel welcome.

You make a person feel important simply by valuing her interest and showing her she matters to your organization. You look for opportunities to involve her with projects, and you seek her counsel as plans are being made for new activities. In short, you make her feel important by treating her the way she wants to be treated.

Soon after I returned to my alma mater as a staff member in the annual giving office, I attended a lecture on Shakespeare given by my favorite English professor. When I encountered my colleague Jerry Horton on the way back to the office, I was beaming. He asked what I was up to, and I told him I’d just been to a fabulous lecture given by a former professor. I said it made me feel like I was in college again, with a world of possibilities before me. The experience was tremendously inspiring. Jerry asked me if I’d told the professor or written him a note to let him know how much the lecture had meant to me. The thought hadn’t occurred to me, and I said, “No. Should I?” Jerry responded, “Don’t you think he’d like to know?”

It doesn’t do any good to remember that you left the oven on when you headed out for vacation if you don’t go back to turn it off. Likewise, there’s little virtue that comes of thinking of someone if you don’t let her know. You don’t have to write a long letter of deathless prose or even trouble to make a phone call. A brief note will suffice to let the person know you’re thinking of her and, in turn, to put yourself in her thoughts.

⋅ “Jane, I was reading through my journal on vacation and came across your name, recalling our last visit, and I wanted to check in to see how you’re getting along.” ⋅ “Ward, in conducting a reference check the other day, I spoke to a man named Flanders who used to work for your company. He remembered you and was hopeful you would remember him.”
⋅ “Frank – we’ve been thinking about how thoughtful you were to phone the other day to say hello...”

One way to remind yourself to be in touch with someone is to ask yourself the question, “Don’t you think she’d like to know?”

Involvement

It’s important to meet people where their interests lie. To do that, it’s helpful, if you can, to get to know something about them. There are many resources in print available at your local library, including Who’s Who, Who Was Who, Who Knows Who, Dun and Bradstreet Reference Book, Standard and Poor’s Directory, The Directory of Directors, Standard and Poor’s $1Million Directory of Public and Private Companies, and the Social Register. It may be that your prospect isn’t listed in any of them, and that’s no cause for worry – many of America’s most generous donors aren’t listed in any of them. At this stage, you’re just trying to find out all you can about a person’s activities, through which you can make inferences about his or her interests.

National news sources that may be useful for additional information include the New York Times, Forbes, Fortune, Town & Country, and Google. Local sources include the local newspaper, business journals, and organization newsletters.

Among the best sources of information about an individual are the correspondence and personal interaction he has had with your organization. In the case of a new grassroots organization, there may be little in the way of correspondence. But this is something to pay attention to for the future. A “donor file” would help keep track of the relationship between the individual and your organization, so from now on, resolve that your organization will keep everything you send to or receive from any individual. And every time anyone from your organization has a conversation or a meeting with an individual, a brief report on the conversation should find its way into the prospect’s file.
Some people may recoil at the notion of a file of information being kept on their dealings with an organization. But it isn’t very different from your keeping track of the names of friends’ children on your holiday list – you want to stay up-to-date in your relationship, but you can’t remember everything about everyone, so you write it down. The organization has many more people to keep track of than you or I, and the organization represents all the relationships any of its board members have with any of its supporters. To serve the interests of the individual prospect and to ensure that the relationship moves ahead in an area of interest to the prospect, it is important to keep track of information.

The best source of information about a person’s interests is, of course, the individual himself. I’ve always been amazed at how much people will tell you, if you prompt them and are genuinely interested. People generally like to talk about themselves, particularly to someone who is interested in what interests them.

Leadership consultant Kimberly Wiefling offers several aids for generous listening; when someone makes a statement, try one of these phrases in response:

⋅ That's a great idea! Tell me more.
⋅ What would make that possible?
⋅ Say more about that.
⋅ Interesting. What else?
⋅ Be sure to identify tasks volunteers could do when they express interest, and ask them:

Would you be willing to:
⋅ Help us find space for our organization?
⋅ Do clerical work for our office?
⋅ Work on the benefit committee?
⋅ Serve as a member of the board?
⋅ Consider sponsoring a part of our program?
⋅ Help identify people who would be interested in our programs?
⋅ Host a reception where we could share our story with people who might become interested?

Solicitation

I don’t like the term “solicitation” because it implies we are trying to get someone to do something; we are, rather, facilitators, helping an individual accomplish something he wants to do.

Asking is itself a form of cultivation, and it changes the nature of the relationship. Success from the fund raiser’s point of view should be how much a donor gives compared to what he’d have given if he had not been asked. In reality, you can’t possibly lose if you merely ask. As professional hockey star Wayne Gretzky has said, "You miss every shot you don't take." The number one reason people don't give to a cause is that they weren’t asked.

I’ve heard many development professionals – smart people, well-intentioned, earnest – say they aren’t ready to solicit so-and-so because he hasn’t had enough cultivation. As though cultivation were some amount of basting that has to occur before the old bird is tender enough to carve, and as though you only get one shot at it.

Remember the metaphor of the garden? Peas need to be planted early, and conditions have to be ideal from planting to harvest to get the maximum yield. But sometimes the weather doesn’t cooperate, and because the gardener is engaged with other things, he may not get the peas in the ground when he should. So the time for harvest comes, but the peas aren’t fully mature. Now he has to choose: He can take what harvest he gets, or he can wait until next year and hope to catch it just right, banking on a more abundant crop. The amount of harvest he’ll get from this year’s crop of peas – whatever the yield – is greater than what he’ll get if he doesn’t pick the peas.

Every gardener knows that many plants are stimulated to produce more when their fruit is harvested.
How does this relate to development? Philanthropy is a learned behavior, and we need to begin to develop it among those who can become leading donors in the future, even though they may not be able to fill that role at present. Experience demonstrates that solicitation and sight-raising – asking for more than a person normally gives – have a cumulative effect on people’s attitudes and practices of giving.

People new to fund raising often cite being told “no” as their greatest fear of soliciting. None of us likes rejection, and it’s easy to fall prey to taking the outcome of a solicitation personally, especially if you’re personally invested in the enterprise. Let’s try to reframe the solicitation in a way that takes the fear out of asking.

As John D. Rockefeller said, the duty of giving is your prospect’s, just as much as the duty of asking is yours. That’s where you should focus your interest and energy: the duty of asking. The outcome isn’t your responsibility; it is your prospect’s. Remember that the purpose of the gardener is not to make something happen but to create the conditions where the harvest can happen.

It’s useful to think of soliciting as the beginning of a discussion with an individual, rather than the end of anything. Experienced solicitors know that “no” doesn’t always mean you won’t be able to get a gift. No can mean many things, including:

⋅ “No, that amount isn’t right for me in my circumstances.”
⋅ “No, I’m not interested in that particular project.”
⋅ “No, the timing isn’t right for a gift of that amount.”
⋅ “No, you’re not the person I feel should be asking me.”

If you think of solicitation as beginning a gift discussion, and if you are intent on trying to help the individual find a way to make an appropriate commitment to your organization, you can take time to explore how you might turn the “no” into a “maybe” or even a “yes.” Sometimes an individual needs time to think over a commitment, just as she would an investment. Try to discover before you leave some possibility for coming back to the prospect with more information or another idea that will be a better fit.

Sometimes, of course, “no” does mean that the individual cannot see his way clear to making a commitment to your organization. You have no way of knowing the other demands on his resources, and so you shouldn’t take a refusal personally. Remember that if you have asked, you have done your duty. You’re in the business of developing a long-term relationship with the individual, and there will be other opportunities – if you are creative and attentive – to discuss support. Make sure your parting after a refusal is amicable, as your good relations with the individual are far more important than the result of any gift discussion.

When you seek support from an individual, you’re saying, in effect, “I want to have a new relationship with you.” When I served on the staff of The Lawrenceville School, I was having a gift discussion with a prospective donor, who asked me, “What I really want to know is this: When I make a gift and we shake hands, is that handshake going to be a “hello” or a “good-bye”? I used to urge my colleagues to think of the opportunity any gift affords us for distinguishing ourselves and enabling an individual to achieve his or her goals. I would say, “Let someone give $25,000 to us and $25,000 to Harvard, and let us knock him over with the difference he feels he has made to our organization.”

As Mr. Bunting has it, “Active and giving devotion is kindled not by fund-raising activities but by long friendships built on admiration and trust and the expectation that those things will continue.”

Stewardship

The word “stewardship” is often used interchangeably with “cultivation” to describe those activities that move an individual along the continuum from identification to giving. For purposes of discussion here, let’s assume that stewardship has to do with telling the donor the use you have made of his investment, both in terms of the way the funds have been allocated or dispersed and the specific achievements the benefaction has made possible.

Stewardship begins with acknowledgment: an official thank-you that states the amount of the gift, the date it was received, and the purpose for which it was intended. It is, in effect, acknowledgment of a contract that the funds given will be used for the purposes the donor intended.

Every gift is important, and every gift should be acknowledged in a timely way. The sooner the better, and the more personal the better, but there is no excuse for more than three business days to pass before a formal acknowledgment is made to a donor. It may be necessary to send a formal receipt to meet this deadline, after which one can send a personal letter. But in any case, it is important to let the donor know that the gift has arrived safely. This is especially true in the case of gifts of securities, when the donor may have given instructions to his broker to transfer shares and is eager to know whether the transaction has been properly completed.

Stewardship is, of course, a form of cultivation. It has been demonstrated many times that our best prospects are those who have given before, thus it behooves us to make donors feel known, welcome, and important. Penelope Burk's research shows that people are more likely to give again if their gift is promptly acknowledged and they receive a report on their gift at work before being asked to give again. What better way to make a donor feel important than to show that his gift really matters?

Stewardship offers many opportunities to enrich a relationship. Suppose I send you a pepper plant as a gift for your birthday. With a little imagination and minimal effort, you can turn that gift into a wonderful expression of a meaningful relationship. You could first write a note or phone (why not do both?) to say thank you. Later, you can write to say the plant continues to thrive (as if it mattered). Later on, you can write to tell me it has flowered and has set fruit. You can let me know the fruit has matured and you’ve consumed some, putting others by for later enjoyment. You can write to tell me how lovely the peppers are in a jar of vinegar; you can say what vein of memory was tapped when you tasted the vinegar on the season’s first greens. And all this from a mere pepper plant. Think of how much more could be made of a book fund or a scholarship or a grant for a social need.

Conclusion

Each of the six elements of fund raising that I’ve mentioned (identification, information, cultivation, involvement, solicitation, and stewardship) could be a separate chapter unto itself. This brief overview will provide you with a context for learning more about fund raising.

Experience is the best teacher, and as you proceed to seek support for your organization, you’ll become better at it. You’ll become more comfortable asking others to join you, and you may find – as so many others have – that you actually enjoy it.


Addendum

Some of my favorite quotations having to do with money and fund raising:

“People more often need to be reminded than informed.”
– Henry David Thoreau

“The flower comes by itself.”
– Osho, The Empty Boat

“A feast is made for laughter, and wine maketh merry, but money answereth all things.”
– Ecclesiastes 10:19

“Make no small plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood.”
– Daniel Burnham, architect of the first World’s Fair in Chicago, 1893

“People have made at least a start at understanding the meaning of life when they plant shade trees under
which they know full well they will never sit.”
– David Elton Trueblood

“Development is the discovering of shared values; fund raising is giving people an opportunity to act on their
values.”
– Kay Sprinkel Grace

“The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few.”
– Luke 10:2