Managing Internal Requests for Funding
    
Many of my colleagues in health care or hospital shops receive several requests throughout the year by directors in the various departments that serve their organization.  What is a good plan for handling those requests?

The best way I have found to do this consistently is to set a date for submissions and develop steps to the process where everyone is heard and given consideration respectfully. 

Here are some steps that may help you develop your submission plan:

1.       Create a “wish list” form

2.       Have it vetted by your CEO

3.       A couple of months prior to your budget planning have the forms filled out by your department directors

4.       The CEO then prioritizes list according to the strategic plan

5.       Then take prioritized list to your board

6.       They choose one or all of the projects for their fundraising project and assign it the time deemed necessary for successful completion

7.       You can communicate their decisions as you wish back to the directors/CEO, but do let them know of the decision(s)

8.       Develop your budget, fundraising plan for the project(s)

9.       Raise the money!

10.   Celebrate the victories.

 

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Communication

This past week I was asked to:

1. write year end appeal letters
2. record my major gift moves in our donor management software
3. account for all proposals for the week
4. get permission to be PM (principal manager in our system) for a few new potential donors
5. make a vacation request
6. cancel and/or reschedule some meetings on my calendar
7. and so on....

Sound familiar?  Well, you ask, "did you do all those things?"   The answer is, on 4 of the 6, I really don't know if it was completed.  Oh yes, I did all the details with accuracy, but I never heard back from the next one in the communication chain whether or not they did their part.

So, I'm left with a quandary.  Do I set up "shadow systems" so that I can keep track of my work and reports, do I continue to communicate with the next in line to ask them if they did what they were supposed to do?

All this could be easily done or remedied depending upon how you see this if we would remember that communication is a loop - a circle.

If only we had a simple policy that when someone gives you a report, request, task, to respond to them in the manner in which they communicated, to share with them that the task was satisfactorily completed.  We could have assurance that we have finished the task.

It's important that we respond in the same method of communication.  Let me give you an example:  I receive emailed calendar "invites" that I can accept or decline and it populates my calendar.  However, the originator cancels or postpones these same events by just sending an ordinary email.   What happens?  I have to take additional steps to amend or cancel the request on my calendar.  Many times I am not at my computer... I may be traveling or out on a call and have to stop and change all the details via iPhone.  No, it isn't terribly inconvenient, but it leaves the door wide open for miscommunication. 

Last week, I saw 4 people come to a meeting that had been canceled.  Why? Because of the disjointed communication mentioned above.  If you send a calendar invite and have to change the time or date, just update the invite.  Then the person can accept and voila, the calendars are all updated.

In closing, sometimes, after you email, send an electronic invite or message, pick up the phone and give that person a call.  It's amazing what happens in 1:1 communication where we actually talk.

Effective communication is a loop... be sure to close it.

 

Ever Wanted to Give Up?

Some of you reading this may have had some difficult times and some may be even experiencing them now.  What do you do when work is hard?  Here are some steps to get you going:

1. Think about your job.  What can you be grateful for?  I've heard a preacher say that you may not like the job you're in, but if you lost it, how much would you want to have the same job?  Write down all that you can appreciate about your job.
2. Who has helped you get where you are?  Write them and thank them. (I suggest writing actual notes and putting them in the mail). 
3. What are the next steps you need to take?  Write them out and put them on your calendar in priority order and do them.
4. List the names of donors/prospects you can call for appointments.  Why would you want to speak with them?  Write it down.  Then make the calls.  Get appointments on your calendar.  Seeing donors is the best way to get motivated.  These are people who have given to your cause.  It's easy to appreciate them!
5. Make a donation to your own cause.  That's right.  Write a check and give. 

If you wish, send me an email and I will find time to help you. 

Thanks for reading.

The True Financial Impact of Philanthropy

We have done a study recently on the impact of fundraising on our institution.  This was done by asking the question, "How much would a department have to raise to add $10,000 net profit to their bottom line?" 

Here are the calculations:

What is your hospital’s (or other department, college, institute) margin? Our operating margin has been 1.7%.  Using 1.7%, that means that a $10,000 gift to the foundation is equivalent to the Hospital having to bill out $588,235.29 ($10,000 / .017) to achieve the $10,000 net profit.

However, there’s another twist to this equation. We don’t collect 100% on our billings. Actually, the number is more like $.41 for every $1. Therefore to realize the actual $588,235.29, we would really need to bill out $1,434,720.23 ($588,235.29/.41)!

Therefore, that $10,000 gift is equivalent to having to bill out in excess of 1.4 million dollars. What an impactful fact for the donor and the Foundation. Use this rationale all the time in solicitations.

Take away - EVERY dollar given has a huge impact on the beneficiary institution. 

Wish Lists - Opportunity or Complaint?

As fundraisers, we are challenged by funding requests.  There are times when you are not included in the process of setting a goal and are just given the end document that states that $10,000,000 is needed to build a sewer system and this could be a naming opportunity!  (Okay, I'm overstating a little in making my point).  What do you do when that happens?

I've been tempted to complain that the people who authored such a thing are not "fundraisers" and that their request is not well thought. But I choose to stop that line of thought and flip it, to think that this is an opportunity to help colleagues and the people who benefit from their work.  It makes planning, implementing and collaborating a time to teach and to help people outside our fundraising professional family to get understanding of the wonderful things that can happen when true fundraising meets opportunity.

My Company

I want to empower the people around me.


To provide fun, fulfilling work that helps the world

I want it to be nimble, quick, human centered

I want to enjoy the spiritual leadership from the gut as we hear from GOD

To give people enriching, rewarding lives

I want to avoid taking on someone else’s legacy
I want to work with people with the right Spirit and start from scratch to build something unique

Everyone well trained, engaged and knowing what others do and who to go to for help

“What a person does on his own, without being stimulated by the thoughts and experiences of others, is even in the best cases rather paltry and monotonous.” Albert Einstein

Want people who like to share, be generous with their arts and talents and who talk to each other.

Want people who enjoy providing ideas, solutions and willing to jump in and implement with no thought of status or ego because they love what they do.

Create an environment to allow exceptional people and ideas to reveal themselves.

I want to work with people who are real.

People who care about others, without getting into personal zones they shouldn’t intrude into.

Friends.

A Team that can produce unprecedented outcomes.

Who aren’t afraid to try.

Who aren’t afraid of failure, but who see failure as another step to success.

Who don’t give up.

People who consistently SAY what their outcomes will become

People who can pass through my company on to other things and who will appreciate what the business and experience has given to them and be able to keep blessing their history with me.

Givers, generous, who look for ways to give

When it gets too big (around 50 people), split it and make associate level people the directors of the new companies

Being the only one in the world like it.

Amazing Outcomes

Did you read the Chronicle of Philanthropy articles on St. Jude's in Memphis?  Amazing!  Led by David McKee this organization raised nearly $700,000,000 last year.  (I counted the zeros... this is not a typo!). 

What would it take for your organization to reach the greatest amount raised yet? 

There are a few keys:

1. Make the "donor experience" with your organization the central point of your focus
2. Have a lot of conversations
3. Listen to your donors
4. Thank them more than ask them, but....
5. ASK!

Please take the poll on this page and let me know what you consider the most effective way to raise a lot of money very quickly.

Task Forces

When there is a job or task to do around your shop, I encourage you to use a task force.  Task forces are created to do a specific thing, then they disband and the members can be utilized for something else that is meaningful.

Create task forces for evaluation of existing fundraising methods, to try out new things, and to build streamlined systems for your best practices.

Find great people and turn them loose!

The Fundraiser as a Philanthropist

Many of us have heard that the "fundraiser should give before asking someone else to give."  However, do you do that?  My wife is one of the most generous persons I've met.  We look for ways to give.  I give to causes within the institution I serve.. 

However, recently I did a study on stewardship and had opportunity to look at giving records of fundraisers for an institution.  Only a small percentage of them gave significantly to their cause!

If you aren't giving to your own cause, why would a potential donor want to give? 

I hope you are generous.  If not, figure out what holds you back from being generous.  Givers look for ways to give.