The Basics

Accelerate your personal fundraising goals – 5 easy tips

Kirk Sadler — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 20:42:00 GMT

You found a cause you're passionate about - now how do you spread the word?

Develop a list of potential donors

Put together a list of anyone and everyone in your network - it could be family, friends, co-workers, friends of friends and local businesses. You'll be surprised how large your network really is, and how open people are to contributing to a good cause!

Begin communicating and build a website

Once you've built a list, it's time to reach out and tell your story. You can do this through email, phone calls, personal meetings, fundraising events, or by asking your contacts to spread the word.

The most effective means to communicate to a wide audience is through an online presence. You'll need a central place that conveys the message behind the cause and can easily capture donations. Blackbaud WebNow with PayPal is a simple way to get your personal fundraising site up and running quickly, and doesn't require technical expertise.

Leverage social networking

Social networking is becoming a powerful way to expand your network and reach new donors. You can add your donation link to your Facebook profile, and your visitors can link directly from that page to your donation site. You'll reap the benefits of getting additional exposure to people that you may not come in contact with regularly. You can do the same for LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace or any other social networking site you belong to.

Contact your local newspaper and news station

Human interest stories are always a favorite of the media and draw in viewers and readers. Find out which reporters are in charge of community news and appeal to them directly with a feel-good, people-focused story. You'll be amazed by how much traffic will increase to your site with one story in the local paper - and who knows, it may be compelling enough to capture national media attention.

Keep your donors updated

Keep your donors up to speed on your progress - donations raised, relevant events and news. Once you've reached your goals, make sure your donors are thanked and feel appreciated. Your website is the ideal place to communicate the status of your cause and to keep the momentum going even after you've reached your initial goals.

Spread the Word

Kirk Sadler — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:06:00 GMT

On one hand I am saddened to read the many stories published with BlackbaudNow. The are very personal and occasionally tragic events that have transpired. On the other hand, I am thrilled that Blackbaud is able to provide individuals a voice to their personal causes and help in some very small way. It is this delicate balance that each of us walk every day as we delve into our passions of the nonprofit world.

In fact, I recently had the opportunity to review a list of users for BlackbaudNow (800+ and growing) and was surprised to read that many of the them (north of 50%) are personal fundraisers. Basically, you and me who are raising money on behalf of a charity or personal cause. To that end, I wanted to spend a moment sharing a story from a BlackbaudNow user that helped them raise more money for their personal cause.

As mentioned above, some of these stories are very tragic. Here someone was killed after a Phillies game inPhiladelphia, PA. The family members while stricken with grief needed a way to raise money quickly and used BlackbaudNow to simplify the giving process. This sad story ultimately reached the local news and an article was published online. That simple placement in the local newspaper (print or online) provided a kick to their fundraising well beyond the creation of the BlackbaudNow site alone. That article was simply a communication to the public about a personal tragedy that helped spread the word!

In BlackbaudNow, we have provided email tools so that you can spread the word to your friends, family, colleagues, donors, etc in email and have that communication saved you know who you have already touched. However, do not stop there find other ways to share your story --- flyers, speak with your local newspaper, etc

In closing, I challenge everyone to spend 5 minutes to expand your voice for your cause right now --- it will make a difference! As always, if you have any product suggestions or simply want to share a great story about online fundraising please do not hesitate to email me at kirk.sadler@blackbaud.com.

Happy Fundraising!

The Elevator Pitch

Kirk Sadler — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 13:20:00 GMT

All of us in the fundraising business are essentially trying to communicate a message that we are deeply passionate about. Be that about endangered animals, hungry children, a family member with a six or seven figure hospital bill without insurance, etc. It is no doubt that every one of us has countless action items, completed tasks, meetings, and volunteers to coordinate as they relate to our missions. However, in the end, your donors, volunteers, supporters, friends, family and loved ones really only care about one thing; the result. How many meals did you serve with my money? Was my neighbor able to rebuild his home after a fire that destroyed their home? Was my mother able to secure the money to travel and pay the surgeon for an organ transplant?

It is these stories that bring forth the best in all of us to help one another. To that end, I just completed an article on getting your point across quickly called, Why should I give £100 to your charity now? In very plain spoken Queen's English I might add, it hits the nail on the head. Basically, it indicates that if you can not answer this question in a few words or less it will be difficult, at best, to keep the attention of your existing and prospective donors. It evens go so far to suggest a four pillars exercise to establish this elevator pitch;

What is your vision?
What prevents you from accomplishing this vision?
Who is needed to achieve this mission? THE DONOR
Who will benefit from achieving this mission?

Those seem like very simple and logical questions to ask. That said, have we all done that to maximize our potential?

A slogan, tagline or elevator pitch always conjures up images of Nike with their advertising campaign, Just Do It! While that is no longer a running campaign of theirs it was one of the most popular campaigns ever and still resonates. While none of have the advertising dollars to spend that Nike does it is important to recognize the value of a simple yet moving slogan for your cause.

In closing, I challenge everyone to spend 15 - 30 minutes to develop your own elevator pitch to bring you closer to your fundraising goals. As always, if you have any product suggestions or simply want to share a great story about online fundraising please do not hesitate to email me at kirk.sadler@blackbaud.com.

Happy Fundraising!

Follow Your Passions

Kirk Sadler — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:35:00 GMT

I'll say it again, life is about following your passions. We are told over and over in life (parents, friends, peers, colleagues, etc) that if you do follow your passion, the money will follow. To that end, I wanted to share some thoughts on risks and following your passion by asking everyone to watch this great video of Steve Jobs giving the commencement speech at Stanford University. Steve Jobs is the co-founder and CEO of Apple and Pixar Animation Studios (recently acquired by Disney). You either love him or hate him. However, no one can say that Steve has not been one of the most influential individuals in technology ever! Yes, I am a fan!

If you embark upon this journey you will hear about a young college student who was attending one of the top liberal arts programs in the nation, Reed College, but instead of being excited by that opportunity he decided it would be better to follow his passions around graphic design, kerning, fonts, etc. He stopped attending his necessary classes for graduation and began "dropping in" on classes that he enjoyed, loved, looked forward to and actually did homework for. He continued to research, read, create appointments with individuals / companies who shared this passion with him. Most of you know the story that he dropped out entirely, started Apple and let's just say he is doing just fine.

What does all this mean? Well let's start with any campaign or fundraiser you might have going on right now. Why are you doing it? Can you find some small (or large) way that this campaign impacts your life personally? Can you draw upon that energy to connect with others to drive you to success? What creative step are you going to take right now to bring you one step closer to your fundraising goal? To share a personal passion. I love endurance events, mainly running. However, I recently started doing triathlons as well. The connection is that I have done a couple Team in Training events which combines endurance athletics and fundraising for a fantastic cause. So I ask you how can you bring one of your personal life passions to help your fundraising goals?

As always, if you have any product suggestions or simply want to share a great story about online fundraising please do not hesitate to email me at kirk.sadler@blackbaud.com.

Happy Fundraising!

Did you know

Kirk Sadler — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 19:06:00 GMT

I just re-watched one of those "Did You Know " videos on YouTube it continues to utterly amaze me with some of the stats inside it. That said, if you have not seen it it take six minutes and you will be amazed. Not convinced, here are few amazing stats for you to ponder:

1. Did you know that one out of every four employees, according to the Department of Labor, has only worked for the current employer for less than one year! Translation, if you only have the email or physical address of your supporters at their workplace how often do you ask them to give you an updated version? Hopefully, more than once a year.

2. Did you know that one out of every eight couples that married last year in the US met ONLINE. Translation, how are you trying to foster a viral network so more supporters can find you ONLINE?

3. Did you know the number of text messages that are sent each day exceeds the population of the planet. Translation, are you communicating with your supporters in more than one way? Maybe email, phone, text is not their number one choice? BlackbaudNow can store what their mailing preference is with a note.

4. Did you know the amount of new technical information is doubling every two years. Translation, while you may not think of yourself as technical how are you remaining relevant to your supporters with all this information being thrown at them?

5. ....

I hope this spurred some thought about how fast things are happening and the need to remain relevant. I know I too have some work to do myself. As always, if you have any product suggestions or simply want to share a great story about online fundraising please do not hesitate to email me at kirk.sadler@blackbaud.com.

Happy Fundraising!

Getting Out of Our Comfort Zones

Kirk Sadler — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:14:00 GMT

I just read an great article from the Nonprofit Times called, Youth Movement Critical for Boards. It is almost incomprehensible to read that we need an average of 26 million new board members each year just to keep the nonprofit world we love running. Of which only 2% is staffed with individuals under 30 and 30% are staffed with individuals between 30 - 49. That means nearly 70% are staffed with Baby Boomers. In fact, the retirement of so many Baby Boomers could affect the future growth of the nonprofit sector.

OK, so what does that all mean for me. As a young, grass roots or small nonprofit you may not even have a board yet or perhaps you just recruited your first board member or two. If you are not a nonprofit, but a personal fundraiser raising money on behalf of a cause, be that a charity or one more personal to you or your family, you too will certainly not have a board --- so why I am writing this post.

I am writing this post as we all must engage each generation not just the ones we are familiar. I am "classified" as Generation X (born between 1965 - 1979) and must admit that most of my life is spent with people similar in age, with similar social, economic and family patterns. Birds of a feather --- well they flock together. So when recruiting your next board member or planning your next campaign (or fundraiser) make sure your outreach includes all generations to volunteer, donate, and serve. Each generation will have different ideas, different networks, different ways of communicating, etc. Tapping into those ideas, networks and communication streams will prove invaluable as they will bring your cause to places you could not do alone if you stayed within your comfort zone.

Think about it for just a minute. When someone hears Facebook, they think of Generation Y (born between 1980 - 2000). However, did you know the fastest growing segment of Facebook is Women over 55? That said, are you asking your baby boomer supporters to inform Generation Y about you --- since they are both on Facebook? Also, did you know that Generation Y is the first generation to be more aware of world challenges --- thanks to the Internet? In fact, 81% of 1800 youth (ages 13 - 25) individuals surveyed said they volunteered last year. Again, how are you tapping into this desire to make the world a better place?

As always, if you have any product suggestions or simply want to share a great story about online fundraising please do not hesitate to email me at kirk.sadler@blackbaud.com.

Happy Fundraising!

The one page fundraising plan

Kirk Sadler — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:56:00 GMT

I recently had the opportunity to participate in the culmination of a superbly executed fundraising campaign. What made it superb was that our client (the Communities Foundation of Texas - CFT) was able to raise over $4m for 353 Dallas based nonprofits using Donor Bridge. How was it done you ask? Well to put it simply, they made a plan, committed to it and then executed passionately!

CFT's plan included three main elements; selecting the technology, empowering their staff and developing a marketing plan. For this blog, I will only focus on the latter; the marketing plan. CFT called a meeting and literally wrote down every individual who could help them get their message across; donors, volunteers, partners, companies, media, etc. CFT then grouped them into different categories to determine what role each of these individuals would play in their campaign. Then CFT prioritized that list to know whom to contact first. For instance, CFT knew that they would not be able to mobilize the Dallas community without the support of the nonprofits. So CFT called focus groups of key nonprofits to get the word out and their buy-in. CFT then partnered with the Center for Nonprofit Management whom nonprofits already trusted and virally it flowed. Of course, there were many follow-up with the nonprofits and their partners to ensure their message was consistent and being told.

So you ask, what does this mean for me? Well having visited many of your websites, I noticed that many of you are conducting fundraisers. For success, you will need a plan to reach your fundraising goals. To that end, can you make a list of every donor, supporter, volunteer, friend, family member, co-worker, fellow student, etc whom you could ask for help with your fundraiser? Do you know what role they will play for you? Will some make donation asks? While others actually run the event? How will you notify them you need help? Of course, I must plug EmailNow. How will you will follow-up with them? For those that can't give time can they give money and vice versa? How can you make it personal for them? My wife is on our local PTA and always brings one of my children to her meetings which now has my oldest child very interested in volunteering.

The net result is simple. A one page plan of the activities you are going to execute to achieve your fundraising success is worth its weight in gold. Better yet, it will likely only take you 15 - 30 minutes to develop this one page plan that you will refer to often, hand-out to newly recruited volunteers, iterate until your goals are met and use as baseline for your next fundraiser.

As always, if you have an product suggestions or simply want to share a great story about online fundraising please do not hesitate to email me at kirk.sadler@blackbaud.com.

Happy Fundraising!

Double your pleasure

Kirk Sadler — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:10:00 GMT

I always liked that commercial from Wrigley's on Doublemint gum, "double your pleasure, double your fun". Well June 2009 is just that type of month for users of BlackbaudNow. For the entire month all your donations will be tallied and 21 organizations will have their June donations matched up to $2,500. That's right; we have entered the home stretch of the BlackbaudNow Sweepstakes.

So pull out all the stops and take advantage of this rare opportunity. Translation, if you have not told your supporters about your website now is the time. By the way, EmailNow is a great way to do that because each email sent from BlackbaudNow will have a journal record on the donors history so that you know the last time you reached to that person. Even if you have told your supporters, tell them again, as I bet they did not know about the matching contest.

As always, if you have an product suggestions or simply want to share a great story about online fundraising please do not hesitate to email me at kirk.sadler@blackbaud.com

Happy Fundraising!

You Have to Ask

Kirk Sadler — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:00:00 GMT

I am back again. I just finished reading an article at Guidestar titled Do-It-Yourself Fundraising: How to Get Money for Your Nonprofit. This article is filled with lots of sage advice, but my favorite is "you have to ask". The number one reason people don't give money to your cause is that they were not asked. This always reminds me of one of my absolute favorite college professors at Auburn University (War Eagle for those of who follow SEC football). He always said to me and anyone else who would listen, "there is no such thing as a stupid question other than the ones that do not get asked".

I have thought of that statement many times since graduating 17 years ago (yes I am 40) and have tried to use it wisely. Your supporters and prospective ones would love to give to you, but often do not know there is a need unless you ask them directly. Yes, they visited your website. Yes, they came to your weekend fundraiser. Yes, they read your newsletter. However, if you do not ask them they may or may not give. Why not increase your odds? Studies have shown that simply asking increases the chances of magic happening; turning visitors to donors!

Now just take a minute and think of your next opportunity this week (heck, why not today) to ask a donor to give again or someone you just met online or face to face how to become a donor. When you ask, please be sure to include "what's in it for them". For example, please tell them that their $10 gift will pay for food for two puppies for a week or that their $25 gift will cover the costs of five immunizations for an elderly person. Whatever the reason, be specific. Not only does this help the donor make a connection with your cause, but it helps them realize you have thought this through.

Happy Fundraising!

The Creativity Nonprofits Never Cease to Amaze Me

Kirk Sadler — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:00:00 GMT

Welcome to the first blog post for a new blog from Blackbaud called "The Basics". My name is Kirk Sadler, and I am the Product Line Manager at Blackbaud responsible for BlackbaudNow. I choose the title "The Basics" because it just felt right in our current economy. When the economy is doing well we sometimes forgot what really is working as it seems that everything we do brings in more money; face to face, phone calls, emails, direct mail, etc. Each method has positives and negatives, but we rarely think about them much when times are good. However, right now, when ever dollar of expense and revenue matters we dig a little deeper to understand what can I do right now to maximize my revenue and minimize my cost and energy expended. It is for those reasons, that we are delighted to offer BlackbaudNow to small, growing or grass roots nonprofits. We know your time is precious and the more you can spend on your cause the better off our society will be.

To that end, with BlackbaudNow you can be up and running in minutes with your own website, have the ability to collect online donations and steward / cultivate those donors with email for the next ask. We launched the new service on March 30^th with PayPal and in just over 60 days we already have over 325 clients using BlackbaudNow. I am going to focus in on one recent client who has had extreme success raising money with BlackbaudNow and Twitter. For those of you who are not aware of Twitter it is service to allow you to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

In fact, Blackbaud's very own Chad Norman publisher of Webby Things got so jazzed up after the last The Nonprofit Technology Conference that he decided take matters into his own hands and raise money to Help Give Back to the NTEN Staff with BlackbaudNow. What's truly amazing is in JUST six days he raised $730 with only one approach, Twitter. Now if you gaze into my crystal ball and imagine 30, 60, 90 days into the future NTEN can begin cultivating these supporters using EmailNow for future interaction or financial support simply because each donor is stored for later usage. What's even more amazing, is that this did not cost Chad anything. Each service was there at his fingertips to leverage for NTEN. He knew the fastest way to reach everyone was digitally.

That said, I want to hear from you in terms of your creative ideas on how to fundraise online. So please let me know your thoughts by just clicking on kirk.sadler@blackbaud.com and shooting me an email.

Happy Fundaising!