A thread in a listserve in which I participate addressed the question(s) of Creating-and-Implementing and Finding-and-Compensating a Consultant to help with a Corporation Solicitation Programs. Interestingly, the latter issue stimulated most of the responses/comments, with little attention being paid to the former. So, I’ll address the “more popular” issue first – compensating the “consultant” … …
Finance/
Financing & Loans
There is a simple, but not simplistic, description of what major gift fundraising is all about: It’s having the right person, asking the right person, for the right amount, at the right time, under the right circumstances. The two right people are the cultivator/solicitor and the prospective donor. They’ve developed a common interest, a relationship …
Raising money from wealthy people is not the same as asking buddies at work to kick in a few bucks or selling cookies. The size of the gifts expected in those cases is rather small and not a lot of cultivation goes into the process. People who are major gift prospects have (more than likely) …
One of the things I find most frustrating about teaching classes in fundraising is the frequency in which people cry about not knowing the best/easiest way to ask for the gift and/or ask when/where will be the next class in “How to Ask.” O.K. I understand. A significant percentage of volunteers/leaders who are involved in …
(Writing a “Wow” Needs Statement) So, how do you capture and hold the attention of the funder reading your proposal? The first section of each proposal, after an introduction or executive summary, is the Needs Statement. That is where the proposal writer presents and justifies the request for funding. The funder, of course, will be …
Too many people (NPO board members, volunteers and staff) believe that “Evaluation” means determining what a potential donor should give!! That couldn’t be more wrong. A formal evaluation process has two objectives: to identify a dollar amount that the prospective donor would be likely to be able to afford; and, to identify a (realistic) dollar …
Building an Effective Grant Proposal: Part One So, you’ve completed your research and are ready to start writing!! The question, now, is how do you go about structuring your grant proposal? For those circumstances where the funder provides specific guidelines, there’s only one rule worth remembering: “Follow those guidelines to the letter.” But what about …