Nonprofit Fundraising and Volunteers

Fundraising is easier when the board’s actions support the fundraising message. In addition, the agency is more unified and sustainable. A collateral or coincidental benefit is an increase in clients, volunteers, collaborations, and donations.

The community is the primary stakeholder. Community ownership and benefit is why the IRS grants nonprofit status to the agency. The exception is a faith-based organization. With faith-based organizations, God is the primary stakeholder.

At Mission Enablers, we help nonprofits build their capacity to serve. After eight years of helping numerous nonprofits increase their sustainability, we know what works. It works over the long-term but seldom provides a quick fix. That explains why so many nonprofits resist focusing on the community when fundraising and why so many are struggling with the down economy.

Consider this approach. “We help the community solve the problem of … Would you also like to help the community solve the problem?” How many people are going to say, “No, I don’t care about …”?

Some people care passionately about the problem. Some are passionate about other problems. It is up to you to decide if the donor’s passion is sufficient to continue the conversation.

Remember that a small dispassionate donation costs more to accept than it is worth. It takes time to process the donation, send a thank you, and track the donor for the next two years before dropping them due to a lack of continuing interest.

The flipside is that a small passionate donation is worth doing as long as you are committed to cultivating the donor’s passion. Without continuing donor cultivation, it is unwise to accept the gift.

It is also important to remember that talking about the community interests appears insincere if the board ignores community interests in its decision making process.

Determining the board’s sincere interest in serving the community is easy. First, remember that our actions speak louder than our words. Second, attend the next board meeting. After the board meeting, ask yourself the following questions:

The community – did anyone ask what does community wants us to do or mention the community?

The mission – was the mission mentioned at all?

Did anyone ask how will this decision serve the mission?

The clients – were the clients, their welfare, or success discussed?

Services – was there any discussion of the service offering, how to improve, create better outcomes, etc.?

Unfortunately, money or money related issues are often the dominant or exclusive topic of discussion.

Some would say that the community, mission, client, and services are all a part of the discussion of money. A properly functioning corporate board never makes the stockholders an implied part of the conversation.

The primary interests of the stockholders are growth, profits, and sustainability. Money is the primary measure so it is appropriate for the for-profit board to discuss money. Money is the way we know that the board is serving the interests of the stockholders.

The community’s primary interests are the mission and the success of the clients. Is money a valid measure? Should the board talk about something that is unimportant to the primary stakeholder?

Imagine how changing the focus from money to what matters to the community will change the discussion. It is a tough transition. It is a cultural change for many boards. Cultural changes are time consuming, hard work, and messy.

Success will be more than worth the effort!!! The peace, unity, and sense of fulfillment that comes from every board meeting will be worth it. A collateral or coincidental benefit is an increase in clients, volunteers, collaborations, and donations.

Your job as a development professional will be easier and the agency more sustainable if the board’s actions echo your “Ask”.

As always, if you want help contact us.

Mission Enablers

Fundraisers are a waste of time, effort, and annoy people. If that were true, why would you hold one? The common answer is because we need the money. Are you raising enough money to justify the time, effort, and ill will?

Mission Enablers provides consulting services to nonprofits. Holding a fundraiser is common event. When the nonprofit is struggling, it becomes a frequent event. The theory says that with more money our financial worries will evaporate. The theory is fine. Do you know of anyone who has achieved financial health through a fundraising event or through several events?

Consider a nonprofit with a $1,500,000 budget, an operating deficit of $150,000, and declining donations. Can it afford to annoy people? Can it afford to waste anyone’s time?

The board decided to hold a hog roast and auction to raise money. When the auction was over, they raised $5,000 after expenses. The attendance was about the same as last year. There were a few new people and some of the regulars were absent. The merchants who provided the auction items were annoyed. The auction items sold at a discount. The merchants felt their gifts were undervalued. The organizers felt that the buyers took advantage of the event and failed to honor the spirit of the event. The volunteers and staff were annoyed because they put in 835 hours and the event earned less than $6 per hour for their time. As one person put it, “We could have stood on street corners with coffee cans and earned more money per hour!!!”

They earned 3% of what they needed to balance the budget. In addition, they spent three months preparing, organizing, and holding the event. In short, they invested 25% of the available time to earn 3% of the need.

The board’s response was, “We had to do something.”

When no one wins, it is a very sad story.

Is that an uncommon story? In our experience the answer is no.

What is the solution?

There are two solutions. The first is contact everyone who attended the event and determine why. Several of those people really care about the mission. Help those caring people connect with the parts of the process that are important to them. Over time, their passion will cause them to give. Their gifts will be larger than their purchases at the auction and their entire gift will support the agency. The cost of events dilutes the value of the income. In addition, they will make their gift year after year without the reoccurring expense of the auction and hog roast.

Yes, that is time-consuming work. However, it will produce more dollars per hour than the fundraiser did. In addition, the donors will keep giving year after year. The dollars per hour next year will be even higher. How does that compare with a fundraising event?

The second solution is to invite people currently without a connection to the agency to have lunch or coffee on Friday. Each Friday have a different group of adults (5 – 10 individuals) visit. Give them a tour of your agency as well as the free food. Talk to them about how the agency is changing lives every day.

Just give them a good time and plant the seeds. Asking for money will be easier in a few weeks once the seeds begin to sprout.

Within a week of their visit call them and discover what parts of the mission are important to them. Help them see how they can easily connect to their areas of interest. Then over the coming year cultivate a deeper interest. As their interest deepens, you will find multiple opportunities to increase their financial commitment. At the end of three months, the agency will have more money with less effort and everyone will be happy. In six months, your accomplishments will be impressive.

The third solution is to do both. However, the long-term goal is to eliminate all fundraiser. They are an unwanted tax on the faithful and a burden for the staff and volunteers.

As always, if you want help contact us.

Mission Enablers

“The economy is the reason donations are down!”

This is something we hear frequently from our clients before a project begins. In their opinion, donations would be up this year except for the economic difficulties. Do you share their belief?

Mission Enablers works with nonprofits of all types (traditional nonprofits, churches, schools, and faith-based groups). We help them prosper and build their capacity to serve others.

When the economy is weak is when our client’s need us the most. When the economy is weak is when your clients need you the most.

Is it reasonable for either of us to withhold services or tell a client success is unlikely because the economy makes it hard to do business?

Without regard for how hard or easy it might be, it is the job of the development department and executive staff to raise funds for the mission and the clients. It is certainly true that a strong economy makes fundraising easier. It is equally true that a weak economy makes fundraising difficult. Regardless, the clients need services and those services depend on money.

If blaming the economy is unreasonable and withholding services is unreasonable what is the reasonable response?

Discover what your agency does better than anyone else does. “Anyone” means anyone without exception, explanation, or excuses.

Here is a counter example. I was asked for a donation recently. My response was, “Why?” I was told because the agency needed the money to serve their clients. I asked if it was possible for the client to receive serves elsewhere. The response was, “Of course they could but we don’t want them to start using another agency.”

The implication of that conversation is that the clients are indifferent about who serves them and the services are just as good somewhere else. In rare instances that is true. Most of the time clients choose the agency for a specific reason. Usually, the community has a specific reason for referring clients. Rarely, do donors know the reason.

If the donors knew the reason, they would have more motivation to give. They would give more generously. They would help recruit new donors. New donors would understand why your agency instead of another.

Your agency excels at something. “It” is something you can document with hard evidence rather than anecdotally. Clients value “It”. Donors value “It”. The community values “It”.

If you are unaware of what “It” is, talk to your donors, alumni, clients, staff, and the community. If you ask the right questions, they will tell you.

When you know what “It” is, document “It” (prove it with facts and statistics), formalize “It” (create a structure, do “It” intentionally, and find a way to reproduce “It”), and tell everyone. Tell everyone why “It” is important, what the value and benefits are, and why your agency does “It”.

As soon as you have “It” documented and formalized, donations will begin to increase. More clients will appear. When you begin telling everyone, the response will surprise you.

Follow this advice and your agency will achieve sustainability. Doubling donation in five years is a reasonable expectation for most agencies.

As always, if you want help contact us.

Mission Enablers

Direct mail is unlikely to be worth much effort.

Direct mail is less effective than ever. The reasons are well known. Your nonprofit is likely to starve if it depends on direct mail. It is unusual for major donors to respond to direct mail.

People are looking harder at their charitable budget and cutting where they can. It is easy to cut a charity if you have a limited relationship with them and give a small amount. When the gift is small, it seems harmless to eliminate it. If every small donor thinks that way, it hurts. Many small donors are thinking that way. In addition, when the relationship is shallow, there is minimal, if any, emotional relationship. If you have neither an economic tie nor an emotional tie, it is hard to sustain the relationship.

If you talk to the small donors, they often feel like they are giving to a nonprofit rather than a cause or someone in need. I realize that your mission is cause related and you serve those in need. Your reality is different from their perception.

At the same time, their cause or need related giving is unlikely to change unless they lose their jobs. Even if unemployment rises to 10%, most of us (90%) will still be working. However, the projection is that donations will be down 15% this year (about twice the current unemployment rate). Some agencies are experiencing a bigger loss. The weaker the emotional connection is the larger the loss in donors and funds. Remember, their cause related giving is separate from their small gift to your nonprofit.

The small minimally engaged donors are the ones you will lose if you eliminate direct mail (letters and email). At the same time, they are eliminating themselves. Is this a preventable loss? If so, is it worth preventing?

If everyone in your donor list who usually gives less $100 gives nothing this year, how much income will be lost? How hard will it be to replace the loss?

Deciding on the impact of loosing those donors is important. If you have 450 donors who give an average of $65 each via direct mail, you have $29,250 at risk. If your budget is $725, 000, the maximum loss is about 4%.

If an important percentage of the annual budget depends on direct mail and the small donors, you need a plan. Otherwise, someone else’s direct mail panic is distracting you.

There must be an alternative.

Assuming one will experience a 15% drop in donations means that one should spend their effort cultivating the retainable donors. If a sizable number are retainable through direct mail, then it will be important to do the direct mail. Otherwise, that same effort will be more beneficially spent on donor cultivation.

The goal of the donor cultivation should be a 15% increase from the retained donors. Previous articles talk about how to cultivate the donor base. Cultivation is a person-to-person process. Cultivation tightens the connection between the donor and the mission.

We work with churches as well as traditional nonprofits. Churches exemplify both parts of this article. Some churches are struggling. Some churches are prospering. Knowing why some succeed when another church of the same denomination is struggling is important.

In both cases, the members know the church and its mission. However, in the struggling church very few of the members feel connected to the mission. It is abstract and impersonal.

When it is personal, they are involved. They see the number of people served rather than read the statistic in a weekly report. They experience the increase in service requests. They understand the need at a personal and practical level. They care about the service recipients because they know them. They give because they understand what the gift will do. They also recruit others to serve or be service recipients.

Some of the recruits are members and others are non-members. The members become more personally involved and the cycle continues. The non-members sometimes become members and the cycle continues. Some of the non-members remain non-member supporters. The non-member supporters create a stronger connection to the community. Their support creates a broad and sustainable cause related donor base.

It is easy to see why and how the church with the outward focus prospers and is sustainable. There are local nonprofits that have passionate supporters and are continuing to prosper. They do the same thing as the prospering churches but in a different way.

How are you going to change your fundraising model? Are you going to cultivate a deeper relationship with all of your donors? Are you going to prosper while others struggle? Direct mail is unlikely to create that direct personal interest that makes an organization sustainable.

With donations down, we are all looking for the next good idea. I have it.

Since donations are down, something is broken. If it is broken, fix it. Avoid at all costs the temptation to reinvent it.

One of the oldest adages is “A penny for your thoughts.” Even with inflation over the years, the price is still appropriate.

I have provided consulting services to nonprofits for almost 10 years. I have seen many nonprofits pay more than a penny for a good idea. Every one of them paid too much.

How many good ideas has someone shared with the fund development department this week? Have you heard 10 good ideas this week? How many of them are worth more than a penny?

An idea, a plan, or a consultant is only worth what they produce. A good idea produces nothing of value. Putting the good idea to work may produce something. Will that something be worth more than a penny? Is this the year to take a risk and find out?

The next time someone comes in your office with a good idea tell him or her to show you. Give them 10% of the donor base to try the idea out on. If it produces better results than the last appeal to that same group then it is a good idea that works. Give them a penny and hire them to implement the idea on the rest of the donor base.

If they are unwilling or unable to implement the idea, move on. The economy is tight, fundraising is going to be difficult this year, and risking any energy on an unproven idea is unwarranted. This is the year to stick with the tried and true.

We all like new fresh ideas. Remember, Edison ran over 2000 experiments looking for the right filament for the light bulb. New, fresh ideas take time to find. Some other year would be a better one to test new ideas. Let someone else do the testing this year, if it is important.

In a tough environment, it is tempting to try the miracle cure. Five years ago, the miracle cure for home ownership was a subprime loan. Does your fundraising really need a miracle or just hard work?

This is the year to focus on polishing the appeal. Sharpen the words. Improve the graphics. Enliven the emotions. Strengthen the logic. Personalize the message. See the two previous articles (the first and the second) for specifics on how to polish the process.

Avoid change. The risk of failure is high and the opportunity to recover this year is low.

Stick with what works. It will produce less than last year but it is very likely to work better than the new and unproven. We all hate it when someone says, “We have never done it that way.” This is the year to adopt that phrase. It is another way of saying, “That is unproven. The risk of trying the unproven this year is too high.” Next year I hope to be telling you to try new things.

If you need more money this year and you are afraid that the current donor base will leave you under funded, enlarge the donor base. Grow the donor base by 14% if you want a 7% increase in donations.

In short, make the donor base bigger rather than making a change.

What are you going to do to make your nonprofit stand out in this highly competitive field? The number of appeals we each receive is increasing. Every nonprofit is looking for more donors. They are all hopeful that their appeal will resonate with the reader.

Last week’s article was about collecting the data necessary to make your appeal stand out. Last week the donor base was segmented into four tiers. This week we need to create four appeals. One targeted at each group.

Appealing to tiers one – three. For each tier it is possible to identify the top two or three important parts of the mission. You have that information from last week’s activity. Those top items will form the base for the next two or three appeals to that tier.

Each tier must receive a different letter. The letter may cover the same topic but the wording will be different. Each tier is a separate demographic group.

The Census Bureau may think they are all the same but they are different. According to the US Census Bureau, they may all be middle class, head of households, etc. However, the process of tiering them indicates there is a demographic difference.

Tier one may give because they think cancer (as an example) is a serious problem and they feel it is necessary to help. This demographic may be giving out of a sense of obligation. Tier two may be those whose family members have or had cancer. They are giving because they have a personal connection. Tier three may be those who have survived cancer. They are giving out of gratitude and a desire to protect others and especially loved ones.

In short, the essential demographic is the motivation to give. Therefore, the appeal must focus on two things. The first is the motivation. The second is attempting to help the donor to move up to the next level.

The goal is to move at least 15% of the donor base up one tier every year. Having a steady upward movement within the donor base creates financial stability. It also creates a donor base that is reliable and strong regardless of the economic climate.

The top tier is a very special demographic group. Their motivation is very strong and very personal.

The top tier must be approached personally. They are giving enough to justify personal contact and a customized appeal. The appeal must touch their heart. So when the initial question (from last week) is asked, it must be followed with, “Why is that important to you?” This will provide the information necessary to make the appeal visit personal. The appeal visit is separate from the fact-finding visit in last week’s article.

After you have the facts, end the fact finding visit. Think carefully about what you learned. Plan what you will say. Then schedule the appeal visit.

Now it is possible to begin the appeal process to each group or tier. The appeals will be more effective because it will speak directly to the group.

Mission Enablers

The demand for services is up and the availability of money is down. Foundations are cutting back. The competition for donations and grants is very keen. The increased demand for services and inflation will ensure that costs increase. Do you have a strategy?

A large number of people are suggesting that one should strengthen the bonds with the donors. It certainly makes sense. Is that sufficient advice or do you need a practical suggestion for implementing the advice?

The best way to strengthen the relationship is to know what the relationship is based upon. The only way to establish the base is to ask the donor. However, with a few hundred donors in your database that seems like an impossible number of phone calls.

Step one is to divide the donor base into four tiers. The first tier contains donors who give less than some figure. For most small and mediums size agencies, it will be around $500 per year. The second tier is the group of donors between $500 and $1,000. The third tier is the group of donors between $1,000 and $5,000. The top tier is the group of donors over $5,000 per year. You may decide on a different tiering but you get the point.

The process for dealing with each tier is the same. However, who does the work differs. The first step is to call each donor. The call is simple and takes only 5 – 10 minutes. The caller identifies themselves and the agency. They next thank the donor for their support. They follow that by asking something like, “What is it that our agency does that is most important to you?” The final step is to make a note of the response and ask any clarifying questions.

That is the process. Simple and easy. Anyone can do it. There is no attempt to solicit funds or try to get the donor to move closer to the agency or change anyone’s mind about what is important. No matter how misguided the donor’s concept is it is their reason for giving.

So how do you do that with several hundred donors? The answer is different for each tier.

Those donors in the top tier deserve something more than a phone call. The only purpose of the phone call is to arrange a lunch, breakfast, or coffee with the donor. The top tier donors deserve personal thanks from the top executive and one of the board members. Double team the donor. Make them feel important and truly appreciated. Do this even if the donor is a member of the board or related to someone on the board.

Have a board member, the executive, or the development officer make the calls to the third tier.

Have other staff members make the calls to the second tier donors.

Have volunteers make the calls to the first tier donors. This may mean recruiting several new volunteers.

The goal is to collect the information about what is important within 90 days. If it is impossible to do the data collection within 90 days then restructure the tiers. It is important to ensure the data is timely. This also needs to be done quickly so that it is possible to use the data to improve this year’s fundraising.

There are four important benefits from this approach. The first is it will immediately draw your donors closer. It tells the donor they are important. This will actually have a larger impact on the small donors. Some of them will move up a tier just because of the phone call.

Second, you will have an advantage over other agencies the donor is supporting. It is doubtful that any other agency treats them this way. You make donations. Have you ever been asked about the importance of the mission you donate to? In addition, their expressing the importance reminds them of why they give and it helps strengthen their connect to the mission. All of this helps prevent attrition in the donor base. It is probably more important to retain donors this year than any other year in the past 10.

Third, you will receive valuable information about the importance of your mission to the community. Sometimes what we learn can be surprising. How to use the information will be covered in future articles.

Fourth, you will motive, inspire, and energize your board, staff, and volunteers. As they listen to the donors telling them what is important about the mission, the listener’s passion will grow. The increase in passion will bring vitality to the mission.

It is important that the contact occur through a call. This sounds old school. If you try this through email, only two groups will respond. The highly satisfied and the highly dissatisfied will be the only respondents. It is good to hear from both. However, that means that the bulk of the donors will be silent and they control the bulk of the money. Without hearing their voice how do you appeal to them? In addition, we all get too many emails and text messages each day. Finally, there is nothing nicer than a warm human voice saying thank you.

Mission Enablers

Are these tough times to raise funds?

Only if you use the same techniques you used last year. Use a different technique and you will get different results. Are last year’s results worth repeating?

How did most nonprofits raise funds last year? They focused on their needs. They made claims that lacked credibility. They focused on the crisis. They made the appeal almost exclusively emotional.

Their needs –

Without your support, we will need to close our Main Street offices.

(We all need to tighten our belts during a downturn. Why should the public care or be sympathetic?)

Credibility –

Our mission is to put an end to hunger.

(The mission statement is several years old but the number of hungry individuals grows each year. There must be a more effective place to invest one’s donations.)

Crisis focus –

There are more homeless people at our door every day.

(In a time of crisis, we need solutions rather than reports of more problems.)

Emotional appeal

Pregnant teens have a hard time coping.

(Sympathy is low in a time of crisis. We all have problems. The crisis was created by judgment errors. The judgment errors of others hang over all of us and threaten the security of many of us. It is hard to be sympathetic to someone else who is suffering from their own judgment error.)

The typical donor in 2007 responded to one or more of those appeals. Why? The donor felt secure so it was easy to be generous. The donor was willing to take the time to look behind the words (credibility was less important). The donor was optimistic about the future. The donor was willing to trust you to be effective and efficient. The donor trusted the financial management of others.

In 2009, the donor will have different priorities. You need to make them feel secure. The rising unemployment causes them to worry. You need to talk directly to them instead of having them work for the message. You need to focus them on the future and give them hope. The recent financial turmoil makes all of us untrusting of others when it comes to money management. You need to prove your agency is trustworthy. The financial turmoil is blamed on people focusing on their interests rather than broader interests. Everything you do needs an outward focus. They want facts they can trust.

As a result, any funding appeal must tell a compelling story. If possible, it must provide simple statistics that demonstrate that the story is repeatable and benefits a large number of people. (Logic, credibility, and emotion)

You must display your passion. The work will go on regardless of their support. Their support is important but not critical or urgent. You will find a way. (Passionate and in control)

The reader must connect to your client. It isn’t about the new computer system. It is about ensuring that the family receives the food they need for a balanced diet and to honor their religious dietary guidelines. (Outward focused, durable, concrete, unique, and problem solving – prudent use of funds that is different from what everyone else is doing.)

It is not more work. It is working differently.

Mission Enablers

Is there any reason a nonprofit should loose a donor?

The easiest donors to keep are the passionate, loyal donors.

Putting aside death, retiring to Florida, and unemployment, donor attrition should be less than 5%. Why is it that many nonprofits experience much higher attrition rates?

In part, it may be cultural. Since the nonprofit down the street looses 20% of its donor base each year, a 15% annual loss seems good. Why worry about it, when the results are better than someone else’s?

Think about that for a moment. If a nonprofit has donor income of $1.5 million, a 15% loss is $225,000. It is doubtful that there is a more expensive problem facing the nonprofit. Even a small nonprofit with donor income of $100,000 will lose $15,000. That is still one of the biggest problems it faces. In either case, the lost income would effectively solve several problems the nonprofit faces.

The long-term impact is more dramatic. If one retains the 15% that increases income for many years. The sustainability benefits are significant.

In part, complacency is contributing to the loss. Historically, the fundraising program was effective enough to grow the donor base even with attrition. As a result, the attrition seems like a minor problem or it is ignored because the affect is zero. Does the development department need this stress? Do you believe that this is a sustainable model for 2009? Was it successful in 2008?

In part, it is hard work. Cultivating, keeping, and building passion among donors is hard, time-consuming work without thanks or obvious immediate results. Is the long-term return worth it?

As usual, when the economy turns down the consultants warn that the donors will reduce their gifts. One possibility is a smaller gift. The second is eliminating support for some nonprofits. This article focuses on both. Passion for the mission is a cure for both reduction and attrition.

Enough crying over spilled milk, what is the solution? There are three solutions. One is to spend more time recruiting passionate donors. They are harder to find than those who are willing to give. A previous posting provides some thoughts on one element of the donor recruitment process.

The second is to thank the donors. Do donors ever get calls thanking them for their support? A handwritten note, email, or text message is too easy. The extra effort of making the call makes the thanks personal rather than perfunctory. This helps slow attrition but it is short of prevention.

The third is to cultivate the donor. What is important to them? How can they engage in the mission so that their passion will grow? The only way to answer those questions is to ask. Finding the answers helps with preservation of the relationship. The answers is found by having direct personal contact.

People very seldom walk away from their passions. Even if they move to Florida, they are likely to keep supporting the passion. People seldom reduce their support for their passions. Even if they retire, they are likely to sustain their giving level if they are passionate.

What every nonprofit needs are passionate, loyal donors. The second solution creates loyal donors. Solutions one and three create passionate donors.

Is it too late to prevent attrition? No, but you need to start today.

Is it hard work? Yes, but if it prevents an annual loss of several thousand dollars, it is worth it. If it makes next year easier on everyone, it is worth it. If it increases sustainability, it is worth it. If it reduces the stress on the development department and helps them reach their goal, it is worth it.

Can you think of one reason to delay?

Mission Enablers

Fundraising is something that most of us hate, every nonprofit needs funds, and most people are very good at.

Why are most people good at it? It is a natural part of life in America. Most of the people we talk to are strangers. However, we spend most of our time talking to our friends. They are people who share a common interest with us.

Everyday we talk to others about our passions. It might be fishing, our jobs, our family, or our favorite charity. We are happy to tell others about the things that matter to us.

What happens after you tell someone about your passion? They respond in a noncommittal way, such as “that’s nice” or they start asking questions. If they ask questions, you know you have found a new friend, someone with a common interest. If not, it is a short conversation.

As you explore the common interest, you determine the potential for the friendship. Does it have the potential to be significant? If it is significant, you start making plans to share information, meet again, and do other things that will strengthen the relationship.

The conversation never turns to money. It is always about the common interest.

What if you did fundraising for your favorite charity the same way? Imagine what would happen. After you discover you both care about the same issue you would naturally mention your involvement with the nonprofit. You would invite them to come and work with you at the next pancake breakfast. Afterwards, you would plan on meeting again in 4 weeks to hear a guest speaker. Then you would invite them to something else in a few weeks. Over the course of six to nine months, they would start suggesting things to do. Eventually, unknown to you, they would contribute. No one would ask them. They would do it because they wanted to. They would also be grateful that you had involved them.

Both you and your favorite nonprofit would have a new friend. Making friends is fun and everyone benefits from it but only if one is sincere about developing a friend. By the way, your new friend will invite others once they become a friend of the nonprofit. Until they start inviting friends, you know you have work to do to cultivate their friendship with the nonprofit.

The other common process, asking for money, usually fails to create friends for the nonprofit. It means that every six months or a year you have to go back and ask the donor to give again. However, the friends of the nonprofit give often because they understand the need and it is important to them. They give to what moves their heart instead of giving because of an ask.

Would you rather have friends or donors? True friends give in good times and bad. Donors give when they feel they can afford to. Will your favorite nonprofit be stronger with many friends or many donors?

Friends are hard to find and take work to develop. Friends are worth it.

Mission Enablers