Essentials for successful project fundraising

Three essential elements for successful project fundraising

Alastair McCall, writing in this year’s Sunday Times Rich List, says:

“The leading 30 philanthropists among Britain’s richest 1,000 people have pledged or given away almost £2.38 billion in the past year, nearly double last year’s figure of £1.21 billion, and more than five times the amount in 2006.”

Even during the current recession we are regularly seeing the positive impact on the work of charities made by donors who want to make a difference through engaged and informed philanthropy.

To make the most of this trend in philanthropy the following steps need to be acted upon:

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Make your proposition to donor prospects aspirational and demonstrate how it leads to significant change for your beneficiaries.

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Make your donor feel part of the process and engage with them as a partner, not just a source of money.

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Make your whole organisation aware, from trustees to receptionists, the importance of fundraising in achieving its mission and the role everyone has to play.

What’s the big idea?

Donors, in our experience, are compelled to support a charity because their support will enable a step change in activity and will result in better outcomes for the cause. ‘Keeping things the same’ is a far less attractive option.

One organisation we have worked with has established a ‘Foundation’ of only 50 givers whose annual support ranges from £15,000 to £100,000 pledged over five years. This giving strategy is delivering almost £2 million annually.

The proposition put to these benefactors was derived from the organisation’s five year business plan. This called for a substantial increase in community based programmes, not capital development, in order to respond to an independently established need in the area. Their proposition was simply:

‘We are not serving all the people who need us and need to expand. That expansion needs to be in programmes delivered in the community, not developing new buildings. Here is the cost of that expansion.’

This simple but compelling proposition was put to key supporters, demonstrating the clear needs of their cause and linking it directly to the cost and need for significant donations.

Partnership

There’s no “one size fits all” strategy for managing how the prospect becomes involved with the organisation and starts to share its vision. It’s certainly not through attendance at an ongoing series of galas and social events or the receipt of newsletters. The approach must include legitimate opportunities to take in the prospect’s views on your vision and for them to make, and be made to feel like they are making substantive contributions to the process.

We have observed institutions do this successfully by asking prospects to join advisory boards, project planning committees, to become engaged in interfacing with the government or suppliers and even, simply, to fundraise! In this way, a profound grasp of issues is obtained, the relationship cemented, the exchange of ideas is substantive and the “buy in” solid.

Fundraising throughout the organisation

In some organisations we have seen major donor fundraisers operating in a relative vacuum, unable to take full advantage of today’s fundraising environment. The reasons for this lack of success often lie in the need for the charities’ leadership to embrace their role within major donor fundraising.

These organisations need to work towards three things:

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A senior leadership culture which recognises and appreciates the value that donors can bring to an organisation.

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A direct relationship between the fundraising strategy and the organisation’s business and strategic planning.

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Management processes that build in an awareness of major donor fundraising at every level in the organisation.

Potential donors need to be matched to particular projects or plans. This must be more sophisticated than handing the current budget to the fundraiser along with instructions to raise as much as possible!

For example, in one organisation I managed, we engaged in a planning process to ensure that our business plan took account of fundraising. When the first draft was complete we compared this against the specific gifts we were hoping to secure in order to guarantee an effective match between the two plans. This ensured the most suitable projects were reserved for donor prospects, and if there were prospects whose needs were unmet, we could consider whether we wanted to adjust the plan to ensure a better match. In this way we were able to ensure organisational priority met with the interests of donors.

The responsibility for a connected approach to sustaining donor relationships lies jointly with the senior management, trustees and the fundraising professionals. This allows every aspect of the operation and the consequences for major donors, to be evaluated. For example: are there service delivery, funding or policy developments that the donor can contribute to because of their expertise and links? Will the chairman or chief executive make time to pick up the telephone or to meet to relay these messages?

We have observed donors completing their pledges, become deeply associated with the organisation and then present fresh, innovative ideas, in-line with the institutional priorities, which they are then prepared to fund. I know an NHS Trust that successfully conducted a capital campaign. It remained engaged with its donors, one of whom was appointed to the Chief Executive’s Advisory Committee. The donor noted that the Trust had a problem with nurse retention, because of the cost of living in the area, so he proposed to fund a housing co-operative specifically for them.

In effect, when the relationship has been managed properly, organisations like this have found themselves in the enviable position of the reverse ask: ‘Here’s a proposal I have to put to you. Will you consider implementing it and consider letting me fund it?’