Author
Kay Sprinkel Grace

ISBN
1889102229

Cost $24.95 + shipping

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Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards (And Staff Too)
A 1-Hour Guide to Identifying and Overcoming Obstacles to Your Success
by Kay Sprinkel Grace, 109 pp., $24.95. (Click here for bulk discount information)

Fundraising mistakes are a thing of the past.

Or, rather, there’s no excuse for making a serious mistake anymore.

And that goes for board members, staff, novice, or veteran.

If you blunder from now on, it simply means you haven’t read Kay Sprinkel Grace’s book, Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards (and Staff Too), in which she exposes the Top 40 errors that thwart us time and again.

This is indeed a devilishly good book, and it’s a wonder it wasn’t written years ago.

OF RELATED INTEREST: Jerold Panas has worked with hundreds of nonprofit boards. He funnels that experience into The Fundraising Habits of Supremely Successful Boards and shares what he’s learned firsthand about those who excel at the task of resource development.

If you’ve attended a fundraising seminar, or read a Jerry Panas book, or perused one of the field’s journals, you’re familiar with a dozen or so mistakes to avoid. But the appeal of this book – and it will become a classic – is that in one place it gathers and discusses ALL of the troublesome ones.

Some, like the following, will be second nature to you (but not to your board, for whom this book is mostly intended):

• “Tax deductibility is a powerful incentive.” It isn’t, as you know.
• “People will give just because yours is a good cause.” They won’t.
• “Special events are the best way to raise money.” Quite the contrary.

Other mistakes aren’t as readily apparent. For example: “You need a powerful board to have a successful campaign.” Truth be told, many are convinced that without a powerful board they can’t succeed. Grace shows otherwise. Or, “Wealth is mostly what determines a person’s willingness to give.” Not so. Other factors are equally important.

Then, too, there are more nuanced mistakes:

• “We can’t raise big money - we don’t know any rich people.” Don’t believe it. You can raise substantial dollars.
• “Most people don’t like to give.” To the contrary, many find joy in it.
  
• “Without a stable of annual donors, you can’t have a successful capital campaign.” In fact you can, but your tactics will be different.

And that touches on only seven of the 40 mistakes Grace explores ... and explodes.

Just as anyone involved in journalism should own a copy of Strunk and White’s, The Elements of Style, anyone involved in fundraising – board member, staff, volunteer – should have Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards (and Staff Too) by their side.

When Grace makes it so easy to avoid costly errors, it is nothing if not imprudent to risk repeating them.

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About the Author

Kay Sprinkel Grace is also the author of the Ultimate Board Member's Book and Over Goal! What You Must Know to Excel at Fundraising Today.

Kay, who writes a regular column for Contributions Magazine, is a prolific writer, creative thinker, inspiring speaker, and reflective practitioner. Her passion for philanthropy and its capacity to transform donors, organizations, and communities is well-known in the U.S. and internationally.

Kay lives in San Francisco and is an enthusiastic photographer, traveler, hiker, and creative writer. When not writing, speaking, or consulting, you can find her with her children and grandchildren who live in San Francisco, upstate New York, and France.

Table of Contents

1. Tax deductibility is a powerful incentive
2. Foundations and corporations are the biggest donors
3. Special events are the best way to raise money
4. People will give just because yours is a good cause
5. Donors are drawn to organizations in need
6. You can secure big gifts by writing letters
7. Publicity raises money
8. People dislike giving
9. Big donors are different, they’re not like us
10. We can’t raise big money - we don’t know any rich people
11. Giving is largely a rational decision
12. Others are more comfortable asking for money than you
13. The state of the economy is key to fundraising
14. Men and women are alike in their giving
15. Wealth is mostly what determines a person’s willingness to give
16. To secure a gift, saying just the right words is key
17. You don’t have to give in order to ask others to give – your time is your gift
18. It’s impolite to ask for a specific amount
19. Asking once a year is enough
20. Development staff, because it’s their job, are more effective in asking
21. Fundraising consultants (and development officers) often bring with them lists of people to solicit
22. We can run this campaign on the cheap
23. You need too powerful a board to have a successful campaign
24. Not everyone on the board has to be involved in fundraising
25. It’s prudent to focus on large donors only
26. Estate gifts only come from big donors
27. You need a stable of annual donors to have a successful capital campaign
28. If you don’t know how much a prospect can give, shoot for the moon
29. Some people can’t afford to give and shouldn’t be asked
30. You need a feasibility study before launching a capital campaign
31. If you’ve been trained in asking at one organization, you don’t need to attend another agency’s training
32. For those giving small gifts, a simple acknowledgment is fitting
33. If a donor is contributing to an organization similar to yours, asking her to give to you is poaching
34. Your goal in a major gifts or capital campaign is simply the amount of money you need
35. Consultants aren’t needed if you have a fundraising staff
36. Nowadays, people want you to get to the point and ask – cultivation wastes time
37. If your early fundraising calls don’t spark interest, chances are you’ll fail
38. You can probably count on a few ‘windfall’ gifts
39. Fundraising is a lot easier once you get the hang of it
40. With so many causes raising money, the wells of philanthropy will soon go dry

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Excerpt This article is excerpted from Kay Sprinkel Grace’s book, Fundraising Mistakes that Bedevil All Boards (and Staff Too), ©Emerson & Church, Publishers. To obtain reprint permission, please call 508-359-0019.

Don’t be Bedeviled by These Fundraising Mistakes

In my decades of work with nonprofit organizations, I’ve addressed many recurring mistakes that staff, board members, and other volunteers make when raising money. In this article, let me share three of the 40 mistakes I address in my book.

We can’t raise big money, we don’t know any rich people

I once oversaw a church campaign for $12 million in a woefully impoverished area. It was clear from the outset that none of the people involved knew anyone wealthy.

But we didn’t let that stop us.

Through a carefully developed plan that engaged the board as well as a community committee, we identified people who cared about the church’s work, its pastor, and the parishioners. And they responded generously – one individual gave $1 million – because they shared our values.

We limit ourselves when we think that because we’re a small organization, or serve a limited population, few will be interested.

But it isn’t the size of the organization that matters, it’s the importance of the mission. When Project Open Hand was launched, an organization that brings meals to homebound people with HIV/AIDS, it was from the kitchen of the founder and the meals were delivered in friends’ cars.

Although the group was tiny, and the founder didn’t know many wealthy individuals, support poured in. Why? The need was great, and Project Open Hand was meeting it. The word got out, and people invested.

You don’t need wealthy people in your database to raise money. But without them, there are two imperatives facing you:

1) You must get your message out and relate the impact of what you’re doing to the broader needs of the community, and

2) You must be willing to think of ways to identify and approach those who do have money.

In the case of the church, their work with the poor and indigent, as well as the large ethnic communities in the neighborhood, was attractive to the million-dollar donor whose own family, decades ago, had been a struggling immigrant family attending the church. The community had changed as had the origin of the immigrants, but the donor saw that the church and its mission and people were worthy of his investment.

If you don’t know wealthy people, make no mistake: raising money is much harder and demands more imagination. But it is not impossible. With dedication – and tenacity – on the part of the board and the staff it can be done.

Wealth is mostly what determines a person’s willingness to give

When an individual makes a philanthropic gift, at least three factors come into play. He or she has:

• A connection to the organization
• Concern for the cause
• The financial capacity to give

It may surprise you that the first two far outweigh the third. A person can have incalculable wealth, but if she’s not connected to the people or services of your organization or doesn’t display interest in what you’re doing, she’s not likely to give.

I know of one organization that wined and dined a man with huge financial resources, hoping for a lead gift. He had a known interest in the kind of work the group did, and he had assets.
But he didn’t have a connection to the organization, nor was there much evidence he placed a value on philanthropy.

After months of negotiations the wooing came to an end. “No dice,” the man finally said. Time was wasted and, even worse, the person who ultimately did step forward with the lead gift felt ignored during the process.

I probably see this mistake more than any other. Someone will excitedly hand me a list – of potential donors, of people to interview for a feasibility study, of individuals to invite to a particular function. When I ask how these are connected to the organization, more often than not the answer is ‘they aren’t.’

Too often, as a starting point, board and staff members will scribble down the names of wealthy people in the community. Give that up. Instead, list only the people you know who share your organization’s values. Not only will they be more responsive, they’ll also be willing to link you to others (perhaps with more money) who care about what you do.

You need a powerful board to have a successful campaign

There are organizations across America – particularly universities, hospitals and large arts and cultural organizations – whose boards are the envy of all.

The people on these boards are leaders in commerce, industry, education, and possess wealth and connections in abundance.

Annually they provide leadership gifts of six and even seven figures. And during times of a capital campaign, their gifts often constitute as much as 80 percent of the total goal.

If this doesn’t sound like your board, well ... join the club. For every organization so blessed, there are thousands upon thousands with boards more like yours.

These organizations are governed by people who care deeply about the mission, share what wealth and connections they have, and are willing to work to fulfill the vision. And many excel.

Even if yours isn’t a ‘power’ board, you can still have a successful campaign.

Probably the most common alternative is to form a campaign cabinet or steering committee that engages a few members of the board as well as high-profile leaders from the community.

I’ve found that while many ‘movers and shakers’ may not care to join the board, or be involved on a sustained basis, they will participate in a time-limited campaign, assuming they have some passion for the project.

A food bank I know of used this model for its capital campaign and surpassed its goal. Religious organizations have used the same approach with great success. And social service organizations often form campaign leadership organizations that involve both board and non-board volunteers.

Power is a relative concept. Enlist the right people, even if they’re not on your board, and suddenly your organization too has the power to mount a successful campaign.

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