Insights Archive - Page 24 of 29

In a previous article, we shared eight self-management tips for fundraisers to achieve personal and professional success. For a refresher, take a look at the post here.

As we all navigate the temporary but vastly different global landscape, here are eight adapted strategies of self-management during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Prioritize the activities that bring in gifts – in the long term.

While some of your constituents may not be ready to talk about giving, you must stay connected. The number one reason why donors stop giving is that they no longer feel connected to an organization. So reach out – in broad communications and personal emails and phone calls. Meet them where they are, lead with empathy, and see how the crisis is affecting them personally. Think of the moves management process – every move you make now should get you closer to receiving a meaningful gift. And keep in mind that some WILL be ready to make gifts now – don’t assume they are not. Reach out, ask questions, and listen.

2. You can still raise money while staying home.

We can’t go meet our donors face to face and we’re stuck at home. What’s a fundraiser to do? Time to get creative. Pick up the phone and call your donors. Schedule video chats while you drink coffee separately. Do virtual happy hours. Your creativity and connectedness will stand out and donors will think of your organization when they are ready to give.

3. Set aside 90 minutes DAILY to make phone calls.

There’s no commute or daily meeting that runs 30 minutes long. Ramp up the time you are on the phone calling your constituents. And block that time off on your calendar so it gets done – every. single. day.

4. KEEP out of your comfort zone.

Now is the perfect time to do the tasks you’ve been dreading – calling that prospect, video-chatting with that Trustee. Many people are home and eager to connect with others, and we have a shared experience that bonds us. So from the comfort of your home, get out of your comfort zone. And stay there.

5. Take it one day at a time.

Don’t be overwhelmed by the scope of the crisis or the changes to your work life. Adapt and overcome. Pivot and persevere. If we can embrace this change, get creative, adjust, and stay positive, we will come out on top. Those who curl up and resist will fall behind.

6. Keep asking for help.

You will need the help of volunteers and colleagues now more than ever. Rally your troops to connect with the community. Seek creative ideas to keep your organization relevant and meet donors where they are. Deploy ambassadors to call your donors to check in and offer support. Use this time to deepen connections with your community and those you serve.

7. In a time of reactivity, be proactive.

We each must continually react to new challenges being thrown our way. In all that noise, remember to stop and reflect. Carve out time to think – how can we move our organization forward? How can we strengthen relationships with our donors? How can we stay relevant and accessible in this time of uncertainty? You can put together an idea task force and block off weekly time on the calendar to brainstorm. This is the time for innovation – make sure you carve out time for it.

8. Evaluate and adjust – daily.

In this rapidly changing environment, even our best laid plans will need to change. Be strategic, but nimble. Be ready to course correct as our world evolves – but always keep the end goal in mind: your donors, your community, and your mission.

Bonus round: a few more thoughts in this challenging time.

Be your own micro-manager.

Be militaristic with your time. Set deadlines to create urgency for yourself. Plan out your day with tasks to be accomplished, phone calls to be made, and set time parameters for each one.

Reward yourself.

You can’t operate at 100% efficiency at your dining room table all day. Take breaks, but use those breaks as rewards. You can go for a quick run when you finish your task. You can get some cookies after you make four phone calls. Figure out what motivates you and use it to your advantage.

Make lemonade out of lemons.

This is a trying time for us all. We’re worried about our health, our families, our organizations, and our world. But in stormy skies, there are silver linings. We have an opportunity to set our organizations apart by how wisely we spend this time. While facing changes and challenges, let’s connect with our community, connect with each other, and connect with ourselves. Look for little wins, celebrate the small stuff, and we’ll get through this together.

During this challenging time, we are continuing to offer our perspectives and lessons learned from over seven decades of nonprofit advisory leadership. Click here to access our Strategies During COVID-19 page. Here you will find resources that provide best practices and optimal strategies to help your organization build a path through this crisis and beyond.

CCS Fundraising is a strategic fundraising consulting firm that partners with nonprofits for transformational change. Members of the CCS team are highly experienced and knowledgeable across sectors, disciplines, and regions. With offices throughout the United States and the world, our unique, customized approach provides each client with an embedded team member for the duration of the engagement. To access our full suite of perspectives, publications, and reports, visit our insights page. To learn more about CCS Fundraising’s suite of services, click here.

Nonprofit organizations across all sizes and sectors share the same questions: how do we engage our donors, and what sort of outreach is appreciated and appropriate? With the COVID-19 crisis impacting the philanthropic landscape on a daily basis, the answer to that question has taken on new levels of depth and importance. The situation can appear paralyzing to even the most experienced fundraiser. However, the most important thing we have learned in our 70+ years of work in the philanthropic sector is the power of communication. Right now, your focus as fundraising professionals should be on consistent and highly personalized donor engagement strategies.

Guidance for Communication

While it is important to remain sensitive to the current environment, it is not an effective strategy to cease communications with donors altogether during a crisis. In fact, it is essential for you to ramp up communications to keep key stakeholders informed and engaged during this fast-changing time. As you prepare your communication plan, consider how different constituents may be affected and able to respond during this time. For example, your messaging should be customized for individuals vs. corporate vs. foundation funders, as well as for generation, gender, and ethnicity. But regardless of the constituency, keep the following four points in mind to form the foundation of your messaging:

Stay the Course: The donor engagement methods that are currently working for your organization remain unchanged despite communication channels (i.e. virtual meetings over in-person visits).
Make Adjustments: When needed, tweak your strategy based on feedback and new information.
Be Flexible: Given the present challenges, be willing to pivot slightly from your original plan.
Think Long-Term: Donor engagement has always been about building and maintaining lasting relationships.

Prioritizing Your Communication

As you plan your communication strategy, chart the stages of your prospect pipeline and accompany each stage with its own recommendations. You can begin by separating constituents into categories defined by their stage in the solicitation cycle: discovery, cultivate, brief, ask, and steward. In the case of a crisis, stewardship is your highest priority. Reverse that order and begin with donors who are in your stewardship category. For each of these stages, you will want to consider detailed answers for the following criteria:

Priority: Determine a timeline for communicating with them. Does outreach need to be immediate? Are there opportunities/need for ongoing touchpoints?
Definition: What are the specific criteria needed to place a given donor in each category?
Action Item: Is there a specific item you need to share at this time? Do you need to move a scheduled meeting to a virtual platform?
What to Consider: For each category, what are your goals for that donor, and how has the crisis affected those goals? What do they need to hear from you right now?
Key Points to Cover: How personal should the communication be? Do you need to thank them, make an ask, share how the crisis is affecting your organizations, show the development of a case for support?
Vehicles: What is the most appropriate method of communication? A personal call, a handwritten note, an email, or a video conference?
Lead: Who is the best person on your team to lead this communication?

Special Considerations

Among the many challenges we are all facing, there are two issues you will want to pay particular attention to in your communication.

Personal concerns: Health and the economy are likely front of mind for all donors. Always begin conversations by checking in and inviting donors to share their experiences or concerns.
Technology: Be sure to run through virtual visits and test media ahead of schedule. Use the donor’s preferred platform for check-in meetings with volunteers and organizational leadership to get everyone comfortable with the functionality and features. Click here for more information on how to run effective virtual donor meetings.

Recommended Strategies

1) Lead with well wishes and care for the safety of the individual. Acknowledge that this is an unprecedented time and many are experiencing disruption to their routines and plans.

Sample Messaging: It is our sincere hope that you and your family are well, safe, and able to continue as much of your normal routine as possible in this uncertain time.

2) Provide a high-level summary of the organization’s response plan. Focus particularly on the expertise the organization provides and how it is helping its constituents and community in this time of upheaval.

Sample Messaging: As a close friend of our organization, we want to share with you…

Consider sharing your organization’s crisis response fund, useful resources, or opportunities to get involved.
Do not provide medical advice. Aim to share resources that are nonpartisan in nature.

3) Circle back to the organization’s mission and share current needs.

Sample Messaging: Amidst the uncertainty of this moment, one thing remains clear: the need for our services within the community has never been greater.

4) Close with a sincere thank you.

Sample Messaging: As a supporter of our organization, you empower our ability to respond to this crisis, continue services to our constituents, and advance our mission. Thank you.

5) Additional Engagement Ideas

Given work-from-home and shelter-in-place mandates in some states and an increased need to connect and engage with one another, now is a good time to think about creative ways to communicate with your donors.

Create “in-person” online moments. Develop virtual visit structure and speaking notes. Make the visit tangible by presenting the host’s screen to share photos, charts, and digital booklets/case statements to bring the mission to life.
Close the social distance. Consider hosting a cultivation “social hour” led by organization leadership, campaign chair, and any subject matter experts (physician, teacher, curator) at the organization.
Instill Confidence. Highlight recent examples of generosity. Inspire others with a testimonial from a donor who stepped up in this time of crisis.

Conclusion

Remember that throughout this crisis, your highest priority should be communicating with your donors. Through past crises, donors continued to give to organizations they felt connected to, so it is imperative that you nurture your relationships. Charitable organizations can persevere through challenging times with flexibility, creativity, and resolve.

An election is on the horizon, markets are reeling, and confusion still lingers over the 2017 tax changes. It’s only natural to question whether your development shop is prepared for an economic rollercoaster. For more than 70 years, CCS Fundraising has partnered with nonprofits to advance their development initiatives during booming economic times, challenging recessions, and everything in between.

In this webinar in partnership with AFP Massachusetts, Senior Vice Presidents Sarah Krasin and Kate Villa of CCS Boston explore lessons learned from previous economic cycles and how your organization can turn a time of uncertainty into a time of fundraising opportunity.

Download Presentation Slides

PRESENTED BY

Kate Villa

Managing Director

Sarah Krasin

Managing Director

The COVID-19 crisis continues to have a dramatic effect on our personal and professional lives, so out of necessity, many development teams are redirecting their focus to digital communication. As important donor meetings are moving to the video conferencing world in the coming weeks, much has been said about best practices for video conferencing in general. Tips like dressing professionally, ensuring you have the right equipment (i.e. microphones/cameras), and finding the right web platforms for your meeting are certainly useful. But how do you properly prepare to make sure that your next donor meeting is smooth and issue-free? Consider these tips in advance of your next meeting.

Hold Internal Practice Runs

To create a seamless meeting, avoiding any distractions will allow you to focus on the task at hand. You should always be logging into the meeting 15-20 minutes in advance of your session to make sure everything is running smoothly. But if time allows, you should also consider holding mock sessions with internal colleagues at least one day in advance of your meeting. You can utilize this practice time to:

Determine Roles: Divvy up responsibilities on your team where everyone plays a part. If you are using webinar software and inviting multiple people to the conversation, give your teammates official roles on the backend (i.e. organizer, panelist, attendee, etc.) so you can test what each view looks like.
Avoid Technical Issues: Doing a dry run will help you work out any technical kinks that may arise. It will also help you get up to speed on the format and functionality of the software. Testing your internet connection, microphone/phone/computer audio, as well as your web camera and room lighting during these practice runs will allow you to enter the real meeting with confidence that things will look right and operate correctly.

Practice and Time Your Talking Points

It is essential that you avoid going over time in your pitch or presentation. Planning talking points is even more important when using digital platforms. Use the internal practice runs to time things out so you have a better understanding of what to add or cut down for the meeting. Consider also having a colleague act as the donor and ask potential questions so you can time out your answers accordingly. Creating and communicating a detailed agenda well in advance will also go a long way to establishing expectations.

In creating your timeline, make sure you plan for the first five minutes to be used for everyone to sign in and get acclimated to the software. It is also important to leave time for introductions and small talk to keep the conversation personable. For example, it is natural that your donor may want to briefly discuss the COVID-19 crisis and how it is affecting them, and it’s important to allow time for this very important issue to be addressed. By being prepared, you can avoid letting this topic monopolize the agenda. You should also allow for time in case there are any technical issues, such as the donor’s internet connection or phone dropping out temporarily. This way you won’t feel rushed at the end of your meeting.

Create Ways to Keep the Donor Engaged

Keeping your audience engaged throughout is key to ensuring that the meeting is productive for everyone involved. After introductions and preliminary discussions, transition the conversation to an overview of the key points on the agenda. While you want this to stay as structured as possible, tell the donor that you welcome questions throughout to keep the conversation flowing freely. This will also help you gauge what is resonating. There could be multiple people on the call who are not all easily seen on screen, which could make it more difficult to read body language and respond to visual cues. Stopping to ask questions of the donor will go a long way in eliminating those issues.

Additionally, utilizing the technology to incorporate visuals and downloadable documents will allow for richer discussions. These should also be prepared and shared prior to the meeting. On a recent virtual donor session, leaders of a small parish in Connecticut were meeting with an elderly donor through a video conferencing platform. Three days before the meeting, the team sent e-mails to the donor with links to download the software as well as all meeting materials which included the case for support, an FAQ document, and a detailed meeting agenda. This allowed the leaders of the parish to focus more on the conversation and during the meeting itself, they didn’t need to take any time out of the discussion for materials to download. If possible and if time allows, mailing the donor hardcopy documents well before the meeting day adds another element of personability to the session.

Have a Backup Plan for Malfunctions

Because so many professionals are now using digital platforms to hold meetings, even the best programs are seeing technical issues due to bandwidth challenges. It is therefore worthwhile to have backup programs ready to use should your primary platform have technical issues.

In a recent meeting, leaders at an independent school were using video conferencing software to follow up with an important alumni donor and share campaign plans in light of the COVID-19 crisis. The software worked smoothly during the practice run a day before, but when members of the development team logged in 20 minutes before the meeting to test the software, the screen kept freezing and the screenshare function wasn’t working properly. After not being able to solve the issue in short time, the team quickly pivoted and decided to move to a different platform. They logged into the backup platform, sent the donor an email with new login instructions, and were able to hold a successful issue-free meeting that began on time.

As a third backup option, you can always consider moving to an audio-only conference call. Having these options in your back pocket will prepare you for any curve balls thrown your way and will keep you from needing to postpone the meeting.

Don’t Reinvent the Wheel

It is important to remember that even with meetings being moved to the digital space, the principles and best practices of how you communicate with donors remain the same. Articulate your mission with clarity and confidence and continue to find ways to provide meaningful follow-up correspondence after your meeting. This includes new and expanded materials that reflect what was discussed during the meeting.

Most importantly: thank the donor for their time both on the call and in your follow-up calls/e-mails. The commitment they made during this time of heightened uncertainty can’t be understated, and the donor should feel your appreciation in every step of the process.

Additional Resources for Video Conferencing Best Practices

The COVID-19 crisis has thrust many development professionals into a remote work situation, and more than ever before we’re seeing how the digital space can greatly support our usual fundraising practices. Well before this moment, the rise of online giving has been significant, and the importance of engaging your existing and potential donors online has never been more essential. The best giving day strategies begin at least six months in advance, so now is the time to look ahead and plan for success.

Giving days—24-hour digital fundraising challenges—are worth the investment, especially in this time of uncertainty. Executing a giving day strategy can be a useful tool to raise awareness and funds, as long as you make the right preparations and have reasonable and achievable goals. The organizations that are succeeding in their outreach have robust strategies that align closely with their wider institutional goals and include investments in time and staff resources.

Why Participate?

The purpose of participating in a giving day is to offer new and established donors a special reason to engage with your cause. Getting involved is essential, as they are increasing in popularity year after year. #GivingTuesday, the best-known giving day that takes place annually on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, is growing exponentially. According to the NonProfit Times, #GivingTuesday raised a total of $511 million online in the United States. This was an increase of over $100 million from 2018, an increase of nearly 28 percent.

There are opportunities in every nonprofit sector on #GivingTuesday. For example, #iGiveCatholic, which was deemed “the most successful Catholic crowdfunding event to date” by the National Catholic Register, has taken online Catholic stewardship practices to the next level. #iGiveCatholic is a bishop-led initiative in partnership with lay leaders in Catholic philanthropy that offers assistance to Catholic organizations as they build their outreach strategies for the online giving event. Through this service, organizations gain access to training, toolkits, and materials to execute a successful plan. In 2019, the #iGiveCatholic campaign raised nearly $7.5 million from over 29,000 donors across the country.

There are also regional giving days to investigate in your own area. Whichever days you choose, follow our three steps to maximizing your giving day strategy.

The Three Keys

Preparation

Making the most out of a giving day takes planning. Many organizations stumble by jumping into the giving day conversation without proper outreach strategies, branding, or realistic goals. It is a best practice to create an outreach plan over six months in advance. You should have a calendar filled with strategies for:

Content creation (i.e. branded templates, videos, images, testimonials, podcasts etc.)
Email marketing to your database to build momentum
Social media posts across channels that tell a consistent story of impact
Website enhancements to serve as a “home base” for giving day promotion
Public relations/media outreach

The preparation stage also gives you an opportunity to survey the people who gave the previous year. Tap into your network to ask them what compelled them to give, what content they found most effective, and what they would want to see improved. This will help you create a new strategy that resonates with your core audience.

Standing Out Above the Crowd

As the popularity of giving days grows, the chances are good that your audience will be inundated by pitches from many like-minded organizations. Therefore, the way you present your mission can make all the difference. The first question to ask here is, Why should people give to our cause? Consider the elements of your case that stand out, and boil those differentiators into a ten second elevator pitch to grab attention and clearly present your case.

Once you have narrowed your focus, create professional-looking content that support your case. Think about using campaign-specific graphics and colors in emails and on social media. Remember that you will be attempting to attract new people who may not be familiar with your cause. Your messaging should aim to clearly underline who you are and why this day is special.

Promotion

While it is important to communicate your strategies well in advance, outreach should be ramped up a month before the giving day. This includes communications through all of your social media channels and your email database It is also important to activate your strongest supporters to raise awareness. Pull a short list of your most active volunteers and major financial supporters and make personal calls to ask them for help in spreading the word.

When promoting your giving day, it is also essential to strike a balance between underwhelming and overwhelming your audience. Be purposeful with your outreach and avoid redundancies in your content to keep your audience engaged. For example, sending the same emails several times without adding something new to the conversation could slow momentum as you get closer to the day.

Following Your Giving Day Campaign

The first thing to do after your giving day is to track and publicize your results to celebrate your success. It is also useful to do an immediate internal evaluation to determine which parts of your plan worked and which parts didn’t. This audit will allow you to identify the outreach channels that were the most effective which will help greatly the next year. It is valuable to thank all donors who participated in elevating your cause through all channels.

If you’re just getting started, here are some reminders:

As you think about your strategic plan for this year and beyond, it may be tempting to participate in as many giving days as you can find, but you could risk spreading yourself thin. Take a look at your calendar, identify all the giving days you might want to participate in, and then see which ones fit your organization best. Try a few the first year and then assess which one(s) worked best for you.
It’s okay to start small. Consider a reasonable goal to create an early win.
No matter how far out your next giving day is, it is worthwhile to assemble your team to begin strategizing today. Take a look at the organizations who are doing it well, and brainstorm what it will take for your organization to exceed their success.

This post is an update from a previous published article which can be read here.

As the COVID-19 crisis continues to change the way we work, it is valuable to think about how even the smallest improvements can set you up for success later. This article, which was previously published here, speaks to the small wins that can help your organization build momentum no matter the current situation.

The Importance of Small Wins

It is often said that campaigns are meant to be a marathon, not a sprint. However, it is easy to get lost in the big picture or stuck in the weeds of daily tasks that suddenly make campaign goals seem too daunting or too visionary. It’s important to remember that campaign success is not only about funds raised, but also about the ongoing accomplishments that keep a development team feeling positive about the direction forward. Celebrating small wins in fundraising is important for building momentum, instilling confidence, and establishing a successful path forward to realize big picture goals.

Achieving this kind of incremental success cannot be overlooked or understated. When managing a campaign, there will always be a moment when you face adversity, whether experiencing a setback or feeling trapped with your back against the wall. This is especially true for those whose campaigns have stalled, when you feel like you’ve exhausted all options, and things are just not going as you had hoped. In times like this, it’s important to remember that a small win can be something as simple as completing a productive weekly meeting with your executive director or identifying a new prospect to discover. Acknowledging and celebrating these small yet mighty tasks not only start your campaign off on a strong foot, but also keep you moving forward with cadence.

Whether you’re looking to boost activity or pivot in strategy, there are things you can do right away to ensure your campaign keeps moving forward.

Three Ways to Achieve Small Wins

1. Rally the Troops: Instilling Internal Confidence

Building a sense of ownership, trust, and empowerment among organizational leaders around campaign priorities is an important accomplishment to celebrate at the outset of and throughout a campaign. Knowing that your people support institutional campaign efforts inspires greater confidence among campaign leaders and volunteers who are driving activity forward every day.

Rallying the troops around a collective sense of “we” must be an ongoing effort to ensure overall campaign success. These important individuals are your key insiders that will help you achieve larger fundraising goals. Instilling internal confidence among your troops can be accomplished in the following ways.

Be transparent and communicate often. Your people want to know what’s going on. They want to support the institution and leaders they work for. However, these individuals can only do so if they are aware of what is going on at all levels. Host monthly update meetings with staff, send newsletters or other forms of consistent communication about campaign progress and success, and create opportunities to discuss challenges and frustrations so lines of communication are always open around the positive and negative. This will establish trust and confidence in-house which will be necessary for larger wins down the road. Transparency and communication open the door to internal advocates and ambassadors for your campaign that will build greater momentum for campaign success.
Look inward and create structure on your team. Internal leaders and staff often want to help in any way they can. Creating and assigning roles for each person will create a sense of “we” behind a shared goal, which becomes a much larger win for the organization as whole. Communicate these roles clearly with your team so that everyone knows exactly what part they play and feels a sense of ownership.
Highlight accomplishments at the next staff meeting. As leaders and staff complete tasks, publicly acknowledging their good work to advance campaign efforts will open the door for more people to get involved and allow everyone an opportunity to celebrate small wins together. Celebrating small successes is key to creating a winning culture and can help create an energized and excited team even during the hardest times of a campaign.

2. Maximize Effort: Updating the Pipeline

Campaigns are not just about hitting goal, but also about building and maintaining relationships with donors. While nonprofit organizations often focus on a specific targeted list of campaign prospects when seeking significant funds, a campaign is also an opportunity to clean up the pipeline and identify new individuals who share a commitment to an organization’s mission.

By reviewing and updating your prospect pool, you give your people confidence in knowing that they are spending time wisely on the right donors. Updates may involve removing a prospect who has been unresponsive for a few weeks and pivoting to toward a different prospect who yields greater potential support. Another update may involve moving a prospect from the discovery stage to the cultivation stage following an introductory meeting. Especially when a campaign is stalled, any update to the pipeline is a great way to get the ball rolling again.

Each new prospect is a new opportunity to increase donations, set both staff and donor sights higher, and engage a broader community that may include the next generation of leaders. Once a prospect is in the pipeline, celebrate every move throughout the donor engagement process as a small win toward greater success. After a long week of research, finding a new prospective donor who has the ability and affinity to give, as well as access to your organization, is an outstanding win to celebrate. Identifying a new major gift prospect is exciting and can help reinvigorate leaders and restore confidence among current donors.

3. Prepare: Setting Yourself Up for a Major Win

Organizations often celebrate a completed solicitation visit because it means they are one step closer to a potential gift. While this is an exciting moment in any campaign, the hard work that goes into the preparation required to conduct a successful solicitation visit often goes unacknowledged.

Asking for a transformative gift is not a one-step process. The solicitor(s) must be prepared to present the case, verbalize a request, and handle responses in a personal manner. The first solicitation requires the most preparation. The process to ensure that each solicitor, who may not always be a professional fundraiser, feels confident in their ability to conduct the meeting involves several tasks, which include (but are not limited to):

Material development and review
Strategy meetings
Learning and training sessions

As you walk through the materials and strategy for a solicitation meeting, acknowledge each completed task as an accomplishment and share your progress with other leaders and volunteers. Keep everyone in the know about how much has been accomplished leading up to the first big request. That way, when a gift comes through, everyone can celebrate it together.

Each completed task is an incremental step toward greater success. As a campaign manager, you will notice and want to point out to your team that your leaders become more and more prepared for and confident when conducting solicitations over time, which yields higher returns on requests. This is an example of how incremental success can lead to small wins throughout a campaign.

Getting Started Today

The three ways to achieve small wins outlined above work in tandem with one another to achieve incremental success. When planning a campaign or restructuring a fundraising approach, it’s important to set activity benchmarks in addition to your big goals. Working these small wins into your campaign are important strategies for building momentum, establishing trust, and charting a path forward for boosting activity and realizing big picture goals.

It may help to ask yourself: What does tomorrow look like, and next week? What do I have to look forward to tomorrow, or what will we accomplish next week? How can we build on next week’s win?

When answering these questions, keep in mind that incremental accomplishments illuminate progress and demonstrates success. This helps to motivate everyone involved to drive campaign activity and sets your people up to produce results. Be purposeful about what you communicate. You can position anything as a small win to your leadership and major donors. It helps to create a strong perception of progress, which leads to greater success.

Earlier this week, CCS Fundraising hosted a webinar, Principles of Fundraising: Navigating the Challenges Presented by Coronavirus, to discuss the current COVID-19 crisis and provide guidance on how nonprofits of all sizes and across sectors can proceed during this uncertain time. CCS leadership presented perspectives drawn from over 70 years of fundraising experience through times both prosperous and challenging.

In the recording of the webinar, which can be accessed here, CCS leaders Robert Kissane, Rick Happy, and Lindsay Marciniak shared their thoughts, which included:

Fundamental Learnings from Times of Crisis

Challenging times offer an opportunity for organizations to strengthen and cement their relationships with their stakeholders, as well as to affirm their mission and to demonstrate their relevance. We have learned through experience that donors who stopped supporting specific nonprofits during or after a crisis did so primarily because they no longer felt connected. Nonprofit organizations that stay the course and keep their stakeholders engaged ultimately emerge from challenging periods successfully.

Unique Implications of the Current Situation

While social distancing (or physical distancing) prevents us from meeting in person, there are still many opportunities to connect and continue operations. Furthermore, for many, this distancing offers time to reflect, plan, reach out, and think further ahead than tomorrow’s advancement committee meeting, for example.

Nonprofit staff should be communicating often and frankly with their donors as well as with colleagues, friends, and those who they haven’t connected with in some time. Remember that donors care about the organizations they support, and want to know how this situation is affecting the organization in addition to what is being done to deal with it.

Immediate Strategies to Implement

CCS recently published an article sharing best practices and principles of fundraising that have been tested through time. One key aspect to continuing the success of your program is embracing technology as a sure way to create meaningful and dynamic experiences. Now is also the time to develop a short-term plan to motivate your donors, reaffirm your mission, and most importantly, show empathy with your stakeholders.

For more up-to-date information, visit www.ccsfundraising.com

To access our full suite of perspectives, publications, and reports, visit our insights page. To learn more about CCS Fundraising’s suite of services, click here.

As many nonprofit organizations seek guidance on how to proceed during this time of uncertainty, we want to support your programs by offering practical advice and expertise on how best to move forward. Our leaders at CCS Fundraising held this webinar to share perspectives and proven strategies, drawing from the firm’s 70+ years of experience in advising nonprofits across sectors through challenging periods. Attendees explored:

Key Lessons from Critical Moments in the Past
Unique Implications of the Current Situation
Suggested Strategies During a Crisis

In the recording of the webinar, CCS leaders Robert Kissane, Rick Happy, and Lindsay Marciniak shared their perspectives.

DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION SLIDES

PRESENTED BY

Lindsay Marciniak

Managing Director

Frederic J. “Rick” Happy

Chairman

Robert Kissane

Former Chairman

Concerns about the impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) underscore the nonprofit sector’s vital leadership role in the welfare of our communities. At CCS Fundraising, our primary concern lies with the health and safety of our people, our nonprofit partners, and those in our communities at greatest risk.

We understand that many nonprofit organizations are seeking guidance on how to proceed during this time of uncertainty. CCS has extensive experience over the past 70 years in times of crisis, economic stress, and natural disasters. There are several lessons we have garnered through these experiences.

These lessons focus on the importance of continuous communication and engagement with stakeholders, prudent adjustments to short-term fundraising activities, and a focused commitment to staying the course of an organization’s overall fundraising plans. Strong leadership and resilience have helped charitable organizations persevere through challenging times. Nonprofit organizations have achieved success through flexibility, creativity, and resolve.

In light of the current and rapidly evolving circumstances, CCS offers the following general principles and specific guidelines around fundraising efforts:

Increase communication: Keep your stakeholders fully informed and deeply engaged. Donors and stakeholders are interested in how organizations are affected by the current situation, and what actions are being taken.
Avoid wholesale cancellation of fundraising plans: Adhere to your overall fundraising plans and strategies, with reasonable adjustments to your day-to-day meetings, events, and activities, depending on your local circumstances.
Reaffirm your mission and impact: Reaffirm your organization’s mission and continuously remind donors of the impact of your work. If you have a special role to play in the current public health issue, explain it.
Develop a short-term action plan: Develop a plan of action, including a communications plan over the next several weeks, featuring an outreach initiative of personal calls and emails to key donors and friends.
Leverage technology: Find ways to more effectively incorporate video conferencing, podcasts, or virtual briefings that make meetings more dynamic and create more personal experiences regardless of distance. Consider how social media or other virtual platforms can serve as temporary alternatives to in-person convenings.
Motivate: Redouble efforts to help motivate development staff, administrative leadership, and trustees by reminding them of the resilience of philanthropy in difficult times. Donors who feel engaged and connected will continue to support their beloved institutions, especially in times of crisis.
Share philanthropic information: Share the latest philanthropic information to both motivate leadership and temper expectations.
Consider special briefings: Consider hosting a series of teleconference briefings with stakeholders on issues pertinent to the current situation. Donors and constituents are interested in knowing how a nonprofit is responding to the current situation: whether classes, events, services, or performances are being altered or canceled; how employees are being cared-for; how operations are affected; if any new services or programs are being initiated in response to current circumstances.
Show empathy and concern for your stakeholders: We have all been impacted by COVID-19 in some way. Giving is a two-way street and donors want to know that you value them and are concerned about their welfare. Offer any resources that might be helpful to your stakeholders.

In challenging times, those nonprofit organizations that stay the course and engage extensively with their stakeholders emerge successfully. These situations offer an important time for nonprofits to demonstrate their relevance and cement their relationships with their donors and friends. Donors look to these organizations as vital resources. In the past, those donors who stopped supporting specific nonprofits during or after a crisis did so primarily because they no longer felt connected to them.

The last point is particularly important, as it may feel like now is a moment to pause or delay your activity. It is very important to note that in previous downturns, those who continued to push forward in their efforts ultimately succeeded, and those who took a step back lost ground.

Thank you for all that you do to strengthen our communities and improve our world. We hope these principles, gleaned through many years of experience and periods of uncertainty, are helpful as you carefully navigate your development and fundraising efforts in the coming months.

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Engaged and good leadership is essential to the success of a parish campaign. Leadership in a parish campaign starts with the Rector. If the Rector is supportive and involved in the fundraising plan, the likelihood of parishioner participation will increase and there is a higher chance the campaign will be successful.

Leadership is a core pillar of a successful capital campaign. The confidence inspired by a leader and their advocacy is infectious. This is not just some cliché; the importance of leadership in any organization is supported by research. A 2016 Harvard Business Review article titled, “The Trickle-Down Effect of Good (and Bad) Leadership,” demonstrated that “good leadership is contagious…and so is bad leadership.”

A Rector’s positive attitude and engagement trickles down to the vestry and trickles even further to the community. Parishioners look up to the Rector for leadership, spiritual guidance, and support. Simply stated – when the Rector is involved, others will want to be involved too. The inverse can be true of negative attitudes and lack of engagement.

However, it is not enough to show up to campaign meetings and announce you have made a gift. Leadership engagement in a campaign, and behaviors that are contagious, are inspired by something much deeper spiritually in the parish community. The two examples that follow focus on the positive influence of good, thoughtful, and mission-driven leadership on the success of capital campaigns.

Establish Early Momentum

The For All the Saints capital campaign was the first major fundraising effort for St. John’s Episcopal Church (Tallahassee, FL) since transitions in leadership and membership at the parish a decade earlier. The campaign focused on both preservation of historic buildings and construction of new facilities. During the campaign feasibility and planning study, the transitions were the top reason participants suggested a campaign could be challenging. This led to a low score for the study compared to other Episcopal parishes in terms of parishioners’ willingness to personally support the campaign. Parishioners identified a challenge and it made them hesitant to participate financially.

Despite this, the annual stewardship and planned giving programs were healthy, demonstrating that parishioners were committed to St. John’s financial wellbeing. Regardless, the Rector, the Reverend Dave Killeen, knew he had to address these hesitations. In partnership with the Rev. Killeen and the Campaign Chair, CCS developed a plan to not only reassure the parish it would be successful, but also demonstrate early success to establish momentum, raise giving sights, and validate the case for support.

The Rev. Killeen and the Campaign Chair led with conviction. At the first campaign leadership meeting two weeks into the campaign, the Rev. Killeen announced the campaign had already secured close to 25% of the goal. The campaign leaders were impressed – audible gasps and applause echoed throughout the room. They reflected on how that progress made the campaign goal feel attainable.

Volunteers were clearly inspired by the Rev. Killeen’s commitment to their success; it was contagious. They heard his stories and saw results. St. John’s went on to secure 301 gifts totaling $4,803,090, or 160% of their original $3,000,000 goal, with the engagement of 64 parish volunteers.

The plan worked. The Rev. Killeen and the Campaign Chair demonstrated the viability of the campaign. The Rev. Killeen not only attended most of the volunteer meetings, he participated in 66 requests visits. He established his expertise, reflected openly on his successes and setbacks, and demonstrated trust in the gift request process. These are leadership traits that are essential to the success of any nonprofit organization.

Be Intentional

The Built with Purpose campaign at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church (Houston, TX) was focused on retiring the debt incurred from renovations of their sanctuary. The case was compelling, not just because of the before and after pictures showcasing the impact, but because it was clear that if the debt was retired sooner, they could invest more in mission priorities. No one needed convincing.

However, the feasibility and planning study revealed that the willingness of parishioners to volunteer was lower than most Episcopal churches and the study indicated that lack of engagement could be the greatest challenge. Since parishioner-to-parishioner gift requests are a hallmark of successful parish campaigns, the Rector, the Reverend Patrick Miller, knew this had to be addressed, both for the campaign and the long-term vitality of St. Mark’s.

The Rev. Miller chose to be intentional, and engaged parishioners as volunteers who represented the diversity of his growing parish. He realized early on that this campaign would nourish and grow parish life for years to come. For example, when identifying potential volunteers, he went beyond the people who volunteer for everything. He leveraged the campaign to get new people involved and ensure multiple generations were represented. He even had a plan to engage the children and youth. In looking back, everyone was a candidate, because the Rev. Miller believed in his parish and saw this campaign as an opportunity to cement the connectedness of his community.

Another unique aspect of this campaign was that the Rev. Miller “engineered” volunteers’ success. He helped by pairing volunteers with gift requests that he knew would be successful. Specifically, he knew to match people who knew each other, but were not so close it would be uncomfortable to ask each other for money. He matched peers to peers. Volunteers were more confident when he said, “I know this request will be successful if you are involved.” The Rev. Miller understood that if each volunteer had at least one successful gift request, they would be more likely to remain engaged.

The Rev. Miller’s leadership style was intentional and built on a strong belief in the parish’s potential. He personally requested and secured just over $2,000,000 of the total funds secured. Over 40 volunteers accelerated the campaign past their goal and secured 141 gifts totaling $3,102,665. Not only could they pay off the debt early, they could fund essential mission priorities sooner than anyone had imagined.

Ensure Success

Leadership is a necessity for a successful campaign. As my colleague, Vann Ellen Mitchell, said in a recent article, leadership “engagement will make or break the campaign.” The intentionality and awareness that the Rev. Dave Killeen and the Rev. Patrick Miller demonstrated in the planning for their campaigns ensured the success, not just for the campaigns, but for their parish.

As you begin to plan your next campaign, consider these takeaways:

Conduct a feasibility and planning study: Both parishes had completed strategic planning, but the feasibility and planning study assessed the viability of the capital campaign with the parishioners who would ultimately make an investment. The study not only validated the case and plan, but revealed challenges and opportunities that could be directly addressed early.
Build a systematic plan focused on leadership: The campaign plan should focus on a phased approach for organization and efficiency purposes as well as creating a volunteer engagement environment that is manageable and built on the momentum of early success.
Most importantly, ensure your Rector is deeply engaged. It is the Rector’s role to ensure the success of the campaign. Their involvement in the planning, recruitment, and gift request process is essential. Parishioners naturally look to the Rector for leadership, guidance, and support, and during a capital campaign their engagement could not be more important.