The document provides guidance for small nonprofit shops on effective fundraising. It outlines that small shops have common elements with larger ones like accountability and a development cycle. Key differences are fewer resources and reliance on philanthropic giving. It recommends small shops focus on mission critical activities like regular prospecting, cultivation, acknowledgment, and planning. Metrics like cost and time per dollar raised should guide investment in different fundraising techniques. Adding volunteers or occasional staff may help when workload increases. Overall it emphasizes prioritizing the most effective fundraising strategies within the constraints of small shop resources.

1. Fundraising for Small Shops
Alice L. Ferris, CFRE
James S. Anderson

2. Things we have in common
with larger shops

3. Things we have in common with
larger shops
 Philanthropic intent
 Primary elements of the development cycle
 Prospecting and research
 Cultivation
 Solicitation
 Recognition and acknowledgment
 Accountability
 To donor
 To supervisor
 To board of directors
 To communities you serve
 NEED
 Show me the money!

4. What’s Different?

5. Differences
 Resources
 People
 Donors
 Budget
 Reliance on philanthropic giving
 “Insulation” from the rest of the operation
 Generalist v. specialist

6. What is Mission Critical?
 Activities that you must do in
development to:
 Generate revenue
 Insure sustainability of the fundraising
program
 Fulfill reporting and legal requirements

7. What is “Might do”?
 Activities that you may do in
development to enhance your
existing activities and build additional
resources

8. Where should you invest your time?
 Evaluate based on
 Cost per dollar raised
 Time per dollar raised

9. How to calculate these stats
1. Track your time for one month
2. Group hours by fundraising technique that
you’re using
3. End of the month, look at your actual
revenue and expenses
4. Group revenue by fundraising technique
5. Group expenses (not including your salary)
by fundraising technique

10. Example
 Direct Mail
 Spent two hours writing the letter and designing
the package
 Spent one hour getting the printing ordered
 Spent 30 minutes scheduling the mailing
 Spent two hours supervising volunteers to stuff
the mailing
 Spent 10 hours processing gifts and thanking
donors
 TOTAL: 13.5 hours

11. Example (continued)
 Direct Mail
 Revenue from the mailing
 20 responses at $50 each: $1,000
 Expenses
 500 pieces at $2 each, including postage: $1,000
 Cost per dollar raised: $1.00
 Time per dollar raised: 810 minutes/$1,000
= 47 seconds

12. Example
 Grant proposal
 Spent one hour researching the funder
 Spent 30 minutes on initial contact with funder
 Spent 2 hours meeting with program staff
 Spent 20 hours preparing the grant proposal
 TOTAL: 23.5 hours

13. Example (continued)
 Grant proposal
 IF funded: $10,000
 Expenses
 Postage and printing of proposal: $100
 Cost per dollar raised: $0.01
 Time per dollar raised: 1,410 minutes/
$10,000 = 8.5 seconds

14. Typical Priority Order
1. Major gifts (one to one solicitation)
2. Corporate grants
3. Foundation grants
4. Direct mail
5. Telemarketing
6. Special events

15. Mission Critical Solicitation
1. Pick at least TWO strategies
2. Diversify your donor base
 Make sure you are not reliant on one donor for
more than 50% of your revenue

16. Insuring sustainability of the
fundraising program
 Regular prospect research
 Consistent cultivation
 Appropriate acknowledgment
 Consistent planning and preparation
 Regular investment in your tool kit

17. Mission Critical Research
 Why do it at all?
 Need to continually move more donors into the pipeline
 Keep what you got and go get more!
 Sources
 Local media
 Board members
 Other staff
 Other donors
 Other organizations
 Time management
 Once a month
 An hour or two on this

18. “Might do” Research
 Get volunteers involved to share leads
 Databases
 Your local library
 Regional and specialty databases
 Free resources
 Free e-newsletters
 Google it!

19. Mission Critical Cultivation
 Whatever is a quick way to touch base at
least once
 Phone
 Email
 Note/Postcard
 Newsletter

20. “Might do” Cultivation
 Social Media
 Engage volunteers in the “touches”
 Cultivation event

21. Small shop acknowledgment
 Automate where you can: learn how to use
your database
 Mission critical: one receipt letter with IRS
reporting standards

22. Acknowledgment “Might Do’s”
 Volunteer follow up
 Annual event
 Other staff member follow up
 Program person
 Executive director
 Board member thank you calls

23. Mission Critical Planning
 Financial projections
 Call planning
 Deadline mapping

24. Planning “Might Do’s”
 Cultivation plans
 Longer range planning

25. Mission Critical Investment
 Take the time to invest in YOURSELF!

26. Reporting and Legal Requirements
 There are no “might do’s” here!
 Form 990 if revenue requires
 Audit highly recommended
 At minimum, report to donors

27. MISSION CRITICAL SUMMARY
 Solicitation: pick two primary methods
 Research: once a month
 Cultivation: touch base with your donors once a
month at least
 Acknowledgment: send a receipt within 48 hours
 Planning: update your numbers, know your deadlines,
and plan your calls in advance
 Investment: do formal professional development
once a quarter, but learn all the time
 Reporting and legal: know your requirements and
meet them

28. Managing your time

29. Action planning
 Systematize as much of mission critical stuff as
possible
 Weekly
 Acknowledgments
 Solicitations
 Monthly
 Planning
 Research

30. Action planning
 Quarterly
 Personal investment
 Cultivation updates
 Annually
 Legal requirements

31. What you need
 Calendar
 Computer and telephone
 Database
 Library card!

32. When do you add more staff?
 When you can’t complete mission critical
items with the person you have
 When you have opportunities for additional
fundraising strategies that will potentially raise
more than you need to spend
 When you need a level of professionalism to
access different donor pools

33. Options for additional staffing:
Hire someone
 Part-time  Full-time
 Pros  Pros
 Less financial investment  Investment in resources
 Good opportunity to “grow  Longer term commitment
your own”  Could be higher skill level
 Cons  Cons
 Less long term commitment  Higher financial investment
from the employee  May overextend resources
 Lower level of expertise,  May be a challenge to transfer
typically duties and responsibilities
from incumbent

34. Options for additional staffing:
Hire someone
 Management Level  Assistant
 Pros  Pros
 Higher level of expertise  Trainability
 Longer term commitment,  Lower cost in the short term
typically  Cons
 Indicates importance of  Level of expertise
fundraising to rest of
organization
 Who’s doing the heavy lifting?
 Cons
 Higher cost
 “Empire building”
 Personality is key

35. Options for additional staffing:
Hire someone
 Consultant  Staff
 Pros  Pros
 Higher level of expertise  Grow your own
 May be quicker start up  Longer term commitment
 Potential for short term  Potentially less orientation
commitment time
 Cons  Cons
 Higher cost  Level of expertise
 Availability for day to day  Overall cost with benefits
operations
 Familiarity with market

36. Options for additional staffing:
Use interns and externs
 Interns  Externs
 Great for limited term  Older students, so
projects like events sometimes more mature
 Tend to want to be social
with their work
 Great for limited term,
 Short term commitment, established projects where
but usually unpaid they can have discrete
responsibility
 Need resume building, so
you can potentially retain
longer
 Usually paid

37. Options for additional staffing:
Volunteers
 Retirees  Stay at home parents
 Usually have some level  Great for ongoing
of professional administration
expertise  Can also be good for
 Good for ongoing one time projects
projects, usually
 Tend to want to be
social with their work
 Can have access to
useful networks for
prospective gifts

38. Mission Critical: Managing staff
 Don’t forget to add time to manage when you
add people
 Training
 Motivation
 Feedback and Evaluation

39. Summary
 We’re not so different from large shops, but
we have to be more creative with resources
 Identify your Mission Critical items and plan
around those things
 Add the “might do’s” as you have additional
resources
 Be prepared to add staff (paid and unpaid)
when possible

40. Questions?

41. Contact Information:
Alice L. Ferris, MBA, CFRE
alice.ferris@goalbusters.net
James S. Anderson
jim.anderson@goalbusters.net
www.goalbusters.net
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