In this week’s edition of “Ask an Expert,” we answer reader questions about membership programs and prioritizing when you’re short on staff and time — and facing the stress of a potential layoff.
Fundraising consultants Martha Ernst of Daniller & Company, Marc Pitman of Concord Leadership Group, and Liz FitzGerald, director of development at the American Civil Liberties Union, provide the answers.
What are you trying to figure out in the midst of the pandemic? We’re here to help you navigate this challenging new landscape with a new advice column.
What are you trying to figure out in the midst of the pandemic? Send us your questions about fundraising, management challenges, and more, and we’ll track down the right experts to answer them. Submit your questions to askanexpert@philanthropy.com, and we’ll answer a couple each week. Let us know if you’d like to remain anonymous.
How are organizations approaching membership drives right now? We’d planned a drive to reach out to lapsed and new donors. Is it advisable to go forward with a message tailored to exceptional times and transparency?
— Executive director of a literary nonprofit in New York State
Nonprofits such as museums and botanical gardens are closed right now. Ernst says she advises clients whose organizations depend on visitors to stay the course with their renewal programs but press pause on efforts to acquire new members. She recommends that groups wait to mail appeals to join until they know when they will reopen.
For clients whose organizations don’t rely on visitors, “we are judiciously moving ahead with acquisition campaigns,” she says. All letters must be carefully written to reflect the unusual circumstances of the moment. “The message is more mission-driven with gratitude for their support and helping to keep the organization strong. Organizations need to continue with smart, thoughtful acquisition strategies.”
Attracting new donors will be more difficult during a crisis — but not impossible, FitzGerald says. “It is expensive and can seem like an easy line to cut on the budget, but it is critical for overall list and organizational health.”
In the downturns after September 11 and the 2008 financial crisis, nonprofits that continued with their acquisition efforts fared better in the long run than groups that shut them down.
Ernst and her colleagues advise all of their clients to keep in touch with members and donors through regular online communications and phone calls to sincerely thank them for their support and update them on what is happening.
FitzGerald agrees and advises fundraisers to be sure to mix asks with cultivation. “Many people are more available than usual to connect and talk.”
All of your donors are experiencing this crisis in some way. Be aware of that when you create your messaging, she says.
In her experience so far, people want to keep supporting the organizations they have always given to. Usually, people stay loyal to those groups if they reduce their overall giving, she says. But in many cases, they won’t be able to give at the same level.
“The goal now — and in any time of financial challenge — is to retain donors so that they stay with you in the hard times and will be better positioned to increase giving again when times are better.”
One-person development department here. How do I prioritize in light of the fact that I will be working reduced hours and may be laid off as we have no programs running in schools right now?
— Fundraiser
“I’ve been there,” Pitman says. It’s a tough position to be in but also common.
He recommends focusing on the activities that help your organization reach its goals. If fundraising is the main goal, err on the side of nurturing relationships with individual higher-dollar donors. If event participation is your goal, focus on doing what you can to give donors the best online experience possible.
Make a list of what the group needs to accomplish, what has worked well in the past, and what your executive director’s and board’s goals are, Pitman says.
Figure out what you need to do and include the time those activities will take. For example, calling Society Club donors averages 6 to 10 minutes per call. You have a list of 10 names. Because you’ve tracked your time over the years, you know it will take one to two hours to get the calls done.
Once you have your list and the reasons you think those activities are most important, connect with your boss, share your thinking, and ask for help prioritizing, Pitman says.
You could also list all the types of fundraising you do, then go through your calendar and tally how many hours each week you devote to each area. Then figure out the percentages, Pitman advises. “The goal isn’t to show you’ve been working 60 or 80 hour weeks so ‘reduced hours’ is actually still full-time! The goal is to get a sense of where your time is going.”
In a previous job, Pitman’s CEO wanted him to bring in more major gifts. “I’d been tracking my time percentages. A full 50 percent of my time was attending internal meetings. ... Every time I’d asked to be excused from one, he’d said, ‘No. You need to be a good team player.’ "
Later, Pitman showed his boss his calculations and said, “‘I am raising this amount of money in major gifts now. To raise more, I need to spend more time with major-gift donors.’” He asked to skip some of the team and committee meetings to free up more time for donors.
Again, his boss said no. But then he knew that Pitman “being a team player” meant not doing more major gift fundraising.
However you choose to approach the tasks at hand, “now is a time when fundraising is needed more than ever,” Pitman says. “Thank you for wanting to do the best you can within the restrictions you’re being given.”
What advice would you add? Comment below to share your ideas. If you have a question you want us to tackle in a future column, send an email to askanexpert@philanthropy.com .
