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Author: amylazoff

Corporate Fundraising: Six Steps to Finding Sponsorship Gift Success

Posted by on in SponsorEd, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Corporate relations is an essential part of any development office and typically falls into two categories: corporate grants, and sponsorship gifts. Depending on the company you’re working with, one gift could be coming from multiple budgets within the organization. Below are a couple of helpful tips to keep in mind when preparing that next corporate sponsorship visit.

1. Do you know what you’re selling?

Having a comprehensive catalog of available options not only helps your potential donor visualize the many options available, but it also helps keep your office in order. If you are new to the team, or bringing a new member on, having an established catalog will be an invaluable tool for their training. This doesn’t have to be a flashy piece, but you should have some list of the available options ranging from special events, workshops, spaces, programs, etc. If you’ve not gone through this process before, you might surprise yourself with just how many opportunities are available, or conversely, what you’re missing to round out your sponsorship portfolio.
Don’t have a catalog?  Here are a few tips to get you started: what it is (the event or thing), price range, date(s) of the program/event if applicable, recognition offered, and sponsor benefits and the fair market value (or non-deductible) portion of the gift if applicable.

2. Do your research

I know I am most likely preaching to the choir on this one, but even if you’re asking a long-time sponsor for a meeting, do a quick check of their website.  What are the supporting right now?  Have they changed focus? Let’s face it, the reason we’re always on the lookout for new sponsors (in addition to raising additional funds for our organizations) is because corporations change focus, board members change, and inevitably budgets change.  It is better to go into a meeting knowing a sponsor may have to trim their support this year and have some fantastic options to choose from, then to learn about it during a meeting and not have back up options prepared.

3. Corporations are people too

In other words, while there are differences in how you approach and steward individual vs. corporate donors, remember – they are still donors.  How you steward your corporate donors, barring corporate changes in focus, will ultimately determine how involved they will be with your non-profit.  Corporations can be great partners for bringing in more than just dollars, they are a perfect place to recruit volunteers and committee members.

4. Be mindful of increased prices

I worked with a group once who thought they should automatically ask for a 3% increase in sponsorship every year from their corporate donors.  Personally, I think that is one of the quickest ways to ruin a great relationship with a corporate partner.  Be sure to ask for increases when they are warranted, but keep in mind that organizational budgets change and if you’re always asking for more, it will give the impression to your donor that you’re in a one-sided relationship.

Thinking back to #2 on our list, if you come prepared knowing that increasing a sponsorship isn’t likely with a sponsor, but bring options that can still fit (most) of their needs, this will let them know you’re in this relationship for the long-term.  It’s also good stewardship.

5. How flexible are you?

Flexibility can mean many things, and here I am specifically referring to your catalog of options and the go/no-go areas for your organization.  If a sponsor wanted to increase their gift, but wanted to have a sign at your front entrance showcasing them as a sponsor, would you do it?  If someone wanted to increase their gift, but needs an extra table to your sold out gala, do you give it?  You’ll never have all the answers up front, but when it comes to spaces or programs, know where and when you’re comfortable putting names or logos (and know which one you prefer).  This might be a good conversation to have with your CEO to get their thoughts about logo/name placement at your site if this isn’t a conversation you’ve had before.

6. Say thank you & follow-up

I am sure this goes without saying, but remember to THANK YOUR DONORS!  In addition to their initial thank you letter, I often prepare a year-end thank you letter for my corporate donors to highlight all the ways they’ve helped my organization this past year, with pictures and quotes whenever possible.  It reminds them about all the benefits they’ve received, the impact their funding created, and provides a great chance to set up a meeting for the new year.  Also, as you set up tours and lunches with your individual donors, be sure to include your corporate decision makers (and their families if appropriate) into this schedule – it could pay off!

Best of Luck,

AmyL_wo initial

Amy Lazoff is an Associate with SNF Writing Solutions, LLC

Still working on your Development Plan?

Posted by on in PlannEd, UncategorizedLeave a comment
It’s that time of year when organizations are finalizing their development plans for the upcoming year.
Whether you’re a development officer or a non-profit CEO, writing a development plan can be a daunting task, especially if it is the first time you’re going through the process.  I’ve been involved with organizations that had no plan document, just budget goals to achieve, as well as with some who had lengthy plans with a lot of narrative to go along with their goal numbers.  Why have I seen such a variation in plans (or lack thereof) over the years?  The simple answer is; every organization is different.  Organizations have different needs, different boards, and different sized development offices.  The key to putting together a development plan is creating one that works for you.
It may be January, but if you still want to craft a plan for 2017 and are afraid you’ve already missed the boat, fear not – you are not alone, and the exercise is still worthwhile.  My goal for this post isn’t to provide you with the answer of what your plan should look like, but to provide you with a few questions you should ask yourself as you move through the process in an effort to guide your plan.

1. Why am I doing this crazy thing?

If you are a seasoned development professional a lot of what you’ll do this year is natural to you, you do it every year, you know what goals you need to hit.  Even if you are a 1-person development office and your boss and board are exactly the same as last year, there is still merit in putting your plan on paper.  It doesn’t have to have an accompanying narrative, it can look similar to a GANTT chart, showcasing the major tasks, when they happen and your goals.  Even a document as simple as this would be extremely beneficial to your boss or board should you unexpectedly have to take leave, or get hit by the proverbial bus.

Think of it like an evaluation plan.  While you may have just rolled your eyes after reading those words, your development plan, at its core, is a type of evaluation plan.  It lays out your tasks, your outputs, outcomes, and goals.  If you are in a situation where you feel like your board doesn’t quite get what you spend your time doing, or you are gearing up to ask for an additional staff member for your department, your development plan could be your key to showing what you’re currently spending your time on, and the results you’re experiencing.  This is part of your case statement for going after additional resources if you can show an increased ROI with some additional investment.  Bonus: when you get that new staff member, your plan will serve as a great on-boarding tool!

2. Who is my audience?

This will dictate much of how you structure your plan and how detailed it will be.  Is this plan just for your team?  If so, are they new to the field, or seasoned professionals?  Is this plan for your leader or board?  If so, how much do they know (or want to know) about the pieces and parts of what you do throughout the year?

3. What should be in my plan?

So, thinking about your answers from questions #1 and #2, let’s think about the major pieces that should be in your plan…

Overall budget

What are your expected to raise this year as a whole?

Personally, I have two major buckets I build my plan toward – my unrestricted dollar (greatest need) goal and then my goal/projection for funds raised toward my current capital campaign.

Even if your major ask phase of your capital campaign is over and you are primarily concerned with making sure pledge payments are coming in, there is still work there on sending reminders and stewarding those donors so they continue to pay their pledges – don’t let folks forget that!

Your major budget buckets

  • Breakdown your overall budget into common chunks based on your sources of revenue – grants, special events, direct mail, major gifts, planned giving, earned income (if that falls under you), etc.

Activities

Now, highlight the major factors of what you’ll do to hit those budget goals. Make your high-level to-do list for the budget period.

Measurements: Lead & Lag

Consider using lead measures and lag measures.

If you have a new team, or really want to let your board have a deep dive into what you do, detail the lead measures (the calls, the lunches, the number of proposals you want to write, etc.) that will lead to the lag measures – the dollars that show up.  We know these things don’t magically happen, so talk about it.

Lead measures can also include mini-goals within your plan, such as securing 6 new corporate sponsors, 2 new foundation funders, or having X% of donors increase their giving over last year.  If you put it out there, you have something to measure against.  This also shows that you’re thinking of way and have small goals for increasing your donor base.

Stewardship plans

I’ve had some interesting chats with colleagues about where and how to put donor stewardship activities into development plans.  If you’re lucky enough to have a staff member dedicated to stewardship, they are most likely stewarding donors based on the buckets you outlined above.  So, if possible, divide up those pieces and talk about them within those buckets – what did you do with your direct mail folks, or event attendees, foundation funders, or capital campaign donors?  If this is difficult, the beauty of there being no one single development plan template means you can talk about these activities as a whole, and how they should influence the various goals.

4. Measure throughout the year

Look at your progress toward your goals.  Depending on your revenue mix, you will most likely have months with high dollar goals and some with lower goals based on when you’d expect grants to come in, or when special events are held, or direct mail is sent.  But looking at your progress quarterly will allow you to make course corrections if needed, or to content with the fact that everything is on track.

5. The year is over, now what?

Create your year-end wrap up.  If you’ve been monitoring your progress toward goals throughout the year, most of your work is done.  But a Year-End Wrap-up is a great piece to show your leader or board, you can explain any deviations and what you tried to do to fix them (if things were below goal) as well as what made the last year so successful (if you were above goal).  It certainly looks better to your board or leader if you can explain it, than to be surprised at the end of the year and say, “I don’t know why….”  Even if there is no smoking gun, you have a hunch, don’t you?  Sure you do!

6. Here’s the new plan, same as the old plan

Our field and what we know about grants and donor behavior is always changing and you’ll want your plan to keep up with the times.  However, try to make sure you’re looking at year-over-year progress toward goals, don’t just throw the old measures out.  If you need to tweak them or calculate them differently, do so, but denote this in your plan.  This will help keep your team on the same page about “how” you are measuring things, and will reassure your leader or board that you’re keeping an eagle eye on trends over time, even if the “how” it is being measured changes.  An * and an explanation will usually do the trick!

Remember, there is no one right way to craft a development plan.  It should be the right plan for you and your team, based on your organization’s needs.
Best of luck!
AmyL_w initial
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