Insights

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Why Small Nonprofits Shouldn’t Fundraise Like a Large Nonprofit

When it comes to fundraising, small nonprofits face unique challenges that can make it tempting to mimic the strategies of larger organizations. However, it’s important to recognize that small nonprofits possess distinct advantages that make a different approach to fundraising more effective. Let’s explore why small nonprofits should avoid running their fundraising campaigns like large nonprofits and instead focus on leveraging their inherent strengths.

1. Tailored Strategies and Flexibility:
One of the key reasons why small nonprofits should avoid mimicking large organizations’ fundraising strategies is the issue of resources. Large nonprofits often have dedicated teams and substantial budgets (see image) to implement various fundraising initiatives. In contrast, small nonprofits typically have limited staff and financial resources. Consequently, replicating large organizations’ tactics may lead to frustration and disappointment for smaller groups.

Instead, small nonprofits should embrace their agility and the ability to tailor their fundraising strategies to their specific needs and goals. By focusing on their unique strengths and available resources, small nonprofits can develop creative, cost-effective approaches that resonate with their audience and maximize their impact.

2. Personal Relationships and Community Involvement:
One of the significant advantages of being a small nonprofit is the ability to build personal relationships with donors, volunteers, and the community at large. This aspect is often lost in large organizations, where individual connections can be challenging to foster due to scale. Small nonprofits can leverage these personal relationships to cultivate a loyal network of supporters who are passionate about their cause.

Rather than solely relying on impersonal mass marketing techniques, small nonprofits should invest time and effort into building strong connections with donors and volunteers. This personal touch can lead to more genuine and lasting support, creating belonging and commitment to the organization’s mission.

3. Grassroots Approach and Local Impact:
Small nonprofits often have a distinct advantage, their size allows them to be more nimble, adaptable, and responsive to the specific needs of the community they serve. This grassroots approach can foster a sense of ownership and involvement among supporters, which is harder to achieve for large organizations working on a broader scale.

By leveraging strengths associated with smaller organizations, focusing on local engagement, and addressing community-specific challenges, small nonprofits can attract donors who are passionate about making a difference in their immediate surroundings. Emphasizing the local impact not only helps build stronger relationships but also positions the organization as a trusted community resource.

While larger nonprofits may have more resources and reach, small nonprofits possess inherent advantages that make them uniquely positioned to run their fundraising campaigns differently. By tailoring strategies, focusing on personal relationships, and emphasizing local impact, small nonprofits can create more successful and meaningful fundraising initiatives.

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Maximize Engagement, Maximize Results

Why engage your Board of Directors? An engaged board is an achieving board. Try a Two-Minute Trivia at the beginning of your board meetings to help foster camaraderie, connect to mission, and inject some fun.

Here’s how:
For each board meeting, pick 1-2 trivia questions directly aligned with your organization’s work.
What’s our Mission statement (no peeking)?
Name our programs
Three ways we measure success are…
Two partner organizations are …
The biggest challenge we face right now is …
The three duties of a board member are …

The list is (almost) endless and your board members will enjoy learning and sharing. Plus you have the added benefit of the opportunity for deeper conversations around mission advancement.

What questions would you add? #nonprofits#engagement

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The Importance of Overhead for Nonprofits

Overhead costs are important for nonprofits because they directly affect an organization’s ability to fulfill its mission. Overhead refers to the administrative, operational, and fundraising costs that are necessary parts of running a nonprofit organization yet not directly tied to program delivery. Instead of thinking of overhead as wasteful and something nonprofits should work to keep below an arbitrary percentage, instead consider:

Capacity Building: Overhead expenses are essential for building the capacity of a nonprofit. This includes investing in infrastructure, technology, staff training, and development, all of which contribute to the organization’s long-term effectiveness and sustainability.

Program Implementation: Nonprofits require administrative support to manage their programs successfully. Overhead costs cover essential functions such as financial management, human resources, compliance, legal support, and IT infrastructure. These functions ensure that programs can be planned, monitored, evaluated, and delivered effectively.

Fundraising and Outreach: Generating financial support is crucial for nonprofits to sustain their operations and deepen their impact. These types of overhead costs include fundraising activities and outreach efforts that engage donors, build partnerships, and raise awareness about the organization’s mission.

Accountability and Compliance: Nonprofits have legal and regulatory obligations, including financial reporting, audits, and compliance with applicable laws and regulations. Overhead costs cover the expenses associated with ensuring transparency, accountability, and adherence to legal requirements- all important factors in building trust with donors, stakeholders, and the people or cause they serve.

Innovation and Adaptability: Overhead expenses provide nonprofits with the flexibility to innovate and adapt. This includes investing in research, exploring new program strategies, and embracing emerging technologies. These types of investments can lead to improved outcomes and better solutions.

Let’s work to create a better understanding of the need for overhead expenses for nonprofits. They’re not extras, they’re integral.

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#Tactic Tuesday

The more consistent and compelling your communications, the more and better your community will understand your work and its impact. And the more your community understands your impact, the more you’ll have engaged supporters.

As a small shop nonprofit fundraiser/communicator, I wore multiple hats and so finding ways to streamline work while achieving outsized goals was vital. One of the best tools I found is the editorial calendar. I put all my planned fundraising and communications work on one page. My team consisted of me, me, and me. So it was important that all my work flowed.

This simple Excel doc helped me avoid conflicts, create synergy across channels, and improve organizational visibility. Feel free to use and adapt to best fit your needs.

While there are multiple ways to approach creating your editorial calendar. For the first sheet, the calendar, the process I recommend is:

  1. Input important, known events and vacation days in first. Do you have an annual golf tournament? Get that in. Do you take a vacation in August? Block out those dates. What do you have planned for year-end fundraising? Grants? Put the big-ticket items in first. These big-ticket items will inform weeks of communications.
  2. Think about monthly themes you want to tie to. This could be specific to your cause, like Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month, a common theme like Back to School, or Mother’s Day. I always wanted to incorporate Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19, but it never quite fit.
  3. With your big-ticket items input, your editorial calendar is taking shape. Now take a look at the second sheet, Sample Month Brainstorming. This is where you will line the specifics for each month. You’ll rename each sheet to match its corresponding month. This page is where you’ll get into specifics by channel and deliverables. Again, feel free to use/adapt as needed.
  4. Develop four to six evergreen pieces. Plans change, so always have content that is relevant at any time. What are FAQs in your field?
  5. Leave room in your calendar for pop-up items.
  6. Review your editorial calendar quarterly so that you can stay agile, but relevant.

While developing an editorial is a larger upfront lift, the work more than pays for itself in increased synergy, reduced stress, and improved organizational visibility.

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The One-Page Development Plan

Are you a fan of simplicity? This one-page development plan is a simple yet powerful tool for planning out your workflow. If you’re a small shop nonprofit, this approach is especially helpful. Feel free to use/edit/revise the template to what works best for you and your organization.

2023 1-page Development PlanDownload

If you have questions on how to get your fundraising strategy set so your development plan flows, feel free to contact me at 443.926.1269.

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Successful Consulting Engagements Start Before They Begin

You’re considering hiring a consultant. But you’ve heard so many horror stories of consulting engagements gone awry by going over budget, not delivering hoped-for results, or causing friction within the team. What to do?

Grab this checklist and work through the recommendations before you connect with a consultant.

Thinking through your project or program need in advance will increase the likelihood of success.

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To Hire a Consultant?

If your nonprofit faces a revenue shortage, you likely have a strategy problem. #strategyfirst

I like to use an adapted Toyota 5 Whys exercise with potential clients to help demonstrate the way forward. The convo often goes like this:

Nonprofit Leader (NL) – We need additional resources and want to hire a fundraising consultant.
Me: Why (1) do you want to hire a consultant?
NL: We need new funding for Project/Program XYZ but don’t want to commit to a new hire.  
Me: Why (2) do you need funding for Project/Program XYZ now?
NL: The program is growing, and our resources are not.
Me: Why (3) do you think your resources are not growing?
NL: We haven’t really focused on developing new revenue.
Me: Why (4) do you think hiring a fundraiser is the next best step?
NL: We need additional resources. We are also thinking about grant writing.
Me: Why (5) do you think grant funding is the way to go?
We’ve had some success with grants before, but actually, we’re not sure what’s a good starting point for us.

And here is where we get to the good stuff – developing the strategy first, then aligning the tactics while documenting what success will look like.

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Future-Proofing

While taking the hubby to the airport this morning, I was struck by how some drivers appear to plan ahead while others seemingly travel in the moment. Those “in the moment” drivers often require quick, multi-lane shifts across traffic unrelated to other road issues/conditions. I wonder if this translates to the life of these drivers. Do driving habits indicate other habits?

I don’t believe Nonprofits are well-served by operating “in the moment.” Instead, planning ahead is vital for successful nonprofits. With the anticipated wealth transfer in the billions occurring over the next 20 years, is planned giving part of your revenue tactics? Here are three informative Planned Giving reads:

  1. Giving USA’s Planned Giving recipe
  2. The Fundraising Authorities’ Planned Giving Primer
  3. Gail Perry’s Planned Gifts Marketing Tips

Partner Idea: Wealth Advisors

Do wealth advisors know you and the work of your organization? If they have clients looking to leave a legacy, your organization can help solve the problem of too many choices. Who in your community needs to know about your impact and long-term sustainability?

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ROI – Return on Impact

There’s much understood about how if we try to focus on too many things at once, none are deeply impactful.

I was on a call with an ED last week discussing why their days seemed so chaotic. We quickly outlined the “priorities” of the week. There were 17! No wonder the week was chaotic. And of the 17, only 5 were mission-critical. That’s some low ROI (Return on Impact) which will, over time, damage #sustainability and lead to #burnout.

We talked about evaluating high-impact actions as the priority and letting go of low-impact actions and used a quick 2×2 to graph out efforts.

How do you stay oriented to high-impact efforts?
PS. That high impact, low resources spot is the unicorn. If you find that, double down.
#nonprofit#impactinvestment#missiondriven