Tag Archives: volunteer fundraising

What’s a Board Member To Do?

Posted on April 19, 2010 | Leave a comment

Having worked with hundreds of board members in all kinds of organizations we really understand the challenges that board members face in their fundraising efforts.

Maricar Boyle

So we sought the guidance of Maricar Boyle, MPA and Assistant Director of Corporate and Private Foundation Relations at Children’s Hospital and Research Center Foundation.

Boyle is a fundraising professional who has also served as a volunteer board member and board chair. She knows about fundraising from both sides and offers her words of wisdom.

Saad & Shaw: Based on your experience as both a board member and as a fundraising professional, what advice can you offer our readers about how to strengthen the partnership between fundraising staff and board members?

Maricar Boyle: It is important to understand that board members and staff are mutually responsible for the success of the organization. One way to strengthen the partnership between staff and board members is to learn about the specific roles that each individual plays within the organization, especially when it comes to the fundraising process.

The fundraising roles that board members fulfill vary from board to board. Roles can include responsibility for identifying potential donors, or serving as a spokesperson for the organization, or being present when it’s time to ask for a gift to the organization. When it comes to this last point – asking for a gift – it is always important to know in advance who will ask for a gift and who will close the meeting.  Highly successful fundraising campaigns have always been borne out of a combined effort between board members and staff (and a good strategic plan!).

Saad & Shaw: What is your experience with board members as fundraisers? What makes a board member willing to fundraise?

Maricar Boyle: Having served on three non-profit boards to date, the organizations I served and continue to serve were very clear about board member expectations from the very beginning. There was no ambiguity, especially if you were expected to personally contribute and help in fundraising. That was important to me. My willingness to raise funds as a volunteer really stemmed out of my belief in the mission of the organization and the desire to see it succeed.

Saad & Shaw: What advice would you give  board members at this particular point in time?

Maricar Boyle: Be an active participant in ensuring that the organization you serve continues to advance its mission. Ask questions. Volunteer to be on committees — especially on the Fund Development Committee. Ask to be trained by staff in the art and beauty of asking for money for a cause you truly believe in — it will be incredibly rewarding.

© Mel and Pearl Shaw 2010.

Leave a comment

Posted in FUNdraising Good Times, People

Tagged , ,

Timing is everything. Or is it?

Posted on January 5, 2010 | Leave a comment

Allen Temple reaches $1 million mark

Allen Temple Baptist Church of Oakland, CA launched its $5million capital campaign in October 2008. If you can recall that was the month of the American economic meltdown. Newscasters were crying the sky is falling….

But the church had been preparing for almost a year to launch their campaign to pay off the mortgage on their family life center building, renovate their training center, and build an endowment for social justice programming. They kept with their schedule not knowing that the remainder of 2008 and all of 2009 would prove to be very difficult times for fundraising in general.

But this volunteer-led campaign raised $1million in gifts and pledges during the first year of the campaign. They are 33% towards their goal of raising $3million from within the church family. They seek to raise an additional $2million from community stakeholders, foundation and corporations. And work on that has begun…

How did they do it? Here’s what campaign chairs Willis White and Connie Walker attribute their success to:

  1. At the core of our work is the belief that through God, all things are possible.
  2. This is something we believe is important to the life of the church and our community.
  3. We spent time securing buy-in from the church’s leadership. And we got it. We talked, we listened to objections, we made adjustments. The full congregation was behind the campaign before we launched. And our church leaders volunteered to provide campaign leadership as well.
  4. We put in place a system to ensure that funds given to the campaign by church members will be used to accelerate payments on the mortgage for our Family Life Center.
  5. We know our church culture and we designed a campaign that works with our church culture.
  6. We hired professional fundraising counsel to guide us, train us, and help us prepare.
  7. The pastor supports the campaign, the church trustees support the campaign, our deacons, ministers and other leaders support the campaign.
  8. We looked at how we had approached fundraising in prior campaigns and learned from our past experiences. We knew what we wanted from counsel and how we wanted counsel to work with us.
  9. We committed to treating every church member as an equal and committed to ensuring we talked personally with each member regardless of what size gift we thought they could give to the campaign.
  10. We engaged in a transparent process and regularly reported campaign results to the full congregation.

Join us in congratulating Allen Temple Baptist church and encouraging them as they move forward in 2010. Their campaign illustrates that when people believe in the importance of a specific campaign they are willing to give and get involved. It’s about more than timing.

Leave a comment

Posted in Successes

Tagged , , ,

Leaders in our community – NABA

Posted on December 28, 2009 | Leave a comment

National Association of Black Accountants

Earlier this month we were in Houston, TX to conduct a workshop at the quarterly board meeting of the National Association of Black Accountants, Inc. We were impressed by the high level of commitment and leadership we witnessed. With local, regional and students chapters across the country NABA is an example of a well run volunteer-led national organization. Founded 39 years ago NABA represents the interests of more than 100,000 minorities as they further their educational, professional, and career aspirations in the related business fields of accounting, consulting, finance, and information technology.

We had the opportunity to talk with Moire Rasmussen from NABA’s San Francisco Bay Area Chapter who shared some of her passion for NABA with us. Moire has been a NABA member for 13 years, is a former national board member, and currently serves on the resource committee. She works for PriceWaterhouseCoopers where she is a market diversity leader.

The San Francisco Bay Area chapter has over 100 members. The chapter supports members’ professional development and encourages young people to pursue accounting careers. One of their programs is the Accounting Careers and Awareness Program, a week-long residency program for high school students that teaches students the basics of accounting including balancing checkbooks, understanding credit, gives scholarships ($15,000 last year), and provides help to young people as they apply to college.

We asked Moire why gives so much of her time to NABA and why she serves on the resource committee. She said “I’ve been given opportunities that would not have been afforded to me anywhere else. The people I’ve met and the guidance I’ve been given has allowed me to grow professionally. I want to help others see the value NABA has to offer, and that takes resources.”

She – and NABA as an organization – is committed to helping others enter the accounting profession and to grow in the profession. She carries a special message to young people in high school and college.

“Accounting is the foundation of business. Business is the foundation of how our country survives. No matter what you do in life you need to understand the basics of business. Accounting will give you those basics. Even if you do not become a Certified Public Accountant, majoring in accounting will open more doors than you can imagine.”

If you are interested in a career in accounting or want to grow in your career visit www.nabainc.org.

Leave a comment

Posted in FUNdraising Good Times, People

Tagged , ,

How To Ask Your Donors For More Money

Posted on May 1, 2009 | Leave a comment
Soliciation Meeting - Fundraising, Donors Who Give

Soliciation Meeting - Fundraising, Donors Who Give

Are you willing to ask your donors for more money? What would it mean to your organization if you asked your current donors for a second gift? Do you think that because they have given once this year you shouldn’t ask them again?

If you are willing to ask your donors for more money, here are ten things to consider as you prepare to ask.

Ten Steps to Asking Your Donors For More Money:

  1. Share what your organization is doing now
  2. Share organization’s  recent (and current!) successes and how donor’s gift made a difference
  3. Share your vision and goals – what you are seeking to accomplish. Be concrete.
    “The current economy is impacting our students ability to stay in school. There are 32 seniors who will be unable to graduate this June because they have lost their jobs or their parents have lost their jobs. We are seeking to raise $232,000 to help ensure all our seniors graduate.”
  4. Communicate what it will take for your organization to deliver on its vision and goals. Let your donor know how much money you need to raise, how many volunteers you need, what type of technology you want to implement, what size building you want to rent or buy, what type of training your clients are seeking…
  5. ASK for opinions, questions and advice –
    “How do you think we should go about trying to accomplish this?” 
    “How should we proceed?”
    “You’ve been a volunteer for a long time, do you think this will work?” 
    “I know your graduating class tried something similar – what guidance would you offer us as we move forward?”
  6. LISTEN and affirm. If you ask someone for advice, questions or guidance, take it in. Do not argue or negate what the person says. You asked for his opinion, listen to it and respond in a positive manner.
    “Jack, I like that idea. I’ll share it with Monique and see if she can integrate that into our plan.”
  7. Share your plan for how you will raise the additional money you need.
    “Sonya, I am looking for 15 people to give $500 between now and June so we can meet the projected $7,500 shortfall in the after-school program.” PAUSE.
  8. ASK the person you are talking with if they are interested making this happen and who they think would want to join them.
    “Rev. Chang, would you be interested in supporting the new breast cancer survivor program at the hospital?” PAUSE. Are there people who you feel would want to join you?”
  9. ASK the person you are talking with if they would be willing to increase their giving.
    “Ramon, would you and your partner be willing to increase your pledge from $5,000 to $10,000?” PAUSE.

Note: we write PAUSE after so many of our suggested talking points  because we want to make sure you pause and let the other person share their thoughts. Giving the other person time to talk and LISTENING to what they have to say is vitally important to sustaining your relationship with your donors. And with your friends!

Word of Caution: Do not treat your donors as an ATM machine. Do not expect that because your organization has a financial need that your donors should AUTOMATICALLY fill that need.

– Mel and Pearl Shaw

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged ,

One million women for women

Posted on March 28, 2009 | Leave a comment

Barack Obama has introduced his economic stimulus package. Cities and states around the country are creating theirs. What will be the women’s economic stimulus package? How can we as individual women and men invest in changing the current and future conditions for women and girls in California and ultimately our country and the world? The One Million Women for Women Campaign launched by the Women’s Foundation of California is one way to invest in this change.

This campaign is asking one million women (and men!) to support change in California. Together we can increase women’s economic prosperity, access to affordable healthcare, safety and leadership. With one million women (and men!) giving $10 each The Women’s Foundation of California will raise $10 million to help change public policy and conditions in our homes, on our streets, and in the workplace.

Giving $10 each we can stimulate investment in organizations and advocates who change the conditions of women’s lives.

Together we can fund grassroots organizations focused on changing the economic conditions of women working in low-wage jobs, part-time jobs, and jobs where women are still not paid a wage equal to that of men. Our $10 gifts – when combined – can fund advocacy and services that provide women with access to affordable health care including a full range of reproductive health services. Together we can provide funding that increases the safety of women and children in our homes, schools, workplaces and communities. And together we can train and mentor California’s women in the ins-and-outs of Sacramento and how to successfully advocate for policy changes that positively impact large numbers of women. Right now 32 women from all over California are participating in the Women’s Policy Institute working on environmental health, reproductive justice, economic and educational justice, criminal justice and elder women’s issues.

As a nonprofit public foundation The Women’s Foundation of California invests in women and girls to build a more just and equitable society for all. The Foundation believes that California’s potential will only be realized when women and girls lead and thrive as full participants at all levels of society.

Let’s join together with our gifts of $10 (or more!) and invest in a stimulus package for California’s women. Take the time to invest in our future and change the lives of California’s women and children.

Copyright © 2009 – Mel and Pearl Shaw

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized

Tagged ,

How To Solicit a Gift

Posted on March 21, 2009 | Leave a comment

How To Solicit A Gift!Have you been asked to raise money for a non-profit, college, hospital or church? Are you willing but not sure how to proceed? Is it your job to prepare volunteers and staff to solicit gifts? If so, How to Solicit a Gift was written for you!

We wrote How to Solicit a Gift: Turning Prospects into Donors for two reasons. To help people learn how to ask others for a gift to an organization or institution they believe in. And to help the staff of non-profits, colleges, churches and hospitals understand how to best prepare volunteers to solicit gifts.

Fundraising is much more than simply asking people for money. 90% of fundraising is preparation. Only 10% is actual solicitation. Learn what it’s all about and how you can succeed.

Leave a comment

Posted in Uncategorized, Workshops, Conferences, Trainings & Events

Tagged , , , ,