Author: Michelle Troutman

At a recent Maine Association of Nonprofits workshop, nonprofit fundraising expert Andy Robinson presented interactive exercises to teach attendees how collaboration can build relationships with donors.

This recap includes exercises to help you improve your own non-profit fundraising and marketing efforts. These nonprofit fundraising tips can also apply to other industries.

Why Donors Give: Building the Case for Funding

1. Name three things your organization does well.
2. What makes your group unique?
3. Market segmentation: Who are you trying to reach (audiences for education, service delivery, fundraising, advocacy, collaboration, etc.)?
4. Recount a favorite anecdote or example that describes the impact of your work.

Good stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end. They evoke emotion, and a visual story connects with people, is relatable, and can be used as a non-profit fundraising pitch; an attendee suggested that board directors relate a success story at the beginning of board meetings to open a discussion with members. Robinson also recommended a “Mission Moment” — a tour of a nonprofit’s facilities to later discuss with members why they’re on the board and why they care about the organization’s mission.

Features and Benefits: What Are We Selling?

One of the greatest mistakes in fundraising for nonprofits is selling features, not benefits.

As Robinson stated, the difference between a feature and a benefit is at the heart of marketing theory; you describe something by listing its features, and you sell it through naming its benefits.

Note the features and benefits of a large spoon to better understand the difference between the two and to sharpen your case and your pitch. The spoon’s features include “the shiny, stainless steel alloy” and its “nonporous” material; its many benefits can range from “easy to clean” to “you can heat it and use it to push up your eyelashes.”

Elements of the Case Statement

Your mission states your purpose. Robinson named famous taglines that imply or state directly why certain well-known nonprofits exist:

1. “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” (United Negro College Fund; now College Fund)
2. “Together, we can save a life.” (American Red Cross)
3. “When you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.” (American Lung Association)

After the mission, in a case statement, people should list their goals, review what they’ve done so far, discuss board and staff roles, determine a fundraising plan, and attach financial statements from the prior fiscal year and a current budget.

Robinson sees a fundraising plan as helpful for grant writing as an “uber” document to draw information from and as a vision exercise for board and staff to collaborate and learn what they need to do or do more of.  We can be too close to our work to see it objectively.

Pitching Your Project: Meeting With the Funder

In a group of three, each person should play a different role as either a grant seeker, a foundation officer, or an observer, and at the end, critique the grant seeker’s funding presentation.

This exercise helps people develop confidence and clarify their pitches — how they present their work, to develop empathy for the person on the other side of the relationship — the grantmaker — and to improve listening skills.

Robinson suggests that if you don’t know, look it up; don’t make up anything or promise more than you can deliver, and don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Being an Ambassador for Your Organization: Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Even in the era of social media, the most effective marketing strategy is word of mouth.  Robinson taught everyone how to engage potential supporters, develop compelling messages, and to deliver them effectively.

“Marketing is about being really good about what you do.  You have to be great before you’re great,” said Robinson.  Nonprofits compete with “for profits.”

He quoted Guerilla Marketing author Jay Conrad Levinson’s “Rule of 27”: prospects need to experience a marketing message nine times, and then three times before they act on it.

It’s not enough to send a fundraising appeal through the mail; social media and eblasts are important, too. You want to build awareness, raise money, and increase your power.

Active Listening: What Did You Hear?

Focus less on the pitch — what you say about your organization — and more on donors’ needs and interests.

One person should tell the other a story about a favorite relative or their organization, and then the listener should recount the story from memory. The speaker then gives the listener feedback on what he or she might have missed.

Attendees found stories easier to remember if they were visual or had dramatic elements.

Ask Better Questions, Raise More Money

• What kinds of questions can we ask that are relevant to our work?
• Engage people with those questions

Robinson is amused (and occasionally annoyed) by the obsessive pursuit of the perfect elevator pitch.

As he says, it’s all about listening. Good things can happen when you describe your organization clearly and concisely, however, the quest for the perfect pitch ignores one essential fundraising truth: listening is WAY more important than talking. Yes, the best fundraisers are good talkers, but even better listeners. They excel at discovering, and then meeting, the donors’ needs.

If you’re too focused on delivering the perfect pitch, you can forget to listen. Good listening lets you customize your responses to address the interests of your potential donor, volunteer, or ally.

Market Segmentation: Setting Priorities and Customizing Your Message

• Identify three audiences
• For each audience: name two things you want them to know about your organization and one thing you want them to DO

To Robinson, awareness campaigns are a pet peeve; he believes all nonprofit fundraising marketing campaigns are about raising awareness.

One Minute of Fame: Crafting Your Elevator Pitch

Many people fear public speaking. If your board or your staff can’t or won’t speak on your behalf, you’ll miss many marketing opportunities. This is helpful when your colleagues need to find the right words to speak about your org. with passion and precision.

Pick your audience and name it; it could be anyone involved in your fundraising campaign: a combination of board, staff, and volunteers.

In a group of five, each person has one minute to deliver his/her elevator pitch: “What you want them to know and what you want them to do.”  Group members then critique the elevator pitches.

Robinson suggests videotaping yourself for practice. It’s not what you learn, but how you apply it.  Effective pitches clearly and concisely tell a story that connects with listeners and invite and inspire action.

• Andy Robinson Consulting: andyrobinsononline.com
• Train Your Board: trainyourboard.com
• Maine Association of Nonprofits: nonprofitmaine.org

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