What Irritates You?
I just finished reading a powerful book The Profitable Power of Purpose in which the author Ian Percy (www.IanPercy.com) states “If your customers were not irritated, they would not even be your customers.” How true it is! In 1978, I ran an ad in a New York City newspaper, “Organizing consultant can help you make better use of time and space” and launched a 25+ year business which is still going strong. Obviously there were, and still are lots of people irritated about their lack of time and space, because now there is an entire industry devoted to helping people solve that irritation. A recent TV show said home storage alone is a $3+ billion industry.I would love to know “

School Fundraising Tip – Publish A Calendar
There are a variety of independent fundraisers going on in a given community at any one time. If your fundraiser overlaps with another’s, your school organization’s fundraising success could be in jeopardy. You definitely don’t want to try to do a candy fundraiser during Girl Scout Cookie Time!Getting your school group’s plans onto a central calendar will help make sure that there are no overlaps. It also helps publicize your fundraiser in advance.Highland District 5 in Illinois recently decided to go one step further and put its fundraising calendar online. The calendar includes any fundraiser approved by the schools, booster clubs and parent teacher groups.Benefits of publishing an online fundraising calendar:Have you ever met a donor who liked funding infrastructure? I have. Once.

When I served as Director of Development for a national non-profit, my organization needed a new heating and ventilation system for the national office. The cost was around $75,000, as I recall. The executive director approached one of our major donors, a businessman who was also a faithful supporter, and asked if he would like to partner with us. The donor promptly wrote a cheque for the full amount. Later on, that same donor made a commitment to pay for the parking lot to be re-paved, a renovation that would cost over $25,000.

That donor was the exception. Most donors do not get excited about paying for sheet metal ducts or fresh asphalt. Donors give to people, not programs. Donors don’t send donations by mail to support a mission statement. They don’t respond to appeals because of your vision statement. Or simply because your general fund is depleted. And they are not (with rare exceptions) inspired to pay for electrical bills, staples, travel costs and plumbing repairs. Donors are people. And people give to people, usually to help people.

This basic fundraising truth means that you must state your organizational needs in human terms whenever possible. You must translate your case for support from non-profit-speak into flesh and blood. Donors want to know how their gift will help the people that you serve.

This fundraising truth still applies even if you do not serve people. If your non-profit promotes nuclear arms disarmament, for example, your donors want to know how their gift will end nuclear weapons testing. If you are an animal-rights charity, your donors want to know how their financial gift will rescue animals from laboratory experiments.

How to say “people,” not “programs”

If you are raising funds for a specific project that aims to help a particular people group (children, seniors, single mothers, children with cerebral palsy), then your job is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What is my cl

rtner with us. The donor promptly wrote a cheque for the full amount. Later on, that same donor made a commitment to pay for the parking lot to be re-paved, a renovation that would cost over $25,000.

That donor was the exception. Most donors do not get excited about paying for sheet metal ducts or fresh asphalt. Donors give to people, not programs. Donors don’t send donations by mail to support a mission statement. They don’t respond to appeals because of your vision statement. Or simply because your general fund is depleted. And they are not (with rare exceptions) inspired to pay for electrical bills, staples, travel costs and plumbing repairs. Donors are people. And people give to people, usually to help people.

This basic fundraising truth means that you must state your organizational needs in human terms whenever possible. You must translate your case for support from non-profit-speak into flesh and blood. Donors want to know how their gift will help the people that you serve.

This fundraising truth still applies even if you do not serve people. If your non-profit promotes nuclear arms disarmament, for example, your donors want to know how their gift will end nuclear weapons testing. If you are an animal-rights charity, your donors want to know how their financial gift will rescue animals from laboratory experiments.

How to say “people,” not “programs”

If you are raising funds for a specific project that aims to help a particular people group (children, seniors, single mothers, children with cerebral palsy), then your job is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What is my c

tatement. They don’t respond to appeals because of your vision statement. Or simply because your general fund is depleted. And they are not (with rare exceptions) inspired to pay for electrical bills, staples, travel costs and plumbing repairs. Donors are people. And people give to people, usually to help people.

This basic fundraising truth means that you must state your organizational needs in human terms whenever possible. You must translate your case for support from non-profit-speak into flesh and blood. Donors want to know how their gift will help the people that you serve.

This fundraising truth still applies even if you do not serve people. If your non-profit promotes nuclear arms disarmament, for example, your donors want to know how their gift will end nuclear weapons testing. If you are an animal-rights charity, your donors want to know how their financial gift will rescue animals from laboratory experiments.

How to say “people,” not “programs”

If you are raising funds for a specific project that aims to help a particular people group (children, seniors, single mothers, children with cerebral palsy), then your job is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What is my c

s whenever possible. You must translate your case for support from non-profit-speak into flesh and blood. Donors want to know how their gift will help the people that you serve.

This fundraising truth still applies even if you do not serve people. If your non-profit promotes nuclear arms disarmament, for example, your donors want to know how their gift will end nuclear weapons testing. If you are an animal-rights charity, your donors want to know how their financial gift will rescue animals from laboratory experiments.

How to say “people,” not “programs”

If you are raising funds for a specific project that aims to help a particular people group (children, seniors, single mothers, children with cerebral palsy), then your job is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What is my c

-rights charity, your donors want to know how their financial gift will rescue animals from laboratory experiments.

How to say “people,” not “programs”

If you are raising funds for a specific project that aims to help a particular people group (children, seniors, single mothers, children with cerebral palsy), then your job is straightforward. Ask yourself these questions:

1. What is my client’s need?
2. What do we presently lack to meet that need?
3. How will my client benefit if we meet that need?

Here is an example. Imagine that your non-profit organization in South Africa runs an orphanage for children whose parents have died from AIDS. The children are suffering from dysentery because the local water supply is contaminated. Your solution is to drill a well. You need $50,000.

You could send an appeal letter to your supporters, asking for $50,000. Mistake.

You could send an appeal letter to your supporters, asking for $50,000 for a new well. Another mistake.

Remember, people give to people to help people. Your donors want to help orphans, not drill a well. Drilling the well will help the orphans, but your ask needs to concentrate on the orphans. Here’s how you would answer the above three questions.

Q. What is my client’s need?
A. To avoid deadly dysentery.

Q. What do we presently lack to meet that need?
A. A well that supplies fresh water.

Q. How will my clients benefit if we meet that need?

A. Live rather than die an excruciating death. Continue enjoying the benefits of full-time schooling. Continue to reach their potential physically, socially and emotionally. Avoid many medical complications later in life. Be productive members of society in a few years. Be able to help others. You get the idea.

Your job now is to ask for funds to drill the well so that the children will benefit in those ways listed. Don’t just ask for money for a well. That’s just a project. Don’t show a photo of the well in its packing crate. Show how the donor’s gift