tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61181627745168475342024-02-08T14:12:15.657-06:00LLM Development Services: Helping You Reach Your Fundraising GoalsWhether you are seeking to increase contributions, develop and train a board, recruit and train volunteers, or increase the awareness of your organization in your community, LLM Development Services has the tools, skills, and experience to make it happen.LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-30828088829090612522013-03-17T16:27:00.000-05:002013-03-17T16:27:44.722-05:00Planning for Development<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why plan for development? Well, the answer is pretty simple. When you don't plan, you don't achieve and "fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants" development work is seldom successful and always frustrating. There are a number of reasons why a "Development Plan" is a good thing:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A Development Plan helps you plan to meet your revenue goals (your physical needs in your organization and your planned costs)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A Development plan helps you to avoid "mission creep" which is what happens when a great opportunity comes along unexpectedly. When you don't have a plan and that great opportunity comes along you may say yes to something you don't have time, money, or volunteers to carry out. If you have a development plan and the great opportunity comes along, you can see that you do have the time, money and volunteers and say yes or that you do not and you can comfortably say no knowing that you are making the best decision for your organization. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A Development Plan helps your organization to raise your level of professionalism among your volunteers, your donors, and your major funders as well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A Development Plan lets you know, clearly, which funders you can approach for renewals and at what intervals.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A Development Plan allows you to carefully schedule events and such around those that are already in place in your community which will help you work with competitive events rather than suffer because of them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">A Development Plan can feed all other planning such as your Marketing and Communications Plan, all of which, helps your organization work at a pleasing and comfortable place.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Ever a proponate of planning in general, in a nonprofit organization which relies on fundraising, a Development Plan is crucial to your long-term success.</span>LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-54593883676734750672013-03-08T10:59:00.002-06:002013-03-08T10:59:43.441-06:00Relationship Building: Cultivation and Stewardship<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a part of what I do, I'll be attending a college basketball game tomorrow along with some key donors and friends of our organization. What a delightful opportunity! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Think about it...every board member, donor, and prospect has been invited to attend with a guest to see a great basketball game, enjoy some great food, etc. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, what is the plan for this very unique and treasured opportunity? I plan to meet and greet all of our guests, obviously. In addition, I've got a plan for each of our staff there to connect specifically to two or three of our guests. I've got a little gift for a few children who are joining us and three hours of my undivided development attention. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a fun event light on planning and enjoyable by all, including staff. The key is in the connections made at the event and the follow up. This is where we will focus our attention come Monday.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Connections can be as simple as introducing one person to someone else they might not otherwise intersect with in daily life. These introductions create a great synergy because they learn that they both have a love for your organization, they begin to talk about life events, who they know, etc. and begin to find their own points of intersection. Before you know it, they've made a connection because of your event. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Follow up is key to the event's success, too. Beginning Monday, there will be personal thank you notes written and sent with personal notes regarding the day's events and any details.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Is that it? Are there other ways to follow up? Of course! Let's say this team advances in competition then you've got great reasons to make contact and place that reminder of their game attendance. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Were all the guests previously known by you or were your donors in attendance graciously bringing potential donors to your door, so to speak? If so, then follow up will be a little more in depth and include a coffee meeting or more.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The little things you do to make even an easy event successful and memorable make the biggest difference. Do these little things such as connecting and follow up well.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span>LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-19631824838596051162013-02-26T12:09:00.000-06:002013-02-26T12:09:23.215-06:00Cultivation equals Relationship Building<br /><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">How are you at making new friends? That skill alone can make or break your development efforts...seriously.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your organization hosted a Trivia Night and had 40 "guests" in attendance who came with a friend or colleague. These 40 guests were not previously in our data base and therefore not on our radar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At your event, as all good development people should, you made an ask of attendees beyond the auction and ticket sales, to donate to your cause.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of those 40, ten did make a small contribution and two individuals made a more substantial first gift.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These 40 should be added into your data base and proper research done; however, your primary attention should be given to the 12 who gave.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Depending on your time and staff, you might choose to meet each of twelve in person but definitely you must, you must meet the two who gave larger gifts in person. Invite them and the person who invited them to the trivia night to coffee one morning to get to know them better.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The remaining ten need, in addition to their formal tax letter receipt, a personal thank you note from YOU.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally, the next time you do an email solicitation or direct mail solicitation, include the remaining trivia-based contacts and reference in the solicitation the trivia event where they first came in contact with your organization.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Back to your 12 now hot prospects. These folks are you newest donors. They need to be stewarded carefully. This is why you would want to visit the two (I would visit the 12) in person. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why a visit you ask? You need to get to know them...truly. Begin to build a long-lasting relationship. In most visits, you need to come prepared to give any additional information about your organization. Your primary purpose, though, is listening. Do they have a story which connects them personally to the purpose of your organization? Share a bit about you and listen to a lot about them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Follow your visit with a personal thank you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Stewardship at this point will also include the added things you would do for a friend. For example, did you see something in the paper that Susie Supporter, one of your two larger gifts from Trivia Night, mentioned when you visited her. Cut that piece out and send it to her with a note. If it is electronic, email it to her with a note. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When the next Trivia Night rolls around, you can count on Susie to return...and hopefully bring more friends. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In addition to Trivia, you will want to include Susie and all of your new donors in your complete development plan and roll them into your planned communications for current/new donors. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The remaining new friends who did not make a donation fall into your prospect pool which also deserves attention to turn your prospects into donors. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You will never turn them all into donors but you will gain some, you will also gain publicity that only word-of-mouth can grant. Susie, and all of the 40 for that matter, will share what they did Friday night and this new organization to which they were introduced. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Development relationship building really is like making a new friend...finding out more about them and in the process point them to areas of funding that most closely reflect their goals and desires for giving. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span>LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-84298108463697446722013-02-11T11:13:00.000-06:002013-02-19T18:16:58.594-06:00The Development Process: Cultivation<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cultivation is where it all begins, so to speak...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">How do you even begin? How do you get to know folks who may be interested in your organization who who have never even met...yet?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Here are some ideas that will get you going:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">1. "Who-do" cards/mailings/emails - The best advertisement is word of mouth, right? It is. Send a postcard or mailing with a way to reply to your current donors, friends, etc. and ask them for the names and basic contact information for five of their acquaintances that might have an interest in your organization. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">2. One up that idea and go electronic - Send your email list an email to the same effect and on every outgoing email be sure it is forwarding-friendly and encourage everyone on your list to pass the information along. Send out a special email two times a year with the intent of picking up new constituents. Include basic information in that email making it appropriate for your donors and friends to pass along saying, "this is an organization which I believe in and I would like to share some information about them with you."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">3. List Share - Collaborate with like-minded organizations in your area to share lists of donors/friends. For instance, if you are one type of arts organization and there is a similar arts organization in your area where you might have an overlap of constituents but you might also be able to pick up new ones, ask if they would like to exchange lists. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">4. Chamber of Commerce Lists - Most chambers offer their members access to mailing lists and most already in an Excel format to merge into a letter. This couldn't be easier! Get the list, work through it to remove what you need to and mail out an introductory letter with a reply option. Then, follow up on those letters by phone about 7-10 days after mailing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">5. Event follow-up - At every event, be sure to offer guests a way to get on your list so to speak. Many of your guests will be first-time friends who have come with an existing donor/friend so don't lose those valuable new friends by letting them slip out the door with out getting their contact information and asking for a contribution.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Getting newbies on your list is just the beginning. Next time, we'll walk Susie Soon-to-be Supporter through the process.</span>LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-22458562608757789792013-02-07T13:40:00.000-06:002013-02-07T13:40:02.563-06:00The Development (Fundraising) Process<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As a small nonprofit that is just beginning or even a nonprofit seeking to build up your donor base, it is vital to keep the steps to successful fundraising in mind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Development (Fundraising) is a process and it is equally a full set of systems that comprise that process and we'll explain that in more detail later.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your overall objective is raising money, correct? Your goal (which is best matched to your budget and vice versa) determines your measurement for whether or not you've achieved that objective.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In some respects you are introducing people to your organization and helping them to learn more about it by engaging them in organizational activities. As you meet people through a variety of events, opportunities, even mailings, etc. you begin to "cultivate" these prospects. </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Cultivation</b> is step ONE in the development process. Cultivation occurs in every meaningful contact related to your organization and that individual, foundation, or business/corporation. From a solicitation done through direct mail because they were on a list of businesses from your local chamber of commerce to a lunch you scheduled with them to share more about your organization to an event for your organization to which you invited them. Cultivation can also include birthday, anniversary, and Christmas cards as well as sending a newspaper article about a common interest to say, "hey, I thought about you when I saw this." All of those steps are cultivation.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As you determine a specific strategy for a prospect, you begin to be more involved in steps that could better be described as Solicitation. Solicitation starts when you begin to introduce your prospect to a specific way or ways they can help support your organization.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Solicitation</b> is step TWO in the development process. Solicitation occurs when you realize that Mr. Jones is very interested in private, Christian education and he and his family attended Christian schools. His business is close in proximity to your school and does business as a vendor. He has both the personal affinity to your organization and is related to it through business. You may need a new Scoreboard in your gym that would cost approximately $5,000 and based on your research, that would be a gift he could make. Your job now is to determine your strategy for soliciting Mr. Jones.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After you've successfully asked Mr. Jones for his gift of $5,000 to purchase the scoreboard in the gym, you need to be sure to steward this donor and the relationship he has with your organization. This is a common sense step unfortunately all-too-often overlooked.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><b>Stewardship</b> is step THREE in the development process. Stewardship can also involve birthday, anniversary, and Christmas cards but it also includes a photo of that beautiful scoreboard with Mr. Jones and your students with the press release sent to the local papers. It includes continuing the connection and continually working on the relationship so that the donor feels connected to his gift after it has been given. All of these details will ensure that the next time you have a need which fits with Mr. Jones' giving interests, he will be more likely to help again.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check back next week and we'll unpack the cultivation step a little more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Have a good week and happy fundraising! </span>LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-66569516464578807502013-02-02T12:38:00.000-06:002013-02-02T12:38:11.959-06:00How Did We Do? Evaluating a Fundraising Event<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The questions have been asked and answered. The prizes have been awarded and auctions won. The clean up is over and now it is time to reflect...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">There are some key questions to think about when reflecting on your event to determine how successful you were and what things you might do differently next time. One of my friends refers to this reflection as, "even better if," as in the event will be even better next time if...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">1. the obvious first question is did you make your monetary goal? Any reasons for the fact that you did or did not that are important to note such as weather on the day of the event, unsuccessful marketing of the event, etc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">2. did you sell out, were all your tables sold and filled? Did you actually have to turn anyone away? Was the price appropriate or did anyone balk at the cost?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">3. Did you have a successful auction? Were there ample items of varying values and were they all sold? Was check out smooth and were they any problems with check out?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">4. Did everyone have a good time? You might have (hopefully you did) provide your attendees with an evaluation form to complete before leaving. What were those results? Did everyone love a certain round? Was everyone able to hear/see the questions, etc?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">5. Did staff and volunteers complete their work before and during the event as expected? Did anyone go above and beyond or did anyone stand around and not work?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">6. Were sponsors happy with the benefits/recognition that they received for their sponsorship dollars? This is absolutely essential to their willingness to sponsor again in the future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">7. Did your volunteers "show up" in support of the event, table sales, etc? Did your staff and/or families also show their support in table sales, spreading the word, etc.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">8. Were your expenses realistic? Did you seek to have donations for goods/services to lesson your out-of-pocket expenses? Did you purchase something to make money? Please don't do that. Purchasing an item for the auction makes little sense when you will not likely get your cost back much less make a huge profit. It is an unnecessary expense.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">9. Was there a community response to the event? Were there table sales representing the community that would be evidence of a good marketing plan carried out well?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;"><br />10. Did you and your team feel that the time and effort you put into the event was worth the outcome? Using 400 man hours at $25 per hour, or $10,000, to make $10,000 does not really make sense, either. Keep your time cost in line with your outcomes.<br /><br />If you are interested in more information or consulting help for your next event, please contact me at <a href="mailto:llmdevelopmentservices@gmail.com">llmdevelopmentservices@gmail.com</a><span style="color: #444444;"> </span><br />
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<span style="color: #444444;"></span></span>LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-47825248250330772932013-01-30T11:23:00.000-06:002013-01-30T11:23:34.712-06:00Do I Really HAVE to Follow Up on Event Fundraising?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In a word, "yes," you really do have to follow up and when you do, you'll reap some great rewards! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your letters have been sent complete with a great sponsorship opportunities page and you've got your script in hand to do those follow up calls. Here are some thoughts on how to proceed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Think strategically about specific businesses to ask for your larger sponsorships and do that by phone. You might consider doing that BEFORE the letters go out and then, as a part of your telephone conversation, let them know to expect the letter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Call EVERYONE on your list, EVERYONE and follow up. Divide your list into manageable volunteer lists, provide them with a script, and ask your board of directors, parents, and/or other volunteers to make five to ten phone calls for you. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Keep a really good list (I personally prefer excel for project-based follow up) so that I know who said yes, who said no, who I need to call again, and when follow up such as picking up an auction item is needed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Delegate more than just the phone calls, delegate the follow up items, too, such as picking up those auction items.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I would add a note here to say that I truly believe that people are hesitant to ask someone for something and even more so when they have to do it by phone or in person. The internet via Facebook and email are so much more "incognito," so to speak. If you are making the calls or if you are managing volunteers making the calls, the strategy is the same. Be the cheerleader and encourage your folks. Five phone calls in a day. You can do this! I once heard an author say that she struggled to do her five required pages each day for a particular book so she put five candies across the top of her computer and as she finished a page, she enjoyed a candy. Provide for yourself or your volunteers a nice, small, gesture to say that you appreciate the work.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span>LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-77744875250474380582013-01-28T12:08:00.001-06:002013-01-28T12:08:49.318-06:00Event Sponsorships Part III<h2>
Event Sponsorships Part III</h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks for checking back again. Let's jump right in and talk about the pathway to your overall event goal and then scripting for follow up on an outstanding sponsorship request letter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, contemplating and planning the pathway to your goal is vitally important. To say, "let's have a trivia night; it will be so much fun and we'll raise some money," is not good enough. How much do you want/need to raise? What expenses will be involved that may bring down the total amount raised from the event? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is how it might look...we previously stated an assumed goal of $20,000 for this first event.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We also said that we, just for an example, sold the following sponsorships (from that fantastic letter, remember?)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One Gold Sponsorship at $5,000</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">One Silver Sponsorship at $2,500</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Two Bronze Sponsorships at $1,000</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Five Table Sponsors at $500</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Those would total $12,000.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, let's think ticket sales. An expected cost per ticket is most likely $25 per person and some offer a discount that would allow a couple to come for $40. For simplicity, let's go with individual tickets at $25 per person.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We're going to have our event at a venue that will seat 250 easily so if we sold out, we would have $6,250 in ticket sales; however, didn't we just say yesterday that those who donated sponsorships would get a table as a part of their benefits? We did and it's a great benefit for a lot of reasons. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, let's take out nine tables of 10 or 90 people so now we're at 160 available tickets to sell for a total of $4,000 in ticket sales. There is a possibility that the ABC company which gets a table of ten for their sponsorship donation will decide to "donate" the table back. In that case, you can sell those tickets or you can use them, wisely, to invite potential donors, etc. to your event free of charge. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That's only $16,000 and we really wanted to reach our goal of $20,000, didn't we? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most trivia nights, golf outings, galas, etc., now incorporate the idea of a silent and/or live auction to increase the funds raised. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Your auction needs to bring in $4,000 in order for you to make your goal. You can include on your sponsorship letter and opportunity page mailing the opportunity to donate a gift item from their business. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Auctions take on a life of their own and really require someone to specifically manage that piece. With good management, your $4,000 goal will be achieved. More about that in another blog... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now, you've sent those great letters and you're expecting boxes and checks to come rolling in, right? Well, that's not EXACTLY how it works. I remember someone once saying, "the devil is in the details," and this is a prime example. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You absolutely have to follow up on every letter you send out whether it is for your annual appeal, a scholarship initiative, or an event, follow up is the most essential part of your business and will determine your success.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is the simplest of scripts and you will be amazed at how much you can gain from using it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Hi Mr./Ms. XXX, I am XXX with XXX school and I am calling to follow up on a letter we sent recently to request a donation for our upcoming auction and trivia night." Answer questions and provide needed information. At some point in your conversation ask, "can we count on you to support our Trivia Night with a sponsorship?" If they are not interested in a sponsorship, work your way down to a Gift In Kind auction item. Be sure to include in your conversation their opportunities for recognition. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If your contact person is not there, ask for voice mail and leave a message with a person as the last option. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most people would say that telephone follow up is their least favorite but yet most effective form of communication to getting the dollars in the door. Don't think of this as cold calling because it really isn't. This is following up on a letter that you sent out to see if their interest fits with your opportunity.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Next time we'll chat more about following up on your solicitations for events...</span><br />
<br />LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-23587093890544467672013-01-26T15:23:00.001-06:002013-01-26T15:25:10.725-06:00Event Sponsorships Part II<h2>
Event Sponsorships Part II</h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Thanks for checking back...so talk about some specific examples of sponsorship levels and recongition opportunities for your potential donors.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Remember the trivia night event idea from yesterday? Let's set a goal of $20,000 for our first time. How are we going to achieve such a lofty goal our first time out with this event. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Let's consider this...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Sponsorships can help you achieve goals, provide income to help you spread the word, and you are helping the sponsor to get their name out, too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Try this as a possible Sponsorship Opportunities piece:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">$5,000 Gold Sponsor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">$2,500 Silver Sponsor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">$1,000 Bronze Sponsor</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana;">$ 500 Table Sponsor</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">But, think about what you can offer these sponsors at the various giving levels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">At $5,000, the exclusive Gold Sponsor would receive One table with premier seating for 10, Logo recognition on your website, logo recognition in the event program (250), recognition in your annual report (or similar publication listing all donors), logo recognition on table, verbal recognition by emcee during the event, logo recognition on slide during event, recognition via a press release distributed to X number of media outlets in your community.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">At $2,500, a Silver sponsor would receive One table with premier seating for 10, Logo recognition on your website, recognition in the event program (250), recognition in your annual report (or similar publication listing all donors), logo recognition on table, recognition on slide at event, recognition via a press release distributed to X number of media outlets in your community.</span><br />
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At $1,000, a Bronze sponsor sponsor would receive One table with seating for 10, recognition on your website, recognition in the event program (250), recognition in your annual report (or similar publication listing all donors), recognition on slide at event, recognition via a press release distributed to X number of media outlets in your community.<br />
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At $500, a Table Sponsor sponsor would receive One table with seating for 10, recognition in the event program (250), recognition in your annual report (or similar publication listing all donors), recognition on slide at event, recognition via a press release distributed to X number of media outlets in your community.<br />
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If you sold one Gold Sponsorship at $5,000, one Silver Sponsor at $2,500, two Bronze Sponsors at $1,000, and four Table Sponsors at $500, you would bring in $11,500 in revenue.<br />
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Add to your sponsorships, the cost of ticket sales and your auction piece and you will most likely reach that goal! <br />
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Another thought is to allow one of your $1,000 sponsorships to perhaps be a gift-in-kind grocer who is willing to donate food and drink to the event. <br />
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Tune in next time for Part Three where we'll break down the pathway to your event goal and discuss tips and tricks for getting in touch with your potential sponsors.LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-89395735403542001892013-01-24T11:45:00.000-06:002013-01-26T15:24:17.125-06:00Event Sponsorships Planning<h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Event Sponsorships and Fundraising Efforts (PART ONE)</span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It has been suggested that your organization try an event to raise funds this year. What to do? Where do you start? Here are some tips to help get your inaugural event off the ground with great success.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">1. Select your event and determine who would be most likely to be interested in attending...what audience would enjoy a golf tournament, a trivia night, a bowl-a-thon, a gala, etc. The list of possible events is quite literally endless.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">2. Determine the financial goal of the event. If you are hosting the first ever Trivia Night to benefit your child's school, you might set a goal of $15,000. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">3. Find the location, determine total capacity crowd, set a reasonable price for individual tickets and then ponder sponsorship possibilities.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">4. Generally speaking, a place to start with sponsorship levels looks like this: "Gold Sponsor" $5,000; "Silver Sponsor" $2,500; "Bronze Sponsor" $1,000; Table Sponsor $500. Individual tickets for this same event might be $25 per person for a total table cost of $200 to $250 depending on table size.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">5. Develop your sponsorship prospect list. Who, corporately speaking, would be interested in sponsoring something with your intended audience? If the event is for your child's school in your local community, your likely prospects would include local community businesses as well as businesses related to education and perhaps vendors to your school (those who sell their services to your school).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">6. Develop and send your first mailing with a personalized letter and a "sponsorship opportunities" page. Your "sponsorship opportunities" page also needs to include ways in which the company can and will be recognized for their gift. Suggestions include: a table of 10 with premier seating, logo recognition on website, printed publications, a placard in your school, etc. Think outside the box for options that are free and inexpensive but will definitely give your funder bang for their buck.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">7. Be sure to do phone follow up a week to two weeks following your letter's drop date. Get a "yes," a "no," or a "maybe," for each company to whom you mailed a solicitation letter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">8. Depending on your event, you may want to also solicit auction items for a silent or live auction option to raise additional funds. This is attractive to attendees of a trivia night, gala, and golf outing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">9. You will be marketing your event as you progress toward your date so be sure to tout your fundraising success thus far. For example, you might include in a press release announcing the event, "The Super School is hosting a Trivia Night sponsored by XYZ Corporation, ABC Company and others who have contributed to evening's events." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">10. Be sure to follow up with your sponsors throughout the process and be sure to mix and mingle with them on the evening of the event so they can see how beneficial their gift was...to the school as well as to their own business.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Coming in part two of this post will be a breakdown of sponsorship levels with recognition as well as scripting for follow up calls...check back! </span>LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-32390413730515268662013-01-22T08:00:00.000-06:002013-01-22T08:00:02.440-06:00Announcing...a new fundraising blog! <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">LLM Development Services is proud to announce our new blog! Great news and a wonderful opportunity to share tools and tips to help you reach your fundraising goals. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Recently, a client asked us to write their appeal letters to individuals, corporations, and foundations. The proposal we provided to them included a script for volunteers to use when calling to follow up on the letter as well as a timeline for mailing, follow-up phone call, thank you letter (s), and an additional letter for non-responders. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Additionally, we wrote a letter for both renewals as well as prospects and included updated giving levels.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Their results were fantastic! Their goal for individual renewals alone was exceeded by 33%. That's great to hear. What was even better was hearing the following:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">"We are thrilled! We will definitely use your [LLM Development Services] services again!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Woohoo! This is exciting stuff! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What is the first thing you can do to improve your fundraising bottom line? Simply start...start researching, start asking, start evaluating, start, start, start...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">The one thing that will hold you back is the fear of starting. So, don't let one more day go by without doing something, anything, to move your business forward. Tomorrow or even tonight before you go to bed, send one email, take a look at one website, and say that you did something rather than nothing to take a step in the forward direction!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Happy Fundraising!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">Lisa</span>LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-25062310413426811092012-03-11T20:35:00.000-05:002012-03-11T20:35:12.460-05:00Researching Potential External FundersYou've been charged the task of raising money for your school. Perhaps you are already a fundraiser, as I am, with a variety of experience. Either way, whether you are experienced or not at all in fundraising, you will need to seek out the best fit in external funders for your organization or school. <br />
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Your "constituents" seem pretty obvious, right? School families, church families if it is a church-based school, local businesses perhaps, but what after that? Where do you go next? <br />
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A good old Google search will provide some information.<br />
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For example, "education grants in Illinois," "art education grants," and other similarly specific searches will give you direction. <br />
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Target, <a href="http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031819">http://sites.target.com/site/en/company/page.jsp?contentId=WCMP04-031819</a> offers grant funds to elementary schools for the purpose of education.<br />
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In the St. Louis area, Innovative Technology Education Fund, <a href="http://www.enhancinglearning.org/">http://www.enhancinglearning.org/</a> offers funding to schools specifically for the purpose of upgrading technology.<br />
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You can also locate a listing of Foundations by state <a href="http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/Foundations/mo.htm">http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/Foundations/mo.htm</a> for Missouri listings and <a href="http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/Foundations/il.htm">http://www.nonprofitexpert.com/Foundations/il.htm</a> for Illinois listings.<br />
Sit down at your computer with a cup of coffee and peruse the listings. You will be able to cross most off the list by definition; however one good lead is all you need.<br />
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Once you have that one good lead, research past grant recipients, find out all that you can about their grants, processes, what they like to fund, etc. <br />
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Another very important aspect of grant-writing is begin succint and making a very specific ask. To write a grant and simply ask for $15,000 because you need $15,000 in your general operating fund will not fly. Find a needed project and then write a grant requesting funding to meet that need. Some things are easier to write for than others; however, the overall objective is to match your need to the funder's desire to donate. <br />
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Let's take the Target art grant for example. They do not typically fund "art supplies." Ask your art teacher what they would really like. A successfully written grant applcation will request, for example, the "John Smith" art series which highlights famous artists with books and videos which can be integrated into the current curriculum. Another request might be funding for a specific guest artist to interact with the students. <br />
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As you are being specific with the ask, you must also be specific and reasonable with your anticipated costs. Let's go back to the artists curriculum additional material. The cost of the curriculum is $XXX, shipping is $XXX.<br />
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If you think about the guest artist, you might list their cost for the event, travel expenses if required, food, etc. Think in terms of everything you would need to completely implement the event/project.<br />
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Next time we'll look at the typical parts of a grant application and how to complete them.LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-83805926342611602482012-02-25T21:21:00.000-06:002012-02-25T21:21:27.744-06:00How to Set an Appointment with a FunderSo, you've done a little research and found a great grant opportunity! Good for you! Now, the work begins. Funders state that they WANT potential grantees to contact them, to let them know what they are doing, and keeping them updated on their project(s). <br />
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I think it's somewhat difficult for fundraisers to really believe that funders WANT to see you...they really do. How better to get your great story about your very important project? Before you make the call consider a couple of things:<br />
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1. Check your information and get the most up-to-date contact name and phone number. As an aside, this is NOT a place to email unless you've been instructed to do so. An old-fashioned phone call is the ticket here.<br />
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2. Write a script beforehand to be sure you cover all the points you need. We all get a little nervous and sometimes we're prepared for the voicemail and when a real voice answers, we get a little shook up.<br />
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Here is a sample script I've used before:<br />
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Hi, this is Lisa Masters with XYZ. Is Ms. ABC available? Ms. ABC, I am working on a project for XYZ and I was hoping I could set down with you for 10-15 minutes to get your input on how best to proceed in the grant process. <br />
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You will get an appointment or you will be pointed in the direction of the right person to contact. Sometimes this is the Executive Director and sometimes it is a Program Director or similar titled person.<br />
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In any event, you've made the first, best, and most important step....keep going!<br />
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Next time we'll have some tips for getting fully prepared for this all-important meeting! LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6118162774516847534.post-42906851507414204982012-02-06T21:58:00.000-06:002012-02-06T21:58:21.331-06:00Technology Grant Awarded!A process started in April of 2009 culminated in that much anticipated, "you have been awarded..." telephone call.<br />
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It had happened! It had finally happened!! <br />
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I was on a quest for technology funding for our school which was a about 5 years or more behind the proverbial curve. The following details a portion of the story...<br />
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1. Searched online for "technology grants, technology funding, funding for private schools, etc."<br />
2. Found the Lutheran Foundation in St. Louis and saw that they had indeed funded some schools.<br />
3. Applied and was denied from the Lutheran Foundation<br />
4. Listened to a Lutheran Foundation staff person at an Association of Fundraising Professionals "Meet the Donor" breakfast and they noted that funders like to hear from those requesting grant funds.<br />
5. Contacted the Lutheran Foundation staff person who directed me to their president.<br />
6. Met with the Lutheran Foundation president for lunch and presented information about our school and asked for direction. *sent a thank you letter<br />
7. She put me in touch with the executive director of the Innovative Technology Education Fund with whom they work in granting funds to Lutheran schools.<br />
8. Contacted the Innovative Technology Education Fund (ITEF) executive director who put me in touch with their program officer.<br />
9. Met program officer from ITEF for lunch and presented our marketing information . I explained what we were looking to do and asked for direction. *sent a thank you letter<br />
10.Applied for grant with as detailed information as possible and with suggestions from the program officer.<br />
11.Received word that we were selected for a site visit.<br />
12.Prepared for and hosted a successful site visit. *sent a thank you letter<br />
13.Heard those wonderful, wonderful words, "you have been awarded a grant!" *sent a thank you letter<br />
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Nearly three years had passed since we began. What are our lessons?<br />
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You must perservere, you must research and get on the phone and ask questions. <br />
Don't be afraid to meet and ask a funder what they suggest. <br />
Always, always have information prepared to give to a funder to back up your reasoning for requesting a grant. <br />
When you return from a meeting, a great phone call, a site visit, or a congratulatory phone call, ALWAYS send a thank you letter on professional stationery.<br />
When communication throughout the grant application process, be completely honest, ask questions if necessary. <br />
Return grant paperwork as soon as possible<br />
Maintain accurate records as grant fund purchases are made so that impact, mid-grant reports, follow up reports, etc. are easily assembled.<br />
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Next time: How to get a meeting with a funder!LLM Development Serviceshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16749177040836295365noreply@blogger.com1