ISSUES

Where does the money come from?

As we outlined in our last Issues paper capital fundraising is qualitative in nature (as much money as possible, as quickly as possible from, initially, as few givers as possible).

With this in mind, nominating the right group of interviewees for the Resources Study (based on a combination of influence and affluence) is crucial.

We are inevitably posed the question: “Where do we find such people?”

In the context of the fundraising campaign itself, this becomes the ultimate question: “Where does the money come from?”

No Magic Wand: and few surprises

Contrary to popular opinion, until we have conducted a Resources Study, we fundraising consultants probably have even less of an idea where the money is to come from than you do!

However, with 40 years of fundraising experience under our belts, we are probably going to look a little dismayed if you suggest that the top gift on your Scale of Giving might come from the Sultan of Brunei, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, George Soros, Richard Branson or the like.

At the risk of repeating ourselves, we hold a passionate belief that capital fundraising is organised common sense.

In the main, financial commitments to capital projects and programmes come from thoroughly predictable sources.

Your real prospects are your closest friends, board members, previous givers, supporters, stakeholders and volunteer workers. And, of course, if you manage a really good campaign, the closest friends of your closest friends!

Face reality: don’t make excuses

It can be difficult to face up to the way things really are. Organisations get nervous about ‘targeting’ their close friends for a fundraising campaign. They fear that this will destroy the great goodwill that has been carefully ‘cultivated’ through their friendraising. We are often told that:

focusing on eminent volunteers who are already giving their time to the organisation is wrong.
an organisation’s ‘consumers’ are already paying for services and shouldn’t be bothered by fundraisers.

We are on the receiving end of sermons about how unethical it is to approach one’s closest friends and associates for money. To say nothing of those organisations who have an ‘ethos’ (we could devote an entire Issues paper to this one) which would be destroyed by fundraising.

Finally, failing all else, there is always the ultimate position that person-to-person solicitation for funds is all rather “distasteful and vulgar.”

We know it’s not easy, but …

We understand these objections.

Capital fundraising may well be common sense, but it is not easy.

We know how hard it can be to nominate a close friend as a prospect for a fundraising campaign. We too treasure the ‘social capital’ of organisations (and are usually the ones who highlight the value of this intangible asset to our clients).

The fear of giving & personal asking

Most of the time, the reluctance to nominate ‘real’ prospects is created by a fear of personal giving and the thought of, ultimately, having to ask friends and associates for money.

Again, this is understandable. But, the truth of the matter is that if you want to raise big money, you have to focus on your friends first.

Remember, your fundraising Resources Study is built around a group of your institutional ‘godparents’. In fundraising jargon: your inner “constituency circle”.

One of the most common reasons that we are commissioned to conduct Resources Studies is that, as objective outsiders, we can ask difficult questions of your closest friends and volunteer leaders.

You must involve these people in researching and planning your capital campaign. They will invariably have the access to the influence and affluence you need to attain your financial goal. Furthermore, and ironically, if you do not seek their input, you run a real risk of losing their friendship and support.

What Is a Prospect?

In short, a prospect is someone who has a known interest in your organisation or its work and the financial potential to make or influence a gift to your project at a level required by your Scale of Giving. Most importantly, you need genuine access to this person. (So, if you list Bill Gates as a prospect, make sure he’ll return your call or, at least, respond to your Email!)

Prospects not Suspects!

A suspect is someone with the potential to give who might have a reason to be interested in your fundraising Case Statement and to whom you need to forge access. (We are often presented with various forms of published ‘Rich Lists’ in planning studies and campaigns and asked to take our pick of which prospects to approach first).

Suspects can be converted to prospects as a campaign progresses. Mostly, though, our clients eventually accept the common sense of focusing on real prospects first. It is not surprising that those organisations that do this significantly improve the chances of winning their campaign.

A prospect source check-list

So, where do the prospects come from? Review the following check-list and see how many of the categories apply to you. Then put the ‘Rich Lists’ back on your shelf and focus on your real friends and prospects.

Your board members	Must be involved in your capital campaign ask givers and, ideally, askers.
Your board’s contacts	Who do your board members know?
Previous givers	As unfair as it might seem, they are your best source of future prospects.
Friends of previous givers	Many of your best prospects are under your very nose. A well-planned and managed “Giver Refer Prospect” process will reveal them to you.
Patrons	If you have them, you’ve probably asked them to do nothing by “lend their name” to your cause. If asked, they will often do much more!
Ex board members	If they are still happy to talk to you pick their brains!
Key members of your management team	We all know someone with money or access to it.
Other staff members	Members of your institutional “family” should be consulted early in capital campaign planning sessions.
Your clients, stakeholders, consumers, users	Whatever you call them. Whether they are parents, students, patients or visitors consult them. Treat them as “stakeholders” and not merely “consumers” paying a fee for a service. Ask them who they know.
Alumni groups	This doesn’t just apply to schools, colleges and universities. Keep track of all of those people whose lives are touched by your organisation. The networks they offer could well be the ones that win your campaign.
“Friends” groups	If you are lucky enough to have an organisation with structured groups of volunteers, make sure you seek their input early on.
Suppliers	Don’t just ask them for money ask them to open their networks to you.
Neighbours	Individuals, companies and other organisations. Think about the social and economic impact you have on your locale. Can this be used to advance your campaign?
Corporate contacts	Local businesses, Chambers of Commerce, regional companies, national corporations and even multi-nationals. Again, who do you know? Can you respond to the inevitable “What’s in it for us?” question?
Grant-making trusts	They exist purely to give money away. Again, who do you know that can guide you through the guidelines and application procedures?
Government / quasi government funding	If you are happy to accept it and your project hits the right political buttons: • Lottery funding • Local government • Landfill tax • Regional development funds • European funding • World bank • UNESCO Beware the so-called “consultants”. An hour with your MEP is often more valuable than a “guru” with a “friend” in Brussels.
Community service organisations	Rotary and others with discretionary grant-making powers and powerful volunteer networks.
Other charitable organisations	Are there other not-for-profits with funds to allocate for the particular project you are championing? Are there strategic alliance / funding opportunities?
Other individuals, families or organisations nominated by your fundraising Resources Study interviewees	Remember to ask that final question of your Study interviewees : “Who else should we talk to?”
The grassroots community	Not applicable to all capital campaigns but many projects have a grassroots appeal that can generate mass support through an appropriate media programme.

Prospect identification & listing:
Who & Why?

In some cases (for example - schools, churches and sports clubs) there is a readily identifiable, ‘closed constituency’ of prospects.

Other organisations have ‘wide constituencies’ and more work needs to be put into the questions of who will support you and why?

Still, in most settings, it is possible to identify a preliminary ‘flat list’ of suspects and prospects for further investigation.

Prospect classification & evaluation: How much?

You can build all the lists in the world, but without some kind of classification and evaluation process they are useless.

You simply must ask some basic questions about your prospective support base:

Classification-
Do they have the potential to give to your fundraising campaign? Within what range on your Scale of Giving?
Prospect review or evaluation-
What do you think they will give if asked by the right person, at the right time, in the right place for the right part of the project?

Prospect classification generates ballpark figures and ranges of prospective giving for further exploration.

Prospect review offers a ‘think about’ figure for a volunteer Asker (often called a Visitor) to take to a prospect.

How do we make such classifications & evaluations?

There are two main ways to build up an evaluated prospect list.

Prospect review committee-
A group of knowledgeable volunteers who meet in a confidential setting with the preliminary ‘flat list’ to give their thoughts on particular prospects (be they individuals, families, corporations, statutory funds or grant-making trusts).
Personal prospect evaluation-
The ‘think about’ figure listed by the volunteer who nominated the prospect in the first place as a friend, associate or a ‘peer’.

Which kind of prospect review is best?

There is much debate about which of the above evaluation procedures work best.

Should you spend vast amounts of time researching “who’s who” and forming prospect review committees to refine the ever-growing lists?

Should you accept the fact that some of your prospects are already sufficiently cultivated for you to be able to ask them for their input to a Resources Study or even ask them for money and be able to identify likeminded peers who could do the same?

We favour the latter strategy, but it does no harm to combine these techniques to ensure full coverage of your constituency.

What prospect review isn’t

Some agencies trade in wealth ‘research’. Give them access to your database (a risky proposition in its own right), and they will highlight where they suspect the wealth may be. This might (if you are very lucky) highlight giving potential. You still have to establish access and interest to such suspects. And you’ve spent a few thousand pounds along the way.

Other consultancies trade in information they have gathered from “confidential fundraising studies and giving to campaigns they have managed for other clients”. Poor ethics, we suggest (confirmed as such by our industry’s code of practice). Furthermore, it’s an ineffective strategy. We’ve seen endless reports of this type (lists of wealthy givers) gathering dust on shelves. They are not actionable. After all, why should giving to one project automatically translate to another?

Don’t waste time, money and your social capital by taking the path of least resistance. Consult your ‘champions’. Find out who you know and what they might be worth to your campaign by talking to those ‘insiders’ who really know the score!

Why prospect review is so important

What everyone appears to agree on, is that there has been precious little quality prospect review of any kind in recent years. Generally, capital campaign performance has suffered as a result of this.

As hard as it might be to talk about other people’s money, prospect review is crucial for two main reasons:

In the Resources Study-
If you don’t ask these questions, how do you confirm the feasibility of your funding plans and scenarios? Without quality review of the Scale of Giving with those “in the know”, you cannot win your campaign on paper. You will be shooting in the dark.
In the Campaign-
As we will review in a future Issues paper, prospective givers almost always want to know what is expected of them. Your eventual solicitations need to involve a specific range or amount.

Don’t dodge prospect classification and evaluation. You will not be successful without it.

Your fundraising database

While most capital campaigns are won from 100 150 carefully prepared personal approaches, many hundreds of other, grassroots prospects and givers can play their proportionate roles in funding projects.

A specialist, fundraising database is a vital tool for campaign planning and management.

But remember, that’s all a database is a tool. Good fundraisers understand that fundraising is about people not endless hours in front of a computer screen.

Successful managers don’t get caught in the hi-tech and high cost traps set by the various purveyors of commercial computer software. Sadly many of these people have turned their attention to the charitable market in the hope of making a fast profit!

From what we’re seeing out there, the promises of the slick salesmen and glossy advertising are not being delivered to clients. So-called ‘tailored systems’ are proving to be inflexible, off-the-shelf duds with poor technical support. Alternatively, these well-advertised systems are very expensive, complex and down right user-hostile - with extortionately priced training and support agreements!

Selecting a system that fits Your fundraising needs

If you haven’t got a fundraising computer system, or are unhappy with the one you are using, think about your ‘big picture’ needs before getting bogged down in detailed specifications.

You probably need a system that:

Uses plain English.
Is accessible by more than one person in your organisation.
Focuses on the relationship and involvement’s you have with your stakeholders (be they givers, members, friends or supporters).
Allows you to adapt ‘record cards’ to your needs to nominate, list, classify, evaluate and allocate prospects.
Links prospect evaluations to the levels of giving you need to achieve (represented by your Scale of Giving).
Allows you to select and sort groups of records with ease.
Offers flexible reporting options (linked to your fundraiser’s performance and accountability).
Generates form letters and receipts to givers through commonly used word processing packages.
Is Inland Revenue approved for automatic calculations and official reports for tax reclaims on covenanted and Gift Aid giving.
Can handle all of your future fundraising activities and campaigns: from membership acquisition to legacies.
Is competitively priced, with technical support and training personally delivered at reasonable rates from a UK-based head office.

Finally, you might want to find a fundraising database that has been designed by fundraisers rather than clever teams of software engineers and salesmen looking to colonise your organisation.

As you’ll see from the enclosed information on the Compton CAMPAIGN software system, we are quite proud of the 10 years we have spent developing our own fundraising database.

We also go to great pains to remind our campaign managers that the software is just a tool. (The minute we catch them spending too much time behind desks, instead of training volunteer askers, we replace their laptop computers with a shoebox and index cards!)

Conclusion: keep it simple!

In capital fundraising, money flows to power and influence.

Ask yourself who do you know of power and influence - or access to these qualities?

Then ask yourself how do we reach out to them?

Then all you have to do is to ask for the money. Something we would like to talk about in our next Issues paper.

Summary

Generally, major gifts to capital campaigns come from predictable sources.
Focus on your closest ‘friends’ first.
List ‘real’ prospects (not suspects from the rich list) each whom have a known interest; clear giving potential and with whom you have some level of personal access.
Classify and evaluate your prospects through some form of prospect review to “win your campaign on paper”.
Make sure that you have an accessible, user-friendly fundraising database that can cope with the demands of prospect listing, evaluation and allocation but which doesn’t cost you the earth!

Compton House    High Street    Harbury
Leamington Spa   Warwickshire   CV33 9HW    United Kingdom
Tel: 01926-614555    Fax: 01926-614599
Enquiries@ComptonIntl.co.uk    www.ComptonIntl.com

A U S T R A L I A • U N I T E D K I N G D O M • C A N A D A • U N I T E D S T A T E S O F A M E R I C A • N E W Z E A L A N D

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