Fundraising in the Plague Years: A Major Donor Case Study

Zimmerman Lehman's first rule of fundraising is: "The biggest problem in fundraising isn't getting people to give-it's getting people to ask." In the best of times, nonprofit board and staff members are often allergic to asking for contributions. In these troubled times, board and staff have convinced themselves that it is well-nigh impossible to mount successful campaigns. We beg to differ. While we acknowledge that the economic and political landscape is dramatically different from one year ago, the philanthropic impulse remains strong. In fact, the increased level of need in every sector of the nonprofit world means that the "case" for giving is more compelling than ever.

The basics of successful campaigns

Zimmerman Lehman is currently serving as counsel to four campaigns: one capital and three program expansion. While our clients face challenges peculiar to this difficult period, the fact is that every campaign is doing either moderately well or very well indeed. The most important lesson that these clients have absorbed from our trainings and consultations is this: Even in economically uncertain times, people want to help. Things may be different in degree now, but not in kind. Nonprofits will prevail if they continue to:

Determine who their best individual and institutional gift prospects are
Conduct research on these prospects in order to know what aspect of the nonprofit's work might be of the greatest interest to the donor and how much to request
Prepare handsome written materials to leave with prospects. Nonprofits don't have to break the bank in order to create materials that are eye-catching and compelling
Learn how to make effective appeals, including mail, web, telephone and in-person
Follow up with prospects in a respectful yet consistent manner

A case study of a successful campaign

Let's take as an example one of Zimmerman Lehman's clients that is in the midst of a major donor campaign to expand its program offerings: Super Stars Literacy (SSL). SSL is located in the east bay across the bay from San Francisco. The organization provides after-school literacy training to primary grade children in communities with limited resources. The purpose of the campaign is to raise money from individuals with financial capacity in order to expand the number of schools in which the literacy training is offered. SSL began as a project of The Junior League of Oakland/East Bay and was recently spun off as a freestanding nonprofit.

With Zimmerman Lehman's guidance, the SSL organized a Major Donor Committee made up of board members, staff members, and other community volunteers-including Junior League members--who knew of the organization's important work and who had access to folks with money (a number of the Committee members also had the ability to make significant financial contributions).

Staff provided the Committee with information on the schools to which the organization hoped to expand. The Committee decided it needed to raise $150,000 to achieve the desired program expansion. SSL viewed this first, relatively modest campaign as a "test run." That is, if it was successful in raising $150,000, it would then consider larger campaigns in future years to expand to yet more schools.

In consultation with the Committee, Zimmerman Lehman next prepared a comprehensive case statement filled with photographs and eye-catching graphics that addressed:

The importance of early childhood literacy training
The exciting work SSL had done to date in this field
The importance of expanding the program to other schools in low-income communities
How donors might give, including dollar amounts and types of gifts (e.g. - cash, stocks, real property, land and deferred gifts)

Committee members then reviewed a list of men and women who had made modest donations to SSL in the past in order to identify those donors who had greater capacity (and who would theoretically give more in a face-to-face solicitation than they had given as the result of a mail or web appeal). Zimmerman Lehman also conducted formal research on a small number of "crème de la crème" prospects to find out such things as real estate holdings, employment history, and-most important-sizes of gifts to other nonprofit organizations.

Training the solicitors

Zimmerman Lehman next conducted two half-day trainings to educate Committee members in the art and science of major gift solicitation. These trainings included:

Fundraising concepts of critical importance to all successful campaigns
An interactive exercise to help Committee members overcome their fear of asking for contributions
A two-part interactive exercise: Why would someone choose to give to the SSL campaign? Why would someone choose not to give to this campaign? The former exercise fanned the flames of enthusiasm for the organization and the campaign; the latter brought up the most common criticisms and concerns that prospective donors might voice. Led by the Zimmerman Lehman trainer, participants created "party-line" responses to those criticisms and concerns that they later used in "real life" solicitations
A tutorial on how to ask for major gifts, including making "small talk," presenting the case, responding to the prospect's questions and concerns, asking for the gift and making follow-up calls
A role-playing exercise in which participants played the prospect, a volunteer Committee member who is a friend of the prospect, and the SSL Executive Director. The exercise was repeated three times so that everyone had the opportunity to play each role
"Marching orders" in which each team of two solicitors was matched with appropriate prospects
Information on filling out interview report forms and submitting them to staff

Beginning in late 2008, solicitation teams contacted prospective donors and met with them in donors' homes and offices. At this writing, SSL has raised nearly half of the campaign goal. The difficult economy has undoubtedly had an impact on the campaign, but it has not led prospects to refuse to consider making gifts. Rather, prospects have had to postpone their decisions until later in the year or even into 2010. The result is that the major donor campaign, originally planned for six months, will now take 12 months or perhaps even 15. That is no reason to mope: a solicitation that results in a response of "I like what you're doing, but I can't make a gift right now" is a successful cultivation. The prospect who says "no" in early 2009 but who leaves the door open is a prospect that may turn into a donor in late 2009 or early 2010.

Zimmerman Lehman does not belittle the seriousness of the current financial downturn. By the same token, we know that the nonprofits that will weather this storm-and SSL is a prime example--are those that have confidence in their mission and vision as well as the determination to make optimum use of staff members, board members and other volunteers in the development effort. If nonprofits can overcome their fears, they will prevail.

Please contact us at Email or 415.986-8330 if Zimmerman Lehman can be of further assistance to you.

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