One way to stand out is to do your year end campaign a little early. Possibly have a time for taxes campaign. Your big donors know how much they need to shed in order to get the return they want on their taxes. Yes year end giving is important because it is the holidays. But let’s face it; year end giving is critical for tax deductions. Be sure to make it very clear on any donation campaign but especially your year end that you are a 501-c-3. Bold those letters and numbers in your written request. “Please give your TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation today”. “Our organization is a 501-C-3 charity. Any donation made is TAX DEDUCTIBLE”.

I’m not the one who builds databases. I’m the one who takes a database and helps determine how to organize your data so it is easy to mine and it can do what you want it to do. So the information you are looking for is always right at your fingertips.

This is all about customer relationships. And in the nonprofit world, out customers are our donors, volunteers, corporate sponsors and if you provide direct service, your client base. By providing specialized customer service throughout the year; not just year end or when that big capital campaign rolls around; you will be amazed at the effect this will have. You will find your customers more engaged and willing to participate in your organization. They may volunteer, become a member, make a donation or develop into a future board or committee member.

Whenever I’m at any type of public event, I collect as much data as I can. And the easiest way to get someone who is not familiar with your organization to give up their information; give them something in return. We’ve all had a booth at a health fair, community event or trade show. We’ve had our clipboards sitting there just waiting for someone to sign up so they can receive more information or volunteer. Rarely do people sign it. By the end of the day it almost becomes embarrassing! But if they have the chance of getting something in return, its a whole new ball game!

I was at a large community event. I developed a small slip of paper that asked for name, mailing address, phone, email (NEVER FORGET THE EMAIL) and also had a box to check if they would like more information or would like to volunteer. Great. No more lists. But then they could take that slip, put it in a box and have a chance to win a gift basket from our organization. The gift basket really didn’t cost us much. It consisted of one of our organizations t-shirts, water bottle, windbreaker jacket, socks and some candy we threw in there for fun. You would be amazed at the number of people who wanted to win that. We just gained 1000% more names than if we just had the list sitting there. We always want to hope that people are signing up for the sake of wanting to be involved in our cause. And there will be some that sign up for the drawing that you will never hear from again. But there will be some who become engaged. Then that gift basket is worth it.

The information on those slips and any information that EVER comes into the door of your organization needs to be stored. It needs to be maintained and a relational database where you can easily create reports and extract the information you need. But one thing that dooms organizations: Too many cooks in the kitchen. Or in this case: Too many people manipulating the data any way they want to manipulate it. It is critical to have one person who maintains your information. A staff person, a consultant or a volunteer, they need to know what the organization expects and then follow it all the time. For example; you have a donor from St. Michael’s Catholic Church. How do you put that in the database? St. Michaels? St. Michael’s? St. Michael’s Catholic Church? Saint Michaels? Saint Michael’s Catholic Church? I just came up with 5 different organizations that could appear in your database and each probably has different information stored on each account.

When I work with clients, I always set up “data standards” to alleviate just this sort of situation. I like to create a “Data Map” so I can help them decide what really is critical information that they will need to meet their communication goals. Do we really need to code this person grew up on Elm Street? Do we need to know that he is a widower and the donations for his wife’s memorial came to our organization? I’d lean towards the latter.

But I there are so many details to consider when deciding which database to use, how to update your existing data and what “data standards” need to be applied.

Data is a powerful thing. If organized and maintained correctly, you will reap the benefits.

If you have questions, you know where to find me: www.yourdotorg.com

Mary – President
.org Consulting Group

1.  You can put a dollar figure on those volunteer hours.  You can not only share those numbers with your Board, but you can also share them with the volunteer.  Because someone may not be able to give money, but time is money!  When you report to the board you can brag about your volunteer program when they see how much money you are saving by not having to hire more staff.

2.  It is critical to track volunteer hours for potential grants.  Many grant applications will ask for number of volunteers, volunteer roles and volunteer hours.  Don’t guess.  Have the numbers available.

3.  Remind your volunteers often the impact that they are having on your organization.  You may have someone who will never, ever be able to give a dollar to you.  But they are there every single week for an hour a day.  That’s takes more commitment than just pulling out a checkbook.

Volunteer recruitment programs and volunteer appreciation is crucial.  A happy volunteer will bring another happy volunteer.   And it truly snowballs.

If you’d like more information on volunteer recruitment you can contact me at www.youdotorg.com

Have a great weekend!

Mary

President

.org Consulting Group

The key is checks & balances.  Yes this should apply to staff; but this also applies to the Executive Director. So Board Members…..wake up!!   There are so many things you should look at, processes you can implement and basic things to watch for that will shoot up red flags.

When I give a presentation on fraud I like to talk about the education of Board Members; do they truly know what’s going on in the organization?  Do they know what to look for and expect in those monthly financial reports?  I know some times it’s difficult to get your board to commit time and energy.  You’ll always have the “worker bees”  and the “honey bees”.  Those who are there to work and aren’t afraid to get their hands dirty.  And those who are there because of name, affiliation and the likelihood they will bring in the dollars. And you need both types of “bees”!!   But more importantly you need a strong Board Development or Governance Committee that screens potential board members, educates them of their duties and it should all laid out in a job description.  And if they can’t commit; they should not be a board member.  Ok I’ll stop. I can talk for hours on board recruitment, development and how to keep them engaged.

Non-profits are “feel good”.  We never want to think someone is doing anything bad to us.  Yes a non-profit can be “feel good” but still be a strong business.  In the end we need to operate as a business to bring in the revenue to support the cause.

If you have any questions, please feel free to visit my website at www.yourdotorg.com.  I try to respond to all emails within 48 hours.

Have a wonderful day!

Mary

President – .org Consulting Group

I hope to bring resources, ideas and great links to my blog that will help you to continue to strengthen your organization and your community.

You can also visit our website at www.yourdotorg.com for more information.

Be sure to bookmark this blog!

Thank you!

Mary

President – .org Consulting Group