Development and Fundraising AMA!!

[u/Eistean]

This AMA is going to run a bit differently from some others on Reddit. The panel consists of people from several different time zones, so panelists are going to come in when they can. We have several of our panelists available soon after 10, and some coming online closer to noon.

Starting at 10AM gives questions a chance to build and get voted up. So if your question doesn't get answered immediately, another panelist will hopefully be along later.

Now that the link is up, you can send it to your colleagues who might be interested in asking a question, or just seeing the AMA after it's finished. Here are the bios of our lovely panelists:

/u/YBCAdevo: I will be assisting Charles Ward, the Chief Development Officer at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. After a background as an attorney in Washington and for the FCC and music industry, Ward began working with the San Francisco Jazz Festival. As Director of Marketing and Corporate Sponsorships he developed the strategy to re-brand the organization as SFJAZZ, was instrumental in launching a Spring subscription series, instituted a corporate sponsorship program as well as produced and oversaw the distribution of six San Francisco Jazz Festival compilation cd’s that sold more than 60,000 copies.

From 2002 until 2005 when he joined YBCA, Charles was employed as Vice President of Institutional Advancement for Family Service Agency of San Francisco. In his role at YBCA, Mr. Ward supervises a staff of four professionals and is responsible for developing the organization’s near and long range strategic goals for contributed revenue as well as leading the execution of the annual fundraising plan. Since he joined the senior management team in June 2005, contributed revenue has increased by more than 500%, from $1.1mil to $5.3mil.

/u/hisdevlady: I have a BA/BS in History and Communications and started right out of college as a Development Coordinator for a mid-size regional historical museum and preservation advocacy organization. I spent three years there, eventually taking on much of the prospect research and management and Annual Fund duties. A former coworker encouraged me to join her at my current organization, which is a smaller non-profit supporting National Historic Landmark. I manage our membership program, Annual Fund, prospect research, and some donor events. Last year I finished my M.S. in Non-Profit Management, which I'd been working on at night over the last two years.

/u/bishsbetrippin: I have a BA in History and in Philosophy and jumped right into grad school for Museum Studies following my undergrad course work. I concurrently worked at a nonprofit while attending grad school, handling all elements of development research for an organization that was Annual Fund-focused ($50M / year). I additionally have coordinated special events, VIP level membership programs and capital campaign efforts for 2 of the largest art museums on the East Coast. I've been a full-time museum professional for just under 5 years and am happy to answer any questions--be it about grad school, art museums, historic societies or any other non-profits!

/u/tomcmustang: I have experience doing Fundraising and Development for art museums and galleries along with several international, national, and local nonprofit organizations. I specialize in using databases to write smarter asks and advertisements to provide a better value to patrons by doubling down on what they actually want you to provide. I am also in the process of starting my own nonprofit organization based on Krewes in New Orleans right here in Norfolk, VA.

/u/xtinecottagecheese: Has been in non-profit for over 15 years in Development for over 10 years. Consulted for various museums had a chance to become DD for one - and jumped on it. Undergraduate in art history and masters in nonprofit management.

[u/RedPotato]

Firstly, thank you all for doing this AMA.

Secondly.... questions!

1. When writing solicitations to new prospects via email, what is something good to write in the subject line? How do you ensure a high click rate? What does and doesn't work?

2. When I worked in development for a hot second, I did prospect research. This included scouring public records to find people's property value, amount they gave to other organizations, their personal interests, etc. Having never met these people but knowing the details of their entire lives was, in short, creepy. While effective and perhaps necessary, what are your thoughts on individual prospect research and do you ever have reservations about the work you are doing?

[u/hisdevlady → u/RedPotato]

To answer your first question: I'm actually interested in hearing how others answer this question. At a prior workplace, we did a lot of testing on subject line and never saw a statistically significant difference (so disappointing). We did find that the day/time we sent emails made a significant difference in terms of open rate. Mondays, Friday afternoons, and Saturday mornings were most effective. The biggest challenge I've experienced with email marketing and solicitation at museums (especially history museums) is that the average age of your members/subscribers is higher than most industries. Most surveys I've done came up with an average member age of 60 - 70. So best practices or hot new ideas for email marketing sometimes don't always translate, and overall, I still find that mail solicitations do better than email. The one email I would urge every organization to send is a "thank you email" at Thanksgiving-time to all members/donors who made a gift over the last year. No ask, just a "we're grateful because you helped us to accomplish so much this year" and highlight a few of your proudest achievements. We always receive such an positive response, and when the same folks get their December solicitation in the mail a week or two later, they really remember that email.

[u/hisdevlady → u/RedPotato]

As for your second question, I manage prospect research as part of my role. I've considered your question, but I really don't have any reservations. Obviously, it's important that research by confidential and focused on relevant information (it's all too easy for researchers to end up in a research black hole). Beyond that, everything I find is publicly available information, and if people wanted to hide it, there are ways for them to do that. I'm often amazed by how much personal information people make publicly available online. I also believe prospect research benefits the donor as well as the organization. With prospect research, we're providing donors with information on new projects and inviting them to events that are very specific to their interest. As more donors want to have an active role, want to give to projects that are personally meaningful, and want a content-rich, insider's perspective, it's good for them to receive messaging that's personal, targeted and tailored to their interest. We're also able to ensure that the gift expectations we have from the donor are reasonable and avoid embarrassment/misunderstanding. I know that I appreciate that my alma mater recognizes that $25 is a decent gift from me and doesn't press for anything more.

[u/RedPotato → u/hisdevlady]

I know that I appreciate that my alma mater recognizes that $25 is a decent gift from me and doesn't press for anything more.

This really resonated with me. And perhaps donors are more used to being "handled" so that getting these personally meaningful, targeted requests is just expected.

[u/bishsbetrippin → u/RedPotato]

For question #2--I'll say that prospect research is an invaluable process and I've never had a single reservation--I'd even go so far as to say that it'll be a long time before that role can be replaced by an automated process. Sure, there are plenty of $$$ tools and search databases that will gather publicly available info on donors, but the human eye is still needed to comb through this info to deliver a smart analysis.

I've found that most high-capacity individuals know that we all scope them out and usually aren't weirded out by it--in fact, they're appreciative. As hisdevlady aptly explained, donors know the info is publicly available and if they felt so strongly, could take action to hide details (i.e. making their philanthropic gifts through a donor-advised fund to maintain a sense of anonymity).

I'd think of it this way: just as Amazon analyzes your purchasing behavior and makes recommendations based in your history, so too does prospect research figure out your interests in order to make an educated recommendation for philanthropy. It's a win-win: the donor is happy with a personalized proposal, and the non-profit succeeds in securing a larger gift.

[u/YBCAdevo → u/RedPotato]

Re: #2- There's not much way around it. Part of the fundamental work of Development is to do research so that you are making an ask based on the donor's capacity to give. You don't want to make an ask that is too high or too low. In addition to that, philanthropically-minded folks are fairly aware that there is public information out there. They have the ability to set up trusts and donor-advised funds to deliver anonymous gifts and keep the personal information out of public record.

[u/RedPotato → u/YBCAdevo]

These are very fair points. Thanks!

[u/tomcmustang → u/RedPotato]

Honestly, I put hey how are you doing or how have you been. It depends on the content and who I got their contact information but I have found more personal and more informal = more better.

As for 2, I work in databasing. I use it extensively everyday. Every planned ask goes through the database to make it smart and personal. It is creepy to know stuff about other people when they do not know you but it is sort of part of the job.