Recognition Boot Camp
How does Donor Recognition play into “The Chicken or the Egg” philosophy in the not-for-profit community?
Some Not-for-Profits wait until after they receive contributions in order to extend gratitude and recognition to their supporters. After their fundraising effort, they often establish a budget to create a display in their facility and begin to use that display to inform and encourage other donors to get involved. As an alternative, we can create a recognition display up front and use those same dollars to inform, request, encourage and thank whenever your facility is open to the public. Many organizations consider it an advertising budget before it becomes a recognition budget. So what comes first, “The Chicken or the Egg?”
One of the tasks usually put on the back burner, surprisingly, is Donor Recognition. Donors are the financial backbone and the entire future of the mission and donor appreciation is the key to acquiring and maintaining that financial and volunteer base. Thus the question, do you establish donor recognition after the donations have been received or do you invest and allow the recognition to HELP you raise those critical funds?
Written By: Bill Miller
As I see it, giving appropriate major donor recognition is one of the most important things development officers can do for their institution’s well-being. We as school, college, and university fund raisers should practice better recognition for several good reasons:
Given its importance and value, then, it’s surprising that so few institutions receive top marks for recognizing major donors. Why not?
Some charitable organizations lack an attitude of gratitude. It’s our job to let donors know we deliberately seek out major givers, we appreciate them, and we want to show it.
Another fault in the process is the idea that donors don’t want recognition. Sometimes volunteers say donors don’t want it; other times donors say, “No thanks.” Our message needs to be: “We are asking you to allow us to thank you. We want to. Won’t you please let us?” When donor say, “Oh, no need; I’d be embarrassed,” what they’re often saying is, “I don’t want it to look like that was the reason I gave. Assure me that you genuinely want to recognize me”
To help your development staff do the right thing, follow these four steps.
The best way to make that happen, of course, is to fully and sincerely recognize those volunteers as initial major donors for what they have so generously given.
That’s because showing your institution’s gratitude is not just the right thing to do. It’s essential to keeping those major gifts coming.
By Patrick Ryan.
He was president and CEO of Staley Robeson Ryan St. Lawrence Inc., which is a U.S. fund-raising consulting firm. He was also joint managing director of the Downes Ryan Group, an international fund-raising consultancy. In addition, he currently serves as chair of the American Association of Fund-Raising Counsel Inc.
One temptation in writing fundraising thank-you letters is to make your organization the star of the letter. You feel pressure to tell your donors how terrific you are, how cost-effective you are or how broke you are. You are tempted to brag about your achievements, your success, your volunteers, your new board member and more.
You need to resist this temptation. The secret to crafting effective donation thank-you letters is “making the donor the star of every transaction,” as Conrad Squires puts it in his book, Teach Yourself to Write Irresistible Fund-raising Letters.
The quickest and cheapest way to build donor loyalty and reduce donor attrition is to tell your donors how much they are accomplishing in the world through your organization. By making your donor the hero of every thank-you letter (and every appeal letter for that matter), you reinforce in their mind that they made the right decision in supporting your mission. And that they are right in continuing their support.
How to make the donor the hero!
1. Use the word “you” more than you use the word “we.” Make the letter all about the donor.
2. Show a direct link between the donor’s donation and your mission. For example: “Thanks to your generous gift of $100, we fed 52 homeless men last night while the temperature hovered around -18� outside. Those men are thankful to you. And so am I.”
3. Go beyond the donation to the donor, and describe how grateful you are for the donor as a person, as a supporter, as a friend of your organization.
4. Make your donors feel special by describing how they are one in a thousand, or one in ten thousand, by supporting your cause while others do not.
Article Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_20880_3.html
Author: Alan Sharpe
Americans are the most generous people in the world! According to the annual report, “Giving USA”, published by the Giving USA Foundation, American’s made charitable contributions of more than $260 BILLION in 2005. Of the $260 Billion, individual Americans contributed more than $199 billion, which is 76.5 percent of the total donated to charitable causes in 2005. Foundations and Corporations together donated another approximately $44 billion to charities in 2005.
However, charitable bequests, giving through ones personal will or other estate planning vehicle, continue to be a popular method of giving. Americans bequeathed another $17 billion to charities in 2005. The advantages of making bequests to your favorite charity are many.
• First, leaving money to a charity through your will ensures that, if needed, the donor can use the assets during his or her lifetime.
• Second, money bequeathed to a charity is not subject to federal or state death taxes.
• Third, assuming that an individual or couple plan or developing a personal will or other estate planning tool, bequeathing money to a charity does not cost the donor extra legal or other fees.
• Additionally, there are a variety of ways to bequeath money so that the needs of heirs, loved ones and friends can be addressed. Charitably inclined individuals have also found that they can afford to make a more significant death after their death, instead of giving a smaller gift of cash while alive.
Bequests can be made in any amount that the donor desires. Many individuals will bequeath a fixed dollar amount to a charity. There is no minimum or maximum amount. An individual can leave $1 or their entire estate to a charity, or any amount in between. Bequests can be made that are contingent on another event. For example, an individual may leave money to a charity “only in the event that they have no heirs that survive themselves”. One may provide for a charity through their will be leaving the organization a percentage of their estate.
In certain cases, individuals will name more than one charity as a beneficiary of their estate. As an example, one may designate five charities to share equally a portion of their estate. There are many variations of charitable bequests. Donors are urged to include close family members in their discussions about charitable bequests and to seek competent, professional legal and financial advice before making any decisions about the distribution of their wealth after death. While charities are always grateful of the thoughtfulness of donors who leave charitable bequests, most non-profit organizations want donors to ensure that the needs of heirs, loved ones and friends are considered first, before the needs of the charity.
About the Author
JOHN D. PASTOREK, CFRE
John Pastorek has served as President of the Allegheny-Kiski Health Foundation since 1990. John has been a member of the Association of Fund Raising Professionals (AFP) since 1988 and has been a Certified Fund Raising Executive since 1999. He also has served on the Board of Directors of the Harrisburg-based Pennsylvania Association of Non-Profit Organizations (PANO) since 2004. John was instrumental in establishing the Pennsylvania State Issues Task Force in 1996, which took a lead role in writing, and motivating the PA legislature to pass, PA Act 127, “the Charitable Gift Annuity Law”. John has taught many fund raising and non-profit seminars, and holds Bachelor of Science degrees in Education and Communication, and a Master of Science Degree in Management.
The Pension Protection Act of 2006 enacted on August 17, 2006 includes a limited-time provision that permits federal tax-neutral contributions from Individual Retirement Accounts to qualified charities, sometimes referred to as “Charitable IRA Rollovers.” Here’s how The Pension Protection Act of 2006 may provide you with an unprecedented opportunity to help qualified charities between now and December 31, 2007:
1) In 2006 and 2007, individuals 70 1⁄2 and older may cumulatively transfer up to $100,000 directly from an IRA to qualified charities;
2)The charitable distribution counts toward minimum distribution requirements;
3) Charitable distributions may be made in addition to any other charitable giving you may have planned; and
4) Because the distribution generates neither taxable income nor a tax deduction, even non-itemizers can benefit. Please note that distributions must be made to qualified charities via direct transfer but may not be directed to donor advised funds, charitable remainder trusts, gift annuities or similar planned gifts. State tax treatment varies from state to state. You should seek the advice of tax and/or legal counsel to best determine how this new federal legislation impacts you or your charitable organization.
PLEASE NOTE: All of the information contained in this communication is not intended as legal or tax advice. It is provided purely for information purposes. To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any U.S. federal tax references contained in this communication (including any attachments) are not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.
Written By: Jack Miller, CFRE
Director of Gift Planning,
Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation
Jack Miller has coordinated capital campaigns, special events and estate planning seminars. He has written and produced two planned giving videos and helped individuals contribute millions of dollars to charity. Miller, is a certified fund-raising executive, member of the National Committee on Planned Giving and president-elect of the Pittsburgh Planned Giving Council (PPGC). In 2000, the Association of Fundraising Professionals (APF), Western Pennsylvania Chapter, named him its Outstanding Fund-Raising Executive. In 1992, he helped to organize a statewide development issues task force that was instrumental in passing Act 1996-127 that established parameters for Pennsylvania charities to issue gifts. Some of the more interesting gifts he has closed during his career include an outright gift of a personal residence with a retained life-interest and the first funeral home in Pennsylvania to fund a charitable remainder annuity trust. In 1998, his planned giving program at United Way of Allegheny County received United Way of America’s Lasting Legacy Award, symbolic of the best planned giving program in the United States.
1) “D.A.V.E. is working even when you’re not”
2) “D.A.V.E. is a strong public relations resource”
3) “Building ongoing relationships is easy with D.A.V.E.”
4) “D.A.V.E. can support your future fundraising efforts”
5) “D.A.V.E will showcase your programs and your activities”
6) “D.A.V.E. lets your constituency know how their donations have helped the mission”
7) “D.A.V.E. communicates your gratitude for donor and volunteer giving”
8) “Donors and volunteers like to feel needed and D.A.V.E. tells them they are”
9) “D.A.V.E. wears many hats. Recognition, Marketing, Advertising just to name a few”
10) ”D.A.V.E. honors donors and encourages giving at higher levels. It inspires further investments from donors, families and friends”
