Beginnings....Middles....and Ends!

I love beginnings.  And occasional scenes.  But connecting them together to create a novel seems to be beyond my reach.  So I read books about writing, authors’ interviews on writing, and think ah—Anthony Horowitz needs to have the whole story in his head before he writes; John Irving must have his last sentence, Jasmine Guillory always has an outline.  This one says just write a shitty first draft; that one says start with character.  Another author takes about index cards and a younger author talks about storyboarding.  And I keep looking for that perfect idea—the one piece of advice that says “THIS is how you do it” and then my novel will almost magically write itself.

Only it won’t.  Any more than if you can just find that magic bullet that will raise all the money you need and more without doing the hard work that is part and parcel of raising funds.

If I truly want to write a novel, then I have to do what novelists do:  Write. And if you want to raise money, you have to do what fundraisers do: build relationships, engage donors; identify new prospects.

There is an old saying that exhorts not to try, but to do.  Trying is easy.  Doing, on the other hand, is very hard.  Trying is putting your toe in the water;  doing is jumping in completely.  You could drown.  Or you could discover that you are quite the swimmer.  In short, doing is a challenge and challenges are scary but also exhilarating.

All that said, fundraising is in truth a process.

The process, of course, starts with figuring out who you think would support your organization.  These are your prospects and your first job is learn about them.  If you are thinking they may become major donors, your learning about them may dig deeply.  On the other hand, most of your donors will give smaller gifts.  You don’t have the time or the tools to really research them.  So you need to do the next best thing—figure out what their relationship is with your organization.

If they are regular donors, you want to honor that, show them how important they are, make sure they know you know who they are and that they feel valued.  If not loyal donors, they may be first time donors, lapsed donors you are trying hard to get back into the fold, not yet donors.  All require an acknowledgement that speaks to them.  Too often I get appeals that start with “Thank you for all you do for our organization,” when what I have done is exactly nothing.  And that makes me toss the letter in the round file, delete the email, check out of the phone call. If they can’t figure out who I am, why should I bother with them?  In short, like all donors, I want to be seen and so make sure you see your donors.

Once they become donors, they need more than beginnings and occasional scenes.  They need regular touches that tell them how important their support has been and, critically, what their support has helped to achieve.  E-blasts, newsletters, blogs, social media postings are one way, but so is a personal email or note from you or a board member, not asking for anything but rather, thanking them for what they have done.  Tell a story—your support helped Mary to get the services she so desperately needs; because of you Jay received a scholarship that allows them to attend college and not have to work full time.  You can also be more generic—your generosity ensures that 340 families each month get enough to eat.

Above all, don’t wait until you have the perfect plan, the world’s most compelling letter, the surefire way to get a gift—just share your passion for your work and ask as many others as you can to join with you in supporting your amazing organization.