Reading Is Fundamental Finding the “FUN” in Fundraising Beth Grupp President Beth Grupp Associates

Reading Is Fundamental CURRENT STATE OF GIVING

Reading Is Fundamental Poll  How do you feel about fundraising? I hate fundraising. I love fundraising. I don’t mind fundraising.

Reading Is Fundamental Giving 2005: $ Billion Individuals Foundations Bequests Corporations Source: Giving USA Foundation

Reading Is Fundamental 2005: Breakdown by Recipient (#s in Billions of Dollars) Religion Education Human Services Health Public/Society Arts/Culture Internatl Affairs Source: Giving USA Environ/Animals

Reading Is Fundamental Percentage of Discretionary Income Given to Charity – by Income $50,000 - $69,9999 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chronicle of Philanthropy, May 1, 2003 $70,000+ $30,000 - $49,999

Reading Is Fundamental Percentage of Discretionary Income Given to Charity - By Ethnicity White African Amer. Asian All Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; Chronicle of Philanthropy, May 1, 2003 Hispanic

Reading Is Fundamental WHAT DO RIF DONORS WANT?

Reading Is Fundamental Understanding What RIF Donors Want Based on a model developed by Dee Ertukel TIME RESOURCES RIF

Reading Is Fundamental Poll  Have you ever given a donation because someone you knew personally or cared about directly asked you to give? Yes No

Reading Is Fundamental Poll  Have you ever given a donation because you wanted to “buy” more of the values that the organization was creating? Yes No

Reading Is Fundamental WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME?! Individual Donor Values Community IdentityAttitudeFamilyWorkFriends

Reading Is Fundamental Fundraising Attitudes “Money is the root of all Evil” “Money makes the World go Round” “A Fool and His Money are Soon Parted”

Reading Is Fundamental Attitudes About Fundraising How Does it Feel to Ask?

Reading Is Fundamental Attitudes About Fundraising How Does it Feel to Give?

Reading Is Fundamental Attitudes About Fundraising How Does it Feel to Ask? How Does it Feel to Give? Negative Positive

Reading Is Fundamental Sources of Funding: Fundraising 101  Local Businesses  Local Offices of National Businesses  Individuals  Special Events  Foundations

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Fundraising Program #1: Letter to Business or Service Organization

Reading Is Fundamental Fundraising Program #1: Business or Service Organizations 1. Make a List of Prospects Where do you do business Who do you know personally Who do others in RIF know personally Review RIF website

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List of Top RIF Prospects  Insurance companies  Book Stores  Toy Stores  Grocery Stores  Banks

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Fundraising Program #1: Business or Service Organizations 2. ASK: What’s In It For The Donor? What is his/her self-interest? What is the personal relationship? If you don’t know, ASK!

Reading Is Fundamental Fundraising Program #1: Business or Service Organizations 3. Identify the right contact Make sure you are dealing with the Decision maker

Reading Is Fundamental Fundraising Program #1: Business or Service Organizations 4. Make Contact: Letter-Visit-Letter Ask for something specific State the benefit to them Remind them of what a good value RIF is – see website for ideas Review RIF website for letter samples .

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Scenario: Your Local Grocery Store You have a grocery store in town that is part of a well-known national chain. They are located right in the heart of downtown and everybody shops there for basic groceries. You think that they would be a good prospect to give to your RIF program but you are not sure. What should you do first? What is the best way to approach them? What’s in it for them?

Reading Is Fundamental Poll  What’s in it for the grocery store? The store manager knows you personally. The store manager wants community goodwill. The store manager believes in the importance of reading. The store manager will feel guilty if he or she says no. All but the last one.

Reading Is Fundamental Fundraising Program #2: Fundraising Event

Reading Is Fundamental Fundraising Program #2: Events 1.Get People to Help  Form a committee  Organize volunteers 2. See RIF Website for ideas

Reading Is Fundamental

Fundraising Program #2: Events 3. Pay Attention to the Bottom line  Add up how much you will spend  Add up how much you are likely to raise  Decide if the event is worth doing

Reading Is Fundamental Scenario: Plant Sale You are ready to get your fundraising program off the ground. You gather together a group of volunteers who believe in RIF and are excited to help you. Now you are trying to decide what to do. One volunteer, Lotta Gardening, wants to hold a plant sale. Her cousin, Bea Greene, is the manager of a local plant store and she thinks she can get the plants donated at wholesale cost. Is this a good idea? How do you decide?

Reading Is Fundamental Scenario: Assessing the Bottom Line  Cost of wholesale plants: $1.00/each  Sell price: $6.00/each  Volunteers needed: Staff the sales table; pick up the plants  Who Will Buy: Attendees of homecoming football game  Who Will Sell: RIF volunteers What is the Bottom Line?

Reading Is Fundamental Scenario: Choosing a Fundraising Program After attending the RIF fundraising webinar you are all set to start fundraising for your RIF program. You go to the website and see so many ideas you just don’t know how to pick which one is best for you. You remember that the first thing you should do is find some other people to help you. One person who agrees to help is Will Goforit. Will thinks that some of the businesses in town would be happy to sponsor a RIF program and it’s as simple as writing a letter and asking for the entire amount you need to raise. Another person who agrees to help is Earnesta Baker. Earnesta thinks asking for money like that is just plain rude and asking for so much is unreasonable. She wants no part of it. She thinks that a very low-ticket item like a 25¢ bake sale is the way the RIF fundraising can be most successful. Who is right? Which is the better fundraising program?

Reading Is Fundamental Poll  Which is the better fundraising program? Earnesta Baker and her bake sale Will Goforit and his letter to Target

Reading Is Fundamental Scenario: Bake Sale vs. Target Letter Bake Sale  Volunteers needed: 84 to bake 24 items (2 doz); 10 to staff sales table  Sell price: 25¢/each  # of items needed to sell: 2000 (x 0.25 = $500)  Who Will Buy: Attendees of every school football game  Who Will Sell: RIF volunteers  Materials needed: 0 – bakers will donate cost of goods  What’s In It for Bakers? Target Letter  Volunteers needed: 1 to write letter and follow-up with call and visit  Sell price: $500 for signage at event and inclusion in press release  # of Letters needed to write: 1  Who Will Buy: Target  Who Will Sell: RIF volunteer  Materials needed:: Signage at book distribution  What’s In It For Target?

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To access all the great fundraising materials on this website, follow these steps. 1. Go to 2. Log in using your username and password. 3. On the left hand side of the page, click on My RIF Program. 4. At the bottom of the list, click on Fundraising. To see the newest Grant Opportunities posted, follow these steps. 1. Go to 2. On the left of the page, click on Resources. 3. Click on Grant Opportunities.

Reading Is Fundamental Want more?! Please contact your Program Support Representative. We want to make these webinars just as good as we can so please take a moment to fill out the evaluation. Good Luck to Everyone!