Benevon Weblog

"Next Ten Asks List" by Terry Axelrod

To help you make up your Next Ten Asks list, here are some suggestions of categories of people to include:

• Existing Multiple-Year Giving Society^™ Donors who you feel have the commitment and capacity to give at higher levels
• People who have come to your Point of Entry^® Events and other events but were unable to attend your Ask Event^™
• People who didn't make a gift at your Ask Event, yet you would like to plan out a cultivation process for them
• "Insiders" and "old-timers" like board members, former board members, and long-time volunteers who may not have officially attended a Point of Entry and never came to the Ask Event, yet you've been meaning to get around to asking them
• Other smaller donors (via direct mail, Internet, or telephone) who you would like to cultivate towards a larger gift
• People whose names have been on your radar for years, but you have never gotten around to starting the cultivation process with them

Message from Terry Axelrod: Benevon Launches Strategic Partnership with GrantStation

I am delighted to announce an exciting new strategic partnership between Benevon and GrantStation, the pre-eminent grants research subscription service for up-to-the-minute grantmaker information.

Over the years, we have received many questions from our alumni groups and our E-New$ subscribers about how to integrate their grants program with their growing individual giving/major gifts program using the Benevon (formerly Raising More Money) Model. Questions like:

• We know that over 80% of the money given to charitable organizations in the U.S. comes from individuals and the remainder comes from corporations and foundations. What is the ideal balance we should be aiming for in our funding mix?
  
  
• Our longstanding foundation funder has told us they will be cutting back on our grant next year. How can we plan to offset that amount with individual funding?
  
  
• How can we find the best private foundations to approach when our government funding is going to be cut back?
  
  
• Should we invite funders to our Point of Entry^®?
  
  
• What is the best way to approach a funder for a grant to pay for the tuition for our team to come to the Benevon workshops?
  
  
• How should we follow up with a Point of Entry guest who wants to refer us to a foundation they're involved with?
  
  
• Should we keep our grants program going now that we have developed a strong individual giving program using the Benevon Model?
  
  
• How can we staff both our grants program and our individual giving program?
  
  
• Will foundations make five-year pledges?
  
  
• Many of our Multiple-Year Giving Society^™ Donors have family foundations. Should we stop writing proposals to those foundations and just work with the family members directly now?
  
  
• Will foundations stop supporting us if they know we have become successful with individual giving? How can we show them our overall funding strategy?
  
  
• Should we invite our foundation funders to our Ask Event^™?
  
  

These questions led us to seek a partner in the grant funding area—a partner whose approach would mesh philosophically with our model and who is capable of customizing services to the unique needs of the broad range of nonprofit organizations we serve. We have found that quality partner in GrantStation.

GrantStation is a set of online tools and resources to help you identify the right grantmaker (government or private) for any given program or project. Unlike any other research tool on the web, GrantStation offers a searchable grantmaker database with each profile built on what the grantmaker intends to fund this coming year—not what they've funded in the past. In this way, GrantStation's Web site is forward-looking, and its content changes daily to keep up with the latest information.

To launch our partnership, Cindy Adams, GrantStation CEO, and I will be moderating a series of free interactive one-hour conference calls designed for our mutual subscribers.

Meshing and Maximizing your Individual Giving and Grants Strategies: A Conversation with Cindy Adams, CEO of GrantStation and Terry Axelrod, CEO of Benevon

• Key topics* to be discussed on each call:
  
  
  • What is the best mix of individual and grant funding to strive for?
  • What is the best way to staff for individual and grant funding?
  • How can understaffed nonprofits focus on the grant funders and individual donors who will be most likely to say yes to their requests?
  • What is so unique about GrantStation and Benevon, and how can we mesh our efforts in both areas?
    
    
• Dates and Times:
  
  
  • Call #1: August 14, 2007 from 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. PDT
  • Call #2: August 16, 2007 from 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. PDT
  • Call #3: September 6, 2007 from 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. PDT
  • Call #4: September 13, 2007 from 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m. PDT
    
    
• These one-hour calls are free of charge (with the exception of the long-distance fees required to place the call). The calls are open to all nonprofit staff, volunteers, and board members. You must pre-register to participate on the calls. Registration for all conference calls is limited.
  
  
• To Register: click here and fill out the registration form.
  
  

Please come prepared to ask questions.

* During each call, we will announce special discounted savings on some of our products to encourage you to take advantage of this new relationship. For example, all Benevon E-New$ subscribers will receive a 55% discount on an annual GrantStation subscription (normally $599, now $269).

Thank you again for your support. I hope to be talking with many of you on these calls.

"Top Five Ways to Show Your Board That You Value Them" by Terry Axelrod

Ask yourself this question in every interaction that you have with each board member: is this how I would treat a major donor who I was cultivating to eventually ask for a large gift? Here are five ways to show your board members how much you value them:

1. Honor their commitment to your mission. Even if you occasionally question their passion for your work, give them the benefit of the doubt. There are plenty of other nonprofit groups that would love to have them on their boards, so if they have chosen to serve on your board, it’s pretty safe to assume that at least some part of your organization’s mission appeals to them.
2. Honor their time. Board members are volunteers—not paid staff. They weren’t signing on for a job when they agreed to serve on your board. Be respectful of the other things they have going on in their lives. Don’t bother them with the small stuff. Before asking them to make phone calls, fill tables, come to meetings, or sign letters, ask yourself: would I bother the biggest donor in town with this sort of thing?
3. Honor their brains. These folks are smart—technically smart, people smart, and financially smart. In some cases they are just plain wise. Use their time to gather their input on the strategic issues that will help shape your future, not on the smaller tactical details. They will naturally offer to help you on the tactical pieces if they have helped to create or shape the larger strategy and direction. (And they will also be more likely to fund it!)
4. Honor their contacts. Board members know that you know who they might know. Respect those relationships by asking board members to invite their friends and colleagues to Point of Entry^® Events, rather than rushing in to ask their friends for money. Treat your board members as distinguished ambassadors, not as salespeople for your work.
5. Honor their privacy. If this were the biggest donor in your community, perhaps you’d use a little more discretion. Leave messages with their secretaries—don’t call them at home or e-mail their private address unless they’ve given you explicit permission to do so. Any information you have about their lives that could be regarded as private must remain confidential. Err on the side of discretion and courtesy. Be respectful.