Suggested practices in this webinar will significantly improve your bottom line as you gain better results for your cause, increases loyalty from staff and board, and deepens the level of appreciation from those who support your mission.

1. Sponsored by:
Accountable Fundraising: You Can
Integrate Achievement, Long-term
Success and Stewardship
Sue and Ron Rescigno
July 31, 2013
Twitter Hashtag - #npweb
Part
Of:

2. Sponsored by:
Advising nonprofits in:
• Strategy
• Planning
• Organizational Development
www.synthesispartnership.com
(617) 969-1881
info@synthesispartnership.com
INTEGRATED PLANNING
Part
Of:

3. Sponsored by:Part
Of:
Coming Soon

4. Sponsored by:
Today’s Speakers
Ron and Sue Rescigno
President & Vice President
Rescigno’s Marketing Connections
Assisting with chat questions:
Jamie Maloney, 4Good
Founding Director of Nonprofit Webinars and Host:
Sam Frank, Synthesis Partnership
Part
Of:

5. Accountable Fundraising:
You Can Combine Achievement, Long-term Success and Stewardship
Ron and Susan Rescigno
708.974.2600

6. Don’t Squander
The goal of what we are calling Accountable
Fundraising is a PRODUCTIVE, NON-
WASTEFUL, program that reflects positively
on your mission as it motivates support from
your data base.

7. No More Spray and Pray
Here is what we suggest:
•Refine lists
•Cut quantities
•Take better care of existing donors
•Engage and Cultivate new or moderate active donors
•Keep clean, current data
•Build donors up the giving pyramid

8. Your challenge:
• Examine your practices
• Pay more attention
• Respond to demands
Seeing the Future

9. Welcome to 21st Century Fundraising
What does the NEW ERA OF ACCOUNTABILITY mean
to YOU?
A solid, accountable fundraising program:
 Is a win-win
 It improves results
 Builds morale among staff, volunteers and boards
 Positions your cause well in the eyes of the community

10. 21st Century Fundraising:
The Tried and Still The True
•We continue to find that direct mail is the
major stimulus for making a gift
•While continuing your direct mail marketing, it
is important to incorporate new media
•Multi-channel marketing initiatives are the way
of the 21st Century

11. Basic Principles That Have Stood the Test of Time
•Donors are not all the same
•Preach, preach, preach to your choir
•Learn, track, gather and analyze your data
•Test
•Apply what you have learned in future
communications
•Develop a consistent policy for data entry
•Think globally
Yes, times have changed. But it’s evolutionary,
not revolutionary change.

12. Laws of Accountability:
If You Want to Succeed
Focus on HOW to be ready for CHANGE
 Be flexible
 Be aware of differences
 Be environmentally aware
 Be metrics wise
 Be a reliable recorder of history

13.  Specific lists by name source
 Contacts and dates
 Materials
 Responses
 Gift amounts
 Date of response
What YOU Should Be Tracking:

14. The dangers and questions of communication
channels:
 Who will replace the charitable donors of the 20th
century?
 Will Baby Boomers be willing and able to pick up the
slack left by the 20th century’s Greatest Generation?
 What’s the wisest use of our time and money?
 Can any hope be held out for the texters of the next
generation?
Data: Even More Important in the 21st Century

15. 5 Suggestions to Survive and Thrive in the
New Era of Channel Expansion:
1. Don’t assume
2. Track and measure everything
3. Don’t be lazy
4. Add to your collection of data ALL the time
5. Learn and understand the differences in your donors
6. Use and act on your data analysis reports

16. Data Analysis & Market Research
Data Analysis tells you what has happened and what your donors
have done or may be likely to do
Market Research allows you to take a look into the minds and hearts
of the giving population
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR DONORS & PROSPECTS: they will help you
construct a strong communication plan
How?
Conduct donor satisfaction questionnaires
or surveys
Request donor preferences
Talk with your various constituents and
use both the personal information and
statistics to construct powerful strategies
and relationships
For a free sample of a
donor appreciation survey
that we use with our
clients, just email us at:
ron@rescignos.com

17. Hindrances to Accountable Fundraising
Bad Data and its Consequences (ALL BAD!):
•It is a waste of materials and postage
•It is costly to fix the mistakes
•It loses or misplaces valuable donors
•Errors in coding = Errors in analysis
•The message it sends to donors who get several of the same mailing
pieces is, “If they can afford to mail me all that stuff, they don’t need my
money”
•Survivors get upset when you mail to deceased spouses or loved ones
•It downgrades response rates

18. Wasteful Production + Down the Drain $
= Fundraising that is NOT Accountable
 Review your organization’s obstacles
 Improving or changing/enhancing practices
can break down obstacles to Accountable
Fundraising success

19. If the road to fundraising success begins at
your database, it makes sense that the path
should be:
 Clear
 Clean
 Free of any obstacles
 Easy to get on
Removing Obstacles: Implementing a
Superhighway of Information

20. A common database creates great conveniences
Your comprehensive database will result in:
•More thorough analytics
•Sharing knowledge gained
•A flow of donor communications
that is easier to follow
Be Kind… SHARE!

21. There Must Be Zero Tolerance for
Sloppy or Poor Data Entry
Developing firm and consistent standards for data entry
always pays dividends
The cost and effort involved in cleaning up a sloppy
data entry is much greater than doing it right the first
time
How to do it right the FIRST time:
 Cleanse it regularly and relentlessly
 Make repairs right away
 Answer who responded to: What? When? How?
Why?
 Make sure to record the sources of every donor
interaction

22. Tearing Down the Obstacles:
Your Battle Plan
•Know your strong points and your obstacles
•Have a well thought out plan from the BEGINNING to the END of the campaign
year
•Know what communication channels you will be utilizing
•Know WHEN and HOW you will get your communication channels to interact
with one another
•Continue to MAIL, as it is your greatest ally, but do NOT ignore other media uses
•Use email and social media to maintain conversations with donors
•Keep donors involved between mailings
•Re-inforce the POWER OF THE GIFT
•Use social media to make your friends your proponents

23. Get More Bang for Your Buck
•Where the ROI is greatest is where you should
invest most of your efforts
•Invest in building powerful commitments from
current and long term donors
•Lost donors MUST be replaced
•Use GOOD donor profiling to help zero in on who
the best donor prospects may be

24. Control Through Technology = Real Power
As a 21st century fundraiser, you have an amazing
cache of firepower at your disposal:
Classical
•Direct mail
•Telemarketing
•PR
•Advertising
•Events
Mature
•Email
•Internet
•Affinity Marketing
New
•Social Media
•SEO
•Mobile
•Pay-per-click ads
on the web
The challenge is to pull them ALL together cohesively

25. Technology: Problem or Solution?
•New technologies do present challenges, they also provide
solutions
•There are technological helpers to increase, apply, and react to
what you learn about your donors
•Through the use of technology, you can track your popularity on
social media
•There are tools that help you:
•Automate communications with donors
•Create virtual back office that improves accuracy
•Improve efficiency, timeliness, and the cost of communication

26. Create a Command Center
Your Command Center should
include:
•Communication building
blocks
•Complete brochure and
letter templates
•Ads, commercials, YouTube
videos, music clips
•Correspondence templates

27. Foundation of Accountable Fundraising
Technologically based systems are the foundations of a
more practical, Accountable way of fundraising with huge,
practical, responsible benefits:
•More timely and focused communications
•Just-in-time production of print materials
•Better use of staff and volunteer time
•Efficient customization of materials

28. Why don’t we do this in house…?
•It will be too expensive
•Your time is much better focused on raising money
•The system should be linked to printing and mailing
capabilities
•By the time it is ready to use, it will be obsolete
•You will have to maintain it, train others, upgrade, and
make additions – very expensive
•The revolving door will leave you starting from scratch

29. Looking to Partner Up?
The right marketing service provider should offer you most,
if not all, of the following capabilities:
•Stability
•Agility
•Capability Strengths that
Match Your Media Mix
•Personality
•Connections
•Accountability

30. Commitment to Accountability
Making the commitment to optimize all of your resources:
•Financial
•Personnel
•Natural
Create good will and are the very definition of Accountable
Fundraising
Every step you take toward doing away with waste and
making the best use of resources speaks to your nonprofit’s
worthiness of future support

31. Thank You!
Any Questions??
708.974.2600

32. Sponsored by:
Find listings for our current season
of webinars and register at:
NonprofitWebinars.com
Part
Of: