In Great Fundraising Organizations, renowned nonprofit consultant Alan Clayton delivers a proven blueprint for charities and non-profits worldwide to scale their fundraising efforts and their effectiveness. Based on data gathered over twenty years of work with more than 500 organizations including Unicef and WWF, this book explains exactly what works and why, revealing to readers the rigorously researched mindsets, strategies, and practices in use by Great Fundraising Organizations (GFOs) - rare organizations that have the ability to unlock the fundraising revenue they need to meet or exceed performance and mission goals.
Accessible, confident, and infused with Clayton's signature style of observational humor, this book delivers everything readers need to fundraise more effectively with certainty, clarity, and confidence. Some of the ideas explored by Clayton include: - Evidence to explain why some non-profits dramatically grow their revenues whilst others don't. - What makes leadership for a Great Fundraising Organization different. - That a precise set of internal behaviours are more important in driving growth than external factors. - Why some fundraising communications drive growth and why some don't.
Great Fundraising Organizations earns a well-deserved spot on the bookshelves of nonprofit CEOs, directors of fundraising, board chairs and members, and all fundraising professionals seeking to apply tried-and-tested methods for fundraising success and growth to their organizations.
Table of Contents
Foreword xiii
Introduction: “How Can It Be So Hard to Save a Child?” 1
Learning from the Best 3
Research on the Great Fundraising Organizations 5
Discovering the Red Dot 7
Turning Intuition into Methodology 10
What You Can Expect from This Book 13
The Delight of Doing a Good Thing 15
Part I Triggering the Red Dot 19
1 Two Businesses, One Mission 21
Two Businesses 24
Three Conflicts 30
Cultural Conflict 30
Investment Conflict 33
Communications Conflict 35
Be the Best at Both 37
Respect and Dialogue 38
Education 39
A Shared Ambition 40
What Can You Do? 41
2 From Governance to Growth: The Trifecta 47
The Trifecta Is a Leadership Issue 53
Think Big Picture 55
Focus on Leading People 55
Live with Uncertainty 55
Shifting Mindsets: From Governance to Growth 56
3 Alignment Begins with the New Ambition 65
Cascading Effect 69
Communications Hierarchy 70
Purpose Versus New Ambition 72
“We Have a Problem. You Can Help Solve It.” 75
4 Not Any Ambition Will Do 83
Pragmatism to Idealism 86
Why, What, How 90
Differentiate Your Organization 91
Problem 91
Proposed Solution 91
Personality 92
Passion 92
Checklist for a Good Ambition 92
5 Investment and Ambition 101
Deciding Your Financial Aspiration 104
The Power of Long-Term Thinking 107
Understanding Investment 111
Types of Investments 113
Sources of Investment 114
Calculating Investment 115
6 Culture and Ambition 121
Why a Donor-Conscious Organization? 125
What Stops Great Fundraising? 127
Creating a Donor-Conscious Organization 128
Quality Management Systems: Building Blocks for Great Fundraising 128
Memetics 131
Part II Striving for Emotional Excellence 139
7 You Are in the Emotions Business 141
Prejudice Against Emotions 145
Truth Well-Told 147
The Science of Storytelling: Focus Your Emotion 149
Find Your Magic 151
8 Identifying Donor Needs 159
Identifying Versus Changing Needs 162
Why People Give 164
Healing 164
Happiness 165
Self-Esteem 165
Connection 166
Meaningful Life 166
Identifying Your Donors 167
Identifying Your Donor’s Needs 171
Psychographic Model 171
Biological Model 175
Identity Model 176
9 Meeting Donor Needs: Creating Great Fundraising Communications 183
Meeting Donor Needs 186
Exquisite Stories 190
Creating Great Fundraising Communications 195
Where Does Brand Fit In? 198
10 Financial Leadership 205
Understand Lifetime Value and Growth 208
Test to Make Ideas Work 210
Test 1: Will Anyone Give to Us? 211
Test 2: Improve Cost per Acquisition 212
Test 3: Look at All the Details 212
Test 4: How Do You Maximize Lifetime Value? 213
Be Proactive 214
Get on the Front Foot 215
Train Them on the Financials 215
Change How You Report Progress and Learnings 216
Help the Senior Leadership Team Manage Risk 217
Be Financially Astute 217
11 Leadership Decisions 221
Hierarchy of Purpose 224
Fear of Criticism 226
12 How to Get Going 233
Eight Steps to Success 238
Build Your Troupe 239
Train Your Leadership 239
Create a New Ambition 240
Embed the Culture 240
Data 241
Create an Investment Plan 241
Line Up and Go 241
Keep Going 242
Bonus: Do it all Again 242
Conclusion 249
Acknowledgments 255
Index 259
