Roy Jones

  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • Get Our Book
  • Meet Roy C. Jones
  • Podcast
  • Need Help…
You are here: Home / Archives for Roy C Jones

May 5, 2015 by royjones Leave a Comment

Does Your “Ice Bucket” Leak?

leaky bucketThere are great minds on both sides of this debate.  Make no mistake about it, a large presence in social media is critical and will only help your nonprofit’s growth.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms are critical to building brand and name i.d., but they rarely drive people to give AND GIVE AGAIN.

The “ice bucket” challenge was an anomaly for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all forms of social media.  ALS is going to be left with a huge hole to fill because most of these donors were one time event givers.  I was excited to see Facebook recently raised $12 million for Nepal earthquake relief, but once again they have created one time event givers.

Today, social media is producing primarily “One-And-done” new donors.  While this kind of funding helps, it is very risky to build a future on.  Charities are wasting vasts amounts of time trying to come up with the next “ice bucket”.

What successful charities do on line is very different than the “ice bucket”.  They focus on tools that procure the donor name, email, mailing address and cell phone so that they can get A SECOND GIFT and gifts into the future from the internet responder.

The primary tools used today for internet fundraising (digital/online) are SEM (search engine marketing), retargeting (serving up adds based upon a visit to your website) and integration
with other channels that are driving DONATIONS to the website giving page.  These “drivers” are mail, phones, TV and radio.  In 95% of all cases social media integrates with these “drivers” to boost second gifts and multiple gifts in other channels, but not first time gifts in the social media itself.

Social media is important for how it helps the other channels, but it truly is not a funding channel by itself with predictable, repeatable, measurable results.

My position will drive the App Developers and website builders using

Roy C. Jones, CFRE
Roy C. Jones, CFRE

social media crazy.  I WOULD LOVE FOR THEM TO PROVE ME WRONG, but I still believe we are about a decade from “social media” became a stable income producing channel.

Filed Under: Integration, internet gifts, internet giving Tagged With: internet fundraising, internet giving, Roy C Jones, Roy Jones, Roy Jones Reports

March 24, 2015 by royjones 2 Comments

Can a Capital Campaign Hurt Your Non-profit?

Roy C. Jones, CFRE
Roy C. Jones, CFRE

A capital campaign can be an exciting activity and what is amazing is that almost any non-profit or charity can launch a capital campaign.  It brings focus, excitement and energy to an organization.  However, if done incorrectly, it can also bring THE END to an organization.

Sweet Briar College in Virginia is now set to close on Aug. 25, after 114 years of operation.  The institution has raised over $200 million in restricted funds for capital campaigns over the last decade.  The college has now had to use the unrestricted portion of its endowment to cover the cost of higher discount rates. As of two years ago, Sweet Briar’s total endowment was more than $94 million; today, it’s only about $84 million, and more than $50 million of that is still being restricted by the past donors.

With the number of non-profits now soaring close to 2 million in the United States (that is nearly 1 charity for every 150 households), the competition for the donor dollar is nothing short of fierce.  Far more alarming are the number of non-profits going out of business.   Roughly 30,000 to 60,000 non-profits and charities simply “disappear” from the IRS’s files each year; presumably, most of them have gone out of business.

In three surveys conducted by GuideStar last year, a consistent 8 to 10 percent of charities reported that they were in “imminent danger” of closing because of financial reasons.

Most nonprofits, like Sweet Briar,  do not consider the fact that capital campaigns can hurt your annual fund and general operating budget, especially if annual fund donors are being targeted for a large percentage of the capital gifts.  With nearly $200 million raised in Sweet Briar’s case, they learned the hard way that capital campaign donors will rarely give “twice” or release “restrictions” to pay for overhead and operations.

David S. Goettler, whose firm has assisted more than 1,500 capital campaigns for non-profits over the last 20 years says that in the high-stakes environment of a major capital campaign, “weaknesses and errors in judgment can be decisive.”

In a their article,  Running the Red Lights; Nine Reasons That Capital Campaigns Fail, Goettler lays out nine scenarios that can spell failure to any non-profit if the capital campaign is managed incorrectly.

1. Negative image or perceptions

From the community or constituency’s perspective, an organization may have serious “image problems” —which can cause people (whatever their personal opinions of the organization may be) to question the wisdom of getting involved. These issues may include:

  • Lack of stature, visibility, and/or credibility
  • Past problems with the quality or accessibility of services
  • Chronic operating deficits or excessive long-term debt
  • A history of unsuccessful capital campaigns

2. Lack of organizational leadership

Some organizations lack leadership at the board and/or CEO level. It is the chief executive and the trustees who run the organization on behalf of the community — and who are responsible, in the end, for the wise use of the community’s dollars. If the individuals who lead the organization don’t have the trust and confidence of the “donor community,” they may need to be replaced by leaders who do.

3. Lack of a compelling vision and/or strategic plan

An organization embarking on a major capital campaign needs both a compelling vision of what it wants to be and do, and a credible plan for getting there. (Here, we’re talking about a strategic plan, rather than a campaign plan.) Without a vision and a plan, the organization will find it difficult to build a case that (a) captures the imagination of donors and volunteers, and (b) convinces them that the vision can, in fact, become a reality.

4. Out of touch

It’s possible for an organization to gradually lose touch with the community, and get into the habit of functioning largely from an internal perspective. For such an organization, in which reality is defined by its own limited sphere of interest and activity, it may become difficult or impossible to understand how major donors and community leaders see the world and make decisions. When an organization talks more about its own “needs” than those of the community, or the population it serves, that’s often a sign that the lines of communication need to be improved.

5. A narrow or uninvolved donor constituency

The organization’s donor constituency may be too narrow to support the campaign on its own. Or, more commonly, potential donors and volunteers may not be involved with the organization in a meaningful way. If there aren’t enough substantial prospects already affiliated with the organization (as there often are not), then more prospects will have to be identified and “cultivated”—i.e., new relationships will have to be developed.

6. Jumping the gun

Some organizations attempt to enlist the general chair much too early in the campaign. Or they announce the campaign as soon as they’ve decided to go forward. Either can be fatal.

The leaders of many organizations seem to believe that until the general chair is enlisted, the campaign has no credibility, and nothing can be accomplished. So they begin to approach their top candidates prematurely (making it easy for them to say no)—or they settle for whoever is available.

7. Lack of competent development staff, campaign budget, or functional systems

When an organization’s development staff lacks experience, knowledge, and/or competence in the area of capital campaigns, and counsel is not involved, volunteers will not receive the expert guidance and support they need to be effective, and the capital campaign will soon flounder.

8. An unrealistic campaign plan, schedule, or goal

To establish a realistic campaign plan, schedule, and/or dollar goal, you need both hard data (of the kind that can normally be obtained only through a planning or feasibility study) and the experience and judgment it takes to interpret the data. Without these resources, it’s almost impossible to estimate:

How much the organization can reasonably expect to raise.
What portion needs to come from, say, the top 30 or top 100 gifts.
How many volunteers can be recruited to solicit those gifts.
How long all of this will probably take.

Mere guesswork will not be good enough; the plan must be sufficiently credible and workable to maintain the confidence of volunteers and the momentum of the project until the goal is attained. Otherwise, many will drop out and/or “burn out,” and the campaign will not be remembered as a happy experience.

9. No planning or feasibility study

Without a professionally conducted planning or feasibility study, the organization may find itself working in the dark. It may lack the current, objective, and strategic information that’s needed to plan and implement a successful campaign. A thorough study, moreover, will usually identify any of the other “red flags” described above– perhaps saving your organization from a major embarrassment.

Thanks to Goettler Associates, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Filed Under: Capital Campaigns, development, fundraising Tagged With: Capital campaigns, development, fundraising, major donor plan, major donors, non-profit, Roy C Jones, Roy Jones Reports

February 24, 2015 by royjones 3 Comments

A Few Reasons Why Small Charities Stay Small….

Roy C. Jones, CFRE
Roy C. Jones, CFRE

I was taken aback recently when visiting a small charity by their commitment to doing things the same old way they’ve always done it.  No vision for growth.  No desire to learn new techniques or technology. No desire to learn more about their donors and supporters. No desire to do the heavy lifting required for growth.

The charity’s leadership team had asked me to conduct an audit of their fundraising program and then make recommendations for improving their net revenue.  Of course, the “math” revealed that the charity had not grown in 10 years and the reaction of the board and leadership team revealed “why”.

1. FEAR OF SUCCESS.  While small nonprofits would never admit their fears to an outsider or professional advisor, the nature of their questions revealed the real reason growth is feared, or worse yet, rejected.   When presented with a plan that would easily double the charity’s net revenue their questions revealed they really did not want to grow:

“How will we be able to keep up with doing thank you letters in a timely manner if increase the number of donations by 100 percent?”

“Won’t donors who write 5-figure checks be more demanding and require more of our time in our relationship with them?”

“Do we really have to create a communications track for middle donors and major donors?  Would it be easier just to send them just what our regular donors get?”

2.  IGNORING THE FACTS.  The math always tells the truth .  However, watching nonprofit professionals try to explain away the bad numbers was nothing short of disturbing.  I showed them that due to attrition (lapsed donors and downgraded giving) they were losing over $1 million a year.  The math is the math.  The numbers do not lie.  While it is hidden because new donors year after year were only barely offsetting attrition.   However, the rationalization that people used to keep from working to reverse the attrition rate was borderline delusional.

“We expect this kind of attrition because our donors give so much the first year.”

“Your numbers can’t be right because overall giving is not decreasing.”

“We don’t view attrition over 0-12 months, people really have up to 36 months before we view them as lapsed.”

3. NO COMMITMENT TO GROWTH.   Bottom line, there is a cost to acquire a new donor and, as importantly, every new donor has  lifetime donor value to the charity.  Charities must be willing to invest in growth.  The days are long gone when acquisition programs netted money from the initial appeal.  The cycle now must be viewed as a minimum of 18 months.  Successful charities view acquisition programs in 60 month windows, giving over five years.  We sometimes call this long time donor value (LTDV).

The math is pretty easy, but the commitment to make it reality very difficult for most.  National averages today are very revealing:

Cost To Acquire A New Donor = $50 to $70

First Year Donor Value = $100 to $150

Long Term Donor Value (5 year giving) = $350 to $500

Now, to quote Donald Trump… “It’s all zeros…”

1,000 New Donors will cost you in the fall $50,000

Over the next 12 months you will see a $150,000 return on investment.

Over the next 5 years (factoring in attrition) you will see a $300,000 to $500,000 return on investment.

Small charities stay small because the do not understand that growth is an investment.  There is a cost to acquire a new donor, but there is a return on investment (ROI) over the next year and the future.

Roy C. Jones, CFRE RoyJonesReports.com
Roy C. Jones, CFRE
RoyJonesReports.com

Filed Under: Cost To Acquire Donor, CTAD, Strategy Tagged With: direct response, fundraising, non-profit, Roy C Jones, Roy Jones, Roy Jones Reports

December 31, 2014 by royjones Leave a Comment

The 5 Best Tips in 2015 for Boosting Donations

Roy C. Jones, CFRE
Roy C. Jones, CFRE

Unlike most people who call themselves “fundraising counsel” I am not one who wastes a lot of time with grandiose vision papers and colorful case statements.  Every January I encourage charities to spend more time on practical, actionable events rather than writing beautiful superfluous words about their organization and cause.

Yes, case statements are important, but what has been said has already been said.  Do you really think that you will be more creative or more inspired than you were a year ago? Mission case statements do not come down from on high in a way that suddenly moves donors to give more.  It just does not work that way.

Remember, donors do not give to case statements… they give to people. More specifically, they give to people who are listening to them and are able to identify needs that touch the donor’s heart.

Spend your time over the next few weeks outlining actionable steps you can take to know your donors better in 2015 than you did in 2014.  Better relationships with your donors will always translate into more money for your charity or cause.

Set goals based upon your actual results from 2015.  While we all hope that lighting will strike, you have to be realistic.  Here are a few New Year’s guidelines for goal setting and planning that will make a HUGE difference on your bottom line in 2015:

1. NEWSLETTER.

Plan for increases of 3 to 5% – with 6 to 10 issues a year.  First and foremost, make sure that everyone, regardless of suppression code, gets your newsletter.  If you do not produce a newsletter, start one immediately!  In addition, your newsletter should include a “lead letter” that focuses on a need presented in the newsletter and makes a “soft ask” for support. And yes, your newsletter package should have a reply device and reply envelope.

2. DIRECT RESPONSE.

Plan for increases of 7 to 10% – with 14 to 16 appeals a year.  This would be for all of your direct response channels, such as direct mail, telemarketing and digital strategies using your website and social media, do not expect to see gains bigger than 10 percent. Of course, this is contingent upon your attrition rate and the amount you are spending on acquisition in these channels to offset attrition.  If you do not do enough new donor acquisition spending, only one thing is certain in direct response fundraising… attrition.

3. MIDDLE DONORS.

Plan for increases of 10 to 12% – with 10 to 12 appeals a year.  Middle donors are donors who began giving to your organization through direct response, but through systematic cultivation, volunteering and event participation have increased their giving past the $100 threshold.  Middle donor definitions vary by industry but it can range anywhere from $100 to $5,000.  Personally, I like targeting $100 to $999 as the middle donor sweet spot and begin treating any donor with a single gift of $1,000 or more as a major donor.  It is critical that you begin encouraging middle donor giving through clubs or giving level recognition.  While it is not a driver to get them to give more, it is a tool that keeps them from giving less and renewing more frequently. The communications needs to be different for your middle donors than your standard direct response donors.  It should be consistent in the same style and tone from one month to the next.  Do not go back and forth between regular donor communications and middle donor communications.  Always have a “high value” copy version for your middle donors and major donor prospects.

4. MAJOR DONORS.

Plan for increases of 15 to 20% – with at least 6 appeals a year with 4 of the six dropping in 4th quarter. All communications need to be in a “one-to-one” format.  Nothing which appears to be mass produced (excluding the newsletter, of course) should be sent to these VIP’s.  What does this mean?  Real hand addressed letters, actual overnight letters by FedEx or UPS, box packages with appreciation gifts (sometimes called dimensional mail), hand addressed post notes, paper clips, and real photos – even framed.   Yes, this is going to cost more per piece.  These types of packages can run anywhere from $3 to $5 per piece, but the ROI is HUGE.  We have seen response rates as high as 40% and average gifts of over $1,000.  Treating your top 100 to 500 donors special is worth the investment. Remember, in researching your top prospects that you are looking for not only wealth, but philanthropic intent.  Do they have a history of giving you large donations?  Do they have a record of giving to other charities major gifts?  Philanthropic intent the key to increasing major donor giving.  Do your research.  The information is available through wealth overlays and donation recognition to identify and rank you donors from 1 to 100, 250, or 500+.  Rank you donors and begin meeting with your best prospects first.  Finally, have a moves management plan for each individual target.  I encourage folks to have a plan with timeline for each individual donor.   Here is a sample of what I have used: Individual Donor Plan – Quadrant Analysis Template.  Don’t be afraid to personalize it to your preference, but use it in 2015.

5. PLANNED GIFTS.

Plan for increases of 20 to 25% – with 2 to 4 appeals a year. Fund raisers should seize the opportunity in 2015 to talk to donors who are probably losing faith in their financial advisers.  Trust me when I tell you that estate planning support from not-for-profits is going to explode this year!  Donors will work with charities they trust.  I suggest a lead generation campaign that takes advantage of when tax savings are top of mind for donors: March – April and Nov – December.  A letter or two during these windows will generate a lot of interest.  A simple reply device to request a “free” retirement planning information will produce great results. Remember, you are targeting people who are between the ages of 60 to 80.  The sweet spot is around 70 years old.  If you have not done an age append on your donor file, do it.  Finally, remember you are looking for people who have written the most number of checks.  Frequency of giving is critical to determining the likelihood that the donor will make a planned gift or name you in their will.  You are not looking for BIG check writers or major donors.  You are looking for people who are likely between 65 and 75 years of age who have written 10, 25 or 50 or more checks.

Filed Under: director of development, Fund development, Uncategorized Tagged With: development, fundraising, Roy C Jones, Roy Jones, Roy Jones Reports

November 12, 2014 by royjones Leave a Comment

Double Down on SEM to Boost Year End Revenue (plus 8 other great ideas)

By any metric or system of measurement in fund development the last week of the year is by far the most profitable week for any charitable organization. I often refer to this week as “golden week”.

Roy C. Jones, CFRE
Roy C. Jones, CFRE

Marketing “pros” know that once the Christmas appeal is written that it is NOT the time to “take a break” and relax until January.

The best development leaders bear down during the months of November and December to insure that the last week of the year is the most profitable 7-days of the calendar year.

I know some development directors who “swear by” the last week of the year. They contend that reaching their annual goals often comes down to the last few days of the year. Most contend it is often the difference between ending the year in the black or sinking deeper into the red.

There is an old adage in our industry that turns out to be true most of the time… It said that half of all donations happen in 4th quarter, and half of those occur during the month of December, and half of those occur during the last week of December (the golden week), and half of those contributions will happen the last day of December.

Are you ready?

Here are just a few suggestions for maximizing your cash flow during the “Golden Week” – last week of the calendar year:

  1.  Double Down on Search (SEM) Spending.  The last week of the year sees a HUGE spike in major donors cruising the internet looking for a local charity to make that last gift to for the year-end income tax deduction. Beg, borrow or barter for your organization… sink another $5,000 to $10,000 into SEM. Search Engine Marketing will pay for itself. There is no doubt that during the last week of the year you will reap large rewards and a huge number of new donors at the major gift level.
  2. Major Donor Targeting / Emergency Letter.  Make a list of major donors who gave in 2013, but who have not given yet in 2014.  Major donor LYBUNTs (Last Year But Not This Year) are critical to boosting revenue.  These donors must be “touched” NOW to have a chance at getting them to give before year end.   If you are like most charities you are still behind.   Tell your big donors the truth!  Send a hand addressed, multi-stamped, first class letter to your major donors telling them of the “year end crisis” you are faced with. Include a reply envelope with live stamped first class postage. The challenges you face are real or you would not have gone to the expense of writing them and sending it first class with a First Class return envelope. I have seen many organizations do a 10 to 20 percent response rate during the last month of the year.
  3. Multiple E-mail Blasts. Frequency is key to making emails work during the month of December. I suggest a minimum of once a week early in the month and then sending at least 3 different appeals in your email campaign during the last 10 days of the year. Sure, you will get a few complaints, but to most of your supporters they understand the importance of ending the year in the black, not red. Most who take the time to see your emails, and as importantly, notice that you have emailed multiple times the last week of the year, know that the challenges you face at year end are real.
  4. Direct Mail Letter to Regular Donors. In the month of December EVERY active donor should get a minimum of two appeals (In addition, to a Christmas card the day after Thanksgiving!   I usually make the first appeal the Christmas holiday appeal and the second appeal late in the month is an “Urgent Gram” style. If you ever had a “real reason” to send that year-end appeal this is the time to do it. Trust me, it is worth squeezing in one last pay day. Push your January appeal out a week or so later and create a hole in your mail schedule so that the Monday after Christmas your “year-end” appeal is in home.
  5. Do not forget your monthly donors. Your sustainer file should be mailed the year end appeal too. If you have your sustainers coded for a “limited mail or no mail” do not forget to create a flag so they are forced into your select for the mailing. In addition, your monthly donors who have an HPC (highest previous contribution) of $1,000+ should get a phone call thanking them for their support and asking them to make a “sacrificial year end gift”.
  6. Earned Media. Sure you are exhausted… you have had that special Thanksgiving push and you had a very big Christmas push, but trust me… do just a little bit more. Hold a press conference with a local celebrity or politician reminding your community that YOUR CHARITY is the group to consider making a year-end gift to. Think of creative ways to get the media on site at your ministry or charity during this week. Remember, the last week of the year is the “slowest news” of the year. The media is frantic to find content and stories to write, film and broadcast about.
  7. Matching Gift Reminders.  Part of maximizing the year end  is reminding your donors to use their employer’s matching donation. I like the idea of planting the thought as the holidays approach. You should always include a link to the matching gifts directory in all our year-end emails.  Invest the time to gather the employer matching gift forms for many of their major donors– like some universities have–the best strategy is to attach the form to the donors’ (personalized) email.
  8. Web Site Campaign. Create a splash banner on your web site telling donors it’s not too late.  Double check and QC all of your giving pages to make sure there are no broken links or dead ends.  ALSO, IF YOU USE PAYPAL BE VERY CAREFUL.  Make sure you check the option to accept American Express and then make test donation to make sure it is working.  If you don’t select the option, your gifts may not be processed.  Remember, major donors like those points. It is not unusual to see 5-figure and even 6-figure donations placed on an American Express card.
  9. Year End Letter in Home the Day after Christmas.   The best executives strategically plan for a “yearend balance-the-books” appeal and reach out to their best donors for one last year-end gift. Be cynical if you want, but if your year was like most not-for-profit organizations you are behind in achieving your financial goals. You’ll soon have had to make some tough decisions about next year and the fact is that unless a few of your best donors step up to make just one last year end gift you may be forced to cut vital services and programs.

 

Do not quit! Finish strong! The last week of the year is not the time to “take off” or relax. Your year could literally be turned around by a single major gift. Keep telling yourself that “it just takes one gift” to literally change your world. Work hard. Finish strong and take advantage of the “GOLDEN WEEK” in fundraising.

Filed Under: internet gifts, internet giving, major donor, major donor; fundraising;, major donors, major gifts, on-line donations, search engine marketing, SEM Tagged With: development, internet fundraising, internet giving, major donors, major gifts, Roy C Jones, Roy Jones Reports

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • …
  • 15
  • Next Page »

Newsletter

Recent Posts

  • The New Normal for Year End Giving…
  • Six Fundraising Steps for Planning Your New Year
  • The Most Wonderful Time of Year
  • Is Your Charity About To Be Hit By A Hurricane?
  • Footprint Donors…

Featured Post

The New Normal for Year End Giving…

December has changed for most non-profits, we have just experienced the biggest decline for a December in more than a decade. Volatile stock markets at year end; combined with expensive, divisive political campaigns and new tax implications from one year to the next are forcing most non-profits to rethink the giving calendar. Is this the new normal?

Footprint Donors…

I traveled to a major city recently and met with a man who had given $25 million to charity over the last decade. The amazing thing was that he is in his 80’s and still working everyday. As a matter of fact he travels to China every month to oversee one of his new manufacturing […]

About Roy Jones

Roy Jones has more than 30 years of relationship building, coalition development, marketing and fundraising experience. He is recognized professionally as one of the top relationship managers in the country.
Read More

Recent Posts

  • The New Normal for Year End Giving…
  • Six Fundraising Steps for Planning Your New Year
  • The Most Wonderful Time of Year
  • Is Your Charity About To Be Hit By A Hurricane?
  • Footprint Donors…
  • Do You Have A Heart For DONORS?

Follow Roy Jones

  • View FITfundraising’s profile on Facebook
  • View GetRoyJones’s profile on Twitter

Copyright © 2019 · Executive Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in