Top Ten Fastest Ways to Go “Off-Model”

By Terry Axelrod, Founder & CEO
Benevon

Editor’s Note:  At Jeffrey Byrne & Associates, we are constantly on the lookout for articles and information that will guide your campaign and annual development work and help you be better fundraisers.  In this issue of New$ You Can U$e, we offer the following article from one of our colleagues in the Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Nonprofit (formerly AAFRC. Offering some important reminders on cultivating and soliciting donors, this great article is courtesy of Benevon.  Founded in 1996 by Terry Axelrod as Raising More Money,  Benevon trains and coaches nonprofit organizations to implement a mission-based system for raising sustainable funding from individual donors. This system ends the suffering about fundraising and builds passionate and committed lifelong donors. For more information, visit www.benevon.com.

Here are Benevon’s “Top Ten Fastest Ways to Go Off-Model” in your fundraising:

1. Strong-arming—asking too soon, long before the potential donor has been educated, inspired, and cultivated. People might give to get you off their backs, but they will not become lifelong donors to your organization.
2. Not getting permission, a.k.a. steamrolling—presuming you have permission from people and steamrolling over them with more information and requests than they want; making unwanted overtures and forgetting to treat donors the way you would want to be treated.
3. Entertaining—hiding the ball, distracting people with pretty trinkets, games, or celebrities, and seducing people into giving you money, without ever giving them the most important thing: the stories about how your work changes lives. They leave your events knowing nothing more about your organization than when they arrived.
4. Talking too much, not asking enough questions, and not listening. Don't forget the 80/20 rule: 80% of the time you should be listening, and 20% of the time you should be asking questions or sharing powerful stories.
5. Presenting too many facts and not enough emotion—droning on with the "nice" presentation without getting to the heart of the matter. One powerful story can convey it all, and people will remember it.
6. Not conveying your needs—showcasing all your great work and competence, then expecting people to read between the lines.
7. Not doing follow-up—thinking people will magically know what you need, read your mind, and just send in big checks. Forgetting this is a process that takes time and requires contacts, initiated by you.
8. Stereotyping—thinking you know what today's donors look like, think about, prefer, and want to give to, rather than asking. Ask, and you'll be amazed by what you learn.
9. Scarcity thinking—Our mission isn't as compelling as the mission down the street. We don't have the right board to raise big money. Long-term sustainable funding is not in our future. We are destined to be on the fundraising treadmill forever.
10. Forgetting that your organization's mission is everything—it's what got you hooked about this organization and what keeps you hooked. As complex as your mission may be, others will want to support it if you convey your passion.

Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2007 Benevon. All rights reserved.