Development

Do your potential donors “get it” whenever they hear about you? Does your board and key donors and volunteers have the same message in sharing who you are with their network of family and friends? Can everyone connected with you – staff, board, donors, volunteers, and clients – succinctly share the same donor marketing message? At your next board meeting, ask someone other than a board president or past president if they can tell you what your mission statement is.

The NNPRC specializes in donor marketing messages that get results. Our experience is that many non-profit organizations believe they understand their donors’ interests, but actually haven’t taken the time to ask. The process of building an effective donor marketing message includes interviewing key donors, and trying to replicate their reasons for giving with like-minded potential donors. Then we identify how to most concisely and effectively share this message with others.

Once you have a prepared, written donor marketing message, you may need help with how to include that message in donor marketing materials, website content, direct mail, events, and more. We have graphic designers and web designers that can help bring your message to life, and get it into the hands of potential donors, community partners, and business partners. We do not advice trying to build these connections until you have a strong message you can succinctly share.

We customize a development plan that is right for each one of our non-profit clients. Each organization has their own set of strengths and weaknesses, and not every plan works for every organization. Based on your organizations abilities, and based on your programs and services, we can create a development plan that may include donor marketing, grant writing, event planning, and more.

We also prepare for you a development calendar so that your organization is meeting certain goals and accomplishing different projects on a month-to-month basis. Your Development Calendar will be complete with assignments, target dates, and a process for keeping your organization on track to grow and become far more sustainable.

Grant writing is not for everyone, and is a very competitive process for raising money. But it can also have the greatest Return on Investment for dollars and time spent in cultivating relationships with grantors, especially when once you have created a relationship with a foundation, you can often go back to that same foundation year after year.

The NNPRC can help with the process of determining which grant opportunities are right for your organization, and then take you through the process of writing a competitive grant summary, and what you can put together to make your grants stand-out from all the rest.

Volunteers are critical to your success. Volunteer burn-out, on the other hand, can take a successful fundraising event or campaign, and turn it into a ton of work for the staff with very little Return on Investment. So, be careful how you utilize your volunteers, and make sure that you have prepared them for success.

Our organization understands the needs of volunteers, and helps them work smarter, not harder. Volunteers need training, guidance, support, and most of all appreciation. The NNPRC can demonstrate for you how to help your volunteers become even more effective in helping your non-profit organization with programs and fundraising.

A Major Gift Campaign is a campaign with the goal of reaching higher income donors with a request for large dollar donations for a specific need or needs in a relatively short period of time. You need to make a strong case to your donors as to why they need to give, what benefit they or the community will receive as a result of their donations, and how this will support a new initiative or otherwise propel your organization forward. There is a careful process any non-profit organization must follow in order to maximize their support from a major gift campaign.

Similarly, a capital campaign is also a campaign aimed at procuring large donations for a specific cause, but typically capital campaigns are for building or other capital improvements, and follow a similar process but with a longer planning process than a major gift campaign, and with a much larger financial goal. Whether you are a church, library, or other non-profit that needs a new building or considerable improvements to an existing building, a capital campaign, given the right ingredients within your organization, could potentially be a significant source of funds.

We also help non-profit organizations avoid the pitfalls of losing regular donor support following a successful capital campaign. We’ve seen and heard the stories of organizations closing their doors a couple of years after a successful campaign, because their donors were not well educated about the importance of their continued annual support after the campaign concluded. We can guide your organization through this delicate process.

Board members, volunteers, and even staff members are often afraid to talk about money. Those who are not afraid often have the wrong idea about fundraising, and talk about “hitting people up” or “begging for money.” The process of a successful donor solicitation is about giving people an opportunity to share in something that is important to you, and presumably could be important to them. Yes, people do give for many different reasons, but the absolute worst reason to give is because they felt pressured because of someone’s begging.

We don’t teach people how to beg. We teach board members, volunteers, and staff how to engage potential donors, and allow them to open themselves up to the opportunity to give to your organization. Sales training is often about “getting to the ‘No.’” But non-profit solicitation is about building relationships, and getting people to give you permission to ask them for money. We teach the tell-tale signs of when someone has given you that permission, and training on how to properly ask for a donation.

Events should be memorable, match the passion for your programs, and get donors excited about helping to fulfill your mission. Events raise money, cultivate existing donors, attract new donors, thank volunteers, identify future leaders, and spread the good news about your organization. So, when you only have one or two large events a year, why miss an opportunity to maximize your event’s full potential?

Of course, fund raising events need to raise money. And there are always ever only four ways of raising money at an event, whether you are having a black tie gala, golf tournament, or even a bake sale. Those four ways of raising money are: Sponsors, Ticket Sales, Selling People Items, and Asking for Donations. NNPRC helps non-profits maximize their efforts in raising money from these four ways. And we’re more than just great ideas — our event management services keep clients coming back year after year because of strong results and outstanding returns on investments.

Event Consulting Services:

Auction Coordination
·Auctioneering
·Audio Visual
·Banquet Negotiations
·Brochure Creation
·Budget Development
·Entertainment
·Event Consulting
·Event Planning & Coordination
·Food and Beverage
·Games and Contests
·Golf Course Negotiations
·Guest of Honor
·Handicapping
·Insurance
·Internet Marketing
·Master of Ceremonies
·On-Site Management
·Photography Coordination
·Printing and Graphics
·Public and Media Relations
·Registration Coordination
·Scoring
·Signs and Banners
·Solicitation Training
·Sponsor Coordination
·Sponsor Package Development
·Sponsor Sales
·Staging and Decorations
·Tournament Gifts & Prizes
·Tournament Services
·Trade Shows & Conferences
·Transportation & Accommodations
·Volunteer Training
·Website & Registration Software
·Wrap-up and Follow-up

Research indicates that donors “claim” they don’t like getting multiple solicitations throughout the year. Research also indicates that donors who are solicited multiple times a year give more. There is a tipping point for too many solicitations. Once per quarter is a safe number. We help organize an annual appeal plan based on multiple solicitation requests a year –increasing the donor mailing lists, writing, design, and fulfillment.

Our process of increasing donor revenue by 20% a year for many young clients is based on a donor cultivation process combined with a direct solicitations/annual giving campaign. Let us help you increase your non-profit organization’s donor revenue.