Most nonprofits don’t pay much attention to their matching gift program, considering it an afterthought – a “BTW footnote” listed on the back of the reply card, or at the end of the donation eform.  What if it could be more?

Matching gift can be more than “please-find-your-employer’s-form-and-send-it-to-us” when it comes to your campaign.  It can actually become a way to boost some much needed funds from one of your upcoming direct mail or email campaigns that hasn’t performed as well as you’d hoped.

In order to apply this tactic, it takes more planning ahead of time – and the cooperation of a loyal major donor who is already planning to give to your organization.

Whether major donor in this case is $10,000, $50,000 or $100,000 depends on your organization, but the strategy remains the same – and is sound.  The point is to demonstrate, at the beginning of the campaign, that you already have significant support – and that the seed money has been committed by a strong supporter who’ll match all donations, thereby doubling gifts donated in this campaign!

Several studies have been done to show the effectiveness of this tactic, and the findings showed a 19% increase in overall revenue simply by announcing a match.  The probability that an individual would donate was found to increase by 22% because a match was included in the campaign.

Other interesting findings:  Increasing the match had no significant effect on giving.  It was tested so that various campaigns ranged from a $3:$1 or $2:$1 or $1:$1 match and gift giving did not vary among the three sets.  Other studies by different researchers are cited, who lowered the match ratio to 25% and 50%, and found that 25% didn’t increase giving, but the 50% match did.

Adding some urgency, such as a deadline, to your campaign will help facilitate this even more, such as, “All donations given by [Date] will be matched, up to [$X], so you can double your gift!  Please give today!”

This also has an additional effect of letting your major donor know that they helped strengthen an otherwise lagging campaign by strategically placing their gift, and makes them feel much more important in the organization.  Simply, it’s a win-win strategy!

This not only applies to individual major donors, of course, but some nonprofits have worked with corporate donors who will match contributions given by individuals for a campaign’s duration.  They enjoy the publicity of being supportive of the nonprofit as well, while most individuals prefer to remain anonymous.

Once the strategy is in place and improves your lagging campaign(s), you may want to test it on a more successful one – to see how well it performs, too.  Your donors may come to expect that you’ll be stretching their dollars further as par for the course, which could improve your overall image.

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Keep the base of the pyramid strong

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Improving the Successful Campaign

Smart job seekers know that a long term approach is best these days when scoping out that next new position.  It’s no longer a matter of skimming listings, sending out a few resumes, interviewing, then choosing which offer to accept.

Although there is no “magic number,” most people consider themselves quite fortunate if their job search produces an offer within the first six months to a year in this economy.  This can vary greatly, of course, depending on many factors.

First of all, there is an enormous discrepancy in how much time and effort each person sincerely puts into their search on a weekly basis, not to mention who stays with it consistently, week after week.  It can be difficult to maintain persistence in the face of constant rejection, but those who do will see a payoff sooner.  People who network with others in their field also reap the benefits of being put in touch with hiring managers more frequently.  It’s well established that many positions are hired through word of mouth and recommendations from others in the field, so becoming visible and connected is an endeavor worth pursuing.

Since it’s clear that your job search will most likely take several months to a year, it’s worth approaching with a more strategic stance, rather than waiting for job listings to appear and merely being reactive all the time.  Select a dozen – or two! – companies that you would most like to work for, and start keeping tabs on them.  What can you learn about the culture of these companies over time?  Not only will you be more prepared for an interview later on, but you may learn a better way to rank them by preference, in terms of a hospitable, professional or competent workplace.

Once she had a successful initial phone interview, I advised Eileen* to join the company’s Facebook page and also start following them on Twitter, so she could keep up with their latest news.  She was pleased when she got called in for a face-to-face interview soon after.

Eileen thought that everyone seemed to like her and her skills during the interview, and she was hopeful about getting an offer.  Although some aspects of the interview did seem to be a bit more informal than she was used to, she knew that every company is different, and this one was younger and smaller than the one she’d be coming from.

The HR manager told Eileen that they found her to be very qualified, but that they hired someone else for the position.  He then went on to say that they would be hiring some other positions in the near future, and asked if they could keep her resume on file, because they felt that she might be the right fit for one of those instead.

Eileen was disappointed, of course, but also flattered.  While she wasn’t going to hold her breath, this was a polite rejection.  Many other companies hadn’t even bothered to call and tell her she didn’t get the job. She had also seen other positions listed on the company’s social media channels, so she did feel that it was possible.

Over the next several months, however, Eileen noticed that there were actually many, many positions listed for hire with this company – some of them were the same position listed just a few months apart!

“It’s one thing for the company to be younger and smaller,” Eileen said, “But it’s quite another to see the kind of turnover they were obviously having!”

Several months later, the company did contact Eileen for a similar position to the one she’d previously interviewed for.  She decided to Forget It! “I told them, ‘Thanks, but I’ve already found another job,’ even though I hadn’t yet.  I didn’t want to burn any bridges, but there was no way I was going to work someplace that was so clearly unstable!”

Freida* worked in nonprofit marketing, and in addition to advising her to subscribe to the social media channels of the organizations that she most wanted to work for, I also suggested that she set up a designated email account.  This email account had the sole purpose of subscribing to various emails sent by the same organizations.  (I proposed that she use an email name completely different from hers for this account; she borrowed her deceased uncle’s name.)

Since Freida had experience in email marketing as well, she could gauge over time which organizations sent out poor, average or excellent e-newsletters, petitions, solicitations, etc.  She made three folders in her account and filed all correspondence accordingly.  Sorting each folder by sender also let her see the kind of volume and frequency each nonprofit was sending, which told her even more about the sophistication of a marketing position at each organization.

This type of background research allowed Freida to Fix It! when she was trying to pin down which specific organizations to target and pursue most aggressively.  Although it took her nearly a year to get the interview and job offer she sought, she found a good match with not only the position and salary she wanted, but also the organization, mission, size and culture.  Very little of it came as a surprise to her, due to her combined networking and immersion in their various communication channels prior to being hired.

Do you have a Fix It or Forget It? story to share?  Send it to me, and it might help others.  Identifying features will be altered prior to publishing.

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Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
—  Rita Mae Brown

Similar Posts:

Audrey* and Brian* don’t feel recognized for their full potential

Noah* and Odelia* learn the importance of networking

Lucy* and Mildred* find their workplace environments difficult

“I wouldn’t put up with that,” people often respond to a Fix It Or Forget It? column or other difficult work scenario.  This isn’t just insensitive, but each situation is relative, and they could find themselves there more easily than they think.

Most people have heard the story of how placing a frog directly into a pot of boiling water will result in the frog jumping out, to escape.  However, if the frog is placed into lukewarm water and the water is incrementally heated, the frog is likely to stay in the pot, even to the boiling point, since the climate change is virtually undetectable over a period of time.

This is a good analogy for why some workers “put up with” conditions that others deem untenable – and can’t fathom why.  It’s all relative to what one has become accustomed to over time.  Changes in personal circumstances, such as health, death, marriage, children, parents, layoffs, etc., can also affect what positions one will and won’t accept at various points in life.  Everyone’s obligations and conditions regarding employment vary widely.

The type of manager that often exploits the most desperate of these employees is the micromanager.  They seem to find one another.  The manager who desires the chance to control every facet of each worker’s single task will seek (and often destroy) any and all employees that show little or no resistance to this tactic.

Barney* worked as a development officer for a non profit, and as the pressure mounted to make goal during a very difficult year, his micromanaging director responded by hovering over him even more and paying closer attention to details that she previously used to leave to his discretion. 

It seemed that every time he tried to tell her, “I’ve got this taken care of,” an argument ensued, and she would tell him how to do it regardless, so he decided to quit debating the matter.  Often, her solution was to do what he was going to do, anyway . . . she just seemed to need for it to be her solution, for some reason.  Barney wondered if this was her last bastion of control, somehow, since she felt so out of control lately.

After the pressure mounted further, though, Barney no longer felt charitable.  He felt criticized and harassed, not to mention being treated in a condescending manner.

This became clear when he submitted a professional publication subscription statement for her signature.  Instead of simply paying it, she insisted that he contact their office for a discount on the rate.  Barney did call and ask, speaking with several people, each of whom told him that they didn’t offer a discount.  As he asked to speak to a successive individual or supervisor (knowing that his director would insist upon it), he finally reached someone who said their referral system would go to an email ticket system, which would have a service person call him back – could they take his information down, please?

Barney’s micromanager came by his desk, monitored just enough of his call to begin lecturing him on how to make a proper phone call, how to get a supervisor on the phone, and how to use the speaker phone while on hold.  Barney tried, in vain, to explain the ticket situation to her.  She expressly forbade him to hang up until he got someone on the phone who would offer him the discount!  Then, she walked away.

Barney spent the next two hours on the phone, either being transferred to different people, or waiting on hold.  Each person told him the same thing:  “We’re not authorized to give discounts.” or  “We don’t give discounts.”

Barney started with, “Could I please speak to someone who could?  My boss said I can’t hang up until . . .”

Later, he began saying, “Of course, if you hang up on me . . .” but nobody took the hint.

Finally, they worked to patch through a call to the person that even they couldn’t reach unless submitting an email ticket!  And what did that person have to say?  “We don’t give discounts.”

Upon hearing Barney’s predicament, she said, “I can give you a free two week subscription (that’s offered to anyone who subscribes), but it has to be added on to the end of the regular bill that you’ll still need to pay.”

After two hours, Barney was thrilled to hear something!  He took it and reported it to his supervisor, whose only response was, “See?  I told you that you could get a discount if you just tried!”

This crucible event was what Barney needed to make him decide to Forget It! and we began working on his resume and job search soon after.  He realized that it was no longer a question of helping his boss through a difficult time, but a matter of his survival and sanity.  She clearly didn’t care about him.

Courtney* worked for a micromanager as well, but luckily, we were able to discern when his tendencies really came to the forefront.  A lot of his stress had to do with deadlines, although it was clear that he just generally had obsessive compulsive tendencies, too, and felt the need to overly-manage every little detail.

We first noticed this with direct mail pieces – or any writing, really – that were drafted.  If it was closer to the deadline, her director would get nervous and feel the need to proof, review, edit and revise the copy multiple times, in an effort to get it “just right,” which would often delay making the deadline.  This was initially a great source of frustration for Courtney.

We discovered that if copy was sent to him well in advance, he seemed to feel more relaxed, offer fewer revisions and move on to the next project in front of him.  It took a while to realize this, but once we did, Courtney made a concerted effort to submit all copy well ahead of time!

We noticed a similar pattern when it came to events.  Although the CEO’s job during events was to greet the speakers and various guests of honor – or to be the opening speaker – he seemed obsessed during the down time prior to these events with such things as table settings, place cards, centerpieces and other minutiae, to the point of endlessly annoying the staff who did have those responsibilities!

We worked to solve this dilemma by Courtney always having (or creating) an important task that needed the CEO’s immediate attention – away from the event’s main staging area – just prior to its beginning.  The task would be something that wasn’t a true emergency, but enough to capture and divert his attention, which was all that was necessary.

By assessing her director’s habits and motives, Courtney was able to Fix It! – no small feat when working with a micromanager.

Do you have a Fix It or Forget It? story to share?  Send it to me, and it might help others.  Identifying features will be altered prior to publishing.

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Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
—  Rita Mae Brown

Nearly every non profit earns a substantial amount of its budget at year’s end. For some, this season is a do-or-die time of year. Either way, how many will take the time to analyze which appeals were most successful and which should be re-evaluated?

Overall dollars are important, certainly, but a great deal can be learned by delving into who gave what to which appeal when, why, by what means, etc. Reviewing details of response rates, click through rates and so forth now can help you better plan the upcoming year’s success, once you know what your constituents are responding to.

Take this challenge: Find the separate segments that are performing the very best and the very worst, regardless of whether or not you made more money overall. Where are your trends happening? Which demographics are taking off, and which ones are starting to drop off? Can you see that they are by age, geography, gender – or is it by the channel they are using, such as direct mail, email or social media? Perhaps it’s a mixture of several variables. How will you determine this to make next year’s appeals even better?

In addition to your analysis, it’s essential to keep up with current trends in the industry, which is rapidly changing. Although your organization most likely can’t respond to everything, a good goal would be to add two new things in 2011 that will interest and engage your constituents. For example, perhaps you might start a Facebook page and add video components to your email appeals. These don’t both have to begin on January 1st, but have a plan and work toward projected launch dates for each.

While assessing your year, consider other areas for improvement that affect fund raising indirectly, but may not come to mind immediately when you are doing your initial evaluation.

Find ways to boost your organization’s publicity. If you know a reporter, that’s wonderful, but reach beyond traditional means. What about bloggers? Consider asking several bloggers to write about your latest event, press release or promotion. Also remember to promote directly to your followers and friends, asking them to retweet/forward/share your latest news or video to their friends. This is the nature of social media, after all. (Remember to reciprocate now and then.)

Something else that is crucial to fund raising efforts, but often overlooked: database software. Does your database have dedicated fields for Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, text messaging, etc., or are you using [Other1], [Other2], [Other3] and [Other4]? This will make tracking next to impossible . . . and it’s only going to become more difficult as time goes on. What/how are you going to update your database with social media information or text messaging? Mobile giving and text messaging is only going to become more relevant as people have fewer land lines.

Actively seek feedback from those constituents who support you the most! Getting written documentation, as well as photos and video, will be very compelling testimony that can be used in your appeals (with permission, of course), to demonstrate to other potential donors why your organization is worth contributing to.

Just as you commit to boosting the value of your organization’s Annual Giving program by adding to its portfolio with a couple of new features, make certain that you add to your own professional portfolio as well, and increase your own skills and knowledge by a couple of features this year. Even if your training budget has reduced or evaporated completely, the Bilou Calendar lists many low cost and free online courses throughout the year, and you can subscribe to it. Don’t shortchange yourself or your personal career development.

Also remember that while online courses are very helpful, nothing takes the place of the value of face to face networking. Meeting with those in your profession on a regular basis can provide insight, education, mentoring and connections that possibly lead to a future job one day. If nothing else, staying in touch with those in the same profession helps one feel less isolated. Depending on your area of fund raising, you might find better networking with AFP, AHP, APRA, CASE or NTEN, or a combination therein.

The best year-end gift fund raisers can give to themselves is less exhaustion for next year by earlier, better planning for 2011. This begins with an in depth evaluation of what was done, but the follow through is not only adding some upgrades for the organization’s program, but investing in the fund raiser as well.

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Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
— Rita Mae Brown

Neither Edward* nor Gabrielle* had much luck getting through to their directors about the nature and importance of their respective roles at their organizations.  Can you Fix It Or Forget It? when this happens?  See what they did.

Edward* was a new college graduate and knowing how difficult the job market was, he sent resumes to organizations whose missions he supported, even if they didn’t have a position listed.  He got a call and was eventually hired by a small organization that had never had a paid fund raiser on staff before, but was willing to try it for the first time.

Because there was no predecessor or history, mapping out a plan, goals, etc. was a work in progress – particularly since this was Edward’s first job.  One thing he and his executive director agreed on was that he needed training.

He was pleased when his director sent him to a fund raising conference out of state, and when it was time to submit expenses, he asked about the policy of the daily stipend and was told that he would have to submit receipts for everything.

“I suppose it was naïve of me not to have saved all of my receipts for meals, transportation, etc.,” Edward told me, “But when I asked for some type of compensation (since I obviously ate over three days), I was essentially told,” ‘Too bad’ and given no reimbursement at all.  I decided to chalk it up to experience, but realized my director was not the person I initially thought she was . . . and that I definitely couldn’t trust her.”

Several months later, during a staff meeting, when she made a point to “joke” to Edward – in front of other staff members – by saying, “If you don’t start making some real money around here, you’re not going to be around much longer! (ha, ha),” that’s when he knew it was time to Forget It!  We began Edward’s job search immediately.

Luckily, we found Edward something within a relatively short period of time and he gave the director his notice.  Her only response was that he needed to write a report on what he’d learned at the conference, since she’d “invested in that education.”  Therefore, he owed the organization documentation of the knowledge gained – as well as a summary of his work thus far, for his successor to review.

Edward wrote the report as instructed.  He was pleased to be moving on to a different position, with several hard lessons learned, and was determined not to take anything for granted in the future.

Gabrielle* worked on the technical side of direct marketing, conducting research, and reported to a director who didn’t always understand the nuances of her work.

What she found was that she was regularly placed last on the agenda at staff meetings, so that if time was running out, her director would simply ask her to “be brief” or just pass out her reports, email them and/or skip them altogether.

It was obvious that, since he failed to comprehend a lot of what she produced, he didn’t appreciate her work much, either . . . if he read it at all.

Because she felt that a position like this had very little mobility, Gabrielle contacted me about seeking a new position, but I suggested we try to remedy the situation first, if possible.

Gabrielle did tell me quite a few staff members within her department – and others – used and appreciated her finished works; therefore, I advised that it was worth attempting a bit of public relations on her behalf before job hunting.

For example, several of the people that the director deemed important on the agenda during staff meetings were already incorporating Gabrielle’s research in their projects.  A few weeks of zealous networking on her part resulted in a much more prominent exposure of Gabrielle’s (named) work and its visible, obvious relevance to the entire department!

I also coached Gabrielle on how to better design her reports to make them more easily consumable to the layperson, because she realized while approaching those staff members who used her research the most that it was the people who best understood facts, figures and statistics.  Those who were more strictly marketing and communications people (like her director) were less likely to take advantage of the information she provided.

We were able to Fix It! with the combined approach of having other staff members promote and validate Gabrielle’s analyses, together with her making them more user-friendly.  The result was a greater recognition and visibility of her position.  Her director no longer hurried past her time to report during staff meetings, and she wasn’t eternally placed at the end of the agenda, either.  Later, he even asked for some of her materials to be included in a report to the board of directors.

Do you have a Fix It or Forget It? story to share? Send it to me, and it might help others. Identifying features will be altered prior to publishing.

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Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.
—  Rita Mae Brown