In This Edition:

• 2008: Giving Dropped $6.4 Billion; Largest Decline On Record
  
  
• Donors ...
  10 checklist items for making the ask
  
  
• Online ...
  4 cornerstones for your email strategy
  
  

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Editor's Note:

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2008: Giving Dropped $6.4 Billion; Largest Decline On Record

By Mark Hrywna

Overall giving in the United States declined last year by 2 percent, the largest drop since records have been kept and the first since 1987. Giving by individuals again made up about three-quarters of all giving but declines in foundation endowments and grantmaking might make for an even more challenging environment for next year’s report.

The $307.65 billion estimate in giving last year represents a decline of $6.42 billion, or 2 percent, but 5.7 percent when adjusted for inflation, the largest drop recorded since Giving USA has been keeping track of America’s donations. Total giving was still estimated to be around 2.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

To read the complete article click here...

Donors ...
10 checklist items for making the ask

Running a nonprofit means being prepared, and Reynold Levy, president of Lincoln Center in New York City, knows that. In his book Yours For The Asking, Levy offers 10 questions that he says are vital to fundraising.

• Are you prepared to offer your prospect alternative ways to respond favorably if the person does not say yes to the first request.
• Have you considered asking your prospect to help leverage the donation and assume philanthropic leadership by offering a challenge to your fundraising team?
• What criteria have you used to select the one or two volunteers who accompany you on a fundraising call?
• You have held your face-to-face solicitation. You have followed up with a warm thank-you letter and a cogent, persuasive written proposal. Now what?
• How do you accelerate donor progression up the ladder of generosity? What is your plan for donor retention and enhancement?
• Do you treat your cadre of supporters as allies in your cause?
• What methods do you employ to engage trustees in the fundraising process?
• How do you and your colleagues learn to improve your fundraising skills and your track record of success, over time?
• Are you spending adequate time with existing donors and potential prospects between asks?
• In what ways does your approach to corporations and foundations differ from how you handle individual prospects at meetings or in written follow-up?
  

Online ...
4 cornerstones for your email strategy

A cornerstone of a building usually directs how all other bricks will be arranged. And that same concept should work for your email strategy, according to John Kenyon, nonprofit technology consultant and educator. He outlined four email cornerstones at NTEN’s 2009 Nonprofit Technology Conference to keep your email communication foundation solid:

• Personalize. Personalization doesn’t just work for direct mail. People want to feel a relationship with your organization’s mission. If you don’t know your audience, those constituents just may forget about you.
  
• Target. People come to your organization for a variety of different reasons. Segment your list in a way that makes sense to your constituents. For example, an organization focusing on a particular disease may want to send a different type of message to someone with that illness than a caregiver.
  
• Integrate. Create streamlined communications that tie your channels together. For example, if you send a direct mail piece make sure the Web site mentions the piece or campaign on the homepage where people can get more information.
  
• Track your statistics. Kenyon said to seek out data from your emails. Track how people are using the emails and what are high and low points of engagement. But then use that data to reformulate your next email.
  

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