October 8, 2009 ADVERTISEMENT Changing the world together—responsibly GuideStar's groundbreaking work is uniquely committed to serving and advancing the entire nonprofit community. By investing in the GuideStar Membership Program, your organization serves the much larger causes of your grantees, who continue to rely on GuideStar to expand their reach and impact. Please join us today. We greatly appreciate your support. In This Edition: Creating A Dialogue In Religious Fundraising Donors ... Battle ‘for’ the sexes continues Grants ... 7 questions you need to ask Marketing ... Push me, pull you gets revived ADVERTISEMENT    NPT Jobs NPT Resource Directory Subscribe to NPT NPT Latest Edition NPT Advertising Contact Us      Please forward NPT Instant Fundraising to your colleagues so that they can also subscribe. Tell-a-friend! ADVERTISEMENT Did you know...31% of all nonprofits offer bonus compensation to the CEOs/presidents. See how they earned it in the new NonProfit Times 2009 Nonprofit Organizations Compensation & Benefits Report. Order your subscription today! Click here. Creating A Dialogue In Religious Fundraising By Tom Pope Two-way conversations with donors are helping religious nonprofits with fundraising results. The UJA-Federation of New York’s annual Generosity event this year drew approximately 700 young Jewish donors in their 20s and 30s, up from 500 people at the first event in 2006. These donors found out about the event from the online social networking site Facebook. “Giving was up 30 percent,” said Stuart Tauber, vice president of fundraising. UJA contacted more than 3,000 people through Facebook to find the 700 attendees. While people were eating, they took out Blackberries to text pledges and sent messages during the event. To read the complete article click here...   Donors ... Battle ‘for’ the sexes continues Men have been trying to understand women for decades -- with no luck. But there are many reasons why fundraisers should try to understand the philanthropic woman, according to Neesha Rahim, consultant with The Osborne Group in White Plains, N.Y. Rahim explained why fundraisers should pay attention to the giving propensity of women at the recent National Catholic Development Conference in Crystal City, Md. Here are some of her thoughts: Women are driving the world’s economy. Female income is poised to grow to $18 trillion by 2014, according to a growth forecast by the Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. Compare that to China’s projected $6.6 trillion gross domestic product by 2014 and you can see that women will continue to grow as a powerful economic force. All women are not created equal. The Harvard Business School publication found that women feel differently about their roles. Some are Fast Trackers who seek adventure and are economic and educational elites. Some are Pressure Cookers who are married with children and feel stereotyped. You might want to segment for women, but realize that women can vary widely in interests and concerns. Where the men stand. You might contact your male major donors, but you should not disregard the wife in these major gifts. They could have more say than you think. Rahim pointed to a Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Survey that surveyed 1,000 adult donors giving more than $1,000. The men reported that 92 percent of the time their spouse is the primary influence on philanthropic decisions and 81 percent defer to spouses on where to give. Complexities of women. While women might be the largest influence in male philanthropic giving, women have a variety of influencers. The same Fidelity survey found that women reported spouses as the greatest influence (84 percent), followed by family (24 percent), friends (23 percent) and co-workers (17 percent). Know what women want. Women are more likely to want their gift to be public, use securities to give and seek guidance from a financial planner. Understanding those preferences may help you craft your ask. Grants ... 7 questions you need to ask Most seasoned grant seekers have come to understand a basic approach of most funders: Do it right or not at all. In their book “The Only Grant-Writing Book You'll Ever Need,” Ellen Karsh and Arlen Sue Fox offer a list of questions that grant seekers should be asking as they embark on the quest, so that they can do it right the first time. Am I even eligible to apply for the grant? Somewhere in every application is a word about eligibility, but it can be misleading. Does my idea for a grant mesh with the grantmaker’s? This is where proposal writers can become snagged. What kinds of projects has the grantmaker funded recently? There are reference sources to help answer this question. How much money is the grant for, and will it cover expenses? Don’t get so excited about the project as to forget that funders don’t have unlimited funds. Do I have to answer all these questions? The short answer is “Yes.” What if there are no real questions in the application package or guidelines? Be sure to include everything a funder requests. What else is in the application package? This could include background information, as well as format and other instructions, even deadline instructions. Marketing ... Push me, pull you gets revived In the good old days of marketing, prospects would need to accept the product you pushed and provided to them. Now, it’s all about the pull. People can contribute and change how they receive your marketing, and you need to be ready for it, according to Lisa McIntyre, senior vice president of strategy development at Pasadena, Calif.-based Russ Reid. Add that in with evolving media channels and you have your work cut out for you to reach people with the most potential. McIntyre explained how you could work within media to maximize your fundraising at the Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation’s 2009 New York Nonprofit Conference. Here’s some of her tips: Television evolution. There are a million channels for people to watch and now they have DVR’s that can fly by any commercials. So how can your direct response television spot compete? Try looking into interactive television spots that viewers can click through. Radio still exists. Contrary to popular belief, iPods have not taken over the world. Radio can be great to drive people at the local level. Consider longer form, such as radiothons, that can demonstrate need, call to action and have radio personalities speak on your behalf all at once. Keep layering. McIntyre said one client that layered media with television, radio and other media channels saw a 12 percent increase in response. The more channels you are in increases the times your audience might be exposed to your message. City campaigns. Try a layered campaign in specific cities where you have small to mid-sized markets. Find a local celebrity who would be willing to work with you and develop a campaign that speaks specifically to that location. Phone tap. Mobile phone campaigns are still the new kids on the block, but that doesn’t mean you should discredit this new channel. The downside is that cell phones do have fundraising amount caps. The upside is that more and more people have cell phones and engaging in text messaging, and text messages are close to impossible to leave unopened. Don't Forget Us! Changing positions? Or have you moved to another organization? Then, make sure you still get NPT's family of eNewsletters by simply updating your profile. Copyright @ 2009 The NonProfit Times. To read our Privacy Policy click here. To forward Instant Fundraising to your colleagues so they can also subscribe click here.