The NonProfit Times - January 15, 2008 - (Page 1)

The Leading Business Publication For Nonprofit Management • www.nptimes.com • $6.00 U.S. January 15, 2008 FUNDRAISERS Seeing the big picture generates dollars today and tomorrow Travelers picked coffee in the Guatemalan highlands, benefiting local Tzutujil Maya communities. The World’s Best On The Road Auctions, events making donors want to travel By Mark Hrywna F undraisers raise funds. It’s in the title. But great fundraisers are more than human automated teller machines. Raising the most money really isn’t the only measure of a great fundraiser. Overcoming obstacles and still breaking new ground for the future is just as important to an organization’s bottom line as today’s dollar. Editors of The NonProfit Times asked readers in multiple emails to more than 90,000 subscribers to NPT Weekly to nominate great fundraisers.Industry leaders were solicited and editors checked their own notebooks to find the nation’s unique development executives. In some cases, local programs were doing work that would be the envy of national programs. In other instances, some of the tried and true national industry giants were true to form. Will there be an argument regarding who made it and who didn’t? Absolutely.All of these types of illuminations are conversation starters.That’s the point. It’s the exchange of ideas that raises the level of everyone’s game. YOUNGER THAN 40 SARAH TANNER Getting Cash Free And Clear In some smaller communities, the local United Way functions as the community chest -- the fundraising arm of that town. But for United Way of Pioneer Valley, located in urban Springfield, Mass., being just a pass-through organization could very well mean obsolescence. “If you look at the United Way story, designations (gifts) don’t help us,” said Sarah Tanner, vice president of resource development at United Way of Pioneer Valley (UWPV).“And for many of (our donors), they don’t really understand how designating a gift was hurting…the longevity of United Way in our community.” Tanner, who joined UWPV during 2005, has since helped the charity reduce its designations from 36 percent to 32 percent, a significant drop for an organization and community that had long been familiar with directing dollars.“Anything we can do to get more unrestricted (gifts) is wonderful, and so, yes, it’s a very big drop for us,” said the 35-yearold.“We’d like to see it dropping further. Obviously, if we could be somewhere around 25 percent, that would be great.” Prior to joining UWPV, Tanner held positions with United Way chapters in Denver, New York City and nearby Hampshire County, first in marketing and later in campaigns.Tanner said she left UW of Hampshire County, located right up the road in Northampton, Mass., because of the growth opportunities available at UWPV.“I also saw a challenge here,” said Tanner. Once at UWPV, Tanner said she realized one of the challenges with lowering the number of restricted gifts is the notion that while Younger Than 40, Tanner, page 12 T he San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocate (SFCASA) needed a quick infusion of cash. The young nonprofit targeted donors who had given more than $500 with a mailing that offered a round-trip travel certificate to anywhere in the United States. SF-CASA netted some $45,000, a good haul for a group with an annual budget of only $1.25 million. “It was a real indicator to us, not only of how well it worked at that moment in time, and quickly, but also showed us there was a great interest in travel incentives,” said Caroline Fisher, executive director. Travel has become one way that Fisher and her organization try to draw attention to the cause. Another way to get attention is to have events, she said, providing people with new and unique opportunities to “support our work and get something back,” such as auctions and travel items. “That’s not because people are self-serving. It really is a way to get their attention,” she said.The key fundraising adage, after all, is that people do not give most of the time because they are not asked. “For organizations that provide services to specifically-targeted populations, we have an extra amount of work” to attract and keep donors, Fisher said. Unless they’ve had an issue with the children’s welfare system, such as On The Road, page 4 BRIAN COWART A Million New Donors,Sometimes One At A Time When St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital gets a new donor, Brian Cowart can claim that the person is one in a million. That’s because that’s how many new donors the hospital is now getting. The way Cowart describes it, he just sort of stumbled into the field of nonprofit fundraising and direct mail.“It’s not something I went to school for or had knowledge in,” he said.“Very few people come out and find their way into the direct mail/fundraising industry.” Cowart, 36, majored in commerce at the University of Virginia but there were no extensive courses or training in direct marketing.After some time in sales and marketing,he wound up at Response Media Products as a list manager. Before long Cowart joined CARE in Atlanta, primarily because of his direct marketing experience, but the list management experience didn’t hurt.“It just sort of evolved; it happens a lot in the industry, I think.” While he was director of direct marketing for five years at CARE, the relief agency routinely generated more than $60 million in public support annually before reaching the $100-million mark in 2003 and 2004. A native of Atlanta, Cowart relocated to Memphis when he joined St.Jude two years ago.As senior director of mail acquisition and donor retention,he’s responsible for acquiring and cultivating new donors through traditional direct marketing channels like mail and telemarketing.That means raising $240 million annually. He’s the primary source of new donors that funnel into the organization, which lately is running about a million new donors each year. Cowart is part of St. Jude’s national direct marketing division, the largest revenue generator for the children’s research hospital. It raises nearly half of the more than $500 million in total annual revenue. Cowart’s responsibilities include raising about 80 percent of the $250 million raised by the division. Younger Than 40, Cowart, page 12 http://www.nptimes.com

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The NonProfit Times - January 15, 2008 The World's Best Fundraisers On the Road Contents Lists: Election Cycles Donors: High Gift Versus Recent Gift Burnt Offerings: Thank You, Please Fundraising: One Big Family Travel Guide NPT Jobs Resource Directory

The NonProfit Times - January 15, 2008

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