The Annual Giving Year -Building Your Plan with aMulti-Channel Toolbox

Bob Burdenski

Erie Nonprofit DayOctober 24, 2017

Bob@BobBurdenski.comwww.BobBurdenski.com

Bob Burdenski is an internationally-recognized expert in membership and annual giving program strategies. He is a frequent speaker and published author, and has served numerous times as faculty member for the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) First Course on Fund Raising in the U.S. He is a regular presenter for the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP), and he often appears in Currents, the magazine of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). He is the author of three CASE books: Innovations in Annual Giving (2004), More Innovations in Annual Giving (2008) and Online Innovations in Annual and Regular Giving (2015), all of which profiled case histories of advanced annual giving fundraising strategy.

He serves as the moderator of FundList, the annual giving profession’s oldest and largest online discussion listserv, with more than 3,000 subscribers worldwide.

Mr. Burdenski has nearly 30 years in fund raising serving a variety of not-for-profit organizations. He has served as director of annual giving and then director of university development at Cleveland State University, and as vice president for development at Catholic Charities Corporation.

He has served as an annual giving consultant since 1996, and has worked as a member of several internationally-known consulting firms, including six years as managing associate with Bentz Whaley Flessner. In 2003 he established his own practice, Robert Burdenski Annual Giving, and he’s assisted more than 200 institutions in 11 countries since that time. His present and past clients served include:

American Architecture Foundation New York University Catholic Relief Services New York Presbyterian - Weill Cornell Medical Center

Carnegie Mellon University North Carolina State University Central Institute for the Deaf (MO) Stanford Graduate School of Business Chinese International School (HK) Toledo Museum of Art Children’s Hospital of Atlanta King’s College London (UK) Children’s Hospitals and Clinics (MN) University of California, Berkeley George Washington University University of Colorado Foundation Grant Riverside Hospital (OH) University of Maryland Hong Kong University (HK) University of Reading (UK) International School of Brussels (BE) University of Rochester INSEAD (FR) University of Sydney (AUS) The Mayo Clinic Wellesley College National University of Singapore Wayne State University

Mr. Burdenski is a BS graduate of Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He resides in Chicago, Illinois.

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The Annual Giving Year -Building Your Plan with a

Multi-Channel Toolbox

Erie Non-Profit DayOctober 24, 2017

Bob Burdenski

The Lesson of Starbucks

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The Lesson of Starbucks

Starbucks was born from boring coffee. The Starbucks brand’s core identity is not about a cup of coffee. It’s about providing a great coffee experience.

Promote the idea of giving

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A measure of depth of individual endorsement

A window on individual interests

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Enduring Pillars of Annual Giving

• A Motivating Message• An Effective Way of Reaching The Audience• An Ability to Receive Gifts As Quickly and

Easily As Possible• Peers Preferably Involved• A Donor’s Feelings of Satisfaction• The Ability to Measure and Evaluate Results

What Are We Trying To Accomplish?

• How do we identify our supporters – we’re typically one of many causes

• How do we identify who’s really interested in philanthropy – who wants to be an investor?

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Who Is Raising Their Hand?

Where To put your prospects? 

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How To Find The Best Prospects

• Your Beneficiaries, Their Familiesand Friends

• Memorial Donors• Event Attendees• Social Media Fans and Followers• Local Businesses• Some Local Foundations• Others in the Local Community

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It’s Our Giving Day!

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Create Your Own Calendar• Short-Term Giving Challenge• It’s “Give To Us” Day• Giving Tuesday• End of Calendar Year• End of Fiscal Year• Post-Event Attendees• Anniversary Date-of-Last-Gift• Other Important Organization Days• Spontaneous Good News• In Concert With Other Paper/Phone Appeals

Assumption College

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University of Minnesota

Facebook Ads

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Washington University

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McMaster’s Video Report of Giving

Brigham Young’s “Ode To A Donor”

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Sample posts

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Larry U.

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Which Is Compelling? • Gratitude - We Served You Well• Tradition - We Taught You (To Give) Well• Needs - Our Beneficiaries Deserve Your Support• Specificity - You Can Direct Your Gift To A Very

Specific Project or Purpose• (Positive) Urgency – The Clock Is Ticking…• Peers - We’re (I’m) Giving, How About You?• Affinity - Don’t You Like To Be Seen With Us?• Stewardship - We Made You Glad You Gave Before• Transaction - We’ll Make It Worth Your While…• Novelty - We Otherwise Caught Your Attention

Venmo!

• I used Venmo as a vehicle for my senior class gift last year to great success. We had our "chairperson" of our committee use her personal Venmo and we made up a contract for her to make sure she give us the correct amount of money. She wrote a personal check monthly and we used a google doc to keep track of donations. I would say about 3/4 of gifts came in through Venmo. There were reservations about using it but we had an amazing chairperson that we trusted.

-- Claire Van Raaphorst ’14 Albion College

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Duda Mobile

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Screencasting - GuideByCell

P.O.S. Giving

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Your Blinky Button Giving Strategy

Boston University

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Who’s Raising Their Hand?

• Liked you on Facebook• Identified you on LinkedIn• Came to your party• Posted a comment• Completed your survey• Updated their contact information• Opened your email• Answered the phone

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How Did You Get Here?

Who Are You Seeking?

• Recent Graduates• Alumni Who Haven’t Supported Anything

Else• Parents, Aunts and Uncles• Cause-Motivated Donors• Anybody and Everybody

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Crowdfunding 2.0

• Are they repeatable?• Do they funnel easily into broad categories, especially

your campaign priorities?

• Are they good identifiers of major gift prospects?

• Are they budget-relieving?

Earlham College Birding Big Day

• “Birding Big Day”Appeal

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University of Ottawa

Gift Anniversary “Birthday” Reminders

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Other Endangered Or Extinct Species

• Taxis• Typewriters• Wine Corks• Blackboards• Payphones• Boom Boxes• Hotel Keys• Road Maps

• Cash• Polaroid Pictures• Product Manuals• Subway Tokens• Encyclopedia

Britannica• Checkbooks• Newspapers

Who Said It?

“For the last decade and a half, we’ve been in sort of a free fall, with everybody trying different things to see what works. I just thought this was a good idea that made sense. Let’s give it a shot, and see if it works.”

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University of Miami