In this Issue:

• Give a Little, Give a Latte
• My Heart is In the Work Part II
• Roosevelt University Rachets Up Its Annual Fund: WG Audit Results A Year Later
• Principals on the Move
• Professional Development with WG Principals
• Welcome New Clients!
• Development Job Opportunities
  

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Professional Development with WG Principals

• Major Gift Solicitations
  CASE Conference, San Francisco, California
  February 15-17, 2006
  Penny Hunt, Chair
• Social Entrepreneurship: Strategies for Creating Sustainable Nonprofit Organizations
  North Park University: Graduate School of Business and Nonprofit Management, Chicago
  Wednesdays, October 19-December 14, 2005, 6:30-9:30PM
  Hope Spruance, Instructor

Welcome New Clients

The Woolbright Group is pleased to welcome the following new and returning clients: Mary Baldwin College and the Educational Leadership Foundation, ACPA. We are delighted to have the opportunity to work with you – thank you!

Development Job Opportunities

The Woolbright Group Job Board currently includes the following opportunities:

• Associate Director, Leadership Giving, Dartmouth College
• Assistant Director, Dartmouth College
• Executive Director, Major Gifts, University of Michigan
• Coordinator of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving, Southern Vermont College
• Grant Writer and Public Relations, St. Joseph's College Seminary
• Assistant/Associate Director Annual Fund, Amherst College

Recruit candidates for your organization
using the Woolbright Group Job Board.

http://www.woolbrightgroup.com/jobpostings.html

Principals On the Move

WG Principal Hope Spruance is now Chief Development Officer at Bethel New Life, Inc.

Congratulations Hope!

Give a Little, Give a Latte

Like so many other colleges, Lebanon Valley has struggled to excite young alumni about giving. Despite the creation of a Recent Graduate Committee of the Alumni Council, increased staffing, and expanded program budgets for young alumni classes over the past five years, participation in the Valley Fund (the alumni fund) by the ten youngest classes has hovered at 10-11%.

A Great Idea Percolates

Valley Fund staff members noticed that the coffee bar scheduled to be installed in a newly-renovated classroom building had not been “named” by an individual major donor. So, they sought and received approval from the VP for Advancement to market the coffee bar to recent grads as an exclusive gift opportunity, using the slogan, “Give a little, Get a Latte.”

The premise of the campaign was that if the ten youngest classes raised $50,000 (more than double the prior year), they could “name” the coffee bar as their gift to the students at LVC. All donors of $25 or more would have their names engraved on a wall tile near the coffee bar. Members of the class with the highest Latte campaign participation would receive travel coffee mugs as prizes.

The Aroma of Success

Staff involved the Recent Graduate Committee from the start, asking them to support the campaign, and sending out the major mailings from them by name. The simple, memorable campaign message was carried through in print, phone, email, and web-based appeals. Colorful self-mailers and postcards – instead of traditional letters – announced the campaign and kept up the momentum. For example, the third major appeal in a six-part sequence, a self mailer, featured photos of sleeping students with the tag line “Wake this student up!”

A campaign web page (www.lvc.edu/latte) included “Mug Shots.” Young alumni who supported the campaign received “Give a Little, Get a Latte” coffee mugs and were asked to submit digital photos of themselves holding the mug along with brief updates about their lives to be posted to the web site.

LVC sent a mug overseas with a current student, who sent in mug shots from London, Paris, Rome, and Berlin. The “European Tour” not only highlighted a College priority (overseas study), but also showed that the students were having fun with the Latte campaign, too.

Good to the Last Drop

The web site was designed to keep young alumni coming back for more. Photos of the coffee bar construction project posted to the web site allowed young alumni to see their gifts in action. “Counting the beans” tallied results and provided nearly instant virtual recognition of donors.

A “Thanks a Latte” feature shows students and faculty posing with their coffee drinks at the now-operational coffee bar, with a message of appreciation to the young alumni who made it possible.

Giving Goes Grandé

LVC’s “Latte campaign” exceeded its $50,000 goal five months ahead of schedule. The dollars received from young alumni increased by 40% and the donor count from the ten youngest classes increased by 70%.

In recognition for this innovative and creative campaign, LVC received the CASE Gold Medal for Annual Giving programs and one of only two CASE Grand Gold Medal for Educational Fund Raising programs last year.

Interested in staff training or coaching on donor outreach? Contact The Woolbright Group at info@woolbrightgroup.com or 585.787.0325.

My Heart is in the Work (so said Andrew Carnegie)
Part II: A Solicitation-Training Program for Trustees and Major Donors

by Mary Kay Poppenberg, Principal

In Part One (April 2005), we outlined how to gain early buy-in from Trustees regarding their fundraising role. Once you have them convinced of the importance of this work, the stage is set to make sure they have the skills to be effective solicitors.

How do you transform a willing Trustee into a capable solicitor?
In Part One, we suggested forming a small Task Group to begin developing a fundraising strategy. Now is the time to give the group an assignment. If you did not form that Task Group, that’s ok. You can form another group; let’s call it the Sub-Committee on Training. Select a few Trustees -- plus a non-Trustee major donor or two, if appropriate -- to help develop your solicitation training. Select carefully. You’ll need one or two members who have actually made solicitations for your organization or another organization they support. And, a few group members who are outgoing and socially comfortable will help bring along quieter, less assertive members.

How do you develop a solicitation-training program?
Before you actually convene the Sub-Committee, develop a one-page “Steps in a Solicitation” worksheet. Step 1 identifies the member of the solicitation team who will say, “Hello. Thank you for agreeing to meet with us.” The final step identifies who will follow up with the donor and write a report on the meeting.

At the subcommittee’s first meeting, review the draft of the “Steps” and see if the group wants to make any changes or additions. Once the “Steps” are agreed to, ask them to create three to five solicitation scenarios that can be used for a role-play training session. Since the Sub-Committee members are themselves all major donors, they should create scenarios for asks of $50,000 or even $100,000 or more. Push them to create scenarios including a wide variety of potential donors: couples, singles, professionals, volunteers, alumnae, friends, Trustees, friends, in town, out of town, and prospects with interests in varying areas of support. Encourage your subcommittee to have some fun with the scenario creation…working through these scenarios will make them more confident.

What others tasks are on your list before the training session?

You will need to:

• Put together a sample solicitation packet with the information that your solicitors will share with prospective donors.
• Schedule the meeting of the Trustees and major donors who agreed to attend a training session, including the subcommittee members.
• Organize meeting logistics. Book a room. Arrange for refreshments -- serve wine for meetings late in the day or coffee and tea for morning meetings.
• Polish up the scenarios and assign the roles of solicitors and prospective donors to members of your subcommittee.

What happens on training day?
Pass out and review the “Steps in a Solicitation.” Answer questions. Carefully review the materials in the solicitation folder. Use a flipchart and develop a fact sheet of information about your institution that will be presented as background at the start of the solicitation. Now it’s time to “break a leg.” Call on your predetermined first team of solicitors/donors role players. Ask them to arrange the furniture in a setting that’s appropriate to their plan. Then let the asking begin! At the conclusion, ask for comments and suggestions. Move on to the next solicitation.

Wrap up. When the practice scenarios have ended, facilitate group discussion of the results. What were the best questions asked? Most uncomfortable moments? What would they change? Let the group know you will write up the institutional facts as part of their background material. Discuss how and when solicitation assignments will be made.

Finally. Give out those assignments as soon as possible, while enthusiasm is high.

Need assistance conducting board or staff solicitation training? Contact The Woolbright Group at info@woolbrightgroup.com or 585.787.0325.

Roosevelt University Ratchets Up Its Annual Fund: WG Audit Results a Year Later

In our April 2004 issue, we reported on The Woolbright Group audit for Roosevelt University’s Annual Fund, conducted by Penny Hunt, Principal. With Roosevelt’s 2004-2005 year now complete, we checked in to see how the Annual Fund performed.

The Results:

• The $805,000 goal was surpassed by raising more than $877,228.
• They acquired 1,027 new donors against a 900 new donor acquisition goal.
• Faculty and staff participation was increased by 58% over last year.

How did they do it?

• Simple and consistent theme
• Segmentation strategy
• Get to know our donors
• Student Involvement
• Stewardship Initiatives

According to Kimberly R. Gosell, Assistant Vice President for Development, they began with a simple and consistent theme as it directly related to the mission of the University. The Annual Fund brochure, letterhead, follow-up mailings, postcards, thank you packages, alumni magazine articles, and website all maintained aspects that were consistent and recognizable to the donor: logo, font, message, description of what a donor’s gift can do, and how donors can make a gift. The timing of the university’s 60th anniversary tied the Rally for Roosevelt theme together, as they featured pictures of students throughout the decades. Collateral with more pictures with less text created a simple, easily digestible case for support.

Gosell indicated that the staff looked at levels of giving and longevity of giving as part of their segmentation strategy for approaching donors on renewals, increases, reactivation, and new gifts. Currently, they are seeing groups of donors that fall into a groups ranging from fragile renewals and reactivation, to longtime donors who are prime suspects for larger increases, leadership gifts or special giving tracks. They revived President’s Club events to get to know their leadership and major donor segment better, in hopes of increasing future retention and increased giving, and also to create excitement for interested potential members.

They also engaged alumni in conversations with student Phonathon callers about their student experience, career path, and interests to useful gather data for prospect potential. This information will help them to get to know our donors and spot any trends for segmentation and strategy. They also started to ask “Why not?” if a prospect had objections to giving. Is it the amount? Do you give elsewhere? Is there a misunderstanding? How can we help resolve the issue? Asking and listening to the prospect was crucial in helping the prospect first overcome objections with school in general, and then (whether it be now, next year, or in five years) making that first gift to Roosevelt.

The key to all of our success thus far is student involvement. And, they started by replacing the duct-taped carpet, taking down dark, dusty, dirty window shades, and repainting dingy lifeless walls. The students decorated their Phonathon room with color, seasonal décor (like cobwebs and pumpkins for Halloween), and a wall of quotes (phrases or notable quips from alumni on the other end of the line). They began with 40 Phonathon students and now there are more than 60. If you want the word to get around the campus, leak it to the Phonathon Team, according to Gosell, and by this time tomorrow, every undergraduate who lives on campus will know. It’s Roosevelt’s hottest job on campus.

In addition to employing students as Phonathon callers for the first time in a long time, students are participating in Roosevelt’s stewardship initiatives, whether it be attending recognition events, participating in alumni events, or delivering thank you tokens to faculty and staff donors. There is a dedicated coordinator of student engagement to foster ongoing awareness, engagement, and participation in alumni networking, fundraising, and stewardship initiatives. Students hand out thank-you bookmarks to each faculty and staff at donor appreciation events, hosted by the President. Phonathon students play music during cocktail hour of the President’s Club events, and phonathon students are engaged in conversation with alumni who graduated more than fifty years ago at the annual Golden Alumni Luncheon.

For information on program audits and other Woolbright Group services, contact The Woolbright Group at info@woolbrightgroup.com or 585.787.0325.