Benefit from the AFP Conference, Even If You Don’t Go

The AFP International Fundraising Conference (Baltimore, March 29-31, 2015) will provide plenty of fresh, powerful ideas to help you enhance your fundraising efforts. There are five ways you can benefit from the Conference:

1. Attend, either for one day or the entire Conference;
2. Purchase session recordings following the Conference;
3. Follow the hashtag #AFPFC;
4. Read my AFP Conference preview articles, listed below;
5. Tell me what sessions interest you the most, and I’ll try to report on them.

You can find a complete list of sessions here. Take a few moments to read the list and seminar descriptions. Then, comment below and tell me which sessions interest you the most.

I’ll be at the Conference and will report on the sessions I attend. I’ll plan on attending those sessions of greatest interest to my readers. That way, you’ll be able to benefit for the AFP Conference even if you can’t attend.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve written several AFP Conference preview articles. In case you’ve missed any, here is a complete list:

I Wish I’d Thought of That!

Have you ever stumbled upon a brilliant fundraising idea that inspired you to say, “I wish I’d thought of that!”?

Some of the greatest tactics and strategies we will implement during our careers are ideas that originated with others. Fundraising and nonprofit management ideas surround us. The challenge is not that there is a shortage of ideas; the challenge is knowing which ideas are truly great.

Now, the Association of Fundraising Professionals and the Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration have teamed up to make that task easier. At the AFP International Fundraising Conference (Baltimore, March 29-31, 2015), AFP and SOFII will host the session “I Wish I’d Thought of That!”

IWITOT is a unique seminar that will be moderated by Ken Burnett, Founder of SOFII, and involve 16 top-notch fundraising professionals who will each have up to seven-minutes to present his/her IWITOT brilliant idea. The fundraising ideas must be those the presenters admire or envy — an innovative replicable idea that we can all learn from. The proviso is that the idea cannot be their own or from their own organization, says Burnett.

The presenters include:

• Adrian Sargeant, Plymouth University
• Derrick Feldmann, Achieve
• Tom Ahern, Ahern Communications
• Amy Eisenstein, Tri-Point Fundraising
• Simone Joyaux, Joyaux Associates
• William Bartolini, Wexner Medical Center and Health Sciences Colleges
• Valerie Pletcher, Brady Campaign & Center to Prevent Gun Violence
• Daryl Upsall, Daryl Upsall Consulting International
• Stephen Pidgeon, Stephen Pidgeon Ltd.
• Amy Wolfe
• Laura Fredricks, Laura Fredricks, LLC
• Robbe Healey, Simpson Senior Services
• Alice Ferris, GoalBusters, LLC
• Frank Barry, Blackbaud, Inc.
• Missy Ryan Penland, Clemson University
• Tycely Williams, American Red Cross

“Each speaker will have a maximum of seven minutes each focused on a single big idea. This means that it’s a fast, colourful, entertaining, and inspirational session with much to learn for everyone and lots of fun, too,” says Burnett. “The speakers have been carefully chosen to give a balanced mix of seasoned professional leaders, sector gurus, and new, fresh ‘rising stars.’”

Here’s a limited preview of some of the ideas you’ll learn about during the IWITOT session:

Discover What Company CSR Executives are Thinking

Over the years, I’ve actually heard nonprofit managers and development professionals say:

“[That company] should give more.”

“I can’t believe [that company] is not giving. They certainly can afford to.”

“Corporations should do more to support their local communities.”

“Corporations should give back!”

The last one is my personal favorite because it’s complete nonsense. A corporation exists to produce a product or service and generate a profit for its shareholders. That’s it.

As for “giving back,” corporations do so everyday even if they never donate a dime to charity or sponsor a charity program or event. Corporations meet a public need or desire by producing products or services. They employ people. They buy or rent from other businesses. They pay taxes. Their employees pay taxes and buy or rent things, which further stimulates the economy.

In a previous post, I wrote, “There’s No Such Thing as Corporate Philanthropy!” I explained, “Corporate Philanthropy does not, or at least should not exist. While corporations may give to charitable causes, it is not or should not be out of an altruistic sense of Corporate Social Responsibility.”

If corporations make donations, those grants should enhance shareholder value in some way. A contribution might have a direct impact on profitability or the effect might be indirect. Either way, the donation or sponsorship should strengthen the corporation, say many corporate executives.

Marc Gunther, a senior writer for Fortune Magazine, wrote, “I’m not a big fan of corporate philanthropy. Too often, it’s a feel-good exercise, generating little value for a company’s shareholders. At its worst, it allows CEOs to use other people’s money to glorify themselves.”

As corporate philanthropy, as a term if not a practice, began to fall out of favor, it was replaced with Corporate Social Responsibility. But, what is CSR?

Harvard University defines CSR strategically:

Bernard Ross Reveals the Next Big Thing in Fundraising!

Have you ever wondered what your donors are thinking? Life would be so much simpler if you could read their minds.

Now, we’re actually a step closer to knowing.

To understand what your donors are thinking, you first need to understand how they think. That’s where veteran consultant and author Bernard Ross, Director of The Management Centre, and fundraising consultant Alan R. Hutson, Jr., Principal and Managing Partner of The Monument Group, can help.

In a preview of their session “Behavioural Economics: Everything You Know about Donor Decision Making is Wrong” at the AFP International Fundraising Conference (Baltimore, March 29-31, 2015), Ross told me the duo will show attendees how they can apply the work of Dr. Daniel Kahneman, author of the bestseller Thinking, Fast and Slow, to better understand their prospects and donors and, thereby, enhance their fundraising efforts.

Kahneman, a psychologist who won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, says we have two complementary processes by which we make decisions in life, including fundraising decisions. He refers to these as System 1 and System 2. System 1 operates automatically and quickly, like an autopilot. System 2 allocates attention to effortful, conscious mental activities. We think System 2 is at work most of the time; however, Kahneman has found it is, in fact, System 1.

Ross asserts:

Hutson and I believe that Kahneman’s insights are the next big thing in fundraising.”

Ross observes that most fundraising professionals think donors are making rational judgments when they are not. Think of the old sales axiom: “People buy based on emotion then justify, after the fact, with logic.” A similar process is often involved with philanthropic decision-making.

Donors make philanthropic decisions based on six to eight key mental heuristics — or System 1 short cuts — that we all use. Ross says that fundraisers can learn these heuristics and use them to transform response rates, gift sizes, and more. In their session, Hutson and Ross will introduce participants to these key heuristics and show them how that knowledge is being used to remarkable effect by charities around the world.

3 Mistakes You Make When You Meet Prospects

If you’re like most fundraising professionals, you make three costly mistakes whenever you meet with prospects and donors.

That insight comes from Robert Fogal, PhD, ACFRE, CAP, Founder and Principal of Fogal Associates and creator of StyleWise™. Below, Fogal identifies those three common mistakes and shares his ideas for how you can avoid making them.

In addition, Fogal will share further advice in his seminar “Achieving Effective Interpersonal Relations: How to Lead Others by Managing Ourselves” at the AFP International Fundraising Conference (Baltimore, March 29-31, 2015). If you can’t make it to the AFP Conference, you can purchase a recording of the session following the Conference.

Fogal will also lead a Spring 2015 Program involving two six-hour workshops and five one-hour individual coaching sessions to help fundraising professionals benefit from the StyleWise™ system. The StyleWise™ Program balances conceptual learning with practical application so you can be “wise” about knowing and using your “style” of personality. Fogal designed the Program to help you more effectively motivate donors. You can learn more about The StyleWise™ Program by clicking here.

So, what’s the thinking behind this and what are the three mistakes you’re probably making now? Here’s what Fogal tells us:

 

The comment on the evaluation form for the AFP chapter presentation on person-centered communication went like this:

Maybe I’ve been in the industry longer than most (30 years), but I feel that a good development officer has already found this out by hard knocks or is very intuitive on their [sic] own.”

There’s a lot of truth in that statement. And that’s how our field operated for most of the 20th century. (One wag suggested that the reason why we ask for “X” years of experience in job postings is that we want candidates to have made most of their mistakes on someone else’s payroll.)

Most organizations, however, no longer allow employees to learn primarily through hard knocks. It takes too much time, and is too costly. Yet, we all know (supposedly) that effective relationships, which take time, lead to the gifts most meaningful to both the donor and the organization.

So, caught in a difficult situation, we too often commit cardinal errors in relationship building.

1. We don’t listen very carefully to prospects because we talk too much.

We’ve known for decades how easy it is to overwhelm someone in a conversation — especially when we’re nervous or stressed, or super enthusiastic. The old saw is true — the person who talks the least is the one who manages the conversation. But, more important than controlling the conversation is the reality that when we talk too much, we communicate that what the other person has to say isn’t important.

I am acquainted with some fundraisers who rightfully advocate how the case for support is central to successful fundraising. Their problem, however, is that they overwhelm prospects by reciting the case — the whole thing, sometimes — in their eagerness to interpret their causes.

This leads me to the second mistake.

Want a FREE Book? How about 2 FREE Books?

From time to time, I come across truly special offers that I’m pleased to share with you.

Today, I want to give you the chance to get not one, but two, FREE books about planned giving written by Texas Tech University researcher Russell James, JD, PhD, CFP:

Visual Planned Giving: An Introduction to the Law & Taxation of Charitable Gift Planning

This textbook is written specifically for fundraisers or financial advisors seeking to expand their knowledge about charitable gift planning. This introductory book addresses all of the major topics in planned giving law and taxation and features over 1,000 full-color illustrations and images that guide you through complex concepts in a visual and intuitive way. Distilled from his years of teaching Charitable Gift Planning at the undergraduate and graduate levels, James makes this topic accessible and enjoyable for the busy professional.

Here are some of the things you’ll learn:

• The secret to understanding planned giving

• A super simple introduction to taxes

• How to document charitable gifts

• Valuing charitable gifts of property

• Special techniques for donating retirement assets, private foundations and donor advised funds

• And much more!

The paperback version of this book retails for $187.98. However, you can get the electronic version for FREE thanks to my friends at MarketSmart, just click here.

American Charitable Bequest Demographics

This book provides an extensive review of the changing nature of American charitable estate planning from 1992-2012 and includes over 50 charts and graphs. James presents information in a simple, visual fashion with each page containing a graph or chart, comments on the importance of the information, and details about the methodology behind the data. Much of the information presented comes from a long-running, nationally-representative, longitudinal survey including information about the final estate distributions from over 10,000 survey respondents who have died during the study.

• Major sections include:

• National demographic trends

• Trends in charitable plans among those aged 55+

• Examination of matured plans of deceased respondents

• Timing of charitable plan changes

• And much more!

The electronic version of this book retails for $9.99. However, thanks to James, you can get it for FREE when you subscribe to this blog site in the right-hand column. You’ll receive an email confirmation of your subscription that will contain a link to the book. (I recognize that your privacy is important, so I assure you that your email address will never be sold.)

Now that I’ve saved you a bundle of money, I’d like to suggest some books you can purchase that will inspire and help you achieve greater results. When you make your purchase, usually at a discount, at The Nonprofit Bookstore (powered by Amazon), a portion of every sale will be donated to charity.

Stephen Pidgeon: What’s Holding Back Your Legacy Fundraising?

What is one of the major things holding back your legacy fundraising efforts?

It’s your own naivety.

You might not like that answer, but it’s the conclusion reached by veteran fundraising expert Stephen Pidgeon, the author of How to Love Your Donors (to Death). Pidgeon will be sharing his insights at the AFP International Fundraising Conference (Baltimore, March 29-31, 2015) in his session, “Bequest Asks: Getting it Right.”

So, why does Pidgeon think many fundraising professionals are naïve?

Because THEY don’t like to think about death, [fundraising professionals] assume everyone else is the same. Well, older people (those in their late 50’s and older) do think about death, and they do it perfectly maturely and with no fuss. And the older they get the more unexceptional it becomes. Indeed, supporters are often hugely grateful for the opportunity to make such a major contribution, albeit after they have died. It is a matter of immense pride to them that they have made the decision and sorted their affairs.

“I’d ask what right has some well paid, youthful charity executive (meaning in their mid-50s or younger!) to deny their best supporters the opportunity of such deep satisfaction. That’s patronising age-ism and when you get into your 60’s or older, nothing is more irritating. Casually mentioning the possibility of a bequest in a newsletter that is read by less than 20 percent of its circulation is NOT ‘…giving your best supporters the opportunity…’!”

The key when speaking with people about bequest giving is to do so in the right way. After all, you’re not helping them plan their funeral; you’re helping them build their legacy. (Be sure to read my post “One Word is Costing Your Fundraising Effort a Fortune” about the latest research findings reported by Dr. Russell James.)

Pidgeon also identifies another problem with bequest marketing: