Including Fundraising Event Info in Nonprofit Annual Reports

This question came in last week to AskKivi.com:

“Should we include articles and photos of our fundraising events over the last year in our annual report? Based on your “Seven Easy Steps to Writing a Great Annual Report“, I would say no since it is an activity, not an accomplishment. What do you say?”

– Sally Coates, Episcopal Charities

Here’s what I told Sally:

I generally discourage it, with three exceptions: (1) You can clearly connect the fundraising event to an accomplishment, e.g., the money raised at the event paid for xyz, which resulted in xyz. You should still lead with the accomplishment, but you can talk about the fundraising for it a few paragraphs into the section. (2) Fundraising event photos are the only decent photos you have. Event photos are better than no photos at all. (3) You include the text and photos in the financial section of the report.

Do you have questions about nonprofit annual reports? Visit my site www.NonprofitAnnualReports.net and if you don’t find your answer there, send me a message at AskKivi.com.

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Is Using Mr. and Mrs. in Donor Lists Sexist?

A few months ago, I got a bit huffy when I saw that my husband and I were listed in a local nonprofit’s annual report as “Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Miller” for a donation we’d made. I’ve been living in a small town in the South for five years, so I guess I should be used to being relegated to “wife of” status by now, but my Berkeley feminist roots were pinched. I chalked it up to the cultural and generational divide between Boomer and older age groups (who make up the board of directors of the group and probably most of its donors) and my cohorts in Generation X who were raised to expect equality in all aspects of life.

I didn’t think about it again until the ever loyal husband told me he had informed the development director of the group about my little dining room outburst and disappointment in the group for not taking what I considered to be a more modern approach to their donor list. The next solicitation letter we received from the group a few weeks later was addressed to Mrs. Kivi Miller and Mr. Edgar Miller.

This issue came up again recently when I was working on a client’s annual report. Because of the way their database was set up, the donor lists included entries like “Mr. and Mrs. John Smith” and “Sally Jones and James Smith.” About half of the entries used Mr. and Mrs. and the others didn’t. In other words, if the two people who donated together were not married or the woman had kept her maiden name, she was included by name in the donor list. If she had taken her husband’s name, she was not. The staff noticed this aberration and spent a few days rejiggering their database reports to create a new list that included the first names of both partners, regardless of marital status. In this particular case, all Mr. and Mrs. courtesy titles were removed from the list. This particular group is very progressive, as are their donors, and it was definitely the right decision for that group.

So what should you do in your annual report?

I recommend that you list donors however they request to be listed. If someone fills out a donation slip with Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Miller, then print it that way. If they complete the form like we always do (Kivi and Edgar Miller) then list them that way. I quickly reviewed about ten annual reports from major nonprofits this week and found the majority used a mixed list. I don’t know how they are deciding when to use the courtesy titles and when to use the first names of both partners, but I hope it’s based on the donors’ stated preference.

What do you think? Is using the courtesy titles with the husband’s first name only as the default style for a donor list still OK in 2007? Should both first names always be used sans titles? Or is a mixed list based on donor preference OK, even if it makes your list look a bit messy and inconsistent? You know how I feel. Tell me what you think.

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Amateur Writing = Amateur Org = No Money from Me

Last week I received an invitation to a fundraiser from a local American Red Cross chapter, and it really turned me off. Here is what part of the invitation said verbatim (except for the italics I added).

Fine Art Auction

The Auction will showcase 5 artists, and we will have a live auction with a variety of mediums: paintings, mosaics, hand made jewelry, pottery, wood turning, Photography and much, much more. Hors d’ oeuvres and cash wine bar.

Contact: a phone number, $25.00 adm.

Saturday March 17, 2007
6 pm - 10 pm limited reservations

The event location and address

I realize that as a professional writer and editor, I notice bad writing more than most people, but the sloppy style of this invitation is a real problem for me as a potential donor. If they can’t go through the trouble of producing a well-written invitation for what is supposed to be their major fundraiser, how careless would they be with my contribution?

So what’s wrong here? Lots.

–5 artists should be five artists. No matter what style guide you use, none of them recommend that you use a numeral in this case.

–Five artists are showcased, but there are more than five art forms. I suspect that more than five artists are donating to the silent auction, and I’d like to know whether that’s correct or not. If it is, what does it mean to be “showcased”?

–Inconsistent capitalization. Why is Auction capitalized and live auction not? Why is Photography capitalized, but the other art forms not? None of these words should be capitalized in my opinion, but it should be all or none.

–Hand made should be handmade. Look it up in the dictionary.

–They almost got bonus points for spelling hors d’oeuvres correctly, which is butchered all the time, but they put a space after the d’ where it doesn’t belong.

–A name or organization should be listed with the phone number. Am I calling the Red Cross or the place that is hosting?

–What is with $25.00 adm.? I assume this means that admission is $25, but why abbreviate it to adm.? $25.00 per person would be so much better.

–The date. They need a comma between Saturday and March. Saturday, March 17, 2007.

–The time and reservations. First, these should be on two separate lines, but more importantly, what does “limited reservations” mean? Can I only come if I RSVP? If so, by when do I need to RSVP? Or does this mean that a limited number of tables can be reserved while the rest are first-come, first-served that night? The invitation should be explicit about that.

A poorly photocopied insert with sponsor logos was tucked inside. You can tell that they put four or six on one page and cut them out. You can also tell that they held too many sheets at once when wielding the scissors, because one edge is all frayed, the cut is crooked, and the sponsor logos are off to one side and lopsided. Don’t get me started on the graphic design of the invitation.

And here’s another issue: March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day. It seems like that would be worth mentioning in some way. I can think of several possible taglines revolving around “luck” that would have worked for this.

Typos happen to the best of us (I missed two bad ones myself last week). Honest mistakes slip by from time to time. I hate the Grammar Gestapo too and am not trying to join them with this post. If I’d spotted only one or two problems, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it. But an invitation like this, with so many problems in so little space, is just pitiful.

I’m sure many people would defend the person who produced it with the refrain that all leaders of small organizations sing from time to time: “I’m one person. I can only do so much. I can’t be good at everything. Cut me some slack!” I hear ya, sister. But that only takes you so far.

If you aren’t good at writing or design, find a volunteer or board member who can do it for you. Or take an extra fifteen minutes to do it right yourself. Or hire a freelancer. When it counts, like on your major fundraising event materials, you need to get it right. Present yourself as an amateur and you are an amateur. I give money to professionals.

P.S. If all this looks too familiar, check out my two “Writing for the Real World” e-courses, “Making Your Writing Correct” and “Making Your Writing Clear and Concise.” They are designed for busy professionals who need a writing refresher. Registration is $99 and you can start the course any day you like.

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Connecting with Your Audience - A Fundraising Essential

There is no such thing as the “general public” in nonprofit communications, and especially in fundraising. From the core of your message to how you deliver it, your communications need to target specific people or at least specific groups of people. But if developing a targeted communications plan is a new concept for you, knowing where to start can be daunting.

Philanthropy Journal has just published a special report on fundraising that will push you in the right direction. Generalizations will only take you so far, but if you are lost, this report will definitely help you find a clear path.

Here are a few points from the report, based on the age of donors:

• Members of the generation born before World War II are civic-minded, see philanthropy as an obligation, and find an organization’s leadership to be important.
• Baby Boomers may not be major donors to begin with, but they want to to be courted personally and treated like they are. They also are not loyal, so retaining them as donors can be tough.
• “Generation X,” or people born from 1965 to 1980, prefer to donate to organizations that they’ve had operational experience with, so getting them involved in other ways is important. They also don’t have as much disposable income as other groups, because they are the group most likely to have school-aged children at home.
• Generation Y, or people born between 1980 and 1996, are, like the pre-World War II generation, civic-minded and want to change the world. They are also the most tech-savvy group, so cultivating online champions who can advocate on your behalf via blogs, social networking sites, etc. is key.

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Great Blog for Fundraising Copy and More

I decided to stop writing grant applications for clients a few years ago because I simply don’t enjoy that kind of writing. To cut down my reading pile (in paper and online), I stopped paying close attention to magazines, websites, etc. related to fundraising. But I’ve decided to move one fundraising blog on to the must-read list.

I am a huge fan of Jeff Brooks’ Donor Power Blog. Why? Because it’s all about focusing on your audience, which I must say 100 times during my various nonprofit writing workshops. While Jeff focuses on donors as the audience, practically everything I’ve read on his blog can also be applied to other groups that nonprofits must communicate with effectively.

Even if development work isn’t in your job description, if you are responsible for communicating with members, clients, partners, volunteers, elected officials, or your board, you’ll learn something from Donor Power Blog. You’ll also be entertained. Jeff’s recent posts on the group dynamic (How Bad Ideas Get Started and How to Stop Them, Fundraising’s Death by Committee) are so dead-on, I immediately started laughing as I pictured in my head all the various people I’ve dealt with over the years who fit his descriptions.

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How to Write Your Elevator Speech

Wake Forest University’s business school held its Seventh Annual Elevator Competition this weekend. Teams of business school students from around the country got two minutes on an elevator ride to pitch their million-dollar idea to a venture capitalist. The winners get a cash prize, free professional services, and a real meeting with a potential investor.

Wouldn’t it be great if the nonprofit sector had a similar contest? The winners could get meetings with program officers at some of the nation’s biggest foundations.

Philanthropy Journal offers the next best thing, I suppose. On their website and in their e-newsletters, the editors allow nonprofits to tell their story in 50 words or less. It’s a great opportunity and a valuable exercise for all nonprofits to try.

Here are a few tips for writing a 50-word blurb, or creating your elevator message. Remember, you only have 3-4 short sentences in total.

Don’t just repeat your mission statement. Mission statements are often “pie in the sky” or full of buzzwords that don’t actually say what you do.

Tell us what you do and who you do it for. Donors want to know how their support makes a difference on the ground.

Share a quantitative result. How many people did you help last year? How many acres did you save? Whatever it is you measure, throw in a stat about your accomplishments.

Provide some perspective. Put your work in context, in one sentence. Why is what you do so important? What’s the scale of the problem?

Spell out the opportunity. Complete this sentence: “With some additional resources, we could . . .”

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Website Where Donors Look for Annual Reports

I’ve been surprised by the number of nonprofits I’ve talked to who don’t realize that their IRS Form 990 is online for the world to see at GuideStar. This website is incredibly important for any nonprofit seeking funds from foundations or other savvy donors. I know some foundation officers who say they check GuideStar before they even read a nonprofit’s grant application and if the report isn’t good, the application goes straight to the recycle bin.

GuideStar offers nonprofits a great (and free) opportunity to supplement their 990s. They call it a GIF — Guidestar Information Form. It lets nonprofits add text about their mission, programs, and accomplishments to the report that the site generates. Failing to provide GuideStar with this information is a big mistake.

For a small fee ($10), nonprofits can also post PDFs of their annual reports, brochures, etc. This is another wonderful way to reach potential donors, many of whom will go to GuideStar before going to an organization’s website.

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