June 19, 2004
Based on Jeff Schreifel’s written recommendations followed by teleconference call June 16 with David, Jeff, John, Jonathan and Marie Labbe.
Deliberation Process: Ad hoc fundraising committee to have telephone conference call after June 27 to discuss these proposed priorities and plan. In the mean time, please share any comments regarding this proposal with John via email. During the annual meeting, we will develop priorities and plans through December.
Please refer to Jeff’s Fundraising Audit for details of his recommendations
1) Send Fund appeal (written by David & reviewed by Jeff) by July 2nd, which includes invite to BB 6th Annual Open Meeting. They will play up seal of approval by Charity Navigator and encourage people to invite friends to help BB. - David, Jonathan, John
2) Produce and mail fall newsletter by September 1, which will be reviewed by Jeff. – Kent and David
3) Re-activate lapsed donors – Jonathan to generate report of names and giving histories of lapsed donors and John (or possibly board member?) to telephone them. (See reverse for proposed plan of script and strategy).
4) Acquire new donors - 1) John to be vendor representing BB at Conference of Major Superiors of Men and Leadership Conference of Women Religious in Fort Worth (August) and at National Coalition of Education Activists in Philadelphia, 2) Fund appeal will invite people to encourage friends to get involved, and 3) John (or possibly board member) will telephone givers to thank them and ask them if they have any friends who might be interested in helping BB. - David and John
5) Analyze donors and determine what they are giving to, how they were recruited and what compels them to give so often. Jonathan will produce report and John (or possibly board member) will telephone people who meet criteria in point 6. (See proposed script and strategy on reverse). - Jonathan, John, Board member(s)?
6) Develop and implement Major Donor Strategy – Jonathan to develop report, face to face visits will be encouraged with people who have given over $6,000 during the last two years and telephone calls to all who have given $1,000 or more during the last 12 months. Also, perhaps send handwritten thank you notes. - Jonathan, John, David, and possibly board members
7) Pursue with Laura Hutton and other graphic designers toward redesigning newsletter appearance and engage in dialogue with all staff toward modifying content (Program coordinators to take greater responsibility) – David, Kent and Shelly
8) Engage in dialogue toward creating “transformational transcripts” or “ministry papers” that minister to N. American donors. The purpose would be to provide continuing insights from David and people in field. – David and Kent
9) Begin developing during BB 6th Annual Open Meeting, a matching grant fund appeal for next calendar year which has a clear strategy for making it easy for donors to recruit others to help BB. – David and Kent
10) Place on every receipt year-to-date giving and lifetime total giving. – Jonathan
11) Write memo to BB board and LL staff, which encourages them to partner with one another—LL program coordinator with board member--so that each program has a board liaison. The memo will include suggestions for managing this partnership. John will follow-up by meeting with LL program coordinators during his visit in August and by telephoning and/or meeting face to face with board members. David and John
Telephone Calls Toward Learning and Re-activate Lapsed Donors
Jonathan will provide John with names, numbers and giving histories of people who have not given to BB for 18 months or longer, and who previously had given more than $500 total.
John’s message will be: I’m John Engle with Beyond Borders. I’m in the U.S. now, after spending the last ten years in Haiti. Beyond Borders wants to strengthen our connection with our supporters and better know how donors perceive us. Toward this end, I’m telephoning folks like you who have not contributed to BB for more than a year and a half. I’m wondering if you would be willing to take a couple of minutes and share with me what your experience has been with BB as a supporter? For instance, it would help us out a great deal to learn if there was something we did, or did not do, which led you to not contribute to BB?
(Allow time for response, listen intently, invite to expound on any points that are not clear or which seem really important.) Finish up by thanking them greatly for all that they’ve contributed in the past as well as for their time right now. Then, before closing, invite them to share with my BB co-workers any counsel or advice that they, as someone who has participated with us in ministry, have for us. And, if it feels appropriate, ask them if they’d be willing to consider supporting BB again in the future. Follow up call with a simple handwritten thank you on a banana bark card and handwritten address.
Strategy when I don’t get the person on the phone: Leave a message on voicemail/answering machine introducing myself, purpose of my call and inviting them to return my call, and that if I don’t hear from them in a couple of days, I will try again. Try again a second time after three days. If I get voice mail/answering machine, again, introduce myself and state purpose of my call. Then, let them know that I won’t be trying again, but invite them to call me back. Thank them for supporting BB in the past and for considering helping us now by sharing their experience with us as a supporter.
Telephone Calls to Major and Substantial Donors
Jonathan will provide John with names and numbers and giving histories of people who have given more $6,000 during the last two years and people who have given more than a $1,000 during the last twelve months.
John’s message will be: I’m John Engle with Beyond Borders. I’m in the U.S. now, after spending the last ten years in Haiti. Most importantly, I want to thank you for generously supporting our work/ministry. We are grateful to you! But I’m also calling out of Beyond Borders desire to strengthen our connection with our supporters and better know how people like you perceive us. Would you be willing to take a couple of minutes and share with me a bit about your experience with BB as a contributor? For instance, what led you to begin giving and what is it that you most appreciate about BB? Listen and invite them to expound on points that aren’t clear or that seem really important. Depending upon how much they’re giving and the nature of the conversation, say: I’d love to visit with you to talk more and to learn more about you. Might this be possible? Also, during the conversation, invite them to share with my BB co-workers any counsel or advice that they, as someone who participates with us in ministry, have for us. And, ask them if they know someone who might want to help BB, financially, as a volunteer, or in another way. Ask them to if they have considered visiting Haiti with BB. Make sure that they are aware of BB’s Transformational Travel program.
Strategy when I don’t get the person on the phone: Leave a message on voicemail/answering machine introducing myself, purpose of my call and inviting them to return my call and that if I don’t hear from them in a couple of days, I will try again. Try again a second time after three days. If I get voice mail/answering machine, again, introduce myself and state purpose of my call. Then, let them know that I won’t be trying again, but invite them to call me back. Thank them for supporting BB and for considering helping us now by sharing their experience with us as a supporter.
Questions: Are their members of board who would like to help with these calls? Are their members of board who would like to help write thank you notes for supporters? In what ways would board members like to help us gain new supporters and strengthen connections with existing supporters?
back to BeyondBorders
back to opening page: TheExperimentWiki
go to: http://BeyondBorders.net
go to: http://TheExperiment.info