Hoht Rachmones!

I make a habit of reading every solicitation letter that I recieve. Everything from the No. 10 envelope to the reply card makes an impact on the reader, and so I find it fascinating to have look at what other mosdos are trying to capture the donors attention and money.

I recently received a beautifully done direct mail appeal from a prominent, local mosad. Everything was al osar - there was definitely a lot of money dropped on making sure that the envelopes, letter and reply card were professionally and beautifully done. I have no way of knowing what the returns were on this particular campaign, but I suspect they'll be mediocre.  

Why? No rachmones on the donor.

The appeal itself was huge blocks of text written in small font. There was some kind of inspirational story in there, together with some jive about guiding the next generation - I don't know... Well written, pretty, but also very hard on the eyes and a burden upon the reader. 

There are many practices and techniques that help to ensure readability in direct mail and other solicitation materials, but that's not what I'm hokking just now. My real point is that quality communication is more essential than ever, while quantity - especially in the Twitter age - is fast becoming harmful. Here's a few points to remember to have rachmones on your donors:

1. Be Concise : Time is valuable. When you communicate with donors about giving, always get to the point promptly. Long hakdomes do nothing for your presentation, and are almost always tiresome. Contrary to our intuition, lengthy presentations are less convincing that those that are concise and focused.

Enter the Gvir

During one of my many misadventures, I worked with the rosh of a mid-size mossad in Brooklyn. He was charismatic, intelligent, energetic and good with people - all the maalos. Nonetheless fundraising was anemic and very labored.

I don't suppose that it was any fault of his, he certainly was being as responsible as he could. He did, in fact, manage to pay quite a few bills by hitting the pavement. But it wouldn't last. He was spending too much energy, and neglecting too many responsibilities to be able to continue that path for long.

Enter... the Gvir.

The Gvir begrudgingly agreed to get involved with fundraising on a "my-way-or-the-highway" basis. The Gvir has much on his plate, little time, and zero patience for BS. Because he's a maven in business, he knows the right players.

He doesn't prepare a thing. He has no game plan, finesse, or shame. He calls donors on their cell phones on Sunday night and doesn't apologize. He asks for money after eleven seconds of small talk. If they decline, he gets angry and asks again, only not politely.

Fundraising on Commission

The yiddishe velt is the last stronghold of commission fundraising and, no, that's not good news. 

Commission-based fundraising is shunned as unethical in every sector of the non-profit world, and for good reason. 

This article by Kim Klein for Grassroots Fundraising Journal is a very complete overview on everything that's wrong with our meshulach centric fundraising.

One important point that I feel was omitted: A fundraiser that makes his living from commission knows that his own relationship with the mossad is temporary. He therefore has every incentive to make sure that the donors are his and not the mossad's. This is the dark side of the (only half-true) people-give-to-people mantra. 

Raising Money from Jews

This article by Bob Aronson is very well done.

Honestly, I'm not as down as he is on the frame of mind of most yiddishe mosdos:

"Most Jewish fundraisers earnestly believe that the organizations they work for are so important that they are automatically entitled to the donor’s money...

"Jewish fundraisers are too bus focusing on themselves and what they want as opposed to what the donors want. Non-Jewish organizations don’t make this mistake...

"[Cultivating donors]  depends on face-to-face appointments and the development of long-term relationships of trust and mutual respect... This, more than anything, is problematic for Jewish fundraisers, who have monthly quotas to meet, gifts to close and annual campaigns to complete. They simply do not have the time, or often the skill, to develop relationships with donors, especially new ones."

I think he'd have to agree that any hospital or university fundraiser wouldn't last till lichtbenchen if he had to raise money for your average Boro Park mosad. The needs of aigeneh are very many, very urgent and very personal.

The Development Professionals I have met from mainstream organizations enjoy a level of support and resources that yiddishe fundraisers have never, ever known. The differences are so profound that I believe it's wrong to compare the two.

That said, this is totally on the money:

"As Jewish fundraisers, we must continue to follow our hearts. But to be successful, this is simply no longer good enough. It’s one reason why there are so few successful Jewish fundraisers and every organization is scrambling to find one.

"The rules have changed, but we’re still living in the 1970s. It is imperative that we adapt, change our organizational goals and train our professionals differently, or we’ll face a future of increasing anachronism and irrelevance."

Read it.

The Numbers Game

Everyone knows that fundraising is a numbers game. Meeting with 20 people is good, meeting with 200 is better. And if we could just have the emotional and physical energy to go door-to-door selling our cause - hey! - what could be better?!

Actually, that's not fundraising. That's what here in NYC they call schnoring. You might as well be wandering through the garment district with a tin can trying to build the Jewish Homeland in Palestine. Charity, fundraising and the American public have all come quite a long way since 1947. So has the "numbers game".