Learn about fundraising planning and projects with Susan Kahan of Sapphire Fundraising Specialists.

transcript:

great hello and welcome to our impactful

projects and planning micro training

series I'm Jamie asdani for today's

session we've got Susan Khan of sapphire

fundraising specialist here to talk

about fundraising planning and projects

so welcome Susan thanks for joining me

thanks Jamie it's so great to be with

you today thanks

um so tell us a little bit about your

work about your company you know what

impact are you hoping to create for your

clients yeah well again thank you so

much for this opportunity I'm a big fan

of what you do know you're excellent at

what you do so it's great to get to talk

to you about planning and projects and

especially as it relates to fundraising

and so as you said I am the founder and

principal of sapphire fundraising

specialist and I work with non-profits

on their fundraising so that might be

strategy that might be operations that

could be major gifts Capital campaigns

but really it's about how can

non-profits raise more money and also

keep the donors that they currently have

especially individual donors and so

that's what I work with them on and I do

that through Consulting through training

through coaching and you know when I

think about impact and I'm curious about

what you think too Jamie but is so much

of fundraising has to do with confidence

and confidence in soliciting is super

important so I really work with my

clients on increasing the confidence of

course having the tools in their tool

kit on what to do and strategies when

meeting with donors and preparing for

those meetings and how to follow up in

Steward but a lot of it really comes

back to confidence

and the other thing is about that I hope

my clients get from our time together is

Clarity around messaging

um you know saying we need money is is

not a good message it doesn't

um you know I just saw someone else was

talking about I think Austin from Pixel

lights he was talking about on the

website how you know if you were to have

show your website to someone else and

you didn't have the brand or anything

there would it just be a generic website

and it wouldn't

you know it just looks like any other

nonprofit and it's the same thing when

it comes to fundraising it can't just be

we need more money we need it by you

know December 31st you need to make it

clear what's the need what's your why

and so to really get some clarity around

that and that's what I hope my clients

get from me wonderful yeah I think

confidence

that's something that I try to work on

with project coaching clients and when

I'm training folks on project management

too

um because I think you know people need

to have a little bit of confidence to be

able to manage teams well and to really

feel comfortable but I also think you

know project management is all about

communication which is kind of that

messaging piece

um so I think there's some some overlaps

there yeah so I have heard you say that

um

you focus on helping executive directors

development directors make an actionable

and achievable plan for their

fundraising campaign so can you talk a

little bit more about how you approach

developing fundraising plans yes well

Jamie I know you know this too and I

think a lot of our audiences as well is

that each non-profit is just a little

bit different you know they have

different strengths they have different

Staffing different more staff in

different departments different budgets

different Boards of directors obviously

different missions different locations

so when it comes to a plan I really

think it's important to think about all

of those things because fundraising

can't just be done by the executive

director or the director of development

or even just the development team

everyone needs to be clear about how are

we going to raise the money for this

organization so that we can operate and

that's again why we raise the money is

because we need it to operate so when it

comes to putting together a plan and

again Jamie you're the real expert on

planning is how do you think about these

different elements the different

strengths the different weaknesses and

how do you make smaller

um goals in order to achieve results so

for example let's say a non-profit has a

goal of raising 10 million dollars for

the year

great

um but how do you actually do that you

know

um so you would start by thinking about

the different streams of Revenue so that

could be from companies that could be

from foundations that could be events it

could be from individuals

um it could be from other income that

the organization brings in and thinking

through each one and and

bringing down to a smaller goal so

you're 10 million now you're at 2

million for individuals okay and then

from there you think about what is the

renewed money or the money that you

think will come again from the same

people that came in last year what how

much do you think that will be and then

break it down even further on who those

people are and who maybe could even be

an increased gift

and then you have it I'm usually a

difference a new money you need and then

you could think about a strategy around

okay how do we bring in that new money

so you know you take that big goal of 10

million dollars and then you might go

into really specifics of okay we're

gonna go all the way down to we want to

bring in a hundred thousand dollars in

new money from people who are giving

under 500 and you have a plan then for

that so instead of just thinking how do

we raise 10 million you're going down

into all these different strategies and

then going forward from there so you

know you want to make it achievable that

you know if we're going to get to 10

million we've got to figure out what we

can do to get there but it's really got

to be

um those one piece at a time

um

but also a comprehensive comprehensive

annual plan

how do you think that's great yeah so I

really love that because I think that

hits some key points

um you know one of my things that I

really feel strongly about when it comes

to things like strategic planning is

that you have to know how you're going

to get there the plan doesn't really

matter and then from I from a project

management perspective I think project

management is really good at that

planning at that operational kind of

logistical level and so you have a goal

how are you going to get there but I

think one of the things that people are

often surprised about when it comes to

project management is working backwards

from a deliverable is how you actually

get your project plan

um and so you know like you said you've

got 10 million as this big picture goal

but if you're gonna do two million from

a certain type of donor in a certain way

working backwards from that to get a

plan I think is what is so important

because otherwise people don't know how

to get there and I also I think

sometimes when you have that bigger goal

thinking about all of the ways that

you're going to get to that 10 million

and trying to plan it all and sort of

this is what we're going to do for this

whole year can be really overwhelming

for people but if you break it into

those smaller pieces and say well how

are we going to get this 2 million or

how you know and then how are we going

to approach this campaign makes a whole

lot of sense yeah and the other thing I

mean and it's different for a startup or

a relatively new organization but for

organizations that have been around I

think the other thing when it comes to

being actionable and achievable is

reviewing the past and I know you are

all about you know project reviews in

that okay what worked what didn't work

what did our donors find interest in

what didn't they find interest in I mean

there have been times where I you know

had an idea and I thought it was

brilliant and it was going to be super

successful and guess what it tamed and

you know we all have those you know

again not every idea is a great idea but

sometimes you need to test it to see how

it works and then take that feedback and

do better the next time so again if

you're at a 10 million dollar

organization chances are you already

raised you know hopefully at least 8

million last year so

um how did you do that and what worked

what didn't so it's take but thinking

about if you're going to grow you're

going to raise more money or or whatever

it might be where are the areas that

could be growing and looking back at

what was successful in the past and how

do we do more of that the things that

weren't working as well which is not

always so easy to assess and say you

know this actually isn't

a string for us and say maybe we should

do less of this or maybe we need to

change it or revise it

yeah those retrospectives are

kind of critical project management kind

of 101 sort of Basics but they are so

useful and I do think when we apply that

to fundraising projects you're not just

looking at the number did we meet the

fundraising goal you're looking at all

of those other pieces about how you

approached working together

um you know what what some of the

specifics were around the larger project

and whether it was useful and what you

can do with that again exactly

so I also like that your services focus

on a broad range of donors including

mid-level donors and Legacy giving so

why would you say it's important for

organizations to have a more

comprehensive and inclusive approach to

fundraising

yeah so similar to what we were just

talking about in that you know some

things may be working and some things

maybe not but you really want to have a

comprehensive inclusive approach because

also

there's a lot of changes that can happen

to an organization within a year and

usually we talk about fundraising

annually

um not always but generally and so you

know whether it's a change to the need

of the organization there could be

environmental changes like let's say

there's a global pandemic and it changes

everything in the world you know that

it's hard to plan for

um there could be changes to donor

styles for instance we are seeing more

and more people give online more and

more need to give online Direct Mail is

going down

um worse things you know you might have

staff changes so the okay go on there's

so for sustainability purposes you real

and a stability you want to have income

coming from multiple places

now the other the other thing I will say

is that

you know people ask me how do I find my

next big major donor and I would say

have you looked in your database who's

giving a mid-level gift who's you know

consistently giving to you or what if

you know I also hear a lot

um all of our major donors are over the

age of 70. and I'm like

well I'm gonna tell you that they are

not going to be around forever and

either you need to find a way to replace

their giving

and you also should talk to them about

Legacy gift because unfortunately

this may be a spoiler alert but people

don't live forever and so you can't take

your money with you and so Legacy giving

is a way for someone to give when

they're no longer around but they care

about the legacy of that issue and that

mission and that organization and that

work so all of these different things

help for stability because

the other thing I'll say is that a lot

of non-profits will have at least 80 20

rule when it comes to revenue eighty

percent of the revenue comes from 20 of

their donors and then when one of their

top donors who's giving you know a

significant amount of money

let's say that donors decides I'm not

going to give any more let's say a

foundation is like we're changing our

scope of focus and we're going to you

know

we we we're not investing in this area

anymore you're out of luck and so you

need to find other areas to make up that

giving so that's by having that diverse

pool helps to stabilize as they're

inevitably going to be changes

how do you think about

um you know that

no knowing that there are unknowns how

do you plan for how do you think about

playing football so yeah I mean I think

like you said having a more

comprehensive plan and thinking about

all the pieces when I talk to folks

about

project planning I always talk about

being really broadly inclusive when

you're thinking about who your

stakeholders are and I think this is you

know kind of what you're talking about

that instead of focusing and putting 80

percent of your energy

um into thinking about a couple of of

donors who may or may not

um stick with you or may develop

different priorities thinking about all

of the types of people that you might be

able to get as donors and I love the

idea of looking

kind of at those mid-level folks as

people that you can be cultivating to

maybe be a major donor leader making

sure that you're cultivating your your

major donors for that Legacy giving

you're almost creating a pipeline a

giving timeline right um that people can

use throughout kind of their

relationship with the organization

so from a project management and kind of

implementation planning perspective

having a clear and consistent process

for fundraising activities can be really

helpful what processes do you recommend

organizations use throughout the year

great question

um where to begin I think the first

thing that I always say when it comes to

fundraising is track everything

you may think you will remember a

conversation you have with a donor

I guarantee one month now you might

remember you spoke to them you might

remember some of it but you won't

remember most of the details write those

notes in your database first of all you

should have a database and you should

put your notes in your database and

because a year from now you're

definitely not going to remember when

you spoke to them what you spoke to

someone about and also we know that

non-profits there is Staff turnover and

so help you know your successors you

know whenever that successor may come in

with knowing this information about

donors

but beyond just a one-on-one

conversations what emails do you send

from a mass perspective what were the

open rates what were the click rates

what were the conversion rates to

donations Gathering all that information

what social media you know all of it and

saying you know we did an event who did

we invite how did we ever all of these

pieces that seem really granular

again you're hoping for sustainability

and long-term financial success and

therefore that means every year you're

going to do something so why not look

back on what you did in Prior years to

see successes see you know less than

successes and and build off of that so

track everything would be my number one

thing when it comes to project planning

the second thing is that you can't think

of fundraising

um one time and that donors just want to

be in touch one time I I joke that no

one wants to be thought of as money bags

and just you know you come to me you

know you need my annual gift and then

you you know we never are in touch again

like no one wants to be seen that way

and so it's important that after a

donation is made that's when like the

real work comes in with that donors how

do you keep them to coming back to you

how do you give them updates I was just

talking to someone and she said that she

was part of a capital campaign she gave

a gift and they um did an update on

where they were they weren't done they

hadn't completed the full campaign but

they were the people who had already

given they gave them an update saying

here's what we're doing already with the

money you've invested and she was like I

kind of want to give it even more

because I I feel some ownership towards

so when people feel connected they will

give more and they can't just be one

time that you're talking about it and

one time you're talking to them so it's

got to be a year-long thing

and the final thing when it comes to

consistency is that I think

100 of your staff and 100 of your board

of directors needs to honor respect and

support efforts to raise money and

whatever that might be that might be

different but people need to understand

that people who people companies

foundations government whatever that

give money to this non-profit it's a

voluntary thing they don't have to do it

and without that funding the

organization does not exist so it's

important that there is thinking about

how do we include the investors to the

organization so that we can keep

retaining that money and and grow

great yeah I think you know it I'm

seeing I see so many parallels which is

of course yeah of course this

conversation between fundraising um and

you know a lot of kind of good project

management best practice and

particularly when I'm working with

non-profits and mission-driven

organizations I always say that we have

to do our communication planning for a

project first like as soon as you figure

out who the people are you have to do

communication planning often it's left

till the end it's like oh here's

everything we're gonna do then let's

think about how we're going to tell

people about it I think that

communication piece has to come really

early

um and that's kind of embedded in the

the three things that you were just

talking about and particularly how are

you going to document information

um you know how are you going to keep

engaging people how are you going to

give updates that's often the thing we

asked for help from people whether it's

a project or a fundraising campaign but

then don't tell them what happens like

what you know I gave you my time I gave

you my money

what are you doing and I I sometimes

think to you know people are afraid of

saying well we got delayed or whatever

you know I think you just want to be

transparent and kind of honest with

people

um and so yeah I feel like when I hear

from organizations that I donate to

about what they're actually doing not

just another ask

um it does make me want to give more it

makes me want to continue that

relationship I can see where my money or

my time is going yeah and and you know I

I focus primarily with individuals who

give money so not the companies or not

the foundations but you know individuals

I don't care how wealthy the person is

you know what level of supporter they

are their people and and and and people

want to be generous especially to things

they care about so you know when you're

thinking about you're giving updates

people hopefully if they gave money oh

again hopefully they feel good about it

and you can go back and remind them and

say remember how you did this thing let

me tell you how much it means to us and

what we're already doing with it so and

even if it's you know it doesn't have to

be big sometimes really small things you

know we help this one person or let me

tell you this one story of this one

change that was made or something can be

really intimate and Powerful so I think

that that regular updates and again

it makes people feel more connected and

when you have your stakeholders like you

were saying Jamie when all these

different stakeholders feel connected to

a project and the success and the

outcome they're going to continue to

support and Advocate and help you

whenever you can versus if you ask

someone for something whether that's a

gift or their time or you know something

and then you never follow up with them I

mean that doesn't feel real good you

know so you always want to

um

you know I I had a boss once who told me

you always want to win the race you want

to get back to someone with the

information before they ask you hey did

you ever get get that information on

something you want to win the race with

your communication and get to someone

first

um so that they don't have to ask you

that question when they've already asked

you so that's the other thing I think

about when it comes to all year long is

how can you win the it's it's a you know

it's a it's a long-term race we're in

with our donors and you want to make

sure that they

they feel good about giving I think I

think that's the other big thing is that

you don't want some you don't want them

to feel like oh my arm was twisted and I

gave a gift that I didn't really want to

give because chances are they're not

going to give again versus they feel

good about it and they feel supported by

the organization and they continue to

hear about great updates because again

it's something they probably really care

about that's why they gave it

yeah I think we tend to focus on telling

people what we're going to do both in

projects on fundraising and then don't

follow up with what we actually did

which I think is so critical to

continuing that relationship

um so

Susan if folks have questions for you or

are there ways that they they should

reach out to you connect with you yeah

well um again Jamie thank you so much

for bringing me on it's so good to talk

to you

um and if people want to reach me they

can contact me either on LinkedIn my

name is on the screen Susan Khan

k-a-h-a-n and they can message me or

follow me or connect with me there

um they can also email me I'm Susan

sapphirefundraisingspecialist.com and I

can put that in the comments um because

I know it's a little long and my website

is also

sapphirefundraisingspecialist.com and

and I think the link will be there and

um people can connect with me that way

wonderful well thank you so much for

participating in our impactful projects

and planning micro training series

folks can visit yes donnyconsulting.com

IPP to view all of the sessions in this

series there's also a link to Susan's

website and I think her LinkedIn for the

information about this micro training

and you can go to that website and learn

more about our upcoming micro training

so thank you

thank you

All