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When I’m not collaborating with nonprofits, I’m traveling the world. I have visited 46 countries (and counting). Beyond the interesting food, good people, and amazing cultures, my favorite thing about traveling is the opportunity to change my perspective. On a recent trip to Guatemala, I spent two full days on the wrong time zone (my watch and phone didn’t sync) and was two hours late for everything, but people were flexible and patient. This experience expanded my philosophy on time beyond our hyper-punctual American culture. I have worked on behalf of quite a few nonprofits over the years (over 75 nonprofits and counting), and, like my travel experiences, I’m finding that my perspective about major gifts is evolving with every nonprofit I partner with on fundraising strategy. During my days as a Major Gifts Officer, I spent time building relationships based on lists that were prioritized by their connection to the organization, interest in the mission, and—of course—capacity to make a “major” gift. I often started at the top of the list and looked for those who had a good mix of those factors (linkage, interest, and ability). Many organizations have traditionally defined major gift prospects by dollars. Some take a percentage of their total database (i.e. the top one percent of all annual gifts over the past five years), a specific dollar amount (all donors giving $1,000 or more), or the capacity ratings from a wealth screening. While these numbers are good indicators of what a donor can give, they don’t capture someone’s passion for the mission. These simple definitions can lead organizations to chase after phantom donors who gave a gift once or attended one event, but who show little-to-no current interest in the organization. Dollars are an important element of fundraising, but relationships are more complex than that. I have worked with organizations that have inspired me to rely less on simply dollars to define their major donors. Instead, I’m expanding my definition of major gifts to more substantially reflect engagement. Here are some of the elements of engagement and relationships that I encourage you to elevate in your organization’s major gifts formula (alongside the numbers): Volunteering and committee involvement (current and past) for your organization or other organizations In-kind donations (time and talent) Consistency in giving (how many consecutive annual gifts of any size has the donor made to the organization?) Recent event attendance Current and past board involvement You can start expanding your major donor prospect list by adding fields to your database for the above categories. Some organizations will assign numerical ratings to these categories to make sorting and prioritizing lists easier. For example, you could take each year they have served as a volunteer and assign one point. These categories will help you to uncover the supporters among you who are deeply passionate about your mission. You may just find that some of your most significant potential donors have been with you all along. Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about major giving. We’re here to connect.

I spent a lot of time last year taking the ferry boat back and forth to my engagement as interim development director at Bloedel Reserve, a 150-acre forest garden on Bainbridge Island. In addition to dining on ferry food and watching seagulls fly by, I thought about boats and how they relate to fundraising. Trust me, there’s a connection. In the shipyards of the Northwest, hundreds of boats are being constructed right now. Skilled builders are creating something new that wasn’t there before. They are welding and riveting steel to form the body of a ship and laying wires and pipes to support the internal systems that operate the boat. On its maiden voyage, the boat floats and the systems work together to propel the vessel forward. The boat is now under the command of a captain. While this captain doesn’t know how to build the boat, they are skilled at navigating to the right destination. In an ideal world, this is how fundraising would emerge and grow within an organization. Someone who specializes in building fundraising systems and infrastructure would come first and create what doesn’t exist. They are the Builders. After the builders create strong systems, structures, and fundraising culture, they pass the reins to different specialists. These people take the humming fundraising program and accelerate to the bigger goal: building relationships and connecting people with opportunities to invest in the mission. They are the Navigators. My 31 years in the nonprofit field have taught me that this ideal scenario is the exception, not the rule. Instead, many organizations either build their fundraising systems and culture on the fly or wing fundraising with very little structure. Often, this means Navigator fundraisers are building the structure for fundraising, when their real gifts are building relationships. This mismatch in skillsets leads to burnout and turnover. This is akin to asking boat captains to build their own boats. We need both Builder and Navigator Fundraisers at different points in an organization’s journey. Even if your fundraising program has been around awhile, there may be periods of growth (or stagnation) where a Builder fundraiser is necessary. Builder fundraisers are the unicorns of the fundraising world. They are hard to locate and identify in a hiring pool. A simpler solution is often hiring interim development staff who are specialists in Builder fundraiser skillsets. So, what special roles can Builder fundraisers or interim development staff play in your organization? Mentor: They fundraise through others by teaching fundraising skills and drawing out others’ strengths to create and expand a culture of philanthropy. They know you cannot fundraise alone. Analyst: They listen for and examine any underlying chronic disfunction like turnover or lack of board engagement. Leader: Once they isolate the causes of disfunction or inefficiency, they build support across the organization for lasting change. Designer: They get into the mundane—yet critical—details of fundraising structure. They create any systems, policies, procedures, or plans that are not in place to support fundraising like a database, recognition, annual fundraising plans, gift acceptance policies, etc. Visionary: In partnership with Board and staff leaders, they define opportunities for donors to invest in the mission. They help everyone articulate the tangible difference philanthropy makes for the community. Back to the ferry boat I mentioned in the beginning. My many trips across Puget Sound for the interim development director role at Bloedel Reserve added up to a fundraising boat that is now sailing full speed ahead. Here’s what the Board Chair shared at the end of our time together: “You helped us shape the development director’s role within Bloedel and then fulfilled it in such a way as to get the board and the rest of the staff to understand and accept it…Thanks so much for being a catalyst for change.” Like Bloedel, is it time for your organization to invest in building your fundraising ship so you can efficiently and effectively accelerate to your final destination, your organizational vision? Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about interim development staff. We’re here to connect.

This article was written by JeeYoung Dobbs. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. One of our campaign clients has been cultivating a relationship with a significant prospect for several years. They had several meetings, submitted proposals, and followed up with additional information to cultivate interest. They received word this spring that their request for nearly $1 million would be funded for their capital project. The donor? Washington State. We find that public funding, especially from state, county, and city sources, continues to anchor funding in many nonprofit capital projects. While interest in supporting capital can abruptly shift among specific individuals, corporations, and foundations, government steadily invests in nonprofit infrastructure (even considering 2017 when our state leaders failed to pass a capital budget). A sampling of our current and past campaign clients confirms this experience. The percentage of their capital campaign budgets that are funded by public sources (federal, state, county, and city) ranged from 23 to 65 percent. Some individual donors appreciate knowing that these projects—which create significant public good—are collaborations between the public and private sectors. Some comment they have greater confidence in the viability of a project if they know their gifts are being leveraged by significant public dollars. Yet, line items in budgets or public grants are not easy to secure. Just like individual, foundation, and corporate funding, securing funding from Uncle Sam is all about relationships, a strong vision, and well-planned project. If you are considering including public funding in your capital campaign budget, channel what you know works with your individual, corporate, and foundation prospects. Here are our three best pieces of advice for securing government funding during a capital campaign: Identify the Top Prospects Explore all the options available to your campaign based on location, project type, and sector: Federal: There is capital funding available at the federal level from places like National Endowment for the Arts. Senator Patty Murray has a comprehensive list of federal grants to peruse.  New Market Tax Credit Benefits could also be a significant source of funding through tax credits if your project will serve historically under-funded communities. Check out the map to see if your project qualifies. State: There are opportunities to include your project as a line item in the state budget, which can be accessed by advocating directly with your representatives. In addition, Washington State has a robust competitive capital grants programs, including Department of Commerce programs like Building for the Arts, Building Communities Fund, and Youth Recreational Facilities and the Recreation and Conservation Funding Board programs like Washington Wildlife Recreation Grants and Youth Recreation Programs. You can find a good list of the state competitive grant programs here. County and City: Most counties like King County, Snohomish County, and cities like Seattle and Spokane align capital funding with their civic or economic goals (affordable housing, arts access, etc.) and list opportunities on their websites. Some smaller municipalities require you to be in touch directly with the county or city council members to learn about year-by-year opportunities. Build Authentic Relationships For budget processes at the state, county, and city levels, allow months or years to develop relationships with your representatives—senators, state legislators, county or city council members, mayors, or department staff. Like you do with other donors, start by mapping who on your Board or staff has existing relationships. If you’re starting from scratch, reach out and request a meeting as a constituent to update them on the project. You could start this process as soon as a campaign planning study—some of our clients include legislators in the interview process. Mobilize your grassroots supporters for letter writing campaigns or visits with representatives. Some organizations hire a lobbyist to advocate directly on behalf of the capital project. For competitive grant processes like Building for the Arts, departments host information sessions that offer you direct access to program staff to ask questions about the process and clarify how to best position your project. Take advantage of these opportunities to connect in person. Make the Request at the Right Time. Pay attention to project timelines and approach at the right time: Some government programs will not fund your project until it is “shovel ready” (project construction can immediately start). Budget line items are often tied to only a portion of the project that will be complete during the budget biennium (two-year budget cycle) because they are reimbursement payments. Many state grant programs operate on the biennium (every two years) so pace your application appropriately for your project’s timeline. Consider forming a government funding taskforce for your campaign that could include Board, staff, and community volunteers. Like other areas of campaign fundraising, funding from Uncle Sam takes time, strategy, and perseverance—don’t do it alone! Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about government funding in campaigns. We’re here to connect.

This article was written by Bailey Disher. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. In a room full of nonprofit employees and volunteers at the recent Washington Nonprofit Conference, my colleague Karen Hirsch asked “How many of you are planning to grow your organization in the next few years?” I was surprised to see that half the room did not raise their hand. Considering the urgent community needs that we are seeing in Seattle, King County, and around the country, it feels like nearly every nonprofit I’ve encountered is outlining future plans to scale up, replicate a program, or grow its capacity to serve the community. Outside of the sector, we are similarly conditioned to believe that if you aren’t growing, you’re dying. However, in the nonprofit sector, growth is not our only option. We expand, shrink, or stay steady based on two primary factors: community need and revenue. Community Need Ideally, we listen to our community and plan a long build-up or ramp-down period based on the needs we observe. In real life, this isn’t always possible. Take for example organizations serving refugee communities. The community needs have grown to be bigger and more urgent than anyone could have anticipated in the span of a few years. Many refugee-serving organizations are racing to keep up with the community demand for their services created by today’s geopolitical reality. They have no choice but to grow. Revenue Another factor in organizational growth (or not) is revenue. Some organizations, regardless of community need, expand or contract based on the availability of revenue. Take grants as an example. I know of too many nonprofits in our region that are living in fear of their “funding cliffs” (when long-term funding ends). Here are some all-too-familiar examples: An arts organization lost major corporate funding in 2016. If they are unable to fill the gap with other grants, they will have to shrink the size of their programs. A community-building organization incubates new ideas for the community, but they choose to follow the funding dollars instead of investing in a long-term program model. They shrink and expand programs based on where the funding is available. A human services organization has doubled the number of grants they received in the last year. They are rapidly expanding services based on this success and assume exponential growth will continue. Yet, many of their grants will drop off in a few years (or sooner). In these examples, the organizations are making decisions about shrinking or growing their programs at the whim of available funding, instead of establishing a realistic and proactive revenue strategy that can fuel program strategy and growth. This approach is all too common in our sector. It is not necessarily a bad approach if an organization is intentional in recognizing this is our strategy. So how do you clarify your strategy for growth (or not), and manage the tension between community need and revenue opportunities? Set clear organizational goals that are bold, but also rooted in reality. Managing the Tension: Goal Setting Whether you have a formal strategic plan or a magic-marker roadmap on a flipchart, a strategic organization should not plan for program growth (or not) goals without a first taking an honest look at what is best for the community need and what resources are available. What does this plan look like? Here are some key questions that your goals can address: How can we most effectively serve the community in the long term? Who does the community need us to be and how does that align with our mission and vision? Do we need to grow to best serve our community? If we choose not to grow, could we instead refine the program model and improve impact for the people we are currently serving? Do we have the operational capacity to support future growth? In addition to added program costs, within our current staff do we have the leadership, administrative, or fundraising capacity to sustain growth? Are we comfortable with the size of the program shrinking and growing with the availability of funds? Are we comfortable accepting funding without a clear sustainability plan after the funding concludes? How do we think about revenue diversification as a method of securing revenue for growth? Instead of larger grants that have funding cliffs are we open to seeking smaller, more consistent grants? Are we willing to invest in the infrastructure to grow individual donations? Are we willing to look at social enterprise or earned revenue sources? How do we think about saving? Do we prioritize funding for immediate needs or build reserves to fill funding gaps or future community emergencies? Invite your Board and staff to ponder these questions together. The conversation can inform a set of commonly-accepted goals that drive your growth (or not) strategy. Then, check-in often. Some or all these goals may evolve every year based on the state of the community, funding landscape, and your organization.  Even if you’re not growing, things are always changing! Let’s keep this conversation going. We want to hear your questions and ideas about organizational growth and funding cliffs. We’re here to connect.

This article was written by Kari Dasher. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. While I was on Army active duty in South Korea (before my fundraising career began), I was the sole woman, and a starter, on my base’s football team. When I’m sitting in nonprofit Board rooms or staff meetings, I sometimes channel my football background. It turns out that football teams and nonprofits have some things in common – and at least one major difference. Sports teams and nonprofits both have a mission (get more points than the other team or solve homelessness) and everyone has a role to play (quarterback or Board Chair). Success usually springs from a strong team culture or a strong organizational culture. In both football and fundraising, I’m looking to see if everyone is engaged in the mission. Are you actively participating or sitting on the sidelines watching others do the work? In nonprofits, there’s also a subset of organizational culture called a culture of philanthropy. It refers to your organization’s attitude towards philanthropy and fundraising. The Haas, Jr. Fund defines four core components of a culture of philanthropy. When these four components are strong, an organization will attract the resources it needs to advance its mission: Shared responsibility for development: Everyone—staff, executive director, constituents, board and volunteers—shares responsibility for fund development. Integration and alignment with mission: In organizations with a culture of philanthropy, fund development is a valued and mission-aligned component of the organization’s overall work, rather than a stand-alone function. A focus on fundraising as engagement: In organizations with a culture of philanthropy, fund development is no longer separated from engagement. People today are connecting with nonprofits via multiple channels (e.g., social media, volunteering, blogs, meet ups, petitions) and engaging with them in multiple ways (e.g., as donors, volunteers, board members, constituents). Strong donor relationships: Donors are considered authentic partners in the work, not targets or dollar signs. These organizations establish systems to build strong relationships and support donors’ connection to the work. What’s the major difference between nonprofits and football teams? Nonprofits often don’t provide their staff, Board, or volunteers with the “equipment” they need to build a culture of philanthropy, yet they still expect them to raise more dollars and attract more community supporters year after year. On the gridiron, this would be akin to sending your team onto the field without helmets or pads and asking them to score more touchdowns than ever before. It doesn’t work. While there isn’t a switch you can flip or one person you can hire to create a culture of philanthropy instantly, you can jump-start the development of this aspect of your organizational culture by investing in staffing, systems, and planning. Key Infrastructure Investments to Build a Culture of Philanthropy: Staffing: Budget ample resources to hire fundraising staff. If you lead a thoughtful process to hire great staff who align with your mission, offer them competitive wages and benefits, and invest in training and retention, they are more likely to stick around and nurture long-term community relationships on behalf of your organization. Your Board members and volunteers will be stronger partners if they have support from capable, committed, happy staff. Systems: Upgrade your technology to support relationships and engagement. Look for customer relationship management (CRM) databases, payment processing platforms, and website designs that make giving and engaging easy for donors, volunteers, and staff. This isn’t frivolous spending: it’s core to your mission and operations. Not investing in your technology platforms can work against your team and your ultimate fundraising success. Planning: Allocate Board and staff time to three key planning processes annually.  First, encourage integrating fundraising with the overall vision and mission of the organization by revisiting and refining the strategic plan. Second, Board and staff can collaborate to map the annual fund development plan to the organization’s strategic plan—giving everyone insight into the connection between philanthropy and the organizational priorities that your fundraising will make possible. The final piece is a written case for support that informs all fundraising communications and materials. This case can help articulate for everyone in the organization why philanthropy is needed and what it accomplishes in the community. These are significant investments for any organization to make, but there isn’t a better game plan for strengthening your development infrastructure – the equipment your team needs in order to build a culture of philanthropy.

This article was written by Ariel Glassman. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. Is your inbox like mine during GiveBIG: flooded? Every local organization I have ever shown the slightest interest in suddenly reappears like the Ghost of Giving Past with competing reasons to give BIG to their cause. It’s overwhelming, even as a professional who helps organizations create these very emails. If I’m overwhelmed, imagine how your donors feel. Now, envision opening your inbox on GiveBIG to find an email from your best friend, mother or colleague inviting you to support their favorite organization. I’m willing to bet you open that email first. This is the magic of peer-to-peer (P2P) campaigns. They help your organization to cut through the email noise and reach a new network of supporters through your existing donors. People will become new donors because someone they trust is a donor and invites them to join. GiveBIG 2019 includes a new P2P Campaign feature. This is a big commitment: you need to recruit people to be fundraisers and support them before the campaign, during pre-scheduled giving, and on the day of GiveBIG itself. But P2P campaigns are powerful forces for donor acquisition. Recent data shows that around 50% of donors to online P2P campaigns are new to that organization.  So, for many organizations, they are worth the investment. It’s not too late to decide that you’ll incorporate P2P giving in your GiveBIG campaign. You can check out the Peer-to-Peer Campaign page on GiveBIG 2019 for more details. Ostara’s GiveBIG P2P Campaign Quick Start Guide: Ask Yourself Whether You’re Ready for a P2P Campaign: Do you have the staff capacity to simultaneously develop P2P-specific materials in parallel with your general GiveBIG campaign materials? Is there someone who can be the point person for your P2P participants? Does your organization already have a solid base of volunteers? P2P campaigns rely on relationships you’ve built over time. Organizations with strong volunteer programs or participation are at an advantage. Are your existing donors and volunteers generally comfortable with technology? Do your donors and constituents actively engage with your social media accounts? Do your emails get opened regularly? A lively social presence takes time to build. Develop a GiveBIG campaign plan tailored for the P2P campaign. This includes a timeline and suite of communications aimed at the group of P2P fundraisers you want to build, not your average GiveBIG donor. Develop a P2P support toolkit. This resource can include messaging guidelines, resources, tips, images or graphics, and scripts or templates that P2P Fundraisers can use to easily make their fundraising page and outreach efforts while staying true to your brand and messaging. Recruit P2P Fundraisers. Launch emails to secure commitments from your current supporters to be a P2P fundraiser for GiveBIG. Focus on your loyal donors and volunteers – those who have a long-time relationship with your organization, and/or have a history of consistent, consecutive annual support (especially via GiveBIG). Ready, Set, Go! Once you have your peer-to-peer fundraisers signed up, you should activate them with strategically curated emails that deploy advice and strategies for successful P2P campaigns and content examples. Schedule on your calendar to contact your P2P fundraisers about these action items: Prior to April 18, to make sure their pages are complete On April 22, prompt them to start their outreach when Early Giving launches on April 23 On May 6, remind them to send a “GiveBIG is tomorrow” message on May 7 Contact them twice during the day of GiveBIG itself to thank them and encourage them in their outreach efforts GiveBIG 2019 could be your biggest year yet with new relationships and dollars from the P2P campaign. Don’t forget to think about your plan for after GiveBIG and how you will steward these new supporters to ensure their relationship with your organization grows, not just their relationship with their best friend or mother.

At a basic level, an organization is a collection of people working together to create action. Humans tend to complicate things, especially when they’re in groups (newsflash: it’s not limited to junior high). Even in a strong, sustainable organization you find anxieties, triggers, power dynamics, and interests in everyday life. Imagine what happens when you layer on top of these interpersonal dynamics a major organization-wide transition, turning point, or big opportunity. It’s easy for things to become unclear and messy. The opposite of to complicate is “to make easier,” which happens to be the definition of the word “facilitate”. A facilitator is a neutral leader who can carve out space for collaboration in the middle of chaos. Think of a facilitator as a nonprofit doctor specializing in organizational change. Nonprofits seek this specialist for different reasons at different times in their life cycles. Here are the voices of two Ostara clients reflecting on what led them to engage a professional facilitator: “We were considering launching a new nonprofit in the Seattle marketplace.  Since this new organization would serve a diversity of stakeholders, it was important that we hire a facilitator to help us find consensus from our advisory board about how to move this ‘big idea’ forward.” – AMY LILLARD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON FILMWORKS “We wanted to start at a foundational level and explore our strategic direction with professionals who had an unbiased view of the organization. We were looking for someone who could lead discussions and help us refine the bottom-line outcomes to establish action lists.” – STACEE MCLFF, FORMER BOARD PRESIDENT, FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS OF AMERICA If facilitation is the prescription, how do you know if your organization needs this antidote, like Washington Filmworks and Future Business Leaders of America did? In the style of David Letterman’s lists, here are the: Top Seven Signs your Organization Needs a Facilitator You want to do something new, like expand or change your mission or vision. You are considering a merger or major partnership with other organizations. There is significant organizational stress or strife and you can’t name the sources. You want to understand the obstacles so you can build a path forward. Your leadership has changed or is about to change (Executive Director, staff leadership team, or Board). Double underline here if your leader is also a founder of the organization. You want to lead and listen to organizational stakeholders to inform the organization’s direction. You are at a crossroads and don’t know where to go. This intersection could include facing a tough reality like declining funding, increasing need, or structural deficiencies. It’s time for a new strategic plan, and not only because the last one is outdated. Your organization is ready to set a new course because you see unaddressed community need or opportunities and you think your organization is the solution. As a doctor would say, if you are experiencing any of these signs, consider the help of a trained facilitator. Like a health challenge, you risk something going from bad to worse or losing an opportunity if you skip the care your organization needs. Muscling through it on your own or inserting an inside facilitator (like a Board or staff member who may have organizational biases) often doesn’t get the organization to where it needs to be at a critical juncture. I’ll leave you with a dose of hope. Here are testimonies about what facilitators made possible for the two organizations I mentioned above. Facilitation is good medicine for organizations: “Having a facilitator made all the difference in the world. I often say that it is some of the best money I spent in my 2018 budget.  On a grand scale, our facilitator helped bring our vision into focus and, ultimately, our new nonprofit to life.  She did it one small, strategic, careful step at a time.” – AMY LILLARD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON FILMWORKS “I don’t think we could have made such significant progress with real priorities and action plans without our facilitators.” – STACEE MCLFF, FORMER BOARD PRESIDENT, FUTURE BUSINESS LEADERS OF AMERICA Whether you work with a volunteer or professional, a facilitator gives you – and every person in the room – the opportunity to participate fully in crucial conversations. An effective facilitator brings a trusted pair of “outside” eyes to any situation. Their only agenda is to create the space your organization needs to have a vital discussion.

This article was written by JeeYoung Dobbs. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. Everyone dwells on the end of a campaign. That sweet moment is made of champagne, Co-Chairs cutting ribbons for new buildings, and applause. It’s a celebration for the people, families, the organization, and community that are stronger thanks to the campaign. You will hear the mantra to begin a campaign with the end in mind. This advice is golden. Equally as important, but often overlooked, is a strong start to the campaign. Many organizations get excited about a great idea and fundraise first, plan later. This leads to half-baked visions, scant prospect lists, and lackluster leadership. Many of these campaigns stall midway or fail altogether. To avoid this fate, I suggest another mantra for your campaign office inspiration wall. Try: By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail. If you are thinking about launching a campaign soon, here’s a checklist of milestones you will want to complete before you raise your first dollar (caveat: campaigns are messy. Sometimes you raise dollars from your closest supporters before all these pieces are perfectly in place). If your organization can check these boxes, you are in a strong place to start campaign fundraising: Campaign Vision: You have distilled a powerful vision for how the campaign will transform the community. Equally as important, you have articulated how the campaign fits into your overall organizational mission. Campaign Plans: While plenty of details will be in flux, you at least have a general sense of the project scope, timeline, and budget. Site Specific: If your campaign involves acquiring a new property or space, you have a long-term lease, own it, or have firm plans to purchase the property early in the campaign. *Plenty of campaigns launch before they are site-specific, but many of these campaigns take longer than anticipated or stall due to property challenges. Donors often don’t feel comfortable giving or pledging until the plans are firm. Board Leaders: All Board members are prepared to serve as campaign ambassadors and are clear about their campaign role. Donors: You have two or three times the number of prospects you need in order to complete your goal. The campaign will be spent working your way through this long list to determine who has connections, interest, and capacity to invest significant gifts. Core Assets: You are making investments in staffing and systems to support the additional workload and complexity created by a campaign. This could look like adding additional staff, gift policies, enhancing your database procedures, or developing donor stewardship plans.

Grants Accelerator is a regular blog series about leveraging your grants strategy to enhance organizational sustainability. As we roll over the calendar year, everyone is thinking about their fresh start. Some people welcome the New Year by beating pots and pans, jumping into ice cold water, or burning photographs from the past twelve months. At Ostara, we observe another distinct New Year tradition among nonprofits. It’s called “The Annual Grant Budget Freak Out.” This often involves hair pulling and frantic searches on Foundation Center. I feel your pain. I have been that staff member staring at the new annual budget filled with general operating needs and trying to match it to my list of restricted funding prospects. I could get up on my soapbox right here and rant about why there isn’t more general operating funding. I’ll save that for another day. Instead, I’ll sit alongside you as you dig into that annual budget and offer a few tidbits of advice for your 2019 grant strategy. Strategy 1: Make Restricted Grants Work for You by Carving out Flexible Funding.  Most organizations see grants in two categories: restricted and unrestricted. Ideally, a healthy grant portfolio has the full spectrum of funding categories: ____________________________________________________________________________________________Unrestricted        Lightly Restricted       Moderately Restricted       Highly Restricted Unrestricted (General Operating Grants): These are completely unrestricted and may be used for any expense purpose. Lightly Restricted Grants: These are restricted to a broad purpose that may include a program or set of programs, but they likely do not have a specific budget, list of eligible expenses, or metrics to be achieved. Moderately Restricted Grants: These are restricted to a program or project. The program budget may group together all program expenses and program revenue, including grants from multiple funders, giving the organization freedom to use the funds in whatever way they see fit to achieve the project or program goals. Highly Restricted Grants: These are awarded for programs or projects, require budgets with specific line-by-line descriptions of where each of the funder’s dollars will go, and require a complete financial report at the end of the grant period itemizing expenditures. Your sweet spot is in the middle where you can carve out flexible funding from lightly or moderately restricted grants. You can tuck indirect (operating) expenses into the budget by being more purposeful about what you include and how you label it. For example, instead of removing rent from your program budget, think about how that operating expense is critical to a program. You could then relabel it “meeting space for program classes” or whatever makes sense for your particular organization. The share of an Executive Director’s salary for leading a program could become “strategic program oversight.” Be creative and purposeful in your budget development, while also being transparent. Strategy 2: Group your programs under a broader brand. Instead of always developing bright, shiny new programs to attract funding (often restricted), think about how you could put a fresh face on your core programs. Ostara is currently partnering with Vine Maple Place, an organization serving homeless families. They decided to group their housing, financial skills education, employment services, life skills, counseling, and youth programs under one brand called the Stable Families program. This allowed them to attract more sustainable funding for their core programs through general project budgets. While the funding was “program-restricted,” it is restricted to all their programs. This keeps those funds more flexible over the course of the year. Strategy 3: Don’t Itemize Unless It’s Required. Unless a funder specifically asks you to itemize how their dollars will be used, you can usually present a program budget that groups together all expenses and funding sources. Whether funders need to see their dollars tied to specific expenses is a good clarifying question to ask before you submit. It may not be as cathartic as beating pots or jumping into Puget Sound, but liberating yourself from the black and white world of restricted vs. unrestricted funding will open a fuller spectrum of opportunities in 2019 and beyond.

This article was written by Ariel Glassman. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. 5-4-3-2-1… Here comes year-end giving! Buckle up. It’s time for the meteor shower of gifts you’ll receive by December 31 – and time to plan how you’ll make the most of those gifts in the future. This influx can be the basis of a new booster engine for your fundraising efforts in 2019 and beyond. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to build this powerful vehicle that can launch you into next year. It doesn’t actually involve aerospace engineering, though a systematic approach helps. This booster is a monthly recurring giving program. Whether you already have a recurring monthly or sustainer giving program in place or you want to launch one, here are seven reasons why it’s worth the effort. Why Monthly Giving is a Worthy Endeavor We know that monthly giving: Has higher annual retention rates (80% for first-time monthly donors compared to 20-25% for one-time gifts)  2016 Fundraising Effectiveness Project Data Is on the rise – nonprofits raised 40% more through monthly giving in 2017 than in 2016 (compared to 19% growth in one-time gifts), and monthly giving’s share of all online revenue rose from 14% to 16%. M&R Benchmarks 2018 Study Results in a greater return on investment and lower cost of acquisition and retention Inspires donors to give 42% more on average than people who give one-time gifts and contribute greater long-term financial value to the organization Network for Good Appeals to a broad range of demographics, including both Millennials and Baby Boomers Strengthens your ability to reliably project fundraising budgets each year Allows you to focus more on stewardship and building relationships with donors than solicitations, which leads to more meaningful partnerships over time Your Monthly Giving Launch Plan Your year-end giving results aren’t just cash in the door – donors who give at yearend are your best prospects for conversion to monthly donors. As you hit your yearend giving stride, make the time to do these three things to plan for the future and position 2019 as the “Year of the Monthly Donor” for your organization: Review your donor database and credit card processing system to make sure they can support automatic monthly giving (otherwise, manual management of monthly giving could eat up too much staff time). The key is to make this easy and convenient for donors, too. Identify your best monthly giving prospects. Analyze your Giving Tuesday donors and regular yearend donors, as well as your loyal donors (who have given consistently in each of the past three years or more). You’re looking for donors who made relatively modest gifts, in the range of $50-$250. You’re going to ask them in January for an amount that seems very achievable, but that would slightly increase their total annual giving. For example, ask your $100 donors to give $10 a month – that would bring them up to $120 annually. That extra 20 percent can really add up over time! Asking again within a month of their most recent gift might sound too soon, but research shows that the best time to ask people to sign up for monthly gifts is close on the heels of their last one-time gift. Steward monthly gifts intentionally and celebrate examples of what monthly giving makes possible in your newsletters and other publications. You may make a big push for monthly giving a few times per year, but you can subtly highlight the opportunity to make greater impact on the mission with convenient monthly gifts all year long. Profiling a monthly donor in your newsletter is a great way to spell out the impact and take advantage of peer influence in convincing people to step up and give monthly. You can apply this methodology any time you receive a large batch of one-time gifts. Excited about the return of GiveBIG in May 2019? Make sure you offer all those one-time donors the chance to become monthly supporters before summer hits.

This article was written by Kari Dasher. She is no longer with Ostara, but we want to preserve this piece so that you can learn from her and from the work she did while part of the Ostara team. If a tornado headed your way, you would likely run in the opposite direction. When I serve as an interim development leader, I willingly run towards the tornado of organizational change with a smile on my face. Call me a storm chaser. You might think I’m crazy, but there is significant opportunity for leadership and organizational transformation amid development leadership transition. As an interim development leader, I arrive in organizations just as a Chief Development Officer or Director of Development is transitioning, or after their role has been vacant for a month or more. Their tenures may have been rocky or successful, short or long. The common denominator is the need for leadership stability and the opportunity to re-envision the organization’s approach to fundraising. My role is to clear the way for a successful permanent hire and to strengthen the fund development team and strategies along the way. To do this, I must enter the “danger zone.”  I listen and speak up when I see people or processes that are not supporting the mission. I help the organization to consider new ways of doing things. While I’m not always popular, organizations are in better places to hire and retain staff and accelerate sustainable fundraising at the end of my interim tenure. Here are seven ways an interim development leader could transform your team and organization during your next staffing transition. Change Agent. Their short-term nature allows interims to be truth tellers in a way permanent staff are not always able to do for fear it may affect their future opportunities. Interims have courageous conversations with Board and staff to highlight challenges and opportunities. These conversations are often uncomfortable and sometimes lead to dramatic, but necessary staffing or structural changes in the pursuit of the organization’s mission. Systems Analyst: An interim brings an experienced outsider’s perspective to the structure of an organization’s fundraising operation. They assess trends, goals and results and make recommendations for how to enhance your resources (people, processes, and plans). Interims collaborate with staff, Board, and volunteers to understand what to keep, discard, and enhance. Strategy Partner: During a staffing transition, there’s potential that a leadership vacuum can leave a development team rudderless. An interim can serve as a strategy and thought partner to the CEO and Board to help guide their thinking about fundraising’s place in organizational strategy. This normalizes the permanent development leader’s place at the strategy table. Coach: With their fundraising knowledge, an interim can come alongside staff and Board with resources and experience to help reveal new ways to approach their work. Collaborator: If fundraising has been siloed in the past, an interim can grow relationships with other departments like programs, finance, and HR. This is a process of listening and understanding each other’s needs. An interim also reinvigorates the development team by removing obstacles in their path and preparing them for new leadership. Planner: An interim can build plans that map the path forward, including financial goals, a case for support, strategies, and tactics. The permanent development director is often relieved they don’t have to start from scratch. Culture Catalyst: An interim can build or strengthen your philanthropic culture by modeling for the staff, Board, and CEO how a sustainable fundraising organization works and their roles in supporting it. They can also demonstrate for staff and Board leaders the link between an organization’s culture and their culture of philanthropy and advocate for strategies and outcomes that will strengthen both over time. This can also be an opportunity to infuse missing elements of diversity and equity into the structures and roles that reinforce the organization’s culture.

Does this sound familiar? Executive Director: “How much do I need to invest in a grants program to raise $100,000?” Board Member: “Should I expect the grantwriter to bring in two times more than we pay them? Five times?” As grantwriters and fundraisers, we spend our days communicating stories and data that prove the impact of programs and organizations. We know to look deeper than the number of people served to convey the full story of an organization’s work. Ironically, the story of our own impact on the organization’s success is often measured in this one-dimensional way. Grantwriters (and fundraisers in general) are often seen as a one-person profit and loss statement: how much are they paid versus how much do they bring in? This is a shortsighted approach to the concept of Return on Investment (ROI). A sustainable grants program is more than the bottom line. Or rather, the bottom line is the relationship. The interactions that lead to strong donor relationships are key to fundraising success, and grants are no exception. Beyond dollars, a comprehensive grants strategy fosters transparent internal systems, builds a culture of philanthropy, and translates visionary ideas into fundable plans for the community.  Sounds good, but how do you translate the value of your grant strategy into metrics that speak to your staff and Board leaders? Ostara has partnered with Cancer Lifeline on grant strategy since 2014. Together, we focus on building relationships with the best prospects and reengaging past funders. Over three years, Cancer Lifeline increased their grant revenue by 40 percent. However, their true success indicators were their first-ever multi-year grant, grants from brand new funders to diversify the portfolio, and several increased gifts from existing funders. Like Cancer Lifeline, you can highlight your worth beyond the simple running tally of dollars raised. Key Success Indicators Start by building a comprehensive picture of your path to sustainability by regularly tracking and sharing these key success indicators for your grants program through tools like Board reports and staff meetings. Engagement Indicators Grant applications approved, pending, denied, and planned (listed over multiple years and separated by fiscal year) Looks Like: # Grants Submitted, # Grants Awarded, # Grants Denied Value: Demonstrates a multi-year picture of the relationships you are building for now and the future Grant Renewals Looks Like: # Renewals from previous year Value: Demonstrates a vote of confidence in your work from previous funders, especially when they increase their previous grant amount Re-Engaged Lapsed Funders Looks Like: # Re-engaged funders from past two years, # Re-engaged funders from 2-5 years ago, etc. Value: Demonstrates your hard work in reviving old relationships (beyond this fiscal year) Reports Submitted Looks Like: # Formal reports submitted, # Informal (i.e. not required) reports submitted Value: Demonstrates the time you invest in stewardship for all funders (not just when reports are required) Cultural Indicators Interactions, including with non-development staff and Board Looks Like: Standing meetings with broader development team, standing meetings with broader staff outside of development, Regular touchpoints with the Board, organization-wide celebration of grant success, organization-wide participation in grant strategy choices Value: Demonstrates the cross-organization collaborations with grant writers helping to drive your grants strategy Financial Indicators Multi-Year Grants Looks Like: # LOIs accepted and invited to full proposal, ability to report and steward over a longer period, potentially through changes in leadership and staff Value: Demonstrates sophisticated internal systems often required to manage relationships with multi-year funders Progress to Goal Looks Like: Determine a grant revenue goal as part of budget cycle that is achievable and supported by all, and update staff and Board leadership on progress at least quarterly Value: Demonstrates progress towards realistic annual goals that map to community needs (not filling budget gaps) and year-over-year comparisons to frame progress over several years Do you want to explore other ways to enhance your grants strategy and organizational sustainability? Join us for our new Grants Accelerator Workshop Series that will help nonprofit leaders and grantwriters solve these common challenges – Seats are filling up fast!