Another Six Reasons for Lackluster Fundraising Results
Will you reach your funding goal in 2013? It's a matter of your creativity, openness, and persistence.
Be creative about how you describe your program. Think of the different
benefits or issues surrounding it and then write about each one on different occasions
Accept awards and declinations
evenly. Don't make a the declination letter the final word. Return to
the prospect to get specific reasons for the decision. If you make the necessary changes, do so and resend at the next scheduled submission period. Keep at the job
of fundraising. Don't let the effort drop off.
More Reasons for Lackluster Fundraising Results:
- Fear of rejection.
Does asking for something and not getting it have you feel you're not
good enough? Perish the thought. Funders have deadlines, budgets, and
changes in funding priorities without giving the public advance notice. Motivate yourself to move past the fear by giving a high-five to yourself or someone else in the organization or quietly thank yourself for submitting the proposal or making the call.
- No follow through on requests.
Don't let money slip through your fingers because you didn't submit the
requested additional information or didn't schedule the visit. Write it on your wall calendar and input in your smartphone.
- Lack of stamina to do repeat requests.
The sources of stamina in this work are confidence and optimism. See #1 and
put on the calendar or funding software the date of the next deadline
for that prospect. Low stamina may also be a nutritional issue. Reduce the sugar, dairy, caffeine, and wheat; Increase the fruits, vegetables, water and sunlight.
- There's only one message-and that's limited. Think like a marketer and study the facets of your program; then describe each facet in many ways.
- Over reliance on few sources-even Sugar Daddies get tired of their sweet things. In short, diversifying your funding base is crucial. Make it a practice to uncover the supporters of programs similar to yours. Then do prospect research to learn whether whether that supporter's funding guidelines cover your project.
- You don't make it easy to give.
Some people write checks; others want to use PayPal, a credit card, or
send a text that get's charged to the telephone. Explore the payment
options and learn the demographic most likely to use each one.
Labels: advertising, brand recognition, capital formation, donations, ego, fundraising, nonprofit
2007 NYBA Annual Meeting Pinged
New York Biotechnology Association held its 2007 Annual Meeting, April 10, 2007 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Stodgy and staid is was NOT. It was a gathering of New York state's vital and pumped researchers, physicians, investors, nonprofits, lawyers and businesses dedicated to quality-of-life and life extension. The Executive Director Nathan Tinker put on a great show designed to stimulate thought, networking and best practices. His boss, the board chairman Robert Van Nostrand had high praises for Tinker. Van Nostrand described Tinker as the person who championed nanotechnology as a viable advancement in computer hardware. Tinker explained that the annual meeting takes one year of planning and coordination to make it as useful as it was.
Attendees had the choice of delving into panel discussions about corporate governance, funding, patent law, venture capital, medical breakthroughs and research park strategy. The
How to Get Your Message Out to the "New" Media was loaded with apply-now strategies for publicizing biotechnology and your particular company; connecting with other professionals; demonstrating your product or method using streaming media or just venting frustrations surrounding intellectual property. Tom Miale, Global Accounts Manager, Streaming Media for MultiVu was panel chairman. He explained that blogs, podcasts, wireless communication, and My Space were examples of New Media and gave statistics about how people are getting their news and information from blogs and on demand video, the decline in broadcast TV sales and the rise in web video market sales.
Miale along with Be Seen. Be Heard President Doris Gilman, PR Newswire Association's David Weiner and MultiVU's George DeTorres gave visual examples and easy-to-follow steps to set up blogs, use RSS feeders and how to measures audience. Between the four of them, the audience became aware of "Delicious," a social bookmarking site; "Technorati," a blog search engine; "Blog Pulse," a blog metrics service; "Second Life," online alternative worlds and "Digg," sort of a populaity contest for blogs.
It appeared that this very mature audience was following the ins and outs of social media. One attendee queried how to get the highest tiered executives on board with social media. David Weiner offered to do a presentation at his or any firm that required an outsider's persuasion. I enjoyed the panel to the extent that I implemented many ideas on return to the office.
As for Tom Miale: He's knowledgeable. He loves his job. He
must work on chairing or moderating a discussion. He frequently imposed himself on the panelists' presentations to the point that George DeTorres couldn't present a prototype biotech site. It was meant to be the culmination of everything previously stated. It sems George is good-natured. It will be used another time.
Labels: biotechnology, ego, events, productivity, social media
