Tag Archives: prospect

Nonprofit Radio for August 12, 2011: Got Women Donors? and Lovin’ LinkedIn for Prospect Research

Big Nonprofit Ideas for the Other 95%

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Tony’s Guests:

Travis Fraser
Michele Walsh & Travis Fraser: Got Women Donors?

From the Fund Raising Day conference in NYC in June, we talk about successful initiatives to expand your female donor base through targeted and appropriate cultivation, solicitation and stewardship.

My guests are Michele Walsh from the U.S. Fund for UNICEF and Travis Fraser from United Way of New York City.

 

Maria Semple
Maria Semple: Lovin’ LinkedIn For Prospect Research

Our new regular contributor, Maria Semple, The Prospect Finder, is with me to share strategies for using LinkedIn to find people and organizations who can be your next employee, board member, donor or sponsor.
 

 

Here is the link to the podcast: 054: Got Women Donors? & Lovin’ LinkedIn for Prospect Research.


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Welcome to tony martignetti non-profit radio on friday, august twelfth. I’m your aptly named host tony martignetti hope you were with me last week when it was wild woman fund-raising i had mazarene treyz consultant and author of the wild woman’s guide to fund-raising she was with me for the full hour to share her thoughts about career social media grants, manship and mohr. We did our live first tweeting last week, and we’re going to keep that up this week when it is got women donors from the fund-raising day conference in new york city this past june, we talk about successful initiatives to expand your female donor base through targeted and appropriate cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. My guests are michelle walsh from the us fund for unicef and travis fraser from united way of new york city second half of the show linked in for prospect research i’ll be joined by our new regular contributor maria simple the prospect find her, she’ll be sharing strategies for using linked in to find people and organizations who could be your employees boardmember sze volunteers and donors. As i said, we’ll be live tweeting this week the hashtag is non-profit radio we’ll take a break, and then we’ll start with god. Women donors you’re listening to the talking alternative network. Neo-sage you suffering from aches and pains? Has traditional medicine let you down? Are you tired of taking toxic medications, then come to the double diamond wellness center and learn how our natural methods can help you to hell? Call us now at to one to seven to one eight, one eight three that’s to one to seven to one eight one eight three or find us on the web at www dot double diamond wellness dot com way. Look forward to serving you. Is your marriage in trouble? Are you considering divorce? Hello, i’m lawrence bloom, a family law attorney in new york and new jersey. No one is happier than the day their divorce is final. My firm can help you. We take the nasty out of the divorce process and make people happy. Police call a set to one, two, nine six four three five zero two for a free consultation. That’s a lawrence h bloom two, one, two, nine, six, four, three, five zero two. We make people happy. Zoho hey, all you crazy listeners looking to boost your business? Why not advertise on talking alternative with very reasonable rates? Interested simply email at info at talking alternative dot com durney durney welcome to tony martignetti non-profit radio coverage of fund-raising day two thousand eleven at the marriott marquis in times square in new york city. My guests now are travis fraser and michelle walsh. Travis is director of mate gif ts for united way of new york city and michelle walsh’s, director of leadership gif ts for the united states fund for unicef. Welcome, thank you, thanks pleasure to have you, they’re seminar topic is success stories got women donors, and so we’re all about talking about female donors. Michelle, why are female donors important? Why are the important they’re important? Yeah, i mean, if you look at research even to start, which is where we were talking earlier today, it’s, they’re making up a larger part of the e-giving population than ever before. So i was just referencing an article earlier where in two thousand five was the first year that the irs had records that women were actually out giving men as a whole. I think it was sametz twenty one billion as compared with about sixteen or seventeen billion so and that’s already, you know, six years old at this point, but they have huge giving power and very often that they make their decisions differently, and we need to be aware of that and that they also are motivated differently, so i think they’re important because they do give and when they do give, they tend to mobilize people, so not only did they give their own funds, but they’re also generating additional support very often and travis. Of course, in the upper ages, women survive men on average, yes, moflow closer tonight. So? So if we’re talking about deferred or planned gift, women become critical because typically they’re inheriting their husbands, their husbands, states or a portion of yeah, yes, that’s that’s true, we don’t deal a lot with plant giving within our women’s group, and i think as our core group of members ages and we start looking broadening, i guess t younger populations, we might start making plans with four plan giving with them, but because of how we’re able to engage them and draw them closer to the organization, they really i thing translate into perfect prospects for for major get for plant gifts in the future. So, michelle, you mentioned different donor motivations women versus men. What are some of the differences that you see? I think that women as a whole, obviously only one particular woman relies right, but that if you look at women as a whole, very often they’re motivated by things that they can connect with and be involved with, so they’re motivated by family, they’re motivated by making a difference. We’ve noticed that it’s not usually being on a donor list or being on a donor wall, they also want to be a part of a community that’s doing something that has results so there really is a motivation about doing. Good in the world and what? What? That accomplishment iss okay, and how do you find that different than than the male donor? I think that it’s not as driven in terms of the connection. So seeing something and seeing what it’s doing hasn’t been as much of a motivator for men in that same when you can have more of ah here’s here’s the information this is what it’s going to do? Of course they want to know what the results are but it’s not as much of a desire to be engaged in the process. Okay, yeah, michelle, your work does include working with older donors seventies and eighties women in those ages. I would say that it’s across the board. So we’re looking at ultra high net worth individuals and that’s really are deciding factor. There are certainly maura’s. You get up towards those hyre age groups of people that have accumulated that type of wealth. I think you spoke earlier with some of my colleagues who were talking about the younger generation twenty one to forty, right? And so we’re looking, really hoping towards getting most of the people to million dollar giver is a leadership. Gifts for us is one hundred thousand, but if we’re looking at that group, they are going to be, you know, tend towards the older end of it, but the representation of what portion of that is seventy to eighty, you know, i wouldn’t know off the top of my head, but there are certainly some people in there that would be in that age group, okay? And when you’re dealing with women of that age, i’m trying to focus. We’re talking about dahna motivations what’s your experience with when the husband was the primary donor on dh he’s, now deceased, you’re going to the you’re going to the surviving wife, what’s your experience around their willingness to teo continue to give, i think i mean it’s so individual if they’re very defined and what they’re giving is it’s, you know, very often on lee really about honoring someone’s memory, but if in order to engage them personally is the only way that i think that you’ll be able to get to that larger gift on dh to be able to do that, we’ve had it in a couple of instances, but getting back to even what the data is. Is that women are making more of the decisions while they’re alive. We know, with the married spouses well, i think travis actually was talking about what i was yeah, yeah, don’t you want to, travis? I mean, there there have been some recent studies out that are really showing that women are making about eighty percent of all of the sort of household financial decisions, whether that be philanthropic decisions, just what they buy, what goes into the household there there really the decision makers and i i feel like as fundraisers, we’ve really been led to believe that they are making it in tandem as a couple on dh in some cases that’s, true, but what we’re really finding through some new donorsearch audis that that is that the female is thie number one sort of decider in that position, okay, even when do we know if that applies? Even when the the husband is the person with the primary relationship to the organization, you know, i’m not sure that it goes that the research goes that deep. Um and i think that anytime you have any part of a couple that’s, the primary relationship, you sort of deal with that primary relationship, but also tried to to engage the other spouse in any way that you can with the work because you really want to see that couple as, ah, holistic entity, you know, it’s it’s, not just one person, yeah, excellent and applies all the more if, if the if the husband is the primary relationship, you certainly do want to bring the wife in because, on average, she’s going to be surviving her husband? Yeah, yeah, you know, and i have to say that being at united way were somewhat unique because a lot of our donors give through workplace campaign, so we’re really dealing with one half of the couple we’re really dealing with the female leadership donor xero followers, or mohr and electing to do that through payroll deduction. So it’s really her decision of what she’s doing with her paycheck? So it really involves her more and what she’s interested in and getting into. I sort of heard interest areas, so that has been very interesting for us, especially in trying to branch out and look towards more individual donors who aren’t sitting in the workplace and developing strategies to get to those people on dh and people that are part of a couple and engaging both of them in the work that we’re doing and we’ve definitely found that. So you know, a number of our male board members and with our particular woman in philanthropy initiative it’s been female board members who have led the charge, but a couple of male board members who have really founded a great opportunity and excuse to engage their wives without them. S so where they’re not just dragging them along to an event that they’re like that’s your cause, but that they’re able teo to feel and ask the questions that they want to ask. Without that, what do you call it? A arm, candy or whatever, however you want to call it in either direction, but that there’s no one there to hold them back or push them forward to engage and it’s been a really good opportunity for us to have some good open conversations with the spouse without the key driver, the ky connection president, they didn’t think dick tooting getting ding, ding, ding ding you’re listening to the talking alternate network e-giving e-giving cubine. Are you stuck in your business or career trying to take your business to the next level, and it keeps hitting a wall? This is sam liebowitz, the conscious consultant. I will help you get to the root cause of your abundance issues and help move you forward in your life. Call me now and let’s. Create the future you dream of. Two, one, two, seven, two, one, eight, one, eight, three, that’s to one to seven to one, eight one eight three. The conscious consultant helping conscious people. Be better business people. Dahna looking to meet mr or mrs right, but still haven’t found the one. Want to make your current relationship as filling as possible? Then please tune in on mondays at ten am for love in the morning with marnie allison as a professional matchmaker, i’ve seen it all. Tune in as we discuss dating, relationships and more. Start your week off, right with love in the morning with marnie gal ilsen on talking alternative dot com hey! Are you feeling overwhelmed in the current chaos of our changing times? A deeper understanding of authentic astrology can uncover solutions in every area of life. After all, metaphysics is just quantum physics, politically expressed, i and montgomery taylor and i offer lectures, seminars and private consultations. For more information, contact me at monte m o nt y at r l j media. Dot com talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Oppcoll zoho do either of you or maybe both of you work around getting volunteer engagement from from females? Is that a part of your work? Or was it all just related to financial giving? Our entire program is volunteer related thie group that i manage is called women united in philanthropy on dh it is managed by a group of volunteers who come in volunteers steering committee that really charts the course of everything that that does so how do you start to get people engaged in that volunteer steering committee? Well, it really has been through the work of other steering committee members, we’ve been around for nine years, and this is a women’s this women’s group. Yes, it started from a conversation we were challenged by a female donor, two who asked us what we were doing to engage female donors, and we didn’t really have an answer for her. So we had a female boardmember who was very interested in getting to an answer. So she opened her home. We took a look at our lists of donors and sent out invitations to a number of our female donors to come together for a round table conversation and what came out of that conversation was very core group of dedicated women who really wanted to build something, and from that, we’ve been able to build a program that really engages women in the topic area that we’re raising money for, which is youth empowerment, and we are able to really talk about the issues that were that that we’re working towards. We give them opportunities to volunteer in the programs to see their dollars at work. Andi have educational forums that bring together some some thought leaders in the areas of education and health so that they really feel like they’re a part of the philanthropic process and that’s really what we tried to do to engage our female donors. Travis foster fraser sorry is a director of major gifts for united way of new york city and michelle walsh’s, director of leadership gif ts for united states fund for unicef and you’re listening to tony martignetti non-profit radio coverage of fund-raising day two thousand eleven earlier, i said next-gen charity because we were because michelle, when we’re talking about a twenty one to forties it’s next-gen so it got me saying next-gen which way also be at the nextgencharity conference, but today we’re not they weren’t fund-raising day two thousand eleven, travis, do you see a difference in the willingness of male donors versus female in terms of the the time commitment, willingness to spend time? You know, i think that’s an interesting question, and, you know, i a lot of my work is with our our female group, but also with our young professionals group, okay? And i would say that in our young professionals group there’s really not that discrepancy between the amount of time to volunteer, the males and females of that generation are really wanted to eat together, and i would say that with with people that i’m working with on the women’s group there it is a little bit easier to get women out to volunteer opportunities because i think they just really want to see there the work in the fields, and and i think a lot of times, men, i can take it from you as the fundraiser to hear about what their work is doing. Our work is doing it. Michelle, do you see a difference between men and women in terms of their their desire for understanding outcomes? And what the impact of their gift is, is there a difference across the genders there? There probably is i think that women are often underestimated and their willingness to really want to do dig into the data and the financials and all of those pieces. And of course, if your stereo tell you, you know that they wouldn’t get it or that they don’t want to really spend time with a balance sheet or that they’re more emotionally driven or whatever the some of the negative stereotypes are on. Some of them were positive, but does though, right? But i think that women do want to understand what what the back end thinking is, and particularly as you deal with the higher end givers and the more sophisticated philanthropists, they know what they’re looking for, and there are certain delivery bols that they expect, and there are certain organizational structures they expect to be in place with their financial or otherwise, and they ask those questions, and they think very seriously about where they’re going to give their money, you know you’re going through, i can piggyback on that, you know, we have a group of our committee that comes in and meets with our program’s staff to really talk about what they’re doing and and what the investment that women united has made in united way is really is doing, and they ask the toughest questions they want to know exactly what the budget is. They want to know what the money is being spent on, and i think that that is the thinking that you were alluding to earlier is completely backwards. I think they really want to understand the entire issues they want from from costs of services to then what the services are actually doing, that they really want the whole full, holistic three sixty view of initiative. Michelle, you’re experienced. Yeah, and i would say that we’ve sound found more different is between sectors and where people worker identify themselves and professional sectors than male female. So, you know, sort of the hedge fund circle has a certain way of thinking about a problem, and they’ll come at you with a set of questions that are almost predictable, and lawyers have a certain way of approaching it more so than a cross gender lines. I’m not going to ask you to comment on your own individual situation is that united way or united states fund for your staff? Generally, do you see women adequately represent went on boards? So from where i said, i think there’s a couple of key pieces, one is that our ceo is an amazing female leader, and that has really set the tone and a lot of ways for not only supporting our initiative with women philanthropists but inboard leadership. So the four, therefore women, all board members, that air chairing our women in philanthropy initiative and the strategy around engaging ultra high net worth individuals to support the u s from for unicef, and they have all stepped up phenomenally, and i think it’s been critical in having those female representatives on the volunteer level onboard leadership roles, and they represent really influential rose rolls and the rest of their lives, and they’ve brought that to bear on this effort. It’s been absolutely critical about your travis do you worry about again? Not necessarily united way, but do you worry about there being inadequate representation of women on boards? I think there’s there’s more work that needs to be done, but i think that a lot of organizations are realizing that women make very, very strong boardmember is there much more thoughtful about the issues? They really want to understand the full picture of what is going on, and they don’t just sort of make those knee jerk reactions that sounds like an ideal boardmember and and, you know, i can say for the united way system, we recently did a survey of the one hundred and twenty different women’s leadership groups that united way has across our system, and what we have found, which is astounding, is that from the year two thousand seven to two thousand nine, which had the huge financial meltdown united ways that had boards with that were made up of thirty percent or more female participation, their women’s group grew about twenty eight percent in fund-raising and fund-raising and dollars contributed just versus those united ways that had less than thirty percent makeup of women on their board grew their fund-raising grew one percent. So really shows the power i think, of women to really come together, rally around a cause and get people to contribute at very, very critical times, i have to say credit to the person who thought toe look att that variable female representation on the board that’s not that’s, not a very and its outcome in fund-raising that’s, not by any means a typical variable that you would see and look at the outcome of the correlation with interesting let’s. See michele, in terms of let’s, talk a little about, like nuts and bolts. I don’t want to spend a whole lot of time on soliciting women, but we’ll spend a couple of minutes you have advice that’s particular to women about asking, you know, your your work is an ultra high net worth but not necessary, you know, generally soliciting women advice? I don’t think it’s any different than soliciting a man because i mean ideally still stations at that level happened face-to-face one on one and it’s doing good fund-raising and reading people’s faces and listening to the cues and paying attention to what they’re interested in and compassionate about or passionate about. Rather, i think in that regard, it’s all the same, some of the messaging and the way that we engage them leading up to that is where the differences okay and that’s, the stuff we’ve been talking about. Exactly travis, how about for you closing thoughts, i think, really, the only thing that i would add is just making sure that there is a really good next step for them to be involved in a substantive way beyond writing the check, whether that is taking them out on a program visit to go see see the work, whether they they’re volunteering at a school, whatever it is, just make sure that there there’s a really solid next up for them to get involved because they really want to get involved, okay? I just realized we have a lot more time than i than i thought you’ve done yourself. You had your seminar already today or it’s coming up, we had any provocative questions from the audience that you want to share around the subject. We’re interesting, yeah, i was talking to some of my colleagues and some of the other sessions and comparing notes on questions, and i think the one that i heard that came up in all the questions was sort of how to say no, no to a gift, no to the wrong gift or no to a donor who wants to direct very specifically, in a way, that’s. Not in line or give them right. They want to make a decision. That’s not really their decision to make and navigating that. What was your what was? Did you have that in your session or what? Wait. Okay. I know. I mean, i have one of the most important things. Is the fundraisers to know when to say no? And how does they know? And it’s? Not always easy and not everyone’s. Good at saying no, but giving people what we talked about is creating option so people feel like they’ve made it legitimate choice, but not beyond what your realm of possibilities are. So a multiple choice question as opposed to an open ended question where people can say, this is really what i want to dio bye still not creating the program from scratch and tweaking the little details, but giving them real opportunity to be a part of the experience as well the experience of of whatever the program is. So if it’s, you know, for us, it’s obviously in the field and international development. But, you know, even if it’s the question came from someone who was working in parks, even if it’s a parks project making them a part of how that plays out. How about you, travis? Any questions that came up in your program that you want to share one? Well, i think that that my group is able to direct the money at the end of the year that they raise, and that can create a lot of nervousness, i think, among program staff and really, you know, and i know it’s something that unicef does as well, we don’t just open it up and say, okay, you’ve got this big pot of money, where do you want to put it? You know, we we really bring them in so that they can meet with our program staff and give them sort of a menu of options of where we think they could have the most impact and take it from there because we’ve really been able to develop relationships where they understand that we’re going to give them what we think is bad that’s for the organization as a choice, and it really allows them to feel like they’re making a choice and have an investment in what we’re doing. But then, at the end of the day, we get what we need you at the same time, so the organization obviously has a role in setting expectations, managing expectations, sort of, and michelle is, you suggested the multiple choice question, constraining things so that people are not out out in left field success stories got women donors as thie seminar topic for travis frazer, director of major gif ts for united way of new york city, and michelle walsh, director of leadership gif ts for united states fund for unicef, travis michelle, thank you very much for joining me, thinking it’s been a pleasure to have you. This is tony martignetti non-profit radio coverage of fund-raising day two thousand eleven. That was my pre recorded interview from fund-raising day last june in new york city. Now we’ll take a break after the break. Tony’s, take two, and then, after that, linked in for prospect research, so stay with me. Talking alternative radio twenty four hours a day. Are you stuck in your business or career trying to take your business to the next level, and it keeps hitting a wall? This is sam liebowitz, the conscious consultant. I will help you get to the root cause of your abundance issues and help move you forward in your life. Call me now and let’s. Create the future you dream of. Two, one, two, seven, two, one, eight, one, eight, three, that’s to one to seven to one, eight one eight three. The conscious consultant helping hunters. People be better business people. Dahna this is tony martignetti athlete named host of tony martignetti non-profit radio non-profit ideas for the other ninety five percent technology fund-raising compliance, social media, small and medium non-profits have needs in all these areas. My guests are expert in all these areas and mohr. Tony martignetti non-profit radio friday’s one to two eastern on talking alternative broadcasting do you want to enhance your company’s web presence with an eye catching and unique website design? Would you like to incorporate professional video marketing or mobile marketing into your organization’s marketing campaign? Mission one on one media offers a unique marketing experience that will set you apart from your competitors, magnify your brand exposure and enhance your current marketing efforts. Their services include video production and editing, web design, graphic design, photography, social media management and now, introducing mobile market. Their motto is way. Do whatever it takes to make our clients happy. Contact them today. Admission one one media dot com. Talking. Welcome back to the joe it’s time for tony’s take too, but first a reminder that we are live tweeting today, the hashtag is non-profit radio please join the conversation on twitter on tony’s take two this week. My block post is a test of google plus for your non-profit i was interviewed by new york enterprise report for an article on using google plus in small business, and i thought my ideas might help you to evaluate google plus for your non-profit now, of course, caveat, i’m not a social media guru expert thought leader, a small business owner. And so with that caveat, i’ll tell you what i’m doing with google plus and how i’m evaluating it, and you can see if that makes sense for your office or not. I’m really looking at the people who become my friends on google plus and the features that it ends up offering for the business profile pages, which is, you know we know them in facebook as a fan page. Google plus doesn’t have business profiles yet, but we all expect him to be coming, and google says they are coming within the next couple of months, so i’m going to be interested in who the people are, who joined me on google plus either because i invite them or they’re inviting me if they’re the same as the people i know on facebook, i’m probably going to be less likely to spend a lot of time, you know, keeping up a very active profile page on google. Plus, i would certainly have one, but how much time i devote to it is really what the issue would be on the same thing with the features. If it’s pretty much the same features as a facebook fan page, then i don’t really see advantage, but if it has some things that i’m looking for that i don’t see in facebook like for me, it’s ah good calenda ring application and a good, solid polling application like we can do in surveymonkey but built in facebook doesn’t have those things and it has polling, but not really a strong one, so if it has good features, i’ll be again more likely toe spend more time keeping a very active business profile page on google plus, so those are my ideas around evaluating whether to do that for my business, i don’t know if that’s of value to you, it might be in looking at google plus for your small non-profit um, you can see more detail about that on my block at m p g a d v dot com, and that is tony’s take two for friday, august twelfth with me now is maria simple. Maria is our newest regular contributor to the show. She’ll be on once a month. She is the prospect finder. Maria is an experienced trainer and speaker on prospect research and consults with organizations interested in finding and connecting with their best prospects for long term relationships. Her website is the prospect finder dot com, and i’m really pleased to welcome maria to the show. Welcome, maria, thanks so much. I’m delighted to be here. It’s a real pleasure to have you were going to be talking about linked in today. Lincoln has some new initiative for non-profits you want to explain what what’s up there? Yeah, absolutely so what’s kind of interesting about it is that linked in a little earlier this year, actually in may, haddon i po and so now they are actually deciding they’re going to dedicate some resource is in terms of against money, but as well as human resource is to the non profit sector now on ideo aipo means means what jargon jail mary-jo actually started issuing stock, they became a public company, so initial public offense and they actually launched something called lincoln non-profits solutions, and so what they’ve decided is that they have three point six million individual members who actually identify themselves as either employees or board members of a non-profit so they realize that there’s a tremendous amount of potential to help the nonprofit sector and they are actually i’m going to be helping people they back, they’ve launched a page called learned dot lincoln dot com forward slash non-profits, where they actually give the non-profits both as non-profit professionals, but also as organization’s best practices on tips and tools for how to make the most out of the lincoln for non-profit so they’re looking at both individuals and organizations, you say, and that that three point six million, i’m sure there are a lot more than that because there are one hundred million linkedin users, isn’t that right? Yes. So, yes, you are. But you know, what kind of interesting is that? They somehow been able to identify that there, there are, you know, the three point six million who are somehow connected to the non profit sector, right? Because i’m sure, based on keywords in their profile or just the way they what they identify their employer as, but i’m sure that’s low. I’m sure there are more than three point three and a half percent of the lincoln community working for non-profits but so maybe this initiative will will draw out some more. But even with that three point six million, yes, so they have this the the u r l you gave that’s the learning center, right? Yes. That’s correct. They have a specific learning center set up now for the nonprofit sector. And when you’re on that page, if you scroll all the way to the bottom, they actually have a contact a cab. So their interest sted in hearing from non-profits selves non-profit professionals and organizations and board members as to how lincoln can best serve the specter. So they are open to feedback at this point in their formulating this as they go along and you spoke with someone who’s in charge of this non-profit initiative. That lengthened in you? Yes. Somebody who has recently joined linked in his name is brian breckenridge. And he is heading up the new program there. And he’s, you know, he’s very excited and he’s very open to learning from the nonprofit sector. About what, how they convinced serve the non-profits and so since you had a spoke to him recently, any inside track about what we might be seeing the into the future? Well, i don’t have any specifics to share with you, but i do know that they are planning some interesting changes, hopefully that they’re rolling out in the next, you know, in the next couple of months so it’s, you know, they’re they’re formulating this, they’re looking, they’re taking in and looking for feedback at this point and anything that they can do the best help a non-profit sector they’re looking for that feedback at this time, and then they’ll be looking to roll out some new initiatives, i think okay, and you see value in the lincoln non-profit solutions for prospect research. Absolutely i do, you realise linked in for prospect research and for prospecting. So i utilize it in both, eh? Proactive sense as well, as in a reactive okay, let’s distinguish between prospect research and prospecting. What do you mean, weird? When you say those two different things differently? What do you mean by both? By each? Okay, so if i’m doing research on a potential major donor potential boardmember for the for a non-profit and i have the name of that individual lengthen is definitely one of the places that i go to to try and formulate my profile on that individuals. So that is what i would call reactive research. I have the name of someone, and this is one of my tools that i use to do prospect research. Now proactively you, khun, take linked in and use their advance people search feature to find people who might be suitable for your non-profit for connections in a variety of situations, they have a keyword search. You can focus your search down to within a radius of your zip code of where your non-profit is located, you can focus your search down to specific industries, so if you are looking, if you are let’s, take the example of a on environmental group, right let’s say they are looking to connect with more individuals in their community who are involved in some sort of environmental services so they would be able to conduct this search. Now, obviously, when you conduct a search on lincoln, first of all, you have to have your own lincoln personal on dh. This is using the advanced certain advanced search. Is that right? That’s? Correct. Have on the right on the upper right hand side called advance. Okay, you quick, matt. It opens up an entire new search screen that most people haven’t really access, you know, realize it’s there. And the more rich your own network is, the more people you are connected to, the richer the search results will be for you right now. If i were, let me give you two very contrast examples. I actually happen to have over five hundred connections in my lengthen network. So my search results would be drastically different from somebody who is a very new to lincoln and only has a network of, say, twenty, thirty, fifty people. Because you’re always shown how many degrees you’re separated from someone. So the more people i have in my network, greater search results going so so you mean when? You’re doing this advanced search you’re searching all the hundred million people in linked in and it’s telling you which of those are in your first degree, meaning you’re connected to them directly, which are too removed from you, which are three removed from you. Is that what you think you were searching the whole population of linked in? You can. Yes, but you can ask lincoln to just focused down the search results for you to the people you might be first degree connected to second degree or perhaps where you share a group membership. Because there you’re going to be ah, lot closer. You have a lot closer of an affinity and making the one toe one connection may be easier for you. Ok? Suppose you that’s really rich that you can search the whole hundred million. Suppose you find somebody who’s two degrees removed from you and they seem like a very good i don’t know. Maybe maybe we’re provoc betting for board members. Let’s say, for this, for this environmental group that you suggested you see somebody to removed from you. What? Explain what that means. And then how can you try to meet that person? Okay, tony let’s say we come up with let’s say, i do this search and i’m looking for environmental people who and i come up with a guy named oh, i don’t know john smith. And you and i are first degree connected on lengthen that much i know, but let’s say, john smith eyes second degree connected to me through you. That means he is both first degree connected to you. And i am first degree connected to you. So you are the common link between us, right? Ok, so that would mean john is a second degree. So, like those, like those kevin bacon seven degrees from kevin bacon movie. Right? Because he’s been in so many popular movies. Okay, so you can get to him through me, in other words, that’s. Right. So what did you do? How do you do that? Well, lincoln actually provide you with the the there’s a form that you can fill out so that a message would be sent to both john and to you. Looking for that introduction. I could look to be just connect with john directly and say, john, in my my request to connect, i might say john, you and i both know tony. Andi, i think we have a lot in common. I’d love to be able to connect with you here on lincoln. Always modify that that’s that standard introduction that lincoln provides to you never just go ahead and just use the standard intro, you realize those defaults aren’t aren’t very friendly, really there’s really bare bones, but so you’re allowed to your lot to connect with john smith your lot to contact john smith, even though you’re not directly connected to him. That’s correct. I could just send him an invitation to connect and just mention your name in my little intro is toe. Why? I think he and i might want to connect, you know, it’s up to him to accept my connect. Ction request? Sure. Okay, i see what you’re doing it through the request to connect. Okay. I see. On dh. Then the alternative is you could ask me to connect you to him. That’s. Right? I could ask you directly. I could go the old fashioned way. Tony, i could pick up the phone and call you and say, tony, you know, how well do you know john is? This somebody you know very well can you make some sort of a personal introduction even outside of lincoln through an email system. But at least lincoln’s provide you with the opportunity to identify potential boardmember potential donors in very specific sectors. Yes, the phone. You could pick up the phone and do it that way. And that way we don’t have to communicate through linkedin using their default messages or which we would really like. Anyway, i never thought that you could pick up the phone, imagine it could even have lunch and we could talk about it that way. Way. Imagine. See what? See what the web can do. Encourages you to pick up the phone. How do we had we operate without linked in years ago? I don’t know. So let’s, go back to the learning center. Um, yes. So they have. They have suggestions there for individuals and non-profits maria, we have just like a minute before a break. What are a couple of the not for profit? The organizational suggestions on unlinked in. And then after the break, we’re going to detail. Well, you could create a company page at no cost. So corporations, companies. Small businesses are doing this. We i highly recommend that a non-profit create a what they call a company page for their own. Non-profit, and they actually give the example of the american red cross that has attracted thousands of followers on lengthen and so other non-profits may want to check out what they have done. And, you know, look, learn from that and not reinvent the wheel. Ok, well, look att, the company profile and other things. After this break with maria simple, the prospect finder. Stay with us. You’re listening to the talking alternative network. Duitz are you feeling overwhelmed in the current chaos of our changing times? A deeper understanding of authentic astrology can uncover solutions in every area of life. After all, metaphysics is just quantum physics, politically expressed, i and montgomery taylor and i offer lectures, seminars and private consultations. For more information, contact me at monte m o nt y at r l j media. Dot com are you concerned about the future of your business for career? Would you like it all to just be better? Well, the way to do that is to better communication, and the best way to do that is training from the team at improving communications. This is larry sharp, host of the ivory tower radio program and director at improving communications. Does your office needs better leadership, customer service sales, or maybe better writing speaking skills? Could they be better at dealing with confrontation conflicts, touchy subjects all are covered here at improving communications. If you’re in the new york city area, stop by one of our public classes, or get your human resource is in touch with us. The website is improving communications, dot com, that’s, improving communications, dot com, improve your professional environment, be more effective, be happier, and make more money improving communications, that’s the answer. You crazy listeners looking to boost your business? Why not advertise on talking alternative with very reasonable rates? Interested simply email at info at talking alternative dot com lively conversation top trends, sound advice, that’s, tony martignetti non-profit radio and i’m ken berger from charity navigator. Oh! And i’m tony martignetti and i’m with maria simple, the prospect finder we’re talking about using linkedin to find and connect with people who could be boardmember sze donors, employees, volunteers. So, maria, the advice that you were giving before the break is that a new organization could create a ah profile page that’s correct, and i would highly recommend that they do that and the reason tony is and and i’m not suggesting that they should set aside any of their other social media strategies and presences like that they might have on facebook or twitter, but what you want to be able to do here is this is lincoln is the professional network, so you want to be able to, of course, capture the attention of people who are in the business community. You don’t want to exclude this, so this is free, you know, obviously whoever is maintaining your presence on other social media’s would want to be able to set this up and you can upload your logo. You would be able to give a nice description about the organization, provide your website, there’s, even a mapping feature where they tie it right into google maps. So that people will be able to see precisely where your non-profit is located. So, you know, it’s free, and i think that they should take advantage of that. I think the lincoln says there about one hundred thousand non-profits that have company pages, there should be many more that’s, a that’s, a good number, but there should be a lot more. How specifically does this one do they? I mean, how do you create a a company profile or non-profit profile versus creating a personal profile? Well, of course, the help affection of of lincoln is going to be very, very helpful to you, but they also have here they give you some steps on how you might be able to do that right on the non-profit learning center that we talked about earlier, okay? And again, the girl for that is linked in dot com slash forward slash non-profits actually, it starts off with the word learn ellie, are there yet i left. Yes, thank you very much. Learn dot linked in dot com forward slash non-profits thank you. And now groups are very popular and non-profits can create their own non-profits can create their own groups and you couldn’t decide if the group is going to be a closed group, meaning that everybody has to be first approved by some sort of a group moderator thatyou’re going to appoint at your end or it could be an open group. And keep in mind that if it’s an open group, all of the discussions are open and searchable and people can just join the group without any type of moderation. That and what’s the value for having creating your own group after you’ve created your profile. Well, they might. It might be in an interesting way to host certain conversations around specific topics and, uh so they, you know, if you have, if you’re a large enough non-profit and maybe you are hosting even conferences around your specific topic, that is something that you can use the group for if you want to engage people in discussions, much like you might see discussions in other types of groups that people are on on linked in, but it would be very specific to the time of organization that you are in the population that you serve, and after you create the groups than you invite people to join is that how it works. Well, you can’t invite people to join. Yes. You definitely can do that and invite people who are already in your linked in world to join the group. But people are going to be able to find you once you are set up in a group on lengthen. You are now searchable as well. So i remember i was telling you about the search functionality. The groups are a way that people, you know, look for like somebody might look for a live networking group to join. Somebody might be looking for a group around this specific area that you serve. Okay, so yeah. So if your work is for the m r d d community, the mentally retarded, developmentally disabled, you might create a group around the service around dahna discussion around the needs about that for that community in your own communities, you could make it a very localized group. Yes, you can. Some groups are geographically localized as well. But you may not want to limit it to that. I mean, lengthen is a worldwide a phenomenon, if you will. So why not? Why not? Just open it right up and allow people? To tto learn more and you never know where that relationship is going to lead. Okay, um, they also have something called linked in recruiter for for job, for organizations looking for employees, how does that work? So what they’re doing is lincoln does have a recruiting solutions portion, which is a fee based portion to their service that’s kind of steep, isn’t it? Well, yeah, for some non-profits mean, what they’re saying in an article that i read is that they are starting as low as four hundred dollars a month when you could be a little steep saw non-profit but they are, you know, offering these recruiting solutions, if you will, at a discounted price for what they would offer the for-profit world, okay, and that’s, if you’re looking for employees that’s correct, if you look nufer employees, they have they have sort of three separate sections, one is called lincoln recruiter one is called jobs network Job slots and the other 1 is called career pages. Okay, let’s, talk a little bit just in a couple minutes we have left about the offerings for individuals who are in non-profits what what’s the advice that that the learning center gives for individuals. Well, you definitely want to make sure that your profile is as one hundred percent complete as possible. So you want to make sure that your profile itself is rich so that as you go out and try and make connections with people, you will be able tio look like somebody, obviously, that other people really want to connect with that you are a thought leader within your own community, if you will. And so it’s really like a resume on steroids, you know, your opportunity to really shine and stand out from other people, so why not make it that way? Using the status updates, i’s a great way to let people know sharing articles, having to do with sector that you serve if you are a speaker, it’s a great way to let people know where you’ll be speaking, especially as it relates to your subject matter area on dh, especially if you do a lot of speaking on behalf of your non-profit it will let people know where you’re speaking either virtually and webinar format or, you know, live format if people are looking by the way tony and forgot to mention earlier fremery we have just about it, we have just about a minute left. Ok, on the resource is page of my website of the prospect finder dot com i do have a downloadable maria samples top five tips for prospecting with lincoln, so if they’re interested in some general tips about lincoln for themselves on a personal level, this will help them. I think you also learn how to use some of the more advanced features, all right, thank you for sharing that resource page that’s really all the time we have that is maria, said pompel the prospect finder again, you’ll see her at the prospect finder dot com, and she’ll be joining us once a month to talk about her advice for prospect research. Maria, welcome to the show as a regular contributor and thanks for today. Thank you, tony it’s been a pleasure next week, we’re going to lead the leader’s motivating your board to fundraise. Another interview from the fund-raising day conference last june, the consultant, andy robinson and carry kruckel, whose vice president for development and communications at w n tv reveal how to move your board to be the best fundraisers they can be. And the second half of the show explaining earned income are legal contributors jean takagi and emily chan from san francisco. Breakdown what earned income is why it can be good white-collar be bad, why you need to understand it to protect your non-profit and keep it out of trouble that’s what’s coming up next week, you can keep up with with what’s coming up week after week by signing up for our insider email alerts on the facebook page. While you’re there like us and become a fan of the show, please, you can listen to tony martignetti non-profit radio on the device of your choice. Any time you like. By subscribing on itunes getting the automatic download, you’ll find that at non-profit radio dot net on twitter. You can follow me always use the hashtag if you want to talk about the show and the hashtag is non-profit radio on twitter, our creative producer is claire meyerhoff, our line producer and the owner of talking alternative broadcasting his sam liebowitz. Our social media is by regina walton of organic social media. This is tony martignetti non-profit radio. I hope you’ll be with me next friday one to two p, m eastern, on talking alternative broadcasting right here at talking alternative dot com cerini. Do you think that shooting getting dink, dink, dink, dink? You’re listening to the talking alternate network, waiting to get you thinking. Cubine looking to meet mr or mrs right, but still haven’t found the one. Want to make your current relationship as filling as possible? Then please tune in on mondays at ten am for love in the morning with marnie gal ilsen as a professional matchmaker, i’ve seen it all. Tune in as we discuss dating, relationships and more. Start your week off, right with love in the morning with marnie gal ilsen on talking alternative dot com. Are you suffering from aches and pains? Has traditional medicine let you down? Are you tired of taking toxic medications, then come to the double diamond wellness center and learn how our natural methods can help you to hell? 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Beware The Self-Serving “Objective” Report

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These things are in every profession, not at all unique to nonprofit fundraising. The seemingly objective research or report or white paper that advocates a course of action. You’ve got to ask who wrote it and what they have to gain if you adopt their suggestions.

The most recent that I’ve seen is from WealthEngine, which makes money when nonprofits (and companies) hire them to do prospect screenings. In simple terms, that’s a comparison of your constituents with a company’s proprietary database that measures wealth and income. You use the result to determine who your best fundraising prospects are for different types and amounts of gifts.

Prospect screening is part of prospect research, work that I very much respect and have written about.

WealthEngine emailed me a press release announcing their report on best practices in arts and culture fundraising. It suggests those institutions should devote at least 25% of staff time to prospect research. Here’s a quote from the press release:

Unlike hospitals’ grateful patient programs and universities’ alumni and parent screening processes, many arts organizations seem to overlook the value of systematic prospect research, relying instead upon less consistent means to fundraising like tapping board members or others closely associated with their mission. In fact, two-thirds of the survey respondents indicated that less than 25% of staff time is spent on prospect research.

That 25% figure really bothers me. These are the hardest hit nonprofits in the recession, and the most struggling even in good times. To suggest they should be spending 25% of their staff time on prospect research is to dangle a carrot they cannot reach. The biggest institutions like major dance and opera companies and world-class museums? Frankly, it’s a stretch for them, too. But they’re outliers in the arts and culture space. In the arts, the vast majority are small companies struggling to keep the lights on, get the next show up, meet salary and keep the theater rent paid.

It’s cruel to prompt a resource allocation that’s grossly unattainable to most of the sector.

I see its purpose as selling their wealth screening service. The more time a charity devotes to prospect research, the more likely it is to buy a wealth screening. Both are valuable enterprises. And there are precious few nonprofits of any size that can devote “25% of staff time” to these activities. There’s a good reason that two-thirds of the survey respondents spend less than that on prospect research. That’s all they can afford and that’s all these worthwhile allocations deserve.

I have not read the report. The press release was sufficiently annoying. I tried to get a copy, but I object to the demand for far too much information. To download a report like this, I think the publisher is entitled to name and email. WealthEngine wants address, phone number and annual contribution level. All are required fields on a non-secure site. But that’s an aside.

Know who writes these advocacy research reports and think about why.

Best Prospect Research Comes From The Prospect

The Association of Prospect Researchers in Advancement met recently, and a hot topic was the May Wall Street Journal article, “Is Your Favorite Charity Spying On You.” The article didn’t portray prospect research in the best light, suggesting it’s a furtive, unseemly practice. The Chronicle of Philanthropy covered APRA’s reaction. The Journal focused on finding new prospects through research, and The Chronicle cites stats on new donors found for a campaign. I’m interested in a different kind of prospect research. The kerfuffle (a word I’ve always liked) gets me thinking: The best prospect research I’ve obtained and seen has come from the prospect themselves. No research site or algorithm can substitute for a shared meal and conversation between a prospect and fundraiser. You don’t have to meet over a meal, but I prefer it for several reasons.

You’re sharing the table and the meal. Sharing is a good place to start when the discussion is around a charitable gift–the sharing of the prospect’s money, contacts and/or time with an organization they love. Office distractions aren’t as plentiful in a restaurant. I always silence my cell, because I really don’t want to disturb our meal, and I’m hoping my dining partner will do the same. (Many do, some don’t.) Our timing is controlled by a neutral party, our server, and is familiar to both of us. We know the waitstaff will come at appointed times and we know when we’ll be left alone for long stretches. Our shared understanding of the meal ritual furthers our conversation. That’s a sufficient dining digression.

Nothing beats talking to a person when you want to get to know them. And get to know things about them. Prospects are people, not research projects (I’m not implying prospect researchers think of them that way), so have conversations with them. I’ve talked about children, spouses and siblings, wealth, asset mixes, CEOs and fellow trustees, worries, loves, illnesses, professions, boats, homes, economic forecasts, fears, vacations, country club fees, other charitable interests and estate plans. After technical expertise, the skills I most desire in a fundraiser are listening and conversing.

After a meal with your prospects, you should be rushing to write your notes, which go into your prospect report, to get channeled to your prospect researcher for analysis and thought. That’s the best prospect research, much better than any data points you can buy.