This next module of the course is going to focus on how do we take our family?
And really use it to help build a fundraising base,
a private fundraising base.
And fundraising is scary to many people.
And it's not done in many countries.
The US, we do an awful lot of fundraising,
we require fundraising for more than half of our arts budgets.
But in most countries the government is the main funder.
Although governments across the world are cutting back on their funding,
and so the need for private fundraising is really increasing
fundraising is scary because people think it's begging,
and I don't really think of fundraising as begging at all.
I think of fundraising as a transaction.
We're looking at the needs of the organization, and
we're looking at the needs of the donor, and we're trying to match them.
I find it very strategic and actually a lot of fun.
There are four key sections to fundraising,
there are key steps to fund raising, that we really need to think about very,
very carefully as we pursue a private contributions campaign.
The first step is what we call prospecting.
Prospecting is the step where we're looking who is out there,
which individuals, which corporations, which private foundations.
Might be out there who might support our work.
We really need to be very targeted in this.
Many organizations write hundreds and thousands of letters to all kinds of
people and all kinds of corporations saying give us money and they do very
little thought, they put very little thought behind who they're going to.
And they put very little thought into tailoring the message to that person or
that corporation.
And the results are usually very disappointing.
We find it's far better to make a prospect list of 10, or 30, or
100 people or corporations that you really think you'll know,
that you really think you can understand, and
that you really think like the logical funders for the work you do.
How do we find who these prospects are?
Well, we'll look at who's funding other ARCH organizations in our city, or
who funds other ARCH organizations of our kind.
We look at the guidelines of foundations and say,
do we fall within those guidelines and are we likely to be funded by that foundation.
We think about corporations who fund in our region and
who might be logical targets where we can offer them something.
So the first thing we have to do in good fundraising is to create a strong
prospect list.
Once we've created the strong prospect list, the second part of fundraising,
the second step is what we call cultivation.
That is trying to let that prospect know about our organization and
start to appreciate the work we do.
If someone walked up to you in the street and said please give me $1000,
we would think they were a little bit crazy.
But that's how a lot of arts organizations approach prospects.
They just send them a cold call letter asking for money and
they typically get no response.
Cultivation is the process by which we really get to know the prospect and
they really get to know us.
We start to learn about what their interests are, what they might fund, how
much they might give, what things matter to them and what we can offer them back.
And they start to learn about us and how we fulfill our promises and how exciting
our work is and why they might want to engage with us in the first time.
When we've done a good job of cultivation then it's time for
the third step which is called solicitation.
That's where we actually ask for money or resources from the prospect.
And solicitation must be done really thoughtfully,
it must be tailored to each individual prospect.
I don't suggest writing one letter that you send out to all your prospects.
I suggest you take what you've learned in the cultivation process what is
really important to that donor.
What part of our work interests them?
Why might they support us?
And then make a tailored appeal to them.
I prefer when this appeal is in person.
Whenever we can get before someone, whenever we can talk to them directly,
we have a much better chance of getting them to listen to our proposal,
talk through their interests and their concerns and
where we can come to a satisfactory agreement, and how they might fund us.
But for those prospects who won't take a personal leading,
we can write a tailored proposal that really addresses their interests and
their needs the fourth step of fundraising is the most critical one, and
that's called stewardship.
And stewardship is the way we treat those people or corporations or
foundations who have already funded us.
Too many arts organizations only interact with their funders once a year
when they want the gift to be renewed.
And do very little in between to make the donor feel warm and happy and
engaged and feeling that they want to continue or even build on their support.
Stewardship therefore involves keeping that donor engaged.
Having events throughout the year where they feel they're part of us.
Keeping communication with them about the things we think they
might be interested in special grants we receive, special awards we receive,
when we are in television, when there is a news paper article about us.
Allowing them to interact with our artist and to get to know our artist better,
allowing them to come to our hustles.
Doing the kind of things that are going to make them feel like they are really
benefiting from their support for our organisation.
When stewardship is handled well,
we are much more likely to get continued gifts from the donor and
particularly much more like to get increase from that donor overtime.
When we do a great job of prospecting, of cultivation,
a solicitation, and of stewardship.
We have a very strong and
sophisticated fundraising process that is very likely to help us overtime.
Build a larger and larger base of private support.