As the air cools and the wind blows and winter snows begin to fall (or think about falling anyway!) one thing is for sure. I will get a TON of emails from nonprofits in the next few weeks asking me for money!

While year-end giving is a powerful source for good, I want to get you to think about another key aspect of the development process, a vital activity to launch after the snow settles from year-end giving: Stewardship.

As sure as my email box will be full over the next few weeks, it will be “empty” come the first quarter of 2024. And the second quarter. And the third.

While asking for gifts is an important part of the gift giving process, nonprofits seem to forget the other many and important steps in the fundraising cycle.

Imagine, if in January you sent out a communication sharing how grateful you are for the donors who have given to you. Perhaps an email sharing how the New Year brings new hope because of the donor’s engagement.

Then, in February you share how donors are “Your Valentine” or some similar message celebrating the relationship you are excited to be building with them. March could bring a report about how you are spending their money to change the world. April could bring a short survey asking what part of your mission they like best.

May could bring…well, you get the idea! I bet you can think of something amazing for your nonprofit to do here and into the summer months as well?!

My point is that in order for our giving season to be the best it can be, we have to be willing to do the work through the entire year – and not just during this time of heavy solicitation.

I will receive lots of emails in the next few weeks from organizations to whom I have given gifts in the past, and I will think hard about which ones to support this year. My resources are limited as are virtually everyone’s, and my choices will be based on many factors. But one thing you can know for sure: if an organization has acknowledged, thanked and reported back to me and also made me feel like it really wants a relationship with me and not just my wallet, their chances are certainly far higher than the ones I only hear from during the next few weeks.

Remember, the first gift is only the start of our relationship with the donor. Stewardship involves all the ways you can communicate and stay in touch with the donor without continually asking for another gift. Done well, stewardship deepens our relationship with the donor over a longer period of time. The likelihood of continued and increased giving expands as well.

Stewardship is a vital part of the development process. Don’t let solicitation be your only fundraising.

Happy Year-End Fundraising!

Erik Daubert is a faculty member with The Fund Raising School.

The vibrant difference between a photo and a movie helps explain why almost all people can be viewed as prospective donors.

Fundraisers understandably are concerned when they read that just half of American households donate to nonprofit organizations, down from two-thirds a decade ago. That statistic is from a valid and highly-reliable survey that is conducted every two years, gathering information from donors in the same families, from one year and one generation to the next.

However, a recent survey of American perceptions of the nonprofit sector found that 61 percent of households donate to charity. Complicating things further, Gallup reports that 81 percent of people make charitable donations, while the General Social Survey’s finding is 88 percent.

Which statistic is correct? Well, cue Mark Twain’s wisecrack about lies and statistics because the answer is: all of them! Different studies use different research methods, but synthesizing these conflicting findings produces an encouraging data point.

The various research studies and surveys ask different questions to different people at different times of the year and at different time intervals. A simple example: one study asks if the person donated in the last year, while another survey asks if the person ever donated to a nonprofit. This is just one of many distinctions in the research.

Despite these differences, the data offer hopeful guidance. Dr. Mark Ottoni-Wilhem has been researching donors and their charitable giving behaviors for 25 years as an affiliate professor at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Ottoni-Wilhelm counsels fundraisers to notice that only 12 percent of people never donate.

Ottoni-Wilhem’s encouraging guidance has several practical implications for fundraising:

• While nonprofits think in terms of an annual fund, not all individuals are annual donors. Fundraisers need to plan on which donors will donate this year. The list likely will not be identical to the previous year and will need to be revised again next year.
• Fundraisers can continue their important work with a growth mindset supported by a sense of possibility, especially since…
• All donors are important, and all gift sizes are important. Focusing only on the wealthiest donors and the largest gifts obviously limits the number of households that will donate to your nonprofit.
• The fact that not all donors are annual donors reemphasizes the importance of donor stewardship – staying in touch with our donors in ways that do not always ask them for money. Maintaining an ongoing relationship honors the donor’s dignity (reason alone for stewardship) while honoring the donor’s timing for charitable giving – which may or may not be annually.
• If we focus solely on the “50 percent of households donate” statistic, we should not be surprised that so many nonprofits struggle to hire fundraisers. That said…
• Fundraising is hard work. There is no simple formula guaranteeing fundraising success. Leaders thrive in ambiguity, and fundraisers lead their nonprofits when they work through the uncertainties of who might or might not donate from one year to the next.

Ottoni-Wilhelm invites fundraisers to think of old photographs. The people pictured are standing still in a photo that is in black-and-white. However, those same people lived their lives in motion and in living color. They lived different seasons in their own lives while launching the next generation.

“Fundraising is not a photo but instead is a motion picture,” Ottoni-Wilhelm said. “Fundraising is not static and instead is constantly moving, constantly changing.” A dynamic reality that cannot be captured in a single photo or a simple statistic.

Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., is director and Rosso Fellow of The Fund Raising School within the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

The start of the NFL season provides an inspiring reminder of generosity as nonprofits prepare for their year-end fundraising.

Damar Hamlin is back on the field, defending for the Buffalo Bills. Hamlin made world-wide news on January 2, 2023, when he suffered cardiac arrest on the field of a nationally-televised game in Cincinnati. The defensive back’s miraculous return to full health has led to his remarkable return to pro football.

The incident also sparked an outpouring of generosity. For example, Hamlin is volunteering his time to advocate for state and federal legislation that would require automated external defibrillators at all high school sporting events. He also is volunteering his voice to encourage all of us to learn CPR.

Oh. Damar Hamlin also raised $10 million for his nonprofit organization.

While earning his bachelor’s degree at the University of Pittsburgh, Hamlin established the Chasing M’s Foundation, designed to promote the development, health, and safety of youth. After being selected in the next-to-last round of the NFL draft, Hamlin started using his pro platform to promote the foundation, with an initial goal of raising $2,500 for a toy drive.

That modest fundraising goal received quite the jolt after Hamlin was brought back to life in a sold out stadium, with millions of people watching on TV. Donations blitzed their way to the foundation. Nearly 300,000 gifts included large contributions from millionaire football players and billionaire team owners. Even still, one estimate placed the average gift at $40 as everyday people sent in their donations.

Nonprofits understandably can be discouraged by reports that only half of American households make charitable financial donations. The outpouring of support for Hamlin’s foundation points instead to the Gallup Survey finding that 81 percent of Americans donate money each year to nonprofit organizations.

Damar Hamlin is alive and well, and so is generosity. People saw a dire situation. They wanted to help. They wanted to be part of a solution. They wanted to be part of something larger than themselves.

This inspiring story provides an important lesson for fundraisers. No, that lesson does not include enduring a near-death experience! Instead, know that people care, and people are generous. Not all people, of course; but many, maybe even most.

Therefore, state your fundraising case for support. Clearly describe your nonprofit’s programs, services, and results. Be transparent about the financial resources that are needed to accomplish those results. Help people see how they can become part of something larger than themselves, joining others who share their values and motivations. Individuals at all gift levels can be encouraged to donate.

Fundraising, while never easy, is fortified by this sense of possibility, by this growth mindset, by this awareness of generosity.

After receiving medical clearance to return to the NFL, Hamlin told ESPN, “You just keep putting that right foot in front of the left one, and you keep going. I want to stand for that.” Fundraisers will benefit by heeding Hamlin’s advice and by following his example.

Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., is director and Rosso Fellow of The Fund Raising School within the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

A common household tool can help nonprofits gain an appreciation for a familiar fundraising template.

According to the website “Haus of Tools,” (yes, an actual website; thank you, internet!), the first hammer was created 3 million years ago when our prehistoric ancestors held rocks in their hands and slammed those rocks into other stones to create flint for starting fires and weapons for hunting. Around the year 30,000 B.C., a sore-handed someone decided to tie a bone or strong stick to the rock, creating the first hammer with a handle.

Not many tools that are 3 million years old are still used today, and yet the hammer can be taken for granted. The same fate can befall fundraising. While modern technology can map the route to our donor meeting and even write the first draft of our grant proposal, familiar fundraising tools can fall out of favor.

For example: the donor pyramid. The trustworthy triangle reportedly is obsolete, but to paraphrase Dickens, reports of the donor pyramid’s demise are greatly exaggerated.

The donor pyramid is one tool among many and is not the end but the beginning, an initial outline of a nonprofit’s eventual fundraising plan. The top of the pyramid illustrates 60 percent of the nonprofit’s charitable gifts being made by 10 percent of donors. The pyramid’s mid-section depicts another 20 percent of donations from 20 percent of contributors. The base of the pyramid contains 30 percent of charitable contributions from 70 percent of donors.

The donor pyramid is nothing more than a starting point. The percentages are neither automatic nor guaranteed. The math involved is not a magic formula. One size does not fit all. As familiar legal disclaimers proclaim at the end of commercials, your results may vary. In fact, your results will vary as you apply information from your donor database and prospect list to the template.

Your customized creation then informs a gift range chart indicating how many gifts you are developing at specific monetary amounts. The higher levels of the gift range chart names names, linking specific donors and funders to specific staff, board or other volunteers who now are assigned to develop their respective donations. The first draft of a comprehensive fundraising plan is now in sight.

The initial donor pyramid provides assurance that you do not necessarily need to rely solely on large gifts. Your annual fund or campaign can be successful with a wide range of donations from a wide range of donors. You need not focus exclusively on wealthier individuals.

This mindset strengthens diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging when fundraising. The pyramid proclaims that all donors – regardless of economic, racial, or other demographics – are important, and all gifts – regardless of their amount – are important.

The triangle charts an initial pathway toward a comprehensive fundraising plan. Fundraisers, obviously, still must cultivate and steward relationships with donors while ethically and transparently stating a transformational fundraising case for support.

Meanwhile, just as the handle was added to the hammer, The Fund Raising School is researching if the donor pyramid’s original ratios still apply. The findings of that research will update the template. In the meantime, the donor pyramid remains a basic tool for effective fundraising.

Bill Stanczykiewicz, Ed.D., serves as director and Rosso Fellow of The Fund Raising School within the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.