Organizing the

Fundraising Back Office

March 4, 2011Tim Mills-Groninger

South Shore Grants

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• Goals and outcomes• Who you are and • Why you came• Ground rules: Interrupt, there are no silly

questions• Difficult problem: I have a friend who…

Introductions

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• Fundraising– Soliciting support

• Advancement Services– Back office functionality– Managing donor and prospect information– Receiving, Recording, and Receipting gifts– Analysis: explaining the past and predicting the

future– Insuring compliance

Mapping the Universe

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Why Individual Giving is Important

• Money• Creates a deep pool for major gifts• Proof of community support

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Gifts by Source

Scale = billions

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Gifts by Destination

http://www.givingusa2010.org/

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• Donors– People who have made a gift

• Prospects– All carbon-based life forms except for above

Types of Individuals – Part One

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• Connection – Who they are and how they relate to your

organization• Capacity– How much they can give

• Commitment– If not you, who? How they relate to the cause

Types of Individuals – Part Two

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• Warning: Desire ≠ ability• Cost of research• Cost of data entry• Your ability to utilize information

Demographic information

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• Name – easy• Address(s) – kinda easy• Age – depends• Phone, email – depends• Family/Social relationships – surprisingly hard

Demographics

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• Ask the donor• Ask their friends – peer screenings• Participation data• List appends

Demographic Resources

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• Will we really use this?• Is it legal? (probably) • Ethical? (depends)• What is the ROI?

Demographic Questions

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• Prolific Greek writer• Known to you, but not disclosed– Most common process– Importance of non-disclosure and confidentiality

• Unknown to you– Small gifts – not a problem– Larger gifts – get your lawyer involved

Anonymous

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• Irrevocable transfer of an asset without reciprocal consideration to the donor

• Keyword: Quid Pro Quo• Benefits broad population

Defining the Gift

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• Last entity to control the resource• Name on the account• Soft credit of related parties• Third party processors– United Way– Network for good, etc– For profit v. nonprofit

Defining the Donor

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• Publications 526 and 1771• Amount received • Disclosure of Fair Market Value (FMV) of

benefits received• Optional: Date of Control• Avoid tax advice

Key IRS Issues

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Sample Receipt

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• A legal and enforceable promise (contract)• Hard to enforce• DAF problems• Write down/off

Pledges

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• Date of control– Cash – in hand– Check – deposit– Credit card – transaction clears

• Fees– Processing and related are your cost of business– Will confuse some credit card donors

Cash Gifts

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• Describe the property received• Decline to assign value• If pressed, say

“which you assigned a value of $...”• Partial interest issues

Stock and Other In-Kind

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• Legal, accounting, etc• Not a gift• Worth a thank you• Work around – pay them, and let them write a

check

Gifts of Service

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• Support for Annie to go to X• Use of vacation house for silent auction• Decline of an honorarium• Gifts to a club on your org’s behalf• Silent auction item with no published value• A company’s name and URL in printed

program

Let’s Play Gift or Not a Gift

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• Three day deadline• Threshold? Try 1₵ • Include appropriate thank you

Processing and Receipting

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• Memorials/In honor of– Conversion to annual giver opportunity

• Soft credit– Spouse, employer, influencer

• Matching– Mainly opportunistic– Appends are available, but consider ROI

Other Record Keeping

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• Online• Direct Mail• Individual solicitation• Special Events/Auctions• Raffles • Contracts, trusts, etc.

Gift Vehicles

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• What you’ll take• What you’ll refuse• Who decides

Gift Acceptance Policy

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• Gift accounting v. financial accounting• Reconciliation at deposit level• No need for individual detail– But many accountants insist

• Shared credit for net change of non-gift contributions

Accounting

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• Who will use?• ROI?

Selecting Fundraising Software

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• Buy• Build• Rent/SaaS

Software Options

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• Local installation• Tendency to over-buy• Worthless without training

Licensing (Buy)

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• Cheaper long-term• Mature off-the-rack market• User groups and other support options

Pros of Purchasing

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• Underestimation of upfront costs• Lack of custom fit• Overestimation of product sophistication

Cons of Buying

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• Raiser’s Edge/Donor2• DonorPerfect/ResultsPlus• Giftworks/eTapestry

Popular Products

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• Exactly what you need• Tendency to under-plan• Development is training

Build – Custom Development

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• Custom fit• Cheapest solution per feature• Forces complete process analysis

Pros of Building

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• What you said, not what you meant• Feature creep = most expensive solution• Frankenstein-like monster kept alive by moody

contractors or staff

Cons of Building

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• In house: FileMaker/Microsoft Access • Consultant: Using above products– But what do you care?

Build Options

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• Software as a Service or “The Cloud”• Lowest up-front investment• Same buy/build issues

SaaS

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• Low monthly rate • Backup and technical issues outsourced• Use anywhere

Pros of the Cloud

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• Most expensive option over long-term• Provider-driven upgrade schedule• Beneath the hype is just software

Cons of SaaS

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• Saleforce.com• DonorPerfect• eTapestry

SaaS Options

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• Constituent Relationship Management – CRM• Social networking and engagement

Beyond Fundraising

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• Promote laziness: dupe check early• Address correction request• Adhere to standards• Eschew secret lists

Data Hygiene

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• Celebrating uniqueness• Too much overlap• Idiosyncratic history

Constituency and Other Coding

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• Donor/solicit• Board• Connection• Capacity• Commitment

Good Codes

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• Former Board• Event interest• Too narrow of a connection

Bad Codes

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• Confidentiality Statement• Physical – desktop and files• Network• Application

Security

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• IRS• HIPPA • FERPA• PCI• State Registration

Compliance

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• Ibid: Gift Acceptance Policy• Gift processing guidelines• Data governance standards• Cross training

The Advancement Services Plan

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• Indentify gaps – quality and standards• Commit realistic staff and financial resources• Involve the development committee• Check your work/come up for air

Homework

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Thank You