Depending on the size of your organization, your healthy membership program may rely on you to develop anywhere from four to twelve to twenty fundraising campaigns per year. You know your organization is amazing, but saying why and how up to twenty different ways in a single year is not easy.

So when you’re out of ideas, which you occasionally will be, here are eight ways to jump start your creative thinking and get the ideas flowing again:

1. Roll up your sleeves. Go to work – on the program side – for your organization for a day. Serve meals, put up drywall, go door-to-door. You’ll be inspired all over and will no doubt find new ways to convey that inspiration to your organization’s donors.

2. Reverse the way you build your case for support. Most fundraisers take a funnel approach to building a case for support. They start wide with the big picture of what their organization does and then narrow in and substantiate with specifics on why the work is important and examples of the impact. If you build your case the other way around however, you’ll end up with a more effective case. Next time, start narrow – tell a single story conveying your impact on an individual level – and then expand to the larger discussion of what your organization is doing and why the donor’s support matters.

3. Check your idea file. You don’t have one? Well get started right away! It can be hard copy, electronic, or both. Keep a folder of clippings, notes and samples from other organizations that you like. Individually, they’re just scraps but collectively they can be a valuable springboard for new ideas.

4. Share with and learn from other nonprofits and colleagues. Make time in your calendar and budget to attend high-quality conferences. But don’t be a session hermit. It’s the engaged conversations you have in hallways that can often be of the greatest value.

5. Read up. What’s going on in the news about your issues? What are people saying? Are they saying good things or bad things about your issues? Are there any new studies or statistics that are relevant to your organization’s work? Spend an hour taking the external pulse on your issues and your reading will likely spark ideas for new ways and reasons to make your organization’s case for support.

6. Remember that donors don’t want to hear about your programs; they want to know what you accomplish. Nonprofits usually organize their program areas in ways that make sense from an implementation perspective. Programs are: “Education,” “Research,” “Advocacy,” and “Community Outreach.” This is rarely compelling from a donor’s perspective however. Donors don’t give because you “do community outreach.” They give because of your organization’s impact. Instead of showcasing a program in your next appeal, think carefully about what you really do. What does a roof over a family’s head mean? What does a public park mean? What does a hot meal mean?

7. Spend an hour with your results. Data is one of the best places to look for messaging and campaign ideas. What approaches have your donors responded to the best? Which issue areas have your donors been most interested in? The least? Sometimes revisiting your results helps shape new ideas and approaches that you can test in your program.

8. Take a walk. An apple can’t hit you on the head if you don’t step outside. Your most inspired ideas – of any kind – are more likely to show up when you’re away from your computer and alone with your thoughts.

The DMA Nonprofit Federation’s 2012 Washington Nonprofit Conference is just around the corner. If you haven’t signed up yet, be sure to register for this essential fundraising conference for two days of information-rich sessions and cutting-edge direct marketing case studies.

And be sure to stop by our Thursday afternoon session – 20 BIG ideas for SMALL Nonprofits – where Eliza will be sharing actionable direct response ideas to make the most of your nonprofit’s donor file. We hope to see you there!

MKDM’s blog, The Nth Factor, has a second home: Alltop!

The popular blog aggregator co-founded by the former chief evangelist at Apple and tech guru, Guy Kawasaki works like a digital magazine rack, curating the latest stories from hand-picked sites and blogs by subject categories.

You can find The Nth Factor in Fundraising, alongside blogs we admire like The Agitator, Future Fundraising Now, Beth’s Blog, and others filled with top-notch fundraising information and insights.

Where will you be on July 21-22? At the 2011 Bridge Conference we hope! This annual conference from the Washington DC chapter of the AFP and the Direct Marketing Association of Washington is one of the nation’s best, and biggest, conferences on integrated, multichannel fundraising and donor communications.

Be sure to stop by our Friday morning presentation, Direct Response #*¢!ups: A Survival Guide. In this lively session along with Bonnie Catena of Amnesty International, Dolores McDonough of What’s Next Consulting, and Amy Bastian of The Nature Conservancy, we’ll be sharing case studies on handling occasional fundraising mishaps, and even turning them into fundraising successes.

We hope to see you at Bridge!

But getting those stories isn’t as simple as you might think. Often these treasures are hidden within quiet heroes who are so busy doing incredible work that they don’t even realize how incredible they are, which just makes them all the more amazing.

But it can also make these wonderful people pretty difficult interview when you want to feature them in your newsletter, direct mail or annual report to let your donors know what great work they’re supporting. And weaving the facts you collect into a meaningful story can be virtually impossible.

But the stories are there indeed, and you CAN uncover them.The next time you sit down with one of your organization’s beneficiaries, program officers or donors, here are a few tips on conducting a great interview – and finding an even greater story to inspire your donors.

1. It’s not an “interview;” it’s a conversation. If you approach your interview as a rigid Q&A, then you’re probably not going to get much more than that. When you sit down with someone to understand, for example, how they coped with breast cancer, found the courage to fight back against discrimination, or moved from homelessness to financial security, you can’t assume that the 15 questions you prepared in advance can possibly plumb the depths of what they’ve experienced and the issues their experiences represent.

So while you should still write those 15 questions down in advance, after the first question or two, your conversation should be off and running and questions you ask will flow naturally from your discussion.

2. Be inquisitive.  Don’t be afraid to ask “why?” – and challenge yourself to ask it when you’re not expected to or wouldn’t ordinarily think to. Here’s an example:

Imagine you’re interviewing a person who was the victim of discrimination and received help from a nonprofit to win justice. When you interview the individual, he/she may recount the specific act of discrimination but tell you that they were reluctant to bring charges. (“My boss fired me. I didn’t think it was right, but I didn’t know what I could do / I was afraid to say anything.”) Then they tell you about a catalyzing event that made them take action (“I mentioned what happened to a friend who works at [the nonprofit] and they encouraged me to …”) and proceed to tell you about the process whereby they stood up for justice.

This is already an interesting story and it would be easy to write this narrative as is. But there’s so much more here, just waiting to be uncovered with one simple word: “why?”  You need to ask:

Why didn’t you think it was right that you were fired?

Why were you afraid to say something?

Why didn’t you know that you could do something about it?

And don’t forget why’s cousin: how did that make you feel?

In the end, you’re sure to find a much richer, much more personal story.

3. Begin writing the story in your head during the interview. Don’t try to put your story together AFTER your interview. As you are finding out about the person you are interviewing, you need to formulate the story in your head as well. This allows you to test your story out directly with your interviewee: “so it sounds like you’re saying …” or “would it be correct to say that …” Either they’ll tell you that you are completely wrong and you can redirect your thinking or they’ll let you know that you’re on the right track, in which case you’ll have the opportunity to ask more questions that will help flesh out the story as you envision telling it.

4.  Say thank you. If the person that you are interviewing understands how grateful you are for their time and how interested you are in what they have to say, they’re more likely to be open with you. Regardless of whether you are with the nonprofit or you are a freelancer or with an agency, you should always follow up every interview with a personal thank you note.

In it, you’ll find best practices for selecting and integrating channels, including email, web, mobile, social media and direct mail, and how to develop creative and messaging that works across multiple channels.

Be sure you’re equipped with the latest techniques in multichannel fundraising this fall and order your copy today!

MKDM’s year end campaign for Friends of the High Line took runner up honors in the Email Renewal category of the DMFA’s annual Package of the Year competition on June 8, 2011.

The last email notice of this multichannel campaign to preserve the final section of the historic High Line dramatically outperformed goals. With 48 hours remaining to leverage a matching gift challenge, the email achieved an average gift twice that of industry standards and a response rate nearly ten times greater than benchmarks established in the 2011 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study.

This campaign helped bring Friends of the High Line an important step closer to protecting this iconic section of the High Line and realizing its vision of preserving the entire historic structure as public open space. 

(Click image to enlarge.)

January 6 months before start of new FY

• Start annual baseline data analysis for State of the Donor File report
• Conduct mid- fiscal year program review and year end campaign analysis
• Hold Q1 interdepartmental strategy meeting to plan integrated Q2&Q3 campaigns
• Update acknowledgment communications (auto replies, thank you letters, etc.)

• Complete baseline data collection; begin interpretation
• Review existing vendor performance and contracts
• Forecast fiscal year end results; adjust strategies if necessary to meet goal

• Complete State of the Donor File report; identify donor file strengths/weaknesses and define priorities for new fiscal year; correlate findings to organization strategic vision and adjust strategies as needed
• Assess allocation of staff resources to program requirements and plan adjustments as needed
• Draft campaign plan for new fiscal year, including timeline for refreshing standing program communications and strategies as needed (i.e. online programs, social media, membership program structure and benefits, monthly giving, mid-level gift club, etc.)
• Discuss updates to vendor contracts and distribute RFPs for new vendor services as needed
• Monitor progress toward FY end goals closely; adjust strategies as needed to meet goal

• Hold Q2 interdepartmental strategy meeting to plan integrated Q3&Q4 campaigns
• Refine campaign plan and budget for new fiscal year
• Conduct new vendor reviews as applicable
• Monitor progress toward FY end goals closely; adjust strategies as needed to meet goal

• Finalize campaign plan and budget for new fiscal year
• Finalize vendor selections and contracts as needed for new fiscal year
• Monitor progress toward FY end goals closely; adjust strategies as needed to meet goal

• Finalize vendor contracts for new fiscal year
• FY end push as needed to meet goal
• Review report templates critically and plan improvements/modifications for new fiscal year

• Hold Q3 interdepartmental strategy meeting to plan integrated Q4&Q1(new CY) campaigns
• Prepare final FY end reports and analysis; adjust new FY strategies if applicable

• Assess development operations and plan/implement process improvements

• N/A: focus all resources on year end campaign implementation

• Hold Q4 interdepartmental strategy meeting to plan integrated Q1&Q2(new CY) campaigns

• Prepare for new CY membership materials and messaging updates

• Monitor progress toward CY end goals closely; adjust strategies as needed to meet goal
• Allocate resources for new CY baseline data analysis in January
• Allocate resources for mid- fiscal year program review in January

“We have to admit that we’re enamored with folks who really ‘get’ the esoteric and perplexing elements of database marketing,” wrote FS of Eliza in their February awards announcement issue. The magazine also cited Eliza’s integrated direct marketing strategy development and messaging skills for their award decision.

Read the article, and other fundraising coverage and resources in the February digital edition of Fundraising Success.