Learn how to get the green that will make your dream project a reality. This article, written by Amanda Keil, was featured in the May 2012 issue of Classical Singer magazine. You can read the read the entire May issue of the magazine at www.classicalsinger.com.
So, you’ve planned a cool program, you’ve lined up some great performers, booked a hip venue—but you don’t have two pennies to rub together? No problem! Just pick a snazzy online fundraising platform, set a campaign goal for $10,000, e-mail it out to the world, and watch the bucks roll in. Right?
Well . . . unless you’re a filmmaker whose cute cat video just went viral or a designer offering a fabulous new iPad case before it gets picked up by Burberry, you’re probably not going to raise too much money from strangers. For all the recent interest in Internet fundraising, raising money online still means raising money from people. You can and probably should have an online component to your campaign, but it will be most successful if you directly solicit your largest potential donors first and then announce the campaign to smaller donors. As every bartender knows, put some money in the tip jar if you want to keep getting tips. Get that first gift, and the others will follow.
Start at the top. If you’re trying to raise $10,000, don’t start by asking some buddies to contribute $10 each (do the math—you’d better have 1,000 ten-spot buddies on hand). Identify people in your circle who could give a large gift, offer a matching gift if you raise an equal amount of funds, or help you raise amounts from people in their network.
Who are these people? Your best prospects should meet three of the following four criteria: 1) relationship with you, 2) interest in your project or the arts in general, 3) capacity for giving/soliciting donations, and 4) inclination to give. For example, a friend of your parents who has known you for a long time, appears to be well-off, and is known to be generous. Your job is then to introduce them to what you’re doing and make a case for why it is urgent for them to support you now.
This is where you might start to feel a little strange. No one likes asking for money—at first. But once you get a few gifts under your belt, the feeling is addictive. And remember that you’re inviting them to be involved in a project in the one way that they can. You’re not asking them to sing in an opera; you’re asking them to make that opera happen. If they see the importance of your project, they will see the importance of their role.
For your top prospects, think about the best way to initiate contact with them and why you feel that’s the best way. If the prospective donor knows you but is unfamiliar with your work, maybe a letter with a description and some pictures would be a good first step. If they have attended your shows in the past, a phone call might be a quicker way to reach them. In any case, for donors of this level, your first request is not for a donation but for more extended contact, such as a phone call or a face-to-face meeting.
On a side note, consider using the humble telephone whenever you can. You might have noticed that people don’t use their phones for calling that much anymore. For that reason, you can catch people off guard in a phone call more easily than you can with an e-mail or a letter. The more personal contact you can make with people, the more likely they are to respond positively to your request. With everyone feeling inundated by e-mails and with letters being a static way of starting a conversation, the phone might be your best option for standing out to prospective donors. Moreover, older donors—who likely have more money than your peers—might be less Internet savvy and would respond better to a phone call than an e-mail.
An initial letter or conversation might cover something like this: “Thank you so much for coming out to the concert last fall—it means a lot to me to have you as part of the audience. You may know that I’m planning a larger production this spring, and I would be thrilled to work with you on making it a reality. Could we get together in the next week or so to talk about the project?”
You are asking for an in-person meeting because that is the single most effective way of raising money. Large non-profits know this and have dozens of staff members whose job it is to meet with current and prospective donors to learn about their interests and find ways to keep them involved. People are much more likely to respond to a person who is sitting in front of them than to an e-mail that is sitting in their inbox.
When you meet with someone or speak with them on the phone, tell your prospect what your plans are, keep it focused on the fabulous end result of your work (an opera production, a series of recitals, etc.), and explain that you’re looking for help in a variety of capacities. You want to offer what is called in fundraising “a choice of yesses.” That is, never ask a question to which the answer could be no. Think about what they might be willing to do, and let them choose from among those things. For example: “As part of my fundraising goal, this project needs five $500 gifts. Would you consider being a donor at that level or reaching out to friends who could collectively give that amount?”
After you ask, here’s the critical next step: wait. No friendly babble, no nervous laughter. Just the silence and space your prospective donor needs to think about it.
At the end of your conversation, depending on what you’ve offered, you may learn that the donor will give but prefers to write a check rather than donate online. They may offer to host a small party for you. They may tell you that they cannot give right now, but they will do their best to sell tickets and tell their friends about your show. If you’ve given them a number of ways to get involved, they will likely accept one of them. This is a very good thing, as all of the above generates income for your project. If they say no to all of your possibilities, offer other non-donation ways they could help, such as advising you on your budget or volunteering during a performance. If you can find a way to keep them involved, they might consider a gift in the future.
Once you’ve secured some large gifts or help recruiting more donors, then you can take your campaign public. Proudly send out an e-mail announcing that you’ve raised 20 percent of your goal or that a donor will match new gifts. Both of these create momentum for your campaign, serve as incentives for the lower-end donors who will make up the balance of your goal, and give you an aura of success. Everyone likes a winner! As a prospective donor, I will be more likely to donate $25 to a campaign if I feel that that will really help you reach your goal. If I get an e-mail for a $10,000 campaign that hasn’t raised one cent, my $25 looks pretty meaningless and, I figure, “Why bother?”
The process is much more labor intensive than sending out some e-mails—but when you’re asking people to donate on a significant level, it’s worth it. After all, you’re not in the business of collecting cash. You’re building relationships that will potentially bring in the stakeholders you need to see this project through: donors, audience members, fans and, potentially, board members.
Amanda Keil is a singer based in New York and has written for OPERA America and NewMusicBox. Her new blog about classical music and culture is www.thousandfoldecho.com.
www.thousandfoldecho.com
Fundraising 101
