black hills area librarians--show me the money 11.8.2012

“Show Me The Money!”

Presenter: Sandra McNeelyAbbey Group, Ltd.November 8, 2012

Black Hills Area Librarians and Trustees Workshop

©2012 Abbey Group, Ltd. 2

What is Your Development Plan

• How are you currently raising funds?

• Who are your best prospects?

• What are the obstacles to raising funds?


Review components of your development program

• Direct Mail• Annual Appeal• Grants• Major Gifts• Events• Stewardship• Planned Giving• Social Media


Review your Direct Mail initiative• How many times a year do you mail?• Who is your target? Can you further define the

target and the message?• Should there be several different messages to

your changing audience?• What is the cost?• How much are you receiving annually in direct

mail?• What is your return on investment?


Direct Mail• Evaluate all of the direct mail results

• Develop a true revenue/expense report

• Review staff involvement and look for additional efficiencies with direct mail vendor or internally


Grants• How many grant proposals are you

submitting annually?• Have you focused your search and identified

other possibilities or grant applications?• How much revenue are you producing via

grants each year?• How much time are you investing on grant

writing?• What is your return on investment?


Grants• Contact each organization that is providing grants in

excess of $1,000 to express appreciation and begin developing a relationship with the grant officer

• Identify funding areas of interest for each of the granting organizations

• Gather programmatic data required for grant submission

• Develop a plan and timeline for submitting new grant applications


Major Gifts• What is a major gift in your organization?• How much revenue is being raised with

major gifts?• Who is making the major gift requests in

your organization?• How much time is being spent raising

major gifts?• What is your return on investment?


Stewardship• A process whereby an organization seeks to be

worthy of continued philanthropic support, including the acknowledgment of gifts, donor recognition, the honoring of donor intent, prudent investment of gifts, and the effective and efficient use of funds to further the mission of the organization

• The science, art and skill of responsible and accountable management of resources

• Responsibility for taking good care of resources entrusted to one


Does your organization have a formal Stewardship program?

• Are you sending written thank you letters to all donors?• Do donors at a certain levels get a different recognition:

– Hand Signed Letter– Phone Call

• Who is participating in your stewardship program:– Board– Staff– Other Volunteers

• How much time is devoted to stewardship in your organization?

• How much time should be devoted to stewardship in your organization?


Stewardship• Implement a “thank-you-a-thon” program for board

members to contact top donors and thank them for their support

• Prepare a stewardship protocol for staff and board members, to include: board involvement in written thank you letters (signing), special phone calls to major donors and thank you visits and other contacts; the protocol plan should be prepared by the Development Committee and approved by the board


Planned Giving• A planned gift is any major gift, made during a

donor’s lifetime or at death as part of a donor’s overall financial and/or estate planning.– Major Gifts Program

• Major Current Gifts• Major Planned Gifts

– Legacy Society• Brochure• Guidelines

– Gift Acceptance Policy– Investment Policy


Planned Giving• Does your organization have a legacy society?• Does your organization have information

about bequests?• How much time is spent on planned giving in

your organization?• What is your return on investment in planned

giving?• What steps would you take?


Legacies and Bequests• Contact families who have left bequests within the last two years

to express appreciation, to inform them of how their gift has helped your organization, and to identify areas of interest for future giving

• Educate estate planning attorneys on the opportunities available at your organization: conduct an educational presentations in three markets and send a national, target mailing

• Develop a simple estate gift brochure and include it in a segmented donor mailing

• Market planned gifts on website and in all major gift calls


Social Media• Is your organization using social media?

– Website• Which media?• What are the results?• How much time is spent on social

media?• What is your return on investment?


Website• Create a giving section on the home page with

program opportunities for giving • Provide the opportunity for giving electronically• Develop a 48-hour turnaround for all website

gifts and requests, including gift acceptance and acknowledgement

• Expand program information adding quantitative impact of programming on participants, program funding needs, visuals of every program


Events• How many events does your organization hold per

year?• What is the purpose? Awareness and/or

fundraising?• What is the investment in those events?• How much revenue is raised from each of these

events?• What is your return on investment?• Do you have a formal program to convert event

attendees into friends and donors of the organization?


Board involvement in development

• How is your board involved in development?– Board giving– Annual appeal– Visiting with major donors– Introducing friends and colleagues to your

library– Participating at events


Board• Review and revise all Board governance policies

and documents to support successful implementation of a long-term development plan

• Update roles, responsibilities and expectations for board members to use as a tool in new board member recruitment

• Develop a new board member orientation program

• Involve each board member in some aspect of development


Board• Assess educational needs of the board

relative to programming information, organization’s vision and future direction

• Strengthen the relationship between your board and staff to ensure successful implementation of the long-term development plan


As you reflect on the areas of development we reviewed:

• Which initiative have a high probability of success at your library?

• What steps will you take to ensure the sustainability of your library?

• How will you increase board involvement in development?

• What steps will you take to move forward?

black hills area librarians--show me the money 11.8.2012

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