Fundraising Success #6

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FUNDRAISING SUCCESS!
Issue #6

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Welcome new subscribers.  We've got plenty of fundraising
tips and techniques in This month's issue along with another
free e-book: "Pond Care Basics" - the sequel to last month's
"How To Dig A Backyard Pond." Enjoy!
 
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 IN THIS ISSUE
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=>  Kimberly's Corner
=>  Subscriber Soapbox
=>  Fundraiser Spotlight
=>  Feature Article
=>  SiteSeeing, freebies & more
=>  We want you in an upcoming issue
=>  Subscribe/Unsubscribe information

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 KIMBERLY'S CORNER
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Happy Fourth of July!  This month is traditionally a time to
enjoy life and celebrate our freedom.  It's also a time when
we should remember to say thank you to everyone who has helped
to make America great.

In our own small way, nonprofit organizations and their
volunteers help to make our country a better place.  Let me
take a moment to say thanks to "all y'all."

This issue features a guest article on "The Power of Thank You
in Fundraising and in Life" by Katherine Khalife. 

It seems appropriate in this Fourth of July month to shine the
Fundraising Spotlight on All American Fundraising.

Hope you have a great holiday!

         *-----------------HOT TIP------------------*
            Get environmentally friendly with your
            fundraising by providing a drop-off box
            for recycling printer cartridges from
            businesses and home users.
         *-----------------HOT TIP------------------*
    
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 SUBSCRIBER SOAPBOX:  Readers Sound Off
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Do you have a short section of your book that I can browse to
see if it's worth buying?  Pat G.

Pat, you can read the Chapter on "Common Mistakes" on the site:
 

I'm also working on a short (50 pages or so) trial copy in PDF
format that I should have up on the site soon.
                         
             
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 FUNDRAISING SPOTLIGHT: All American Fundraising
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(Excerpt from my book, Fundraising Success!)
  
Supplier: All American Fundraising, aka eFundraising.com
Phone: (888) 540-6070 or (610) 239-0200
Fax:  (610) 239-0364
Website:
Email:

Address:  250 Water Street
City:  Norristown
State: PA
Zip:  19401

Description: Quality lineup of food products with nice packaging
and literature. Emphasis is on name brands and quality, not
quantity.

Candles - Retail prices range from $8 to $24.50.  Profit is 40%
Case Candy - Hershey and Mars.  $1 candy bars.  50% profit.
Cheesecake - 36 oz New York style sells for $15 ($5 profit)
Cookie Dough - Mrs. Fields 3lb tubs sells for $10 ($3.50 profit)
Pizza - Six pack of 6" pizzas sell for $13 ($5 profit)
Snacks & Nuts - 9 oz or less packages sell for $5 ($2.50 profit)

Product Lines: Cookie Dough, Cheesecake, Pizza, Case Candy,
Candles, Snacks, Nuts

Terms: Prepayment or COD

Notes: Free starter kits.  Free freight on larger case candy
orders.  Other orders are presorted if over 500 items.  Candles
are pricey. Cheesecake and cookie dough are kosher.  Estimates
$30 to $60 net profit per participant on average fundraiser.
  

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 FEATURE ARTICLE: The Power of Thank You
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The Power of Thank You - In Fundraising and in Life
 
by Katherine Khalife

"I was in line at the grocery store the other day. The cashier
was really rude to people. When it was my turn, I handed her my
money, she grabbed it, gave me my change, and that was it. I
couldn't help myself. I asked, 'Would it kill you to at least say
thank you?' She looked up and snapped, 'It's printed on your
receipt.'"
     ­ Jay Leno

Don't assume that people know you appreciate them or their help.
Tell them. You know yourself how much a thank you means -- and
how good it makes you feel when someone says it. Take the time
to thank people no matter how busy you are. It's not only good
for the soul, it's also the best public relations booster there
is.

Be sure the words "thank you" are in your voice mail greeting.
Nothing is more irritating than negotiating the endless hurdles
of phone system hell -- especially when you don't even get a
thank you for going to the trouble. Thank your listeners for
calling, thank them for being willing to leave a message, or
thank them for their patience. It doesn't matter exactly what
you thank them for, just that you thank them for making the
effort to reach you.

Send thank you notes and, whenever appropriate, hand write them.
Send them to donors, to volunteers, to colleagues, and to anyone
else who does you a good turn. In this day of form letters and
printed receipts, handwritten thank you notes are cherished
goodwill builders. And the networks of gratitude they build can
boost careers as well. Management guru Peter F. Drucker, honorary
chairman of the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit
Management, attributes much of his success in life to his early
habit of writing 10 to 12 thank you notes a day.

Always thank donors. When it comes to fundraising, saying thank
you is essential. It's hard to imagine it not being a priority
for some nonprofits, especially since people are giving money
that they aren't required to give. But according to Penelope
Burk, author of Thanks! A Guide to Donor-Centred Fundraising,
the number one donor recognition problem "is not acknowledging
gifts, period."

When thanking donors, promptness counts. It can even make a
difference in how much they'll contribute in the future. In a
thanks test Burk conducted in conjunction with the Ontario
chapter of the Canadian Paraplegic Association, she found that
new contributors who were called and thanked within 24 hours of
receipt of their gift gave more in subsequent appeals than did
those who were not thanked promptly. How prompt is prompt?
Donors who were called more than 48 hours after their gifts
were received thought they were being solicited for another
donation.

Make your donor thank you letters warm and personal. To the
recipient, a canned, overly formal thank you can sometimes feel
worse than not receiving one at all. But unless you're one of the
lucky ones who has a natural talent for it, writing creative,
meaningful thank you letters can be a challenge. Burk says you
can force yourself to be more creative by leaving the thank you
for the end. She suggests, "You might say, I just got your
donation, I can't tell you how important it is, we're putting
it into this program, this is what it's going to do, here is the
time line, and you can expect to hear from us again next October
when we're going to tell you what the money has accomplished.
And then say thank you."

Consider running a Thank-a-thon. In addition to thanking donors
at the time of their actual gift, Terry Axelrod, author of
Raising More Money®: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building Lifelong
Donors, suggests taking thank you one step further by holding a
holiday thank-a-thon. Making holiday calls to those who gave to
your organization during the year, Axelrod says, conveys the
message that "We noticed you gave. It mattered. We appreciate
you."

A sincere thank you is one of the mightiest marketing and
fundraising tools there is. Use its power often and well.

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Copyright © 2001 Katherine Khalife All rights reserved.

Katherine Khalife is the publisher of MuseumMarketingTips.com
and the Museum Marketing Tips e-newsletter, used every month by
thousands of cultural organizations seeking practical tips to
improve their marketing.

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 PLACES TO GO, THINGS TO SEE, FREEBIES & MORE
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SiteSeeing Tip - If you're trying to refresh a webpage and you
aren't getting the latest updated view, add a ? at the end of
the browser address.

Places to go:

Find out what's in that stuff that we use every day like shampoo,
lipstick, chocolate, Cheez Wiz, and the like.
 

Virtual Autopsy (it's not as gruesome as it sounds). This is a
teaching tool that lets you view case histories and autopsy
details to make diagnoses and see if you're right.
 

Free ebook:

This month's free ebook is . It's a
Windows only version (.exe file).

That's all for this issue. See you next month.


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WE WANT YOU IN AN UPCOMING ISSUE
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We're always interested in hearing what you have to say
about fundraising. We'd love to publish your article, your
question, your success story, or any other relevant topic
or comment.

Full instructions are on the website. Click on this link:

Thanks for sharing!
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Copyright 2004 Kimberly Reynolds

Fundraiser Help - Great Fundraising Ideas
Maximize your fundraising success!

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