In may be years or decades since you were last in a classroom. The basic grammar rules learnt should not be forgotten. Relying on spell check and other built in software programs won’t catch everything. Learn the basics of capitalization here.

Fundraisers need to utilize all available media to them in order to reach the largest possible donor base. All copy including online, direct mail and proposals should be thoroughly edited before released. We generally only check for spelling and grammar and may solely rely on spell check to catch our mistakes. Spell check is helpful but should not be the only double check. Read your copy out loud, print it out and edit on the piece of paper and if possible, read the copy again one to two days later.

The rules for capitalization may appear to be simple: at the beginning of a sentence and for proper names but what about Internet terms, awards and titles. Below are general rules for capitalization.

1. Capitalize common nouns when they are part of a formal name. (Catholic Church, Atlantic Ocean)
2. Capitalize awards, honours and decorations. (Nobel Peace Prize, Order of Canada)
3. Capitalize the proper names of well-known buildings, bridges, parks and rooms. (Parliament Buildings, Calgary City Hall)
4. Capitalize geographic and widely recognized descriptive regions. (East Coast, Northern Canada)
5. Capitalize holidays, religious feasts and all special times. (Canada Day, Hanukkah)
6. Capitalize specific Internet proper names. (World Wide Web, Internet, Windows Explorer)
7. Capitalize proclaimed laws, treaties, important legal codes and historic documents. (Kyoto Protocol, Charter of Rights)
8. Capitalize names as per used by the organization or person. (eBay, iPhone)
9. Capitalize the full name of organizations and institutions but lowercase the. (the House of Commons, the Bay)
10. Capitalize all trade names. (Kleenex, Coca-Cola)

Now that you are armed with these tips, the next time you review your work, see if you can find any errors.

Two books I live by:
Caps & Spelling
CP Stylebook

I am really disgusted with the CBC right now. I know many of you are too. I’ll be watching this closely and post any updates on the blog and on Twitter

Today, CBC released its findings in their investigation into your charity dollars. Their findings say that between 2004 and 2008, Canadian registered charities paid $762 million to private fundraisers. The Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) recommends that charities spend no more than 35 per cent of their revenue on fundraising costs.

What this article fails to do is mention who or at least what types of fundraisers are being used. As a member of this community, I would want to know the names of the companies and if they are members of Imagine Canada or Association of Fundraising Professionals and how they compensate their fundraisers. If the companies are members of either of the above, then they take must abide by guidelines include compensation.

This article also fails to discuss the benefits these fundraisers have had on the organization. Did the fundraisers raise billions of dollars? How many new donors did they attract? Are those donors from 2004 still giving today? If so, the donations have doubled in value. Is the charity more known in the community? Non tangible benefits are extremely important especially for small, unknown charities.

I hope that some of Canada’s charities speak out against this article. I find this investigation to be one sided. What happened to journalism being unbiased?

Charities using celebrities to raise funds is nothing new. In the past celebrities would donate an item of clothing for auction or lend their voice to a PSA advertisement. On September 15th TwitChange, Changing the World, One Tweet at a Time, launched.

This is the first celebrity Tweet auction. Tweeters bid via eBay for one of the following: be followed by their favourite celebrity, retweeted or be mentioned in a special tweet. Bids support aHomeInHaiti, a movement of people from around the world to provide shelter to homeless Haitians. TwitChange proceeds will benefit to help finish rebuilding the Miriam Center.

Celebrities participating include Justin Bieber, Nick Jonas, Kim Kardashian, Alyssa Milano, Ryan Seacrest and Jessica Simpson. If your charity or you haven’t believed in the power of Twitter, this event is sure to change your mind. As of the time of this post, $3,050 has been raised for Alyssa Milano, $2,325 for Justin Bieber and $2,225 for Holly Marie Combs. Bidding started today and runs until September 25th.

Twitter is here to stay. The winning bidders are not receiving anything tangible, no signed autographs from their favourite famous person, but a mention, new follower or retweet on Twitter. It may sound crazy to some but aHomeInHaiti is genius for coming up with this idea. Celebrities are huge and have massive fans and followers. TwitChange is the largest and coolest online celebrity auction.

What does this mean for the rest of us?
• If you don’t already have a Twitter account, get one today. It’s free.
• Promote that you are on Twitter. Have a Twitter button on your website, e-newsletters and share on Facebook.
• Hold a contest: prize giveaway, Twitter RT or photo contest.
• Talk to your followers. Don’t get an account and say nothing.
• Don’t always promote your cause. Talk with other charities. Learn from each other.

Lesson learned: Twitter is here to stay and is the next biggest tool for online fundraising. I predict in the months to come more charities utilizing Twitter to raise donations. They say talk is cheap but Twitter is chirp, chirp Twitterific!

Do you have a successful Twitter story? How is your charity using Twitter? Share your story today. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter.

This week in the UK is Remember a Charity Week and is about promoting people to leave a gift in their wills to charity. Started in 2000, Remember a Charity Week now has 140 charities participating. Almost 3/4 of the UK population supports charities but only 7 per cent leave a gift in their will.

Brit celebrities Gordon Ramsey, Dame Judi Dench and Mario Testino have created images for a photography exhibit at the OXO gallery in London. Their website, Remember a Charity Week has information for lawyers, charities and donors. The UK has always been a forefront in fundraising and in creating trends and new techniques. What surprises me is that this event has been going on for 10 years and I’ve never heard of it, until today.

Granted, I don’t like in the UK but why hasn’t Canada adapted a similar event? Are Canadians afraid to ask their donors and the public, to leave a gift in their will? Charities normally do employee a planned giving or major gifts officer, how come a major event hasn’t taken place? Are we just less likely to form coalitions and host a cross country campaign that supports multiple charities?

Charitable donations in wills are the bread and butter to many organizations, that without them, they simply could not operate. First one has to have a will and perhaps charities are selective in who they contact based on this and based on age but I haven’t once been contacted (email, phone or mail) from my favourite charities to leave a gift of legacy. I’m sure I am not the only one who falls into this scenario.

We can learn from our commonwealth sisters and brothers to not be afraid to ask donors to leave a gift in their wills and to advertise our legacy programs. Simple ways to do this could be to include a pamphlet with your tax receipts, an extra insert in your direct mail pieces or even an email ask. We shouldn’t ignore those under 35 because as the population ages, my peers and I become the donors of the future.

Comments? I’d love to hear from you and share with me what your charity does to engage donors, especially the non traditional ones when we think of legacy gifts.

Over the weekend I was at my local Wal Mart buying sun block and cleaning supplies and the cashier asked me if I wanted to make a donation to the Canadian Red Cross. I declined. She did not tell me what is was for, as if she did I most likely would have given as I assumed this was for Pakistan.

Point of purchase items are impulse buys for shoppers. Gum, candy or chocolate come to mind. Point of purchase charity donations are the same. Having worked in the retail industry for more than 10 years and as a cashier I dreaded having to ask customers to make a charity donation. Sure, the stores would have a contest on who got the most donations but it was just another thing we had to ask our customers. First, you have to greet them and ask “did you find everything you were looking for?” answer any of their questions, tell them the bill and wish them a good day. Now you had to ask if they wanted to make a donation before you tell them the total. I remember that I only ever did it when a manager or supervisor was around.

The second reason that I didn’t make a donation via point of purchase is that I wouldn’t get a tax receipt. These retail programs don’t allow you to get one as your name is never given to the cashier, just the money added to your total bill. The charities also will never know who you are and therefore can never follow up with you for a second gift. The programs do serve a purpose and raise lots of money but it is instant gratification for the donor. They feel good about their one dollar donation and don’t feel the need to have to donate again.

Lastly, point of purchase programs depend on the staff at the retail stores on being fundraisers. They are asking complete strangers to make a donation to a charity that they may not know nothing about, have never given to themselves or even been on their website. As a former cashier for a retail store that had point of purchase programs, I was just told to ask and here is a stack of cards that the customer fills out with their name. I was never given any information on the charity besides a two page brochure. If I was asked questions from customers, I would not be able to answer them.

Back to my visit to Wal Mart. I was not told if the donation was for the recent floods in Pakistan just if I wanted to donate to Red Cross. I don’t blame the cashier as she may have not been told anything about what the funds were for just to ask customers to donate money and sign this card. If you have a point of purchase program, remember that the staff in the retail stores is your fundraisers. Try to have more than a one pager on your organization for them to read. Please invest in materials and prepare packages, knowing that who reads it may never have heard about your organization before. These programs are great and an easy way to raise funds but remember that you are relying solely on retail staff to be your fundraisers and you will never know who gave you donations. If you do have one of these programs, go to a store and test the cashier – see if they can answer your questions. These programs work best with the staff are motivated and briefed on your cause.

]]> http://blog.webminerva.com/fundraising-canada/retail-fundraising/feed 0 http://blog.webminerva.com/donor-management/monthly-donors http://blog.webminerva.com/donor-management/monthly-donors#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2010 19:24:49 +0000 admin http://blog.webminerva.com/?p=35 How to run a successful monthly donor program and get the most out of your monthly donors

Every charity, regardless of the size needs a monthly donor program. These monthly donors provide a consistent and reliable stream of funds to your organization, something that can be unpredictable with one time donations.

Now before I go any further, I am going to assume that you already have a monthly giving program. You may be wondering how do you enhance your program and get the most out of your donors?  If you aren’t already, make sure that you monitor these donors and for those who donate with their credit card, make sure that you are calling them a month in advance of when their card expires. The last thing you want is to miss out on revenue because a donor’s card expired and be paying for processing fees on gifts that you already know are not going to go through. These calls to your monthly donors can easily be made by volunteers if you are short on donor services staff.

Another way is when you send out your annual tax receipts, include an upgrade ask. Some disagree with asking your monthly donors to increase their monthly gift, but you would be surprised at how many would be happy to make an increase of $1 to $10 dollars per month. Over a course of a year you could easily have an extra $120 from one donor. Even going from $15 a month to $16 makes a difference over time and if half of your monthly donors make an increase of just $1 (nothing compared to what Starbucks coffee costs), you have thousands more.  To get the most out of a monthly donor upgrade program, I recommend a telemarketing campaign; just don’t call during tax season!

Treat your monthly donors as Rock Stars

One compliant that I hear from monthly donors is that they don’t hear enough from you, myself included. Today, more than ever with the burst of social media, donors want to hear from you. They want information and most importantly, they want to hear it first, before anyone else. If you have a Twitter account and are on Facebook and YouTube, let your monthly donors know. Go green and send your monthly donors emails with links to your social media. Give them special treatment and make them feel a part of the club. Compare this to the treatment you would get if you were flying first class or go to a high end spa. You are offered a drink, glossy magazines to read and are told many times ‘if there is anything we can do to make your flight/stay more pleasant, please let us know.’ Everyone loves being treated like an A-lister, and you can easily apply the same service to your monthly donors.

Roll out your star treatment for your monthly donors by acknowledging them and no, not just once a year with their tax receipt. Have welcome calls for all new or reinstated monthly donors. Call your long term supporters – just to thank them for their dedication and support. Send e-cards on their birthday. Send regularly updates via email and always include your social media links. Encourage them to get involved and have their voice be heard.

Remember that your donors who give you money once a month need to get something in return. Yes they get a tax receipt and feel good about donating to a cause they are passionate about, but give them more. Keep them engaged, keep them updated and say thank you. These monthly donors may give to your organization for 5, 10 or even 20 years. Think about it. If you are in a relationship for 20 years and you rarely hear from them, would you be happy? And if you think I am crazy, remember that you really are in a relationship with your monthly donors. Treat them well and they will always be giving by your side.