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Development, Donor Relations

A Message Of Hope

by The Timothy Group
March 30, 2020

I was watching Fox News yesterday from home and Lt. Col. Dan Rooney was on as a guest (view video news clip). His non-profit organization, “Folds of Honor,” started in 2007 and their mission is to  provide educational scholarships to spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled service members. Perhaps you have heard of them. One of many quality non-profits serving out veterans and their families.

Anyway, Lt. Col. Rooney told a story about a fellow veteran, U.S. Marine Sergeant Rocky Sickmann and how his situation could teach us lessons during this COVID-19 crisis. Sergeant Sickmann was one of 52 marines and other Americans who were captured by radical Islamic terrorists at the embassy in Iran in 1979. We, who were around then remember that terrible day in history. Over the next 444 days, He and his fellow hostages endured privation, mental, physical and psychological torture as officials sought their release. That finally came in January 1980.

Sickmann describes life in a foreign country 7,000 miles from home. You’re not allowed to talk to anybody. Your mind plays games with you. You lose hope not knowing if you will live or die. You keep thinking. “this has to end soon.” He describes being literally chained to a chair for the first 30 days. He describes being handcuffed with his hands behind his back for days at a time and spending an entire week tied to a bed. He went outside a total of seven times, 15 minutes total, in those 444 days.

When asked what carried him through, he mentioned three things: 1) his faith in God, 2) his few friends who were there with him and 3) keeping control of his mind and his thoughts – staying focused on what little he could actually do in the circumstances.

We are facing a similar enemy today – COVID-19. It has changed our lives. For a couple of weeks now, we have been largely “home bound.” We have been ordered by government authorities to stay home. We can’t go to work, visit our friends, eat dinner out or entertain ourselves as normal. I don’t know about you, but it is starting to get to me. I am bored, easily frustrated, short tempered, angry, you name it. And then I pause after hearing a story like that of Lt. Col. Sickmann, and I want to repent to God for my thoughts.

My hardship is NOTHING compared to what he and other have endured. And, think about what got him through – we can still exercise our faith, we still have our family and we can exercise our minds and stay alert. Oh – we can even go outside for a walk on a nice day, as long as we practice “social distancing.” For me, maybe it’s a good time to pick up that book I never finished, play a board game or do a jigsaw puzzle with my family, or learn a new skill or hobby. Our “prison” is only temporary and will hopefully end shortly (I hear references to Easter Sunday being a significant marker). Let’s pray, love, give, support, encourage and serve those God has placed in our lives.

In God’s Love, Kent

Development, Fundraising, Stewardship

2 Ways To Directly Impact Development By Year’s End

by The Timothy Group
August 7, 2019

Ready for Fall?

Back to school sales are already in full swing. Summer is winding down and Fall kick-offs are only weeks away. As hard as it may be to believe, Fall is upon us. The most critical fundraising months of the year are around the corner.  So, let’s ask the tough question: Are you ready?

Are you ready for budgeting and spreadsheets?

Are you ready for Fall Campaigns?

Are your social media strategies in place?

Is your calendar filling up with major and mega donor appointments?

Is your vision story-crafted well and ready to share?

Is your first Fall newsletter template done, copy complete and formats proofed?

When it comes to development, we all understand the 24-7 nature of the beast. That said, however, Fall offers a uniquely timed opportunity each year and here are two ways to directly impact your organization’s development by year’s end.

1. Top 10/Next 20 lists

That’s right, contrary to what some may think, there is a biblical precedent for categorizing and segmenting donors according to capacity. Look back at the leadership of Moses and Aaron in Exodus 25:2-8:

“Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breast-piece. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst.”

Starting with the most valued material and continuing all the way through to stones, these leaders understood that in order to construct this mobile worship center (the Tabernacle) there would have to be a variety of gifts from mega-level gifts to common gifts. What do your lists look like? How are your lists categorized? What does your organization consider a mega gift, major gift and so on… Developing and maintaining these lists adds clarity, urgency and understanding to the overall development efforts of your organization.

2. Vision Dots

Every organization on the planet has a story or, more likely, a litany of stories that describe the history, past projects, successes and stories of impact. These are all important. However, stories are secondary to key points of vision or Vision Dots. Vision Dots are those bullet-point items that are timely, strategic initiatives that frame or put into context the stories of your organization.

Vision Dots are leaping off points that you can quickly share in an ‘elevator pitch’ but can also lead to stories that reinforce their value and impact. For example, ABC Rescue Mission shares a story of impact detailing the journey of a young adult who was strung out, at rock bottom, stumbled through their doors at the mission and is now teaching classes to people struggling with addiction.  This is an impactful story of redemption. However, this story should naturally flow from a Vision Dot that describes an aspect of the mission such as:

Leadership Development – 60% of all classes at ABC Rescue Mission are taught by former addicts. Help us continue to train and equip those who God brings to us to recover and lead.

Stories carry much greater weight and donor impact if they can be shared in relation to a Vision Dot or ministry core value. The more you can root a story in the context of a key initiative the easier it will be for the donor to see where their dollars are going and understand the reach of their giving.

And in case you are still skeptical, here are some of the ways Vision Dots are greater than stories:

Big picture thinking to showcase the reach of the ministry

Reveal the inherent understanding that the leaders of your organization have more than just a passion or well-intended hope,

but that there are plans and well thought-out strategies in place.

Quick and easy to share

Easy to remember

Pave the way for donors to ask about other key Vision Dots / initiatives within your organization

Fall is practically here. We hope all your lists are ready and your key vision initiatives are in place! Happy sharing!

*Interested in a planning session to discuss segmenting your donor lists or identifying your organization’s key Vision Dots? Schedule your free consultation today!

Development, Donor Relations, Fundraising

What Matters More Than The Metrics?

by The Timothy Group
February 12, 2019

Every organization is flooded with numbers. Spreadsheets, goals, and personnel costs are just some of the numbers that matter, and we haven’t even discussed budgets and giving goals. The truth is that all these numbers matter! And one could argue these metrics are even more important for non-profit organizations when donors are involved!

However, while these metrics are important, they can also be overwhelming. More numbers often lend less clarity, not more clarity. Yet organizations of all shapes and sizes spend significant dollars to collect all the numbers, metrics, and data possible.

Have you ever considered what your most important numbers are? What metrics reveal the best signs of health in your organization? What data proves most valuable? 

Organizational guru, Seth Godin shares these three important reminders related to metrics and data gathering:

1. Don’t collect data unless it has a non-zero chance of changing your actions.
2. Before you seek to collect data, consider the costs of processing that data.
3. Data collected isn’t always accurate, consider the costs of acting on data that’s incorrect.

So, again, what data is most important to your organization? Different data matters more to different organizations. What is the most important metric for your movement?

Join us this month for The Timothy Group webinar on ‘Keeping Score: Tracking Major Donor Activity That Counts,’ to help you discover the metrics that matter most in stewardship and development.

REGISTER HERE
Capital Campaigns, Donor Relations, Fundraising, Stewardship

Knowing Your WHY Is Not Enough

by The Timothy Group
January 11, 2019

Don’t JUST Know Your Why

I am still blown away by the story of the MP3 player and I’m not talking about the iPod. You have probably heard the story by now – a company out of Singapore called Custom Technologies created the technology for the MP3 and eventually released the device some 20 months before Apple ever dropped the first iPod. But it is probably fair to say more people know of Apple, Inc. than know of Custom Technologies (full disclosure I had to look them up for this story).

But why is that? Sure, Apple has dominated the MP3 market for a while. Ironically, with the sales success of the iPhone they no longer produce dedicated MP3 players. And we all know the ‘designed by Apple in California’ motto, and Cali is much closer to our collective market minds than anywhere in Singapore. However, we all know that deep down there is something else at play in Apple’s iPod success and Custom’s MP3 anonymity – the Why.


That’s right. And we have all heard it before, ‘know your why.’ Know why you sell, do, love, live and believe in what you do. Know your why. What we do is easy to share, but why we do it is much more challenging. However, the point of this article is not to remind you to know your why – you already know it – but rather to take the all-important next step in knowing how to communicate your why.

It’s one thing to know your why. It is an entirely different skill set to be able to clearly and compellingly communicate it. Here are three helpful ideas to get you started:

  1. Create a storyboard to communicate your why. No, you will most likely never share this with anyone outside of your organization, but it helps take the creative and hard to express ideas of WHY and puts them in to pictures, clusters and other groupings so as to eventually help you put it into words. Here’s an app that we like to help with this process – Penultimate by Evernote.
  2. Share your WHY with others. Yes, that right. Practice your why on people within your organization who care enough about you and the mission of the organization to give you critical feedback.  This is not feedback from your mom or significant other. This is feedback from someone who likes to share their opinions with others. Just remember to filter the feedback. A good line to remember is: Chew up the meat; spit out the bones. Or in other words, take what is helpful, process it and leave the rest on the table to be thrown out.
  3. Work your WHY into casual conversations. When it comes to WHY you work for an organization and WHY someone should give to help that organization, your WHY is critical and will eventually permeate many non-job areas of your life. As you stroll through the coffee shop, the gym, your church or any other places in life, be willing to share your WHY.  The more you share it, the more naturally it will be communicated when it truly counts.

When it came to that MP3 player for Custom Technologies, they marketed it by saying 5gb of Music MP3 player. However, when Apple debuted the iPod, they marketed it by saying, ‘1000 songs in your pocket.’  Which would you choose? Or better asked, which did you choose?! Apple’s marketing was better (the What) because they understood they are a lifestyle brand, and it is through that lens they market.  The WHY makes all the difference.  Know yours, and just as importantly, know how to communicate it.

To learn more about using your WHY to secure major donors in 2019, register for our webinar on Tuesday, January 15th, at Noon ET. It’s FREE! – Register HERE.

Uncategorized

Influence Millennial Giving Through Social Media

by The Timothy Group
November 6, 2018

Many of us use social media for our organizations, our own interests and to see the interests of others. Millennials are certainly no exception. According to Pew Research, 3 out of every 4 millennials engage in some social media platform regularly. That is a lot of millennials! However, at times it can feel like throwing an arrow in the wind when posting to a social media platform. Questions regularly get asked like: What should we say? Should we use graphics? A video? How long should our post be? Here are a few trends we see on social media to help you engage specifically with Millennials around your organization.

Peer recommendations carry a lot of weight. A recent study by Hubspot found that 71% of people are more likely to make a purchase online if the product or service comes recommended by others. This principle rings true for your organization! A study by the Millennial Impact Report discovered nearly 75% of respondents said they would tell Facebook friends about great nonprofit events, 68% said they would tell friends impressive statistics about a cause or issue, and 65% said they would promote a nonprofit’s great story or accomplishment. In addition, 61% said they would use Facebook to alert friends to volunteering opportunities and needs (2012).  This is great news for you. Leverage those who love your organization to share about it through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even LinkedIN.

Stories have significant influence on organizational equity. We all love a good story. That’s why we watch Disney movies as adults but tell others we are just watching them for the kids. Sure… But in reality (and more importantly on social media platforms) stories are powerful, engaging and can earn your company great amounts of equity and trust from Millennials. Read these two quotes from the Millennial Impact Report

“I would donate if I knew more about the school, the students, or [saw] a section that spotlighted what a particular scholarship recipient is doing […] on campus to stay active and support the campus.” (2013)

“I have an emotional connection to the nonprofit and want to see it succeed.” (2013)

Stories build bridges leading to real dollars coming into your organization to help fulfill your mission. Social media platforms are simply another opportunity to share your story in a compelling way.

Sincere engagement – not advertising – is often the drive behind actual donation dollars. This one is the easiest one, Millennials do not want to be sold something!  They want to be connected with and to be included. The principle here is keep posting stories, but be sure to read comments, respond to ‘shares’ and ‘retweets’ and be engaged with people/users as they engage with your organization.

 

Happy Posting!

Capital Campaigns, Development, Donor Relations, Fundraising

Christian Schools – We’ve Been There …

by The Timothy Group
October 1, 2018

We’ve been there. And can show you how as well.

The private Christian School market is sometimes complex, with all the competing issues you will
face. Choosing curriculum, recruiting and retaining top-notch faculty, weighing athletics versus
education, maintaining legal compliance, satisfying target audiences, and managing annual and
capital fundraising.

Kent Vanderwood, Vice President at The Timothy Group, heads up our Christian School division and
can help you navigate these issues and more. As a partner here at The Timothy Group, he has been
there and done that. His non-profit stewardship journey has prepared him well.

Kent felt the call to be an educator while pursuing his undergraduate studies at Grand Valley State
University in Michigan. After beginning as a special education teacher in a public school system,
Kent went through a personal philosophical search for the best way to educate his own children. He concluded
that a Christ-centered education was imperative for his family and he headed up a
steering committee of interested parents to explore opportunities. In 1980, a private Christian
school was formed from scratch.

In addition to serving as a key member of the organizing committee, Kent was one of the first
faculty members, a coach, janitor, headmaster, fundraiser, compliance officer, curriculum director
and even a member of the founding board of directors. Starting with 43 students in grades K-6,
Tri-unity Christian School in Grand Rapids, Michigan grew to over 700 K-12 students under Kent’s
tenure.

During his time at TCS, Kent was heavily involved in both the Association of Christian Schools
International (ACSI) and Christian Schools International (CSI). He served as the Michigan
representative on the ACSI regional council for eight years. He led his school through initial
accreditation with ACSI in 1987 and the renewal process in 2004. He was a regular conference and
workshop speaker.

Kent learned development and fund raising the hard way – by getting in the trenches and digging. He
hired his first development director in 1990, 10 years after the school was founded, and in 1998
launched the school’s first ever capital campaign for $1.5 million. The campaign reached its goal before Kent
left the school after 20 years in 2000.

Kent has personally served hundreds of K-8 and K-12 private Christian schools in the areas of
strategic planning, board development, development assessments, executive searches, pre-campaign
studies and capital campaigns. He has personally assisted on campaigns ranging from $500,000 to
over $40 million. He has served on various non-profit boards including Christian schools. Kent
brings a wealth of real life experiences to every project.

As a VP of development at a rescue mission, a large international para-church ministry, and another
Christian school, Kent not only understands the principles from a consulting perspective, but he
has been in the trenches “doing” development.

Can we put this experience to work for you?

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