Fundraising and Metrics for

Non-Profit Success

Ted Chan
MIT Sloan School of Management
Fundraising and Measurement
are intrinsically linked
Agenda

II. Fundraising Basics

III. Marketing Exercise
IV. Metrics Basics
V. Breakout Exercise – Holyoke Shelter Case
VI. Breakout Exercise – Goalsetting
Mathematics of Funding
Funding =

Grant $

# of funders asked x success rate x

Average $ given

Work to increase each!

Competition - You have to be
good
Over 800,000 NGOs in the US alone
Women, children, forests, cats, dogs

Constant solicitation
Postal mail, E-mails, solicitations on the street,
fundraising dinner, advertising, piles and
piles of grants – everyone wants money.

Why should I give to you?

Your funder is your customer, you must meet
their needs. So what are then needs? Let’s
brainstorm together.
 Meeting funder needs -
Brainstorm

Tanzanian Business Person

NGO

International Wellwisher

Let’s get inside their heads.

Local Business Person
Media and community recognition
Public recognition for his business
Connection with a person
Feel good about him or herself
Belief that they are contributing to a good
cause and a real need
Confidence their money will be used well
Personal thanks
International Wellwisher
 Has to be a cause that interests them
 What might be a clue?
 Impact
 Personal connection with a cause organization
 Credibility and accountability of the organization
 Frequency of requests reasonable
 Access to organization leadership
 Donation request needs to match wealth, project
belief and engagement
 Desire to fund/customize their own program
 Has advantages and pitfalls

#1 thing - needs to be aware of you!

Online Wellwisher Generation
Drive people to your website
Partner with international organizations
E-mail lists
E-mail signatures
Directories
Social networking
Social forums (e.g. SocialEdge)
Be creative!
NGOs and Grant Writing
Organization skill and ability
Track record of delivering results
Cost-effectiveness
Fit and focus
Ability/expertise to deliver services
“Last mile” delivery
Professional approach and presentation
Monitoring and Evaluation
Porter’s Generic Strategies
Apply to Non-Profits – 3
strategies to stand out
Basic Fundraising Checklist
A clear and focused one page write-up of
your mission, activities and
accomplishments
A one-page budget/resources summary in
USD or Euro
Successful projects matrix
Website
E-mail list of members and donors
90 second pitch
5 minute pitch
References
Volunteer roster and roles
90 second pitch
In many cases, you will have a limited
amount of time to articulate why your
organization is special and why someone
should give or be involved.

An 90 second pitch is an important

component of being able to raise funding and
earning people’s support for your
organization. You should be ready to deliver
this at any time.

If you can do it in 90 seconds, any other

Elevator Pitch Exercise #1
Imagine that you have 90 seconds to tell a
girl or boy that you are interested in what
your best qualities are.
Sample Elevator Pitch
Structure
The hook
A fact, statement or question that gets
them listening.
Introduction and summary statement
Supporting fact #1
Supporting fact #2
Supporting fact #3
Conclusion and pitch – ask for what you want
– a meeting, a phone call, a date.
Elevator Pitch Exercise #2
Assignments:

MAdeA: MAdeA
TYACP: TYACP
Gosbert and Shaban: Why you should hire
me
Natalie – The women’s shelter
Pitch to your donors
MAdeA works to empower women and fight domestic violence
and sexual assault in economically isolated areas in Tanzania.
The women we work with earn less than a dollar a day and are
frequently subject to rape and battering.

MAdeA's programs provide women and girls with:

Training on how to avoid sexual assault and domestic violence

Women's safety programs
Micro grants and training to women to fund entrepreneurial
activities
School fees to keep young girls in school and out of prostitution
Education on HIV/AIDS, condom use and other reproductive
health issues

I’ll be honest with you – almost no one cares that you are a
membership organization, that you have 12 members or that you
were founded in 2001. They want to hear about how you help
marginalized women or provide services in the community.
 Who cares?
Tanzanian
Business Person
NGO
International
Wellwisher
Process and Period and
Ownership
Every week, month or year, we will:

E-mail X number of international wellwishers

(Baltazar)
Call X local businessmen (Anna)
E-mail updates (Baltazar)
Review lists for funding grants (Ruta Tobias)
Follow up and check in with past donors
(Anna)
Have a fundraising event (To be assigned to
a new member)

Assign these to different people!

Briefly, other funding ideas
 Raise an endowment
 Request operating funds
 Provide services and charge for them
 Request equipment donations
 Lease out purchased equipment
 Get “skin in the game” (shared purchases)
 Take business equity
 Give out equipment, not cash (creates economies
of scale)
 Invite local entrepreneurs and business people to
train
 Ask people for time, not money
 Have existing supporters contact all their friends
 Network into the ex-pat community
 Raise membership numbers
Measurement
The most successful non-profits not only
deliver impact, but are able to measure
them
Measurement helps funders understand the
value delivered or promised – essential in
grant funding
The metrics help the organization itself
improve its own processes
A culture of measurement is essential
This creates a virtuous cycle that builds
funding, capacity and operational
excellence
Planning Phases - Basics
Each interaction with a client is an
intervention
Every intervention has an outcome
Every outcome can be measured
Marketing focused metrics
Potential individual funders want to know
the impact of their donations
Large funders and NGOs see measurement
as part of the required capacity for partners
Large funders need data on effectiveness
Universities and researchers value the data
and are more likely to partners
Why MaDeA should want to
measure
Madea has made a lot with a very small
amount of money
To improve
To set target goals
To be able to articulate impact and needs
to potential funders and partners

Can you tell them in numbers?

 Domestic Violence & Sexual
Assualt Outcomes
 survivors' immediate safety (for residential
services)
 immediate safety of survivors' children (for
residential services)
 survivors' increased knowledge about domestic
violence
 survivors' increased awareness of resources
and options
 survivors' decreased isolation
 community's improved response to battered
women and their children
 public's increased knowledge about domestic
violence
 increased survivor safety over time
 reduced
Source: Sullivan incidence
& Alexy, vawnet.org of abuse in the community
 reduced homicide in the community
Data Collection Methods
 Day-to-day gathering (sign-in sheets)
 Survey
 Focus Group
 Interview
 Regional or community statistics

Produce monthly reports (simple for now) and

use them to communicate with donors.
Sample e-mail:
“Last month, we had 20 victims of domestic
violence who needed help. This placed a strain
on our budget. If you would consider a
donation this month to help us get back on
track financially, that would be great.
Improvement and Goal-
Setting
Set goals (numeric and yes/no)
Review periodically
Brainstorm as a team to determine how to
improve
Share goals and successes with members,
wellwishers and on the Internet and via
other sources – people will notice
Appendix A – References
Metrics for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault:
http://new.vawnet.org/category/Main_Doc.php?docid=380
Basic Tips for Fundraising for Small NGOs in Developing Countries:
http://www.coyotecommunications.com/outreach/
 Appendix B – Online Fundraising
Resources
www.innonet.org/
The Innovation Network works with nonprofit organization to share the power of evaluation
with nonprofits and funders. Their evaluation tools help with everything from creating
your organization’s mission statement to post-program evaluation, and draw heavily on
log-framed approaches to program development.
www.ifrg.org.uk
The Resource Alliance's mission is to build the fund-raising and local resource mobilization
capacity of the voluntary sector worldwide.
www.tgci.com
The Grantsmanship Center links to foundation and corporate sites of interest to fund
raisers, and has general information on fundraising. Focused primarily on the USA.
www.cof.org
Council on Foundations with links to many foundations and general information on
foundations and giving. Focused primarily on the USA.
http://fdncenter.org
The Foundation Center links to foundation and corporate sites of interest to fundraisers,
and provides general information on foundations and giving. Focused primarily on the
USA.
www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/keywords/5o.html
Frequently
Sources:Asked Questions
Cravens, 2006and Answers (FAQs) regarding prospect and funder research.