Fundraising and Metrics for Non-

Profit Success

Presented by Ted Chan

MIT Sloan School of Management
Fundraising and Measurement are
intrinsically linked

Fundraising Client Intake

Monitoring &
Training
Evaluation

Disbursement
Agenda

I. Fundraising Basics
II. Marketing Exercise
III. Metrics Basics
IV. Breakout Exercise – Holyoke Shelter Case
V. 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
• Deliver services at a lower cost
Cost • Be able to measure and articulate cost advantage

• Be known for executing specific tasks with excellence

Focus • Organized to deliver a specific service

• Market yourself especially well

Differentiation • Appeal to the needs of individual funders
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 period is no problem.

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 incidence of abuse in the community

reduced homicide in the community

improved quality of life of survivors

Source: Sullivan & Alexy, vawnet.org

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 Asked Questions and Answers (FAQs) regarding prospect and funder research.

Sources: Cravens, 2006