Mid-Year's Eve

So, June 30. Hmmm. The year is half gone.

Remember those resolutions you made six months ago? How has your work on those been going?

I'll bet this sums up how you are feeling these days: you've been working too hard, worrying too much, feeling overwhelmed by all of it.

As a coach, I can help you focus more. If you'd like that kind of help, let me know. We can talk about what kind of support will benefit you.

Charitable giving drops in 2008, Giving USA report shows

Every year about this time, Giving USA releases its report on charitable giving for the previous year. Results for 2008 came out today.

Giving in the worst economic climate since the Great Depression exceeded $300 billion for the second year in a row, $307.65 billion to be precise.

The 2008 number is the first decline in giving in current dollars since 1987 and the second since Giving USA began publishing annual reports in 1956. Adjusted for inflation, total giving was down 5.7 percent.

Two-thirds of public charities receiving donations saw decreases in 2008.

Charitable giving being down when the economy has been down is not news, really. Who would expect any different? The good news: Charitable giving is still more than 2 percent of the US Gross Domestic Product. Meaning: Giving is as strong historically as it’s ever been. Relatively speaking.

As always, giving from individuals (vs. corporate or foundations) was by far the largest slice of all contributions, 75 percent of the total, in 2008. Interestingly, individual's giving was only down 2.7 percent.

Conclusions:

It could have been worse. People could have chosen to pull back on giving.

They didn't (relatively).

Individuals and families remain the best source for seeking support.

Want to know more details? Go here for a Giving Institute news release.

Finding time to focus on Real Results: Review what you're doing and ...

We seldom take the time to re-evaluate what we're doing to be successful. Over time, our behavior can drift from what we should be focusing on. Here's a powerful but quite short eye-opening exercise. Ask yourself:

What can I do to ...

1. Start doing more of what I'm already doing that produces results? Well, of course, that's self-evident.


2. Stop doing something. Eliminate from your daily habit some low-impact activity (or activities). Look at things that used to serve you well, that you've ingrained in your routine, but that have outlived their usefulness. Time-suckers in this category could very well be little stuff that adds up to a lot of time. Or, maybe it's major, like routinely setting aside your own critical priorities to help someone else with their non-emergency tasks (simply motivated from wanting to be liked or be helpful).


3. Start doing something else? Think of what you're not doing, but have intended to do, filtering in those things that could be make a significant contribution to getting better results.


4. Start doing less of what is proving to be quesitonable? (If you can't stop doing it, at least do less of it.)

It helps to spend about an hour in reflection on these four points, at least twice a year (better yet, quarterly). If you can't remember when you've spent some time pondering these four quesitons, then schedule an hour within the next three days. Turn off the phone and email, and think about this.

Then, settle on at least four things you'll do differently. More of. Stop doing. Start doing. Less of.

I'd love to hear any stories from you about actually doing this!

The Buddha said ...

If you knew what I know about the power of giving, you would not let a single meal pass without sharing it in some way.


- Buddha (563 BC - 483 BC)


There is joy in giving, and great power, too. (Who am I to contradict the Buddha?!)

Whoever we are, there are pieces of the divine within us, and I believe that is what we tap into when we share of ourselves and our treasure.

As a fund-seeker, I've had the delightful experience of watching the physical changes that occur when a person moves from contemplation to decision during the giving process. It's like an aura, radiating, an almost-palpable energy coming from within. (Sorry to go "new age"-y on you, but it is oh-so true.)

When done with the understanding that there's something deeply human about the act of sharing, those of us who facilitate this choice realize that it (the act of asking) is a natural and authentic interaction. The converse is also true: when done poorly, it does not feel good at all, regardless of the outcome.

Thank you, Buddha.

Started in marketing - drifted toward engagement

Someone posed a question to me: What do you know now that you wish you'd known then?

(In truth, I bristled at this. I like to be the one posing the questions!)

But it boils down to this. At the start of my career, I was involved in a one-to-many gig. It was public relations, outreach, marketing. Whatever you call what I did back then, it was all about getting the word out to as many people as possible. Not a bad thing; just presumptuous. It presumes the mass audience gives a damn about what I'm talking about. These days we'd refer to this approach as "push marketing."

Over the years, I discovered a more effective way. Not one-to-many. No. One-to-one or one-to-few is ever-so-much-more effective in the end, especially when the "one" or "few" you relate to are known to care about the cause I'm representing.

Instead of me telling you my story, and me hoping you will do what I want you to do, I get to know you. Relate to you. Become involved with you. Call it what you want. I personally like the term engagement, mainly because I like the dating-to-marriage metaphor that it evokes.

When someone is engaged to you (with you), your beloved doesn't walk into the room and hand you a four-color brochure listing his good qualities. He doesn't force feed you his list of projects he's implementing. He doesn't spend his time droning on and on about his great past accomplishments. While you know quite a bit about his past, it's not because he told you his life-story right off the top, or in one sitting.

No. You got engaged to (engaged with) the other person because you came to figure out that you care about the same stuff. You care about each other: he about you, and you about him. If I were to eavesdrop, I'd hear you sharing with each other your hopes and dreams, and joint plans for the future. Together, you would craft the terms of your relationship, your promises to each other, your intentions for spending a long time together, supporting each other, for better or worse. That's much more along the lines of how we should be "engaged" with a donor. Shifting this mindset entirely changes the conversation.

So, what I know now that I wish I knew then is: It's all about the relationship, a two-way relationship. If the relationship is founded on me always getting you to do what I want you to do, then it's headed for, uh, well, a messy divorce.

But if I engage you as one who cares passionately about a shared cause, you will do whatever you can. It's really that simple.

Call your legacy society members

If this doesn't apply to you, please forgive the nudge in advance. It isn't my intent to offend.

There are some basic self-evident strategies for planned giving. The mere mention of them results in people looking at me and saying, "Well, duh, of course."

Here's one: Everyone in your legacy society should be called at least once a year.

That's obvious. So obvious, that it might never have made it into your fund-raising plan. Or, so obvious, that it feels like an inconsequential and somewhat tedious task, one of those things you never quite get around to.

But it needs to be done. No excuses! That's right. I mean you. Whether your legacy society has 10 people, or 100, or one thousand. Every single one of those people deserves a call from someone in your organization at least once a year.

For one thing, it's simply good stewardship. Most of your planned giving donors have probably become legacy society members by virtue of a bequest intention. Well, remember, bequests are revocable. With the stroke of a pen, they can write you into the will for more (perhaps giving you the portion that was going to another cause that never talks to them). Or write you out of the will entirely (perhaps giving "your" portion to another cause that does stay in touch).

Second, it's an old rule of thumb that a planned giving donor, stewarded well, is likely to make a second planned gift within a couple years after their first legacy commitment. Old rules of thumb get that way because they are true more often than not. It's especially true for annuity donors, but holds for others as well. I guarantee it is one of the best uses of your time.

General mailings or your quarterly newsletter don't cut it. I'm not against a schedule of mailings; they just don't suffice for this purpose.

Here are a few guidelines:

Schedule time for them. Staying in contact with people shouldn't be a burden or a hassle. Most people only find the task tedious because they go so long in between contact that they feel nervous about getting in touch again, they don't know where to begin or because they feel like they need to "catch up" and they don't have the time to do so. Take some time in your daily routine to devote to staying in contact and it won't be so hard for you. Don't try to do all of the calls at one time. Spread them throughout the year, a handful each month, or each week.

Your call needn't be long. Just a “thank you” and a “how are you doing?” Yes, for many of your legacy society members, the phone rarely rings, so your call will be welcome. You can preempt a long conversation by saying "I only have 10 minutes before a meeting; I just wanted to say 'hi.'"

Your call shouldn't be scripted. In fact, it should feel spontaneous and completely unrehearsed. "I was going over some progress reports on the great work we're doing, I saw something that made me think of you, and I thought, let me just pick up the phone and call." If you haven't spoken to them in a long while, there's no need to try to bring them fully up to speed.

Two final notes:

If it's been a looooong while since you've spoken (perhaps there's been no personal contact since the gift opening?) ... Just say, "I'm sorry I haven't been in touch. I'd love to catch up when we have time but I just wanted to say hello and see how you are." Something to this effect will show that you are thinking of the person. Don't get trapped into thinking you have to make excuses or over-explain everything that has happened since your last contact.

If you can't reach them by phone, send a personal handwritten "I tried to reach you" note. Nothing pre-printed or canned.

Try not to get so wrapped up in your daily jobs responsibilities that you forget some of the people who are most important to your cause. You will feel great after one of these calls -- and that's reason enough right there to go ahead, pick up the phone, and call one of your legacy society members.