Episode 126: Asking for (and Getting) Donations
It takes more than a 501(c)(3) to get donations. Donors are asked 25 times a day for donations. Learn how to make your requests stand out. Get the secret formula for securing donations for your program, event, and organization with this one thing that seals the deal!
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🔦 NONPROFIT SPOTLIGHT 🙌🏿
Mirror Memoirs Pt. 2
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🚀 RESOURCES TO HELP YOU RUN A SUCCESSFUL NONPROFIT
Donation Request Letters
https://fusion.amberwynn.net/product/donation-request-letters/
The Nonprofit Mastery Academy
https://fusion.amberwynn.net/nonprofit-mastery-academy/
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Podcast Transcript
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, where nonprofit leaders learn to fuse passion and commitment with proven business strategies to create long-term funding impact and sustainability. And now here's your host and resident, Philanthrepreneur Amber Wynn.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hey, FA, it's your girl. Welcome to On Air with Amber Wynn, Philanthrepreneur. Today we're going to talk about a very important conversation. I can't tell you how many times I've reviewed someone's donation request and I'm like, yeah, no, no, today's topic is asking for and getting donations because here's the thing, it takes more than a 501(c)(3) tax exempt status to get a donation. People think, oh, I'm just going to say, Hey, Amber, can you donate such and such and such a, here's what you think. You think, oh, your donation is tax deductible up to whatever 100% of the law, whatever. That's not enough. That's not enough. It takes more than the 501(c)(3). There is a secret formula to asking for and getting donations, and when we come back, I'm going to tell you what that is. Are you looking to leverage your 501(c)(3) tax exempt status to get products and services donated for an event silent auction or to support your program but aren't quite sure what to say?
(01:34):
Get the donation request letters toolkit. It provides you with the templates you can customize to fit any request, eliminate the guesswork of what to say, how to say it, and what to offer potential donors as benefits for their donation. You had no idea you should offer donors something in exchange for their donation. Did you offering benefits triples your response rate? Plus the toolkit comes with the donor acknowledgement form template. It's the form you give them after they donate. This toolkit has everything you need for a successful donation request. Order your copy today. Welcome back, and as the commercial just said, it takes more than 501(c)(3) to get donations. If you are just asking businesses, individuals, especially for silent auctions and things like that, if you're just saying, oh, it's 100% tax deductible, that's not enough.
(02:29):
Having a 501(c)(3) tax exempt status is not enough. Let me tell you why. Everybody is asking that same business for a donation. There are 1.48 million nonprofits in this world and probably like one third of the businesses out there, so they're constantly being bombarded with requests for donation. So you have to make your requests stand out, and here's what I want you to consider. The next time you make a request, there needs to be value, and I don't mean you're spending three pages talking about your program. It's going to sound a little messy, but they don't really care. Of course, they do care, but that's not the primary way that you get the donation. It's not by spending three pages talking about what their donation is going to do for you or for your program. Your requests need to be about what this donation is going to do for them, what it's going to do for them.
(03:32):
What are the marketing benefits? If you're asking a donor to donate t-shirts so that you can just distribute them to your kids for whatever field trips or whatever, it's not enough to say, oh, if you give this, you'll get the tax write off, and that's not enough, right? You want to think about how you can help them leverage their marketing dollars, meaning instead of investing thousands of dollars to market their business, they're going to leverage this donation. So you'll say to them, in exchange for 500 t-shirts, we will feature you in our e-newsletter. We will do five social media blasts saying, thank you, Amber Wynn for sponsoring the kids of this Pop Warner, dah, dah, dah. We'll feature you on our website. We'll put your link. Not only that, but during the games, we're going to have a banner. We're going to bring you up on stage.
(04:32):
You want to give them value, and it's not enough just to be the tax write off. The tax write off is great. Of course they can utilize that, but have them think about, oh, well, if they're going to do five posts on social media, I don't have to invest that into this social media thing. I can just use that for my social media outreach. And here's the thing, you want them to see the value. So don't just say we're going to shot you out on the stage. That's not enough. So what you've had to say, guess what? On our social media, we've got 10,000 followers so that they can immediately understand that you are putting their brand in front of your audience. And why is that important? I'll tell you, as a small business owner, which is what I am, you understand that it's not enough just to be out in social media.
(05:25):
I want you to tell me that your target audience, which is your followers, listen to you. So if I go look on your page and there's engagement, there's a higher likelihood that if you say, go support Amber Wynn, that they're going to follow me. So that's why they would select you over some random person because you have their target audience. You've got to make that known, Hey, our parents of this Pop Warner, they shop at Big Lots or Big Buy or Best Buy or whatever, and say, these are your potential clients, and because you're supporting their kids, there's a higher likelihood that they'll come support you. So you've got to map out for them how supporting you is a good investment. It's not just about giving away stuff to you because you are a 501(c)(3). So think benefits, think marketing benefits. Explain to them that you are serving their target audience and you're going to give them access, right?
(06:30):
Especially if you have a large following on social media. But explain to them, here's what you're going to get for this amount. If you donate these t-shirts valued at $1,500, this is how much I'm going to give you. I'm going to give you two posts. If you donate a thousand T-shirts valued at 3000, I'm going to give you seven posts. So it's an exchange. When you ask for donations, be sure to demonstrate value. I'm reviewing these donation letter requests all the time, and I'm like, yeah, they're not going to fund you and they're not going to fund you because there's no value there. So that is the key to asking for and getting donation. When you ask for something, be sure to give value in return. Now, if you're not sure how to demonstrate value, when you go through The Nonprofit Mastery Academy course, the first thing that we do is identify the value of your organizations.
(07:41):
It's called measurable goals and objectives, right? A lot of times people will deliver their services and have really no idea what the measurable goals and objectives when you're talking to somebody saying, Hey, can you donate this? Your contribution is going to lead to this. It is a part of the course that I already designed. I don't waste time. I've been an executive director, so I make sure that the content that you get always serves multiple purposes. So when you go through the The Nonprofit Mastery Academy, you learn how to position your organization, you learn how to identify what the impact your programs are making, what the impact that your organization is making, and now you've quantified your value that you're then going to put in your requests for donations. Everything is already taken care of. No need to reinvent the wheel. You've done the work once.
(08:34):
Now you get to use it in multiple ways to benefit your organization. So let's take a look at The Nonprofit Mastery Academy to see all the value that you get out of it. Are you struggling to fund your programs? Can't get a grant to save your life? Most consultants will share the what of how to start a nonprofit or how to fundraise. They may even share the why, but they don't share the how because that's where they make their money. Now, I'm not hating. I'm a businesswoman too, but I've been where you are trying to make the world a better place, struggling to keep the doors open up to the wee hours of the night writing grants and doing whatever needed to be done. And because I've walked in your shoes, I'm not here to make you spin your wheel, waste your time or your hard earned money.
(09:24):
We ain't got time for that. The world needs you. I'm here to show you how to transform that pit. You keep dumping your hard earned money into a profitable nonprofit. I take my 30 years of nonprofit experience as a founder, executive director, program developer, grant writer in funder, giving out over $7 million annually in grants, and I save you literally thousands of dollars in hundreds of hours. I walk you through setting up your nonprofit organization so that you can be generating enough revenue to cover your monthly expenses in just 90 days. How would that feel? Not paying bills from your personal bank account. I share my insider secret tips, tricks of a trade, and provide you with a step-by-step roadmap on how to turn your bootstrap organization into a profitable nonprofit. Within six months, you could be generating enough revenue to pay your salary or fully fund your program.
(10:23):
The choice is yours, but you have to get the blueprint, and it took me three years to develop it, but it's here and it's going to change your life. Join my other successful clients who are just like you, full of passion and determination, but they had no idea all that it takes to run and fund a successful nonprofit. Now, they're winning grants and drawing a salary, and they know what it is that they're supposed to be doing to run a successful nonprofit. They're no longer making it up as they go. They have the roadmap and they're clear about next steps, and I want that for you too. So what do you get in this course? You'll walk away with knowledge, products, processes, and systems, not just a bunch of promises, but exactly what you need to turn your organization into a profitable nonprofit. I promise you don't need grants.
(11:16):
What you need is a solid infrastructure, and this course is going to give you all of that and more. And what's more, it comes with a money back guarantee. So go ahead, click the link below to register for this course. Welcome back. You're on air with Amber Wynn, and now it's time in the episode for you to ask Amber. It's where you send in your questions and any one of my social media platforms, and I answer them on air. Today's question comes from Octavia in North Carolina. Hey, Octavia. Her question is, Hey, Amber, this is Octavia. I'm completing a grant and they're asking for a match. What is that great question. A match is usually required in a state or federal grant. Sometimes it's in foundation grants, but mostly it's going to be a government grant, and it's a way for funders to ensure that they're not the only ones supporting the project.
(12:19):
So if your project is $200,000, they want to make sure that they're not the only ones covering that 200. So they may say, okay, you can ask for a hundred, and then there's a match, so there's another 100 from another source. So now both of these sources are funding the project. It's their way of ensuring that there's long-term sustainability because if they're the only ones funding it, then after they fund you, then what's going to happen? If there's a match, there's a higher likelihood that the program will continue because there's more than just one individual organization supporting that project. What you want to be careful of is what type of match is it? So what type of support counts as an eligible match? For some organizations, they'll let you use anything. They'll let you use the value of your volunteer hours. If you have programs and services that are covered by pro bono.
(13:27):
Some will even let you use your donor volunteer time, but some are stricter. They'll say, Nope, it can only be new donors only because remember, they're trying to ensure that there's sustainability. So if you've got these other sources that are already being used up there, yeah, no, that doesn't count. We want it to be new donors, donors who haven't contributed in the last one or two fiscal years. So you just want to be clear about that. I have as a grant writer, not submit it based off of a match requirement because here's the thing, you may say, oh yeah, we'll be able to find it later, and you don't. Then you are in violation of that submission. So make sure that you get your match before accepting the grant and make sure that you understand what types of things, is it space, maybe somebody's volunteering at space and the value of that, or if it's volunteer time, maybe you've got an organization that's going to send out five volunteers for a day and that'll meet the match. Just make sure you have that match secured before you submit the grant. Otherwise, things can go wrong, and then there's going to be a whole world of problems. All right, so now we're going to move on to part two of our nonprofit spotlight, and we are shining the light on mirror memoirs. We're having a conversation, a really robust conversation with Jaden Fields, who is a co-founder of the organization. And in this episode, we're going to learn about all that they've done to really strengthen their infrastructure. So let's take a look at mirror memoirs.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
We use storytelling for a variety of ways. We're called Mirror memoirs because there's something that happens. We have mirror neurons in our brains, and when we are sharing our stories and having them witness back by someone, especially if they have a similar experience, it helps rewire the experiences of trauma. And that's just like the fine little nerd out science about neuroplasticity. It's a way to help heal around PTSD. So that's one of the reasons why we use storytelling. And then it's also as a black person, as an organization that's surrounded by people of color, a lot of our cultures have always had storytelling as a way to document what we've been through and as a way to heal and as a way to learn from each other. And so it was important for us to tap into a very old technology of connecting with other people. And we understand too that when people are able to share their stories, we're able to get insight into the kind of programming that we should be focusing on as well as the kind of policy that we should be focusing on.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
And we're back, and that was our nonprofit spotlight where I shine the light on amazing individuals and the work they're doing. I work with a lot of nonprofits and I'm amazed by all of the work that an organization is doing, and so I want to be sure that we get nonprofit organizations, the visibility that they need specifically by funders. If I'm just keeping it real, I want to be able to get as many resources into my nonprofits as possible. If you are interested in being highlighted on the nonprofit spotlight, hit me up on any of my socials. I'd be excited to interview you and feature you on my nonprofit spotlight. All right, so today we talked about asking for and getting donations. It's important for you to understand that there is a formula, and if you have been unsuccessful, I get it all the time, oh, these businesses don't support, I ask them, and they don't.
(17:55):
They don't even respond. It could very well be that your offer is not enticing. It's not more enticing than that nonprofit organization who understands that in order for a business to select you, multiple asks happening is that you're giving them something in return marketing benefits, access to their target audience visibility, something that they can put on their website that they've supported community. So don't just be like you get the tax write off because that's not enough in today's world, especially if you have a huge following. You don't have to. Sometimes businesses are excited that you just even made the offer to give them something in exchange, but that's what's going to make your donation requests more successful is to make sure that there's an exchange of value. If you like today's episode, be sure to like it, subscribe, and share it with another nonprofit leader that you think would be beneficial.
(18:57):
If you are struggling with silent auction requests, be sure to forward this off to anybody who may be struggling, and be sure that you join me next week. We are still in conversation with Jayden Fields of Mirror Memoirs. It'll be part three. Today was part two, so that you can learn from your colleagues out there what they're doing to be successful. What are some of the challenges we all learn from each other, so we want to be in community. Thank you for spending a half hour with your girl. I'm always honored to be in your space, and I'm going to tell you I tell all the time to take care of yourself, like you take care of your community, and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe and a review on iTunes. Head over to www.amberwynn.next/podcast for the links and resources mentioned in today's podcast. See you next time.
