NYN Media Presents: FundCon – Strategizing, Developing, Marketing and Raising Money for Nonprofits
Speak up if you want to get the help you need. That seemed to be the take-home message from New York Nonprofit Media’s first FundCon event held March 16th in the Proshansky Auditorium of CUNY’s Graduate Center.
Judy Levine, executive director of Cause Effective, set the day’s panels in context for the packed room with a reference to current discussions about the fiscal stability of nonprofits. Citing recent reports in the wake of FEGS’ closure, she said that given the current operating climate, nonprofits need to be “clear-eyed and public about our vulnerability.”
“Of course, you don’t want them thinking that Sunday is eviction day – but we can cast our vulnerability in resilient terms: ‘All nonprofits are vulnerable – and here’s what we’re doing about it,’” Levine said.
Panel topics included “Troubeshooting and Improving Your Development Program,” “Fundraising in an Ever-Changing World: The Latest Developments” and “How to Make the Most of Your Monthly Donor Program’s Operations.” Panelists included prominent directors of development, chief financial officers and executive directors from nonprofits such as the United Way of New York City, Hudson Guild and Storefront Academy.
During the opening panel, Stephen Orr, co-founder of Orr Associates, identified some of nonprofits’ biggest challenges as being the constant changes within the fundraising industry and staff turnover. He noted that turnover can be particularly difficult to manage when organizations lose “primary relationship people” – those who help cultivate their donors. Panelists talked about the importance of having strong systems in place to help smooth over these transitions.
Though an impromptu survey showed that most attendees represented organizations with larger budgets, panelists’ suggestions also targeted those in small shops. In the panel “Building a Database and Using the Data to Better Connect With Your Donors,” Lisa Alpert of the Green-wood Historic Fund pointed out that everyone on her staff (of three), is now required to understand how to properly use their database. The change is intended to avoid the “dysfunctional” situation where one person claims ownership of the database – Alpert noted that once a staffer told the office, “‘Please don’t anyone touch it, I don’t want anyone touching the data.'”
But across various panels a theme emerged, charging nonprofits to be vocal, distinguish themselves and form partnerships where possible – whatever it takes to amplify the voice and brand of your organization in the crowded New York nonprofit sector.
Lesleigh Irish-Underwood, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer with the United Way of New York City, said it plainly during a panel titled “Creating and Implementing a Successful Fundraising Event.” “We’re too modest,” she said. “Everybody thinks, ‘Oh the good work will speak for you.’ No, it won’t.”
“We’re all doing great work,” Irish-Underwood added. “Everyone is jockeying for visibility. And so to think that the work you’re doing is going to be enough to break through and start to attract donors is a mistake.”
Other panelists offered additional suggestions for improving the efficacy of your fundraising asks.
In the panel “Fundraising in an Ever-Changing World: The Latest Developments,” Kaitlin Reinman, co-founder of uBack, encouraged nonprofits to meet donors and make asks where they are – “which is on their phone.”
Jan Hanvik of the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center spoke of the need to be an ambassador for your organization and work to build relationships that can lead to profitable collaborations.
Using the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge as an example, attendees of the panel titled “ A Nonprofit Call to Action: How to enhance Direct Response Campaigns” were reminded that the most powerful ask is a peer ask.
Attendees had plenty of opportunities to practice making their message heard, as the day included networking breaks where panelists and colleagues huddled to synthesize what they had learned.
The next step will be putting it all into practice.
To watch footage of the day’s panel discussions you can access the livestream here. To find out more about future NYN Media events, visit the Events section of www.nynmedia.com.