How I Raised $116,000 with a Budget of $2,500

How I raised $116,000 with a budget of $2,500

A CASE STUDY IN FUNDRAISING SUCCESS
Michael Stark, Executive Director
THE HOLIDAY HEROES FOUNDATION

Fundraising has met its match

Copyright DonorPath 2016. All rights reserved.

How I Raised $116,000 with a Budget of $2,500

INTRODUCTION

What You Need to Know

Ask anyone who is trying to balance a budget and stabilize, let alone
expand, their programs and theyll tell you its very difficult. They are right.
Nonprofit organizations in the United States are now challenged by major
demographic, economic, technological, and social factors outside of their
control. As a result, increasing numbers of organizations are facing
significant financial hardship and dont know what to do about it.
1. Technology has increased access and changed habits.
Nonprofit organizations are no longer the ultimate arbiter of social impact
and volunteering. The vast amount of opportunities and content currently
available intensifies competition for consumer attention, and increasingly,
consumers expect nonprofits to be technologically literate, responsive to
their personal interests, and constantly generating fresh content.
2. The existing revenue model doesnt align with capacity.
The basic revenue model for nonprofit organizations is eroding as the
values that underpinned it have shifted. Public funding at Federal, state
and local levels is declining and overall philanthropic and corporate
funding is not growing at pace. Meanwhile, the increasing costs of doing
business are increasing.
3. Managers don't have access to the expertise they need.
The skills needed for effective nonprofit leadership today are complex and
numerous. They include board development and management; strategic
planning; financial modeling; public relations and advocacy; marketing and
branding; and of course, fundraising. While there are workshops,
conferences, peer trainings, and literature available, there is little that
adequately addresses and sustains all that is required for success.
Copyright DonorPath 2016. All rights reserved.

How I Raised $116,000 with a Budget of $2,500

SITUATION ANALYSIS

Sound familiar to you?

The Holiday Heroes Foundation partners with hospitals, businesses,
celebrities and others to give children who are hospitalized due to a
critical or chronic illness a well-needed and deserved dose of fun. With a
wide variety of themed parties and celebrations, they give kids, their
families and caregivers some time to forget about the illnesses and
medical procedures, and fill that time with an experience that transports
everyone to a joyous and hopeful place.
Internally, consistently delivering on the mission and its promise to the
children they serve has constraints:
Staffed by a Chief Everything Officer. All administrative and
programmatic functions are fulfilled by an executive director and
program officer there is no fundraising staff.
Operating budget of $250,000. The organization has stable but
scarce resources. There is a tension between the need for more
contributed revenue and time to fundraise the right way.
Investment in fundraising is seen as risky. The organization has
been to conferences, purchased software, and tried new things, but
none of these solutions directly contribute to raising money.
Tight calendar and daily schedule. Staff doesnt have time in the
day to drop everything and aggressively fundraise, nor has time
to build the necessary foundational infrastructure to support
sustained fundraising results.
Board is committed to help, but doesnt know how. Board
members are dedicated and love the organization, but are unsure
what they need to do to support long-term fundraising success.
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How I Raised $116,000 with a Budget of $2,500

THE SOLUTION

What did he do about it?

Michael Stark, the Executive Director of the Holiday Heroes Foundation,
knew he could expand the reach and programs of his mission. Whats
more, he needed to do it more and more hospitals were calling on his
organization to bring their programming to children who needed it most.
That said, Michael put together a budget and started talking to existing
donors and local foundations about his needs.
Everyone he spoke to was supportive, but had conditions. Michael
discovered he had to demonstrate he would make the time and take the
steps to build his fundraising. His organization needed to show as much
fundraising aptitude as necessary when delivering programs and building
partnerships.
Michael knew that hiring a full-time fundraiser was not in the cards and
certainly not in his budget, so he needed to get creative.

GUT CHECK: The questions Michael had about fundraising:

1. How do I raise money without time, budget and know-how?
2. What do I need to do get my Board to help me fundraise?
3. What foundations are interested in my mission and will fund it?
4. How do I create a real and sustainable annual giving campaign?
5. Which donors in my database are major gift prospects?

Copyright DonorPath 2016. All rights reserved.

How I Raised $116,000 with a Budget of $2,500

Michael needed a team, but had no budget for one. A program officer
at a local foundation suggested he take a look at DonorPath and its Virtual
Fundraising Team solution for small nonprofits, so he created a profile and
built his team from the matches presented to him.
The Virtual Fundraising Team got to work, immediately.
Together, they set up recurring meetings in Michaels busy schedule
and then focused on understanding how to create fundraising revenue
from the many opportunities and donors the organization had. They
started by visualizing all of the gifts and donor information that were
scattered between spreadsheets, QuickBooks, and his donor management
software, Bloomerang and created a 12-month Fundraising Plan, where:

Holly, the Virtual Fundraising Expert, leverages her 20+

years of fundraising experience to make sure Michael can
align his time and resources with what will create results.
They meet twice a month for 30 minutes.
Caitlin, the Virtual Fundraising Manager, keeps track of the
dates/tasks in their 12-Month Plan, providing tools and
templates to accelerate execution for each of its parts. She
coordinates all the communication among and between the
Team.
Robert, the Virtual Fundraising Assistant, makes sure the
whole Team has access to updated fundraising data to
determine what donors and prospects need to be thanked,
engaged or cultivated before an ask.
Michael, the Executive Director, now has a fully-functioning
fundraising Team that helps him engage, raise money from
his Board, individuals, foundations, and special events. He
also sees that the time he spends on fundraising gets results.
Copyright DonorPath 2016. All rights reserved.

How I Raised $116,000 with a Budget of $2,500

THE RESULTS

How much was raised?

After 12 months of working with his Team, Michael raised $116,000.
That was his total in net new dollars from individual donors as well as
private and corporate foundations. Whats more, he invested less than
$250 a month to get it done -- no consultants, conferences or new
software, let alone putting already scarce resources at risk.
Whats more, Michaels Board is not just impressed, but engaged.
Because of the work of Michaels Virtual Fundraising Team, he stepped
into every Board meeting and could confidentially describe not just
fundraising progress, but what he needed from each to be successful.
You can be like Mike, too. With DonorPath, you can build your own
Virtual Fundraising Team from your matches and work with them free, for
30 days to create your 12-month fundraising plan, analyze fundraising
data, and determine which donors and prospects need attention.

SEE MATCHES, BUILD TEAM >>

Copyright DonorPath 2016. All rights reserved.