Last week, NLE Resources posted the first half of a post (see here) from Avraham Lewis. We thank him for sharing with us his fundraising insights, and present the second and final part here:
What is the next step I need to take?
Then, once you have clarified what you need to do for this donor, list the next step or steps you need to take to actually succeed at receiving the donation.
It could be as simple as a phone call, a personal meeting or a short email asking for their continued and increased support. For larger donors, you should be willing to put in more efforts.
Remember, your goal is to receive a donation, so you need to know how and when you will make the “ask.”
Now you’re ready to roll out your fundraising schedule for the next month
After completing these steps, you’re ready to organize how you will maximize your efforts that you’ve just mapped out, to bring in as many of the donations as you can with all your donors on your Rosh Hashanah list.
It can be helpful to use a calendar to see how many fundraising hours you have between now and Rosh Hashanah. Estimate how many people you can call and speak with or meet each day. I’ve found, on average it’s possible to speak with two or three people an hour. Or meet with 1-3 people a day.
Remember to focus your efforts with the bigger donors first. That way, if you miss people, it will be the smaller donations.
Strengthen yourself by recognizing the impact your efforts are making
Finally, each day, let yourself feel the meaning and happiness that you are giving to people through your efforts to do great things for the Jewish people.
And, remind yourself how your fundraising efforts NOW will give you the opportunity to do so much more.
B’hatzlacha!
P.S. Helping Torah and kiruv organizations achieve their best in fundraising is my sweet spot.
So if you have a question regarding some part of your ultimate Rosh Hashanah fundraising campaign, it will be my pleasure to help.
And, if you want to shift your fundraising to the next level, quicker and more effectively than you’re doing presently, I have a small number of consulting openings available right now.
You can contact me at avrahamlewis@gmail.com
Jeff Zigman
After contacting Avraham after reading this article, I would like to offer to all Jewish organizations the use of my website, ComLinker, as a fundraising platform. In the interest of helping and promoting Jewish community globally, any Jewish organization that wishes to use it (anywhere in the world) before the end of 2013, we will donate 50% of our profits from the fundraisers/events back to your organization.
To give you an idea of it, here are 2 links to show you how it can be used
– one is for a raffle (being done by NLE’s own Rabbis Dov Harrouch and Michael Harrosch):
http://www.comlinker.com/event/jewish-experience-raffle-2013,10000143/view/info/
– The other, just to show the varied ways in which it can be used, is an organized trip being organized by a woman at Aish HaTorah:
http://www.comlinker.com/event/jewish-heritage-israel-tour-2013-2014,10000139/view/info/
And here is our blog post on NLE Resources from a few weeks ago:
http://nleresources.com/2013/08/how-comlinker-com-can-make-an-educators-life-easier/
If interested, please contact me at jeffz@comlinker.com.