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Here are the topics that Expert Fundraiser needs your help with:

• Raising money from local businesses
• Facebook fundraising
• How to run a silent auction
• How to manage third-party fundraising events
• How to use social media to raise money for your next special event
• How to get free radio, TV and print publicity for your charity or event
• How to organize and run a walkathon or run
• How to organize and run a fundraising dinner
• How to organize and run a fundraising gala
• 101 products to sell at your next fundraiser
• How to raise funds with online peer-to-peer tools and team fundraising webpages
• How to use YouTube for fundraising
• Where to look for grants
• How to write a grant proposal

Let’s assume you need to raise $1 million annually.

Step 1: List your giving methods.
Open a new spreadsheet. In Column A, list the methods you’ll use to raise funds from donors. Your column will look something like this:

INDIVIDUALS
Direct Mail
Email
Major Gifts
Monthly Giving
Online

INSTITUTIONS
Corporations
Foundations
Government

Step 2: Assign a percentage of your total revenue goal to each fundraising method.
Most charities raise 80% of their annual income from individuals and the remaining 20% from institutions. In Column B, assign a percentage to each method to show the percentage of your annual revenue goal you’ll raise from each method. Your column will look like this:

INDIVIDUALS: PORTION OF ANNUAL REVENUE GOAL, %
Direct Mail: 30%
Email: 10%
Major Gifts: 20%
Monthly Giving: 10%
Online: 10%
SUB-TOTAL: 80%

INSTITUTIONS: PORTION OF ANNUAL REVENUE GOAL, %
Corporations: 5%
Foundations: 10%
Government: 5%
SUB-TOTAL: 20%
GRAND TOTAL: 100%

Step 3: Calculate how much revenue will come from each fundraising method.
In Column C, multiply your annual revenue goal (in this case, $1 million), by the percentage revenue goal for each method. Your results will look like this:

INDIVIDUALS: PORTION OF ANNUAL REVENUE GOAL, $
Direct Mail: $300,000
Email: $100,000
Major Gifts: $200,000
Monthly Giving: $100,000
Online: $100,000
SUB-TOTAL: $800,000

INSTITUTIONS: PORTION OF ANNUAL REVENUE GOAL, $
Corporations: $50,000
Foundations: $100,000
Government: $50,000
SUB-TOTAL: $200,000
GRAND TOTAL: $1,000,000

Step 4: Calculate your average annual revenue per donor, per fundraising method.
Based on your experience with donors from each fundraising method, calculate in Column D how much each donor will donate each year, on average. Your column will look like this:

INDIVIDUALS: AVERAGE ANNUAL REVENUE PER DONOR TYPE
Direct Mail Donor: $80
Email Donor: $80
Major Donor: $10,000
Monthly Donor: $360 ($30/mo.)
Online Donor: $150

INSTITUTIONS: AVERAGE ANNUAL REVENUE PER DONOR TYPE
Corporation: $10,000
Foundation: $20,000
Government: $50,000

Step 5: Calculate how many donors you’ll need per fundraising method to reach your annual revenue goal.
In Column E, divide your revenue goal per method (Step 3) by the average annual revenue per donor type (Step 4). Your column will look like this:

INDIVIDUALS: DONORS NEEDED TO REACH $1 MILLION ANNUAL GOAL
Direct Mail Donors: 3,750
Email Donors: 1,250
Major Donors: 20
Monthly Donors: 278
Online Donors: 667
SUB-TOTAL: 5,964

INSTITUTIONS: DONORS NEEDED TO REACH $1 MILLION ANNUAL GOAL
Corporations: 5
Foundations: 5
Government: 1
SUB-TOTAL: 11
GRAND TOTAL: 5,975

Thus, to reach this hypothetical annual fundraising goal of $1 million, you’ll need to acquire 5,975 donors. Your results will vary, of course, depending on the fundraising methods you use, the percentage of your annual revenue goal you aim to generate with each method, and your average annual revenue per donor type. But the same principles apply.

Prefix: Major donors tend to be university educated. Their prefix may give that away. Search for donors who have Dr., Hon., Judge or Prof. before their name. Also look for “Mr. & Mrs.” salutations, since most generous donors are married.

First Name: Search for first names that have been handed down through multiple generations, such as John Rockefeller, III. Names like this indicate old money.

Middle Name: Use this name when searching online directories, LinkedIn, Facebook and other sites for donors who have common names. People with common names (such as John Smith) sometimes use their full name (John Phillip Smith, for example) or their middle initial (John P. Smith) to distinguish themselves from other people with the same first and last name.

Last Name: Does the last name sound familiar? Is it the name of a local leader, business tycoon or celebrity (author, artist, athlete)? Also search your database for other donors with the same last name living at the same address. Are these two donors married to each other? Check the other donor’s giving history to see if the donor gives less, the same or more than your current donor. You may find that the spouse is the more generous donor. Add the two totals to see how much the couple gives annually.

Suffix: Look for suffixes that indicate a higher level of income:

• post-graduate degree, such as MBA, Ph.D
• professional designation, such as CPA, MD
• senior job title, such as CEO, president, vice-president

Salutation: If your donor is actually a couple that gives as a couple (whom you address as “Dear Alan & Ruth,” for example), Google them as a couple. They may have donated large gifts to other causes as a couple.

Check the change log or notes field in your database to see if donors with single name salutations were once listed as a couple, and vice versa. Changes in marital status usually affect a person’s ability to give (either improving it or hindering it).

The best person to approach for a major gift is someone who already supports your charity. Sometimes those donors are hidden in plain sight in your donor database. Here’s how to find them.

C/O Names: Exercise extra caution with donors whose mail is care of someone else (“Alan Sharpe C/O Samuel Trudel,” for example), particularly if the C/O person has the letters “POA” (Power of Attorney) after their name. Donors who receive their mail care of someone else at the same address are likely infirm and unable to make prudent decisions about their finances.

Address: Look for donors who live in upper-income neighbourhoods. If in doubt, view the donor’s house using Google Street View. Look for high-end homes with multiple garages (while remembering that most generous people live in modest homes).

Multiple Addresses: Search for donors who have more than one address on their record. Look for seasonal addresses, such as a cottage in Muskoka or a second house in The Hamptons.

Institution Name: Many major donors are businesses owners who give through their businesses to save taxes. Search to see if these corporate donors are also in your database as individuals. Google the company name and visit the company website to learn more about the owner’s net worth.

Some high-net-worth individuals donate their largest gifts through their family foundation and their smaller gifts as individuals. Search your database for foundations, then look for donors in your database whose last names match the names on the family foundation board of directors. You may find, for example, that you receive donations from “The Bill and Belinda Baxter Foundation” as well as from “Bill and Belinda Baxter” themselves. Google the foundation name and visit the foundation website (the larger family foundations have websites) to learn more about the net worth of the individual(s) who controls the family foundation.

Phone Number: Does the phone number include an extension number? Perform a reverse lookup on the phone number to discover the name of the company. Google the company name and visit the company website to learn more about the donor’s role there. Is she the owner or a senior executive?

Email Address: Look for domain names that indicate higher income, such as jsmith@ibm.com (possible executive at a Fortune 500 firm) and john.carruthers@carrutherscontracting.ca (owner of a large, local general contracting business). Visit the domain name and search within the site for the donor by name, using the “Search within site” feature on your Google Toolbar.

Google the donor’s email address. You may just find that it appears on a listing of another charity’s board of directors, or on online discussion groups that give you insight into the donor’s interests.

Date of First Gift: Search for donors who gave their first gift a long time ago and have given faithfully ever since.

Number of Lifetime Gifts: Search for donors who have given more gifts in their lifetime than your average, even if the total amount, monetarily, is not unusually high.

Value of Lifetime Gifts: Look for donors who have given more money in their lifetime than your average donor.

Largest Gift: Search for donors who have already given a gift that meets or exceeds your threshold for a major gift.

Cumulative Value of Annual Giving: Some major donors give you a major gift each year, but in installments. You’ll miss these donors if you search only for large single gifts. Search instead for donors whose cumulative annual giving meets or exceeds your threshold for a major gift. For example, if your threshold for a major gift is $10,000, look for donors who have given multiple gifts in one year that totaled $10,000 or more.

Date of Last Gift: The best prospects for major gifts gave you a gift within the last 12 months. If they have not supported you for years, they have a reason. You’ll need to discover it, and remedy it, before you can expect to receive another gift.

Learn more
Uncovering Local Millionaires.
Learn how to recognize, find and approach undiscovered millionaires in your city with this three-part seminar recording.