Getting Donors to Support Your Annual Fund

As a board member, volunteer or staff of a nonprofit, you know that garnering solid support for your annual fund each year is critical to achieving your mission. Without regular financial support, you can't pay the rent, the bookkeeper, the office equipment or any of the usual expenses incurred by operations. So, to you, the words "annual fund" likely generate a picture of core support that your nonprofit needs to provide services to the community whether your organization's mission focuses on the arts, the environment, affordable housing or employment training for the homeless.
What do the words "annual fund" connote to the average donor of any of these organizations? Not much, if anything, comes to mind when the recipient of a donation request reads a letter that begins "We need you to support our annual fund..." Why? Because "annual fund" is meaningless jargon to people outside your organization as much as it may mean to you. Most people, no matter how generous they are, will not relate to this term. They may send you a donation if they already know what you do and are committed to your cause. Otherwise, your annual fund request will end up in the trash.
Does this mean you should stop sending such requests? Absolutely not; it simply means that you don't use the term "annual fund" as part of your ask. You know that you are requesting money to support the basics needed to run your organization; let your donors know that their money will be used to help the people, places or things they connect with and want to support. Let me give you some examples.
Your nonprofit provides music education to children in elementary schools that can no longer afford to offer instrumental music classes. You need money to pay your musicians to bring their instruments to the classroom and educate children. You have research that demonstrates "Music students out-perform non-music students on achievement tests in reading and math. Skills such as reading, anticipating, memory, listening, forecasting, recall, and concentration are developed in musical performance, and these skills are valuable to students in math, reading, and science." (B. Friedman, "An Evaluation of the Achievement in Reading and Arithmetic of Pupils in Elementary School Instrumental Music Classes," Dissertation Abstracts International.)
Why not open your request with this quote or use words of a child who participated in the program last year such as "It was amazing when they all played Mozart's First Symphony. I didn't know he was eight. I'm eight!" (Elementary student participant in Instrumental Music Program) Depending on the view of the donor, you are now asking them to support music education because it improves academic performance or because it brings excitement to a child. In either case, this approach is much more likely to result in a donation than simply asking for money for the annual fund.
Let's look at another nonprofit which provides services to homeless people. Even if your prospective donors believe it is important to help the homeless, they aren't concerned about how much it costs to run your office. These prospects want to know exactly what you are doing that will help homeless individuals move into a home. Your annual fund supports the staff of your workforce development program that provides skills and training so that the homeless can find jobs that will pay the rent. Your counselors help residents regain their self-confidence so that they can search for jobs, get more education, do what they need to do to move from the shelter into supportive housing. So focus your letter on one or two individuals who have successfully gained employment and/or housing and briefly tell their stories. Your prospective donors will be much more likely to give money to help these people than they will to pay your phone bill or marketing costs, even though you know you need to pay these expenses to help your clients.
I could go on and give examples of raising annual funds for addiction recovery centers, afterschool programs, computer education for inner city children, and so on but I think the above two examples demonstrate how to take the work supported by your annual fund and present this as the focus of your annual fund letters.
© Jane B. Ford, M.Ed. 2010
Author Bio:
Jane B. Ford, M.Ed. is a speaker, author, teacher, coach and consultant who guides individuals and nonprofits on the road to prosperity. She has worked with small to mid-sized nonprofits for three decades in the roles of executive director, trainer, fundraiser and management consultant. You can learn more about Jane at http://TheJoyPath.com and http://GetGrantsNow.net.
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