If you're working on developing your nonprofit fundraising strategy, there are a couple of key
terms that you're going to need to know - especially if you are newer to the nonprofit
fundraising world! In this video I'm going to share 10 fundraising terms that you may
or may not know but you definitely need to know in order to be successful fundraisers, as you start
a non-profit or grow a non-profit, or just raise money for any other kind of social impact project!
Welcome back! My name is Amber Melanie Smith. I'm a non-profit founder and executive director.
I make these videos here on YouTube to help people aspiring to make a difference in their
communities - whether it's through starting a non-profit or social enterprise or socially
conscious business or any other kind of project or endeavor! I hope that you find this video helpful!
Don't forget to give it a like and subscribe to my channel for more content like this!
I also have a website, FounderToFullTime.com with some trainings and resources all about
starting a non-profit or developing a sustainable fundraising plan. Okay are you ready to test your
knowledge? Let's make a little bit of a game out of this. I'd love to hear at the end of the video
how many of these 10 terms you already knew and which ones you had just learned for the first
time. Don't forget to share that in the comments below. Let's just see what you all know and of
course the grand prize for getting them all right is a monumental sense of pride and achievement
let's get into it term number one is in kind gift i'll give you a second to think about if you know
this one in kind gift that is a donation that is not cash but is instead materials equipment or
property examples might be food or clothing or in the case of property maybe some kind of
commercial real estate donors can still claim a deduction on their income taxes
for the market value of the item that they donated the second fundraising term is bequest
bequest this is when a donation is made through a person's will it can be cash securities or
other tangible property number three is a really important one and it is case for support do you
know this one a case for support is a document or some other piece of communication that basically
explains to potential donors why they should give money to your organization it might include your
organization's goals its history of impacts and some of the things that you might spend
donations on term number four you ready for this it is capital campaign capital campaign
this is a focused intense fundraising initiative to raise usually a large amount of money
in a specified amount of time a lot of times capital campaigns are to raise money for
some specific very big expense like purchasing a building or investing in a
new type of expensive equipment but it doesn't have to be term number five is challenge gift
now a challenge gift is when a donor pledges or agrees to make a donation usually a pretty
large one but only if your organization is able to secure donations from other sources
first by usually specific deadline or in an amount that matches part or all of the
donation you're asking for this is actually a really good strategy to incentivize other
donors to give because the research backs up that people are more incentivized to make a donation
if they know that another donation will result amplifying the ultimate goal of giving
if you do donate number six also a super important one and it is donor stewardship
donor stewardship so stewardship is how you manage a relationship with a donor after
they make their first gift to you now you really want to retain the trust and relationship with
your donors long term it is more cost effective to retain donors than try to
acquire new donors of course just like in sales with businesses is the same kind of
principle so stewardship is the act and the process of retaining that trust being
ethical caretakers of the donations given to your organization and it also involves keeping
your donors engaged which looks like making sure they feel appreciated sending them thank
you notes making sure you're inviting them to things going on with your organization
etc in between those times you might ask them for money number seven is restricted gift
now a restricted gift is when a donation must be spent on the very very specific thing
that the donor who gave you that gift says that it has to be spent on let's say a donor gives your
organization a thousand dollars but they say you can only spend this thousand dollars on purchasing
meals or office supplies or on things related to this one program or on hiring a new staff member
whatever the donor says it has to be spent on is what you have to spend it on now you can always
decline that gift and not accept the money and thus not be constrained by having to spend it
in that way but if you do accept the money you legally do have to spend it that way and if you
don't you can be reported to the authorities or the donor can demand that you refund the gift term
number eight is prospect and i hope that you can guess what this means but just in case let's get
into it in the case of fundraising a prospect is a potential donor that you have a logical reason to
believe that they are likely to make a donation to your organization in the business world you might
think of this as a lead this can be an individual it can be a government entity who's giving out
grants or contracts it could be a grant funder it could be a company who's doing sponsorships
it's a prospect and you have a reason to believe that they are going to give maybe
your missions and values are aligned maybe you have some personal connections there whatever the
case you have an above zero belief that you are likely to get some kind of contribution from this
entity term number nine is actually an acronym but the word is lie bunce and it stands for
do you know okay i'll give you a hint the letters are l y b u n t s
live buns okay so this is an acronym for donors who gave last year but not this year
or technically last year but unfortunately not this year yet now in my opinion live bunts are
great donor prospects because if they already gave once to your organization that means they
know your organization they probably care about your organization on some level so they might
be good prospects likely to give again under the right circumstances or if you simply ask
and the tenth and final term in our non-profit fundraising trivia today is letter of inquiry
now a letter of inquiry is when you send a letter to a foundation or a company
sharing your mission sharing some of the projects or programs that you're seeking funding for and
inquiring if they would be willing to hear more from you if they'd be willing to receive a full
formal request for financial support or get more information or talk to you about your work
and the prospect of funding you these are usually shorter letters that come before a full grant
proposal or donation request and they can actually save you and the funding entity a lot of time
because if you send this letter and it's very easy to see right off the bat that you're not going to
be a good fit for each other then you can avoid spending all those hours on a full formal proposal
all right the moment of truth how many of those 10 did you know leave the number that you knew six
nine the all ten of them one three whatever the number is leave it in the comments below if you
are starting a non-profit or working on developing your sustainable fundraising plan definitely check
out my website FounderToFullTime.com for those resources i also have a newsletter that i do with
news and articles and sometimes funding opportunities uh for change makers and
non-profit leaders you can subscribe to that using the link that i have in the description
of this video as well and finally i have a Facebook group change the world or bust - got
a couple thousand folks in there having some good conversations about our efforts to make
an impact so i hope that you can join us there i hope this was at least a little fun for you um a
little bit of a brain challenge so join me next time for another video and don't forget to like
this video and subscribe to my channel for more content like this i hope to see you later! goodbye