Looking for funding opportunities? We've identified a few funds that might be useful to you. Visit the links below to learn more about the requirements and deadlines for these opportunities.
Our thoughts are filled with the global pandemic that we are all facing. During this time, we have shifted to remote working and we want to assure you that we have access to research resources and tools that enable us to work efficiently to perform prospect research tasks remotely. We hope you are also finding this time to adapt and powerfully engage with your constituents by creating meaningful moments and memorable experiences.
As our community encounters new challenges, there are many resources out there to help fundraising and advancement professionals. This might be a good time for us to turn our attention to a report by EAB – Advancement Forum COVID-19 Survey Report. This report is a result of an EAB survey of higher education institutions to find out how advancement operations are responding to coronavirus. The survey report provides some meaningful information on what other institutions in the higher education industry are considering and doing during the COVID-19 crisis. Many in higher education are thinking about topics like events, fundraising activities, metrics and other policies and procedures related to advancement operations.
Based on precautionary restrictions that emerged from COVID-19, many institutions are leaning towards cancelling or postponing events such as commencement, reunion and giving day. Development professionals are seeking new ways to conduct fundraising activities and crafting new strategies to adapt to the current situation. Institutions are focusing on meeting the current and future needs of students and many are in the process of creating student emergency assistance funds, if they do not have one in existence already. Fundraising goals and metrics are also being revised to reflect the impact of COVID-19 on fundraising activities.
At this time, development professionals may focus on their most loyal donors and continue to engage them in ways that could yield mutual benefits. Loyal donors could be more receptive to change and may adjust easily to a new fundraising strategy. This may be the time to re-evaluate and qualify your top tier of prospects or donors who can be engaged in different ways under these circumstances. It may be valuable to use existing studies on different demographics and generational groups to identify effective methods or channels to communicate with donors or prospective donors. Some may be more approachable by phone calls, while others may be quicker to respond to emails or social media. It might be even helpful to understand the preferred types of social media networks that can be used for communication with your constituents.
Now is the time to try out existing and new technological tools to create strategic changes that sustain and grow our donor and prospect relationships. We are always here to assist you with your prospect research needs. As always, please feel free to reach out us with questions, comments or any assistance with prospect research!
During this uncharted time, prospect researchers can help their advancement and alumni relations offices to segment outreach, engage and steward donors, and build lists for a future gift pipeline. Raise Hub suggests that prospect research teams encourage gift officer activity and portfolio maintenance, continue with portfolio consultations, build qualification pools for the future, tackle data projects, and build and share more saved searches on potential prospects. Read how to implement these action items here.
Recently, Ruffalo Noel Levitz virtually hosted a group of fundraisers to ask how they are proceeding with their work during the pandemic. They found that on average, fundraising is continuing as normal in higher education and that gift officers are finding new ways to reach out to donors that don't involve in-person visits. For the most part, universities have not cancelled their giving days but are postponing or shifting their messaging. Many fundraising offices are looking to the future and researching ways they can continue to fundraise digitally. Read more findings here.
Big corporations in the United States aren't known for their creative philanthropy. However, with the outbreak of COVID-19, many big tech companies have stepped forward with philanthropic pledges to help combat the virus. According to Inside Philanthropy, these tech companies are in the position to regain public trust but may risk further alienating the public if their philanthropic efforts are deemed insufficient. Companies such as Amazon, Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Netflix have all made commitments to help their local communities, medical research, their employees and more. Click here to read more about how big tech companies are responding. Click here to read a supplementary article from the New York Times about how philanthropists are responding to the pandemic.
Meeting current and future donors where they are has never been more important. In 2005, only five percent of the population was using social media. Today, Facebook and Youtube have 2 billion users per platform and TikTok alone has 500 million users. Given the current pandemic, it's unlikely that any of us will be meeting in person to fundraise any time soon. Your organization needs to know how to implement social media to reach donors. This article from NonProfitPro offers insight into many social media platforms and their functions that may help your organization fundraise remotely.
At first, many institutions and fundraising offices were thinking hypothetically about how COVID-19 may affect their work. However, that quickly evolved as cancellations were made and the stock market changed course. One positive outcome is that nonprofits are strengthening their relationships with donors and making the most of the communication channels that are available. Everyone working in the nonprofit sector is in the same boat and many have similar questions about best practices. The Chronicle of Philanthropy compiled answers to five pressing questions. Read the full article here.
