Quotations and Questions
Quotations
These are a few quotes from the book:
On Successful Fundraising:
“In addition to the obvious advantage of bringing in more money, your fundraising efforts also have some side benefits. When you connect with people, you begin to establish a base of support for your organization—often more than financial—that you can draw upon for years to come. Donors may become members and often volunteers, as well. If there is a natural disaster or problem, your cadre of supporters will be the first people to come to your aid.”
On Honing Your Message:
“To achieve top-of-mind awareness, you have to set yourself apart from the sea of charities, services, and businesses that are competing for the attention of your potential donors. Every day people are bombarded with countless marketing messages, so cutting through the clutter can be a challenge.
The key to rising above the general noise level is to create a consistent, distinctive message that resonates with your potential adopters and donors.”
On Money:
“Money doesn’t magically appear. The reason the marketing funnel concept is important is that it helps you realize that most donations don’t “come out of nowhere.” People need to have contact with you multiple times before they know and trust you enough to make a donation. Small donations often lead to big donations down the line. People don’t think to donate, so you need to remind them. You have to ask for money..”
On Setting Up a Team:
“By setting up a team, you can leverage other people’s talents and turn them into money to help the animals. You can’t be good at everything, so your goal is to find people who love animals but are talented in areas where you are not. For example, you may need graphic support to create flyers for an event. I’m a writer and graphic artist, so in my years of volunteering, I was constantly recruited for my abilities in these areas.”
On Selecting a Fundraiser:
“If you spend any time flipping through the ideas in this book, you may realize that there’s no shortage of creative ways to make money. Of course, the flip side is that you might have so many options, you don’t know which ones to choose!
Here are a few thoughts on selecting a fundraiser. First, don’t select a fundraising project just because you read that it made a lot of money or a friend of a friend said it’s the “best” idea ever. Do some research before you dive in. Also consider your team and the amount of time you have. Be realistic. Has anyone on your team done this particular type of fundraiser before? If not, you should do even more research to find out exactly what’s involved and how much money you can realistically earn, given the resources you have available.”
Book Excerpt
Use this link to download a PDF file that contains the table of contents and the first 5 pages (123K).
Suggested Media Questions for Susan Daffron
Here are a few sample interview questions, based on the content of the book:
1. Why should people consider putting on fundraisers?
2. What are some of the most important things to remember when fundraising?
3. What are some misconceptions about fundraising?
4. What are a couple of easy fundraising ideas?
5. How can people keep from getting burned out?
6. How can we set up partnerships and work with others?