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There’s been a lively debate underway in the Chronicle of Philanthropy about whether about fundraisers are “selling” a product. Putting money at the center of the development relationship taints the process, argues veteran fundraiser Jennifer McCrea in her Exponential Fundraising blog. Yet the notion of “selling” shouldn’t be a dirty word because it solves problems and meets needs, counters Sasha Dichter of the Acumen Fund.

I brought this up the other day with an MBA graduate and trustee of a university planning a new capital campaign. His reply: “In the business world, we say, ’you don’t get what you don’t ask for.’…People are scrutinizing their philanthropic choices more than ever before. I don’t know anyone who isn’t looking more carefully at these decisions.”

In this economy, with greater competition for less money, many fundraisers are seeking coaching in sales skills for more focus, faster results and higher yields. Not only that, but another article in the Chronicle of Philanthropy says that people skills are no longer enough for fundraisers to be successful. The market is calling for fundraisers with multiple talents to compete for donations in a changing marketplace.  Note the use of the word “compete.”

As a fundraising marketer, and, yes, that’s what I admit to, my job is to persuade donors and potential donors to invest in the causes I represent. A donor I interviewed at another institution a few months ago made it very clear that he would rather have a business plan than a so-called case statement. Why? Because development writing has earned a bad rap as a ”feel-good” document designed to tug at emotional loyalties rather than also sell a product.

That soft style is not going to cut it any longer, as economic discipline has forced more rigor in fundraising. Increasingly donors want to hear about an organization’s strategic plan, its technology infrastructure and the other administrative pillars as proof that the institution is going to operate like a business and manage and invest philanthropic dollars smartly and strategically.

Today’s fundraising case for support must develop the business case for investment. I thought Sally Patterson nailed it well last fall in “Creating a Case for Sustainability” in Advancing Philanthropy. She wrote that the case statement must convey that an organization has all the essential elements to survive — and that it has taken steps to ensure its long-term viability.

Donors have competing demands for their time and their money. They are often loyal to many organizations. They are bombarded with social media, email, get-to-know-you breakfasts and high-level dinners. Their time is valuable and they don’t have a lot of it. These donors have many options today, and they need to be sold. Case statements must anticipate the arguments that fundraisers must have when they are meeting face-to-face with prospects. Such documents are useless if they are merely internal wishlists or descriptions of what you do. Nonprofit consultant Tom Ahern made that “case” this week at the annual Association of Fundraising Professionals conference.

Fundraising is one of the most visible marketing tools an institution has — and the case for support must provide the persuasive roadmap. The best case statements are market-focused — credible and logical, realistically assessing current challenges and providing an aspirational vision of future possibilities. They give donors the information they need and they speak to the values they hold.

Too many case statements simply don’t make the case in this competitive fundraising environment – and waste time, money and, ultimately, opportunity. 

Vision, implementation and change — these are the themes of a nonprofit’s case for support in a post-recession economy. So let’s not be timid about talking business. Donors who truly want to make a difference expect nothing less.

Mobile technologies are the next-wave tool to create supporter-centric nonprofit organizations — from text messaging across generations from AARP members to youth and the solid 40 percent of US adults who use the mobile Internet. In 30 countries, there are as many mobile phones in use as people — and one-seventh of the world’s population will have a “smart phone” by 2012. So what’s in all this for nonprofits? Plenty, reported a panel moderated by mobile technology pioneer Benjamin Rigby at Fundraising Day 2009 sponsored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Golden Gate Chapter on May 5.

Rigby’s latest venture, The Extraordinaries, delivers on-demand micro-volunteer opportunities to mobile phones.

The Mobile Giving Foundation certifies 501c3 organizations to conduct fundraising via text messaging in $5 and $10 increments. The American Cancer Society (ACS) recently piloted this tool by using announcements at basketball games to encourage audiences to “text to give” for its annual “Relay for Life” fundraiser. Lessons learned? According to Miles Orkin, national director of E-Revenue and Mobile Innovation for the ACS, it’s important integrate mobile giving options with existing campaigns using print and new media.

Cell phone giving in other countries is more active than in the US, so US nonprofits can now help constituents get comfortable with the medium. Mobile phone lists have to be built according to opt-in and non-spam standards just as email lists have been for online fundraising in recent years. The Obama campaign, of course, is the poster child for effectively harnessing mobile technology. According to the panelists, among the ways the campaign collected cell phone numbers was to invite supporters to send in their cell phone numbers to be notified by text message as soon as the Vice Presidential choice was announced. The campaign continued the dialogue through other opt-in messages, then incorporated these numbers into a customer relationship management database. 

There are many ways to build lists, said Matt Wilson, director of partnerships at Mobile Commons, one of the new crop of vendors for mobile advocacy and fundraising. For example, asking people to opt-in via Facebook and other social network sites. Because mobile giving technology is still fairly “byzantine,” however, a vendor can save an organization time and money in the long run, Wilson noted. The Mobile Marketing Association provides standards and best practices.

Leading staff, volunteers and donors through uncharted recession waters requires both new ideas and the tried and true. Here are “10 Mottoes” for campaigns in these challenging times from panelists at the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Golden Gate Chapter Fundraising Day 2009 on May 4:

1. Affirm the mission — focus the case for support on service to the community.
2. Focus on best friends — keep in touch frequently and let them know how you are responding to the economic climate.
3. Involve donors — don’t stop asking for advice, gifts or connections to others.
4. Communicate the impact of gifts — report impact and momentum.
5. Ask donors to make your oranization a priority — ensure that your organization stays on their list and encourage their current giving levels.
6. Be candid about how your organization is conserving resources — talk positively about adjustments you’re making and eliminate less-productive activities.
7. Be flexible about how donors can give — provide options.
8. Focus volunteers and staff on what you organization CAN DO — cultivate, steward, identify new donors, raise visibility and engage volunteers in outreach.
9. Emphasize the lifetime value of donors — build and maintain relationships for the future.
10. Plan and adjust — be strategic, adjust campaign ending dates if necessary, scale priorities, possibly defer building projects — and stay the course for the long term.

Thanks to the insights of Julie Seewald Bornhoeft, Director of Development and Community Relations, WEAVE of Sacramento, CA; Lori Fogarty, Executive Director, Oakland Museum of California; Charles W. Sizemore, philanthropy consultant, of Palo Alto, CA; and Sandy Drew, Senior Consultant, Marts & Lundy Inc.

According to Sizemore, nonprofits that will best weather the economic downturn will also:

• Invest in keeping their advancement programs whole.
• Be proactive in meeting with current and prospective donors.
• Focus on donor retention in their annual funds.
• Show understanding of donors’ financial circumstances.

And they will help board members to understand the importance of their advocacy by:

• Increasing their annual gifts
• Being active in demonstrating organizational need
• Voting against decreasing the development office budget
• Teaming with leadership (president, executive director, head) and development staff to make calls on prospective donors.

Planned giving in this volatile economy has new-found potential for longer-term institutional investment and growth in nonprofit organizations strapped for cash in the short term. You can find the details and data in this metrics-based analysis, which I wrote with the planned giving specialists at Marts & Lundy, a leading philanthropic consulting firm.  Use the free login-in to access the indepth report, “Making the Sense of Planned Giving Metrics: Advancing the Dialogue About What Really Counts.”

The first comprehensive study of 33 donor management systems was released today by the annual Nonprofit Technology Conference – with comparative ratings for the top 10, detailed analysis of the top 12 and useful summaries of the rest. “Low-cost” means under $4,250 for the first year.

Funded by the Nonprofit Technology Network (NTEN), the two-part report is just the research that nonprofits desperately need, especially in this economy, to sort through and compare features of multiple software and web-hosted customer relationship management (CRM) options for fundraising management, including tools to streamline events, online giving and volunteers. Be sure to download both parts. The report gives recommendations about how to choose depending on an organization’s specific needs.

The CRM fundamentals and scenarios offered in the report — and some of the products — can also be used by small businesses building their brands and customers.

The NTEN study with the nonprofit Idealware first found out what nonprofits are looking for and then connected with the technology firms to get insider information that the typical customer can’t find so easily or thoroughly in a web search. Increasingly, they found that nonprofits are opting for hosted systems so that they don’t have to buy, install and manage software systems on their own servers. You can hear an interview with the executive director of Idealware on the Chronicle of Philanthropy conference notebook.

Although the NTEN conference in San Francisco sold out early, you can follow it live through Tuesday.

Despite the recession, there is some optimism for fundraising in 2009, but the road is rocky and clearly uneven. The Association of Fundraising Professional’s annual conference this week brings this news:

• Ony 46 percent of fundraisers raised more in 2008 than in 2007, a new low in the eight years of the annual AFP survey.
• Another AFP study found 60 percent of members expect fundraising income to stay the same or increase in 2009. Be “prudent, being realistic, and focusing on the fundamentals that got you here,” AFP President Paulette Maehara told the conference in New Orleans.
• Nonprofits should focus on the mission rather than the financials, ask donors to give now and focus on what their money will achieve, several veteran consultants said. Cutting programs across the board will head to failure, not success, while using part-time or contract talent can keep opportunities from losing traction, they added.

In another recent report, charitable contributions to colleges and universities grew by 6.2 percent in 2008, reaching $31.60 billion, delivering mixed results, according to the Council for Aid to Education.

While that’s the highest raised in one year and above the average 5.7 annual increase over the past decade, if the top 20 institutions were taken out of the data, giving declined by 4.2 percent. CAE’s annual Voluntary Support of Education survey says that data for fiscal year ending June 30, 2009 will give clues to the longer-term effects of the recession.

Sharply declining endowments are compounding the problems. Typically endowments have been a cushion for lean years, but in today’s environment, “endowments are not able to play as protective a role.”

This report offers gloomier predictions for 2009 than the AFP study. “Even at institutions that reported healthy gains in fiscal 2008, advancement professionals told us they had ‘hit a wall’ in January 2009 and that the decline was substantial,” said Ann E. Kaplan, director of the survey. “Both the number and value of contributions dropped early in the calendar year.” And the outlook for fiscal 2010 could be worse, the CAE report cautions.

Fundraisers by nature are optimistic, and data analyzed since the Depression show that these cycles do end. The best short-term course is to keep an “eyes forward” focus and stick to the tried-and-true fundraising fundamentals.

Here’s what the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the largest association of its kind in the world, advises:

• Keep cool, don’t panic, lead by example and believe in success.
• Be candid.
• Stay positive.
• Remember your mission.
• Act — put equal weight on planning and doing.
• Don’t stop asking for money. After September 11, 2001, many organizations stopped or postponed fundraising and discovered later that decision was a missed opportunity. Surveys show that people still give in hard times, sometimes even more.

Here’s what the AFP, the largest association of its kind in the world, advises fundraising marketers:

• Retain and cultivate current donors as the top priority.
• Continue awareness activities.
• Don’t cut marketing and advertising. Keep it steady and consider increasing it.
• Protect your brand reputation.
• Segment, segment and segment — personalize appeals in a cost-efficient manner.

For more tips, see my whitepaper, “Communicating Value during the Economic Downturn.”