Earlier this year I developed a 2 part presentation and co-presented with a colleague on #1 how to prepare a disaster fundraising plan and #2 how to implement the plan and then convert donors. This is an edited version of part one, the original contained some information very specific to our Luminate clients. This topic is very near and dear to me because of my years of service with the American Red Cross.

1. 10/9/2013 Blackbaud Confidential 1
EMER GEN C Y D ISA STER
RESPONSE
Preparing a Fundraising Plan
January 23, 2013

2. 10/9/2013 Blackbaud Confidential 2
YOUR WEBINAR TEAM
Danielle Johnson Vermenton
Senior Interactive Consultant
Go! powered by Luminate Online
Kent Gilliam
Luminate Community Manager

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• To keep noise down we will mute all phones
• Please chat your questions in, Kent will monitor
and respond
• After the webinar the slides and recording will be
posted in the Community for downloading, you will
also receive a follow up email
• There will be a thread in the Community where
you can post questions
• Thanks and enjoy!
HOUSEKEEPING

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DAY ONE
• Creating a disaster fundraising plan
• Communications
• Fundraising appeals
• Acknowledgements
• Inkind Policy
• Events
AGENDA
DAY TWO
• Implementation
• Disaster strikes – now what?
• Donor Conversion
• Can you convert disaster only
donors into annual donors?
• Examples
• What’s in the kit?
• A walk through of the tools

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Organizations that respond to and provide relief
after disasters already have a plan…
But what do you do if disaster strikes and your
organization is thrown into the relief efforts?
What if your services and mission are
impacted? (and you’re the one that needs relief!)

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The Process
• Meet with staff to discuss and draft the plan
• Get buy-in from management
• Once it is approved, don’t keep it a secret!
• Disseminate it to staff
• Keep copies handy for reference
• Update it periodically
WHAT’S IN A PLAN?
The Goal: to create a disaster fundraising & communications plan
The Benefit: an informed team that knows the steps to implement once a
disaster strikes

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Donors &
Constituents
Board of
Directors
Media
Public Relations Social &
Website

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Donors & Constituents
• Utilize email for quick & timely
communication
• Already have a monthly enews?
Use it to report on the impact of the
disaster
• Was an appeal scheduled? Delay it
and evaluate when it will be
appropriate to launch it
PRE FLIGHT CHECK LIST
Who is responsible for creating &
sending the communications?
Who needs to approve the email
before it goes out?
Are there groups to target or
suppress?
Discuss & decide BEFORE
disaster strikes. Write it down.

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• Inserts into thank you letters
• Use a vendor to send an emergency direct mail appeal – do the research
now if you don’t have one
• Do an appeal in house, decide now who your target list will be, write it
down in the plan
• Is there a newsletter or annual report coming out soon? Include an appeal
for donations
PRINT COMMUNICATIONS

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• Did the disaster affect the services you provide?
• What is the impact to your clients?
• How will you get back online?
• Is your organization mobilized to provide relief efforts?
• If this isn’t part of your mission, why did you make the decision to get involved?
• What are you doing? Include stats
• How can people help?
• Volunteers? Inkind? Money?
• Stories of hope
• Be on the lookout for inspirational and moving stories from the field
• Take pictures when appropriate
THINGS TO TELL YOUR CONSTITUENTS

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• GCCC offices were impacted by the
storm
• About to run their largest food drive
and corporations they counted on
were also impacted by the storm
• Regularly scheduled eNews was sent
out with an opening article about the
storm and their concerns about the
food drive and why “now more than
ever” they needed support
EXAMPLE OF DONOR
COMMUNICATION

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What do they need to know?
o regular updates from CEO and other key staff (consolidate into 1 report)
o impact to services, facilities, staff & fundraising
o fundraising disaster plan
o media inquiries
o what do you need from them?
BOARD OF DIRECTORS

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• Identify the media’s POC within your organization
• Make sure staff know who to refer questions to and if they are
allowed to respond to media inquiries (the answer should be no)
• Have a boiler plate press release ready
• Be prepared with statistics about the impact to your organization
and/or relief efforts (ie: # of meals served, animals rescued, etc)
• What will you do if the media shows up at your door?
MEDIA & PR

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If your organization is directly impacted OR you’re
providing services, be prepared if a radio or television
station calls and wants to hold a telethon.
Do you want to participate?
Is there someone who can
manage the event?
Are there volunteer resources?
What are the pros and cons
of participating?
If you do it, be sure to update the
website with info about the event
WERE YOU DIRECTLY IMPACTED?

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SOCIAL MEDIA – KEEP THE CONVERSATION GOING
• Post updates on your social media assets – include
pictures!
• Engage your fans/friends/followers with information,
questions and opportunities to help – ask them to take
action
• Provide a timeline photo for your fans to use on their
page
• Identify someone to manage the updates and
RESPOND when people comment or send messages
(would you ignore an email?)

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SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMPLE

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WHO HAS THE PASSWORD?
Your website is the key to
the outside world, make
sure you know who to call
to get it updated
Talk to your vendor to find
out what their back up
plan is if they are impacted
Use Luminate Online to
make life easier!
Storybuilder
Surveys
Donation form
Pagebuilder

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WEBSITE EXAMPLE
What I liked:
Organization used their
website to offer greater
detail on relief efforts
Broke it down into bullets
and used headlines to
label sections based on
geographic relief efforts
Lists how to give at the
end and includes HOW to
designate gifts

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ANOTHER WEBSITE EXAMPLE What I liked:
Clearly defined sections
of information
Used a lot of white space
to make it easier to read
& scan
Liked the red links, made
it even easier to scan
Had a robust section on
How To Help and
Resources

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• Be sure to communicate with staff
• Create media talking points for the CEO
• Have a meeting to go over the Disaster Fundraising Plan (with all staff, even part
timers and key volunteers)
• Create a memo with all pertinent information and distribute to staff once disaster
strikes
DID WE FORGET ANYONE?

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Creating a disaster fundraising plan
• Communications
• Fundraising appeals
• Acknowledgements
• Inkind Policy
• Events
AGENDA

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Send a 3 part email appeal
• How did the storm impact the organization’s ability to provide services?
• Are you providing relief? Provide stats – show impact
• Pictures tell a story
• Keep your story donor centered and relatable. Helping 5,000 people is
very different than a story about helping 1 family – tell a story someone
can connect with
• Be clear in your appeal about how funds will be used
• Direct assistance?
• Supplies for relief efforts?
• Operational support to help the organization recover from the disaster?
MAKING YOUR CASE
An emergency appeal should
go out within 2 days of a
disaster, immediacy is vital

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What should go in your plan?
• Who is responsible for writing the messages
• Who will create the emails
• Who needs to approve the emails
• What groups should be suppressed
• Who is the message from (email and signature)
What about a donation form?
• Like any campaign, you should create a dedicated donation form
• Pay close attention to the information that goes at the top of the form
• Don’t enable sustained giving
• Update the autoresponders to be disaster specific
PREP WORK

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Creating a disaster fundraising plan
• Communications
• Fundraising appeals
• Acknowledgements
• Inkind Policy
• Events
AGENDA

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USE THE RIGHT LANGUAGE
We know that donations should be acknowledged, but never
more so then donations that might be for disaster relief efforts
• Before disaster strikes talk to the person or person(s) that will process
the acknowledgement letters
• What language should be used in the TY letters
• How will you identify disaster only donations and general operating
• Phone calls? In the letter itself?
• Talk to Finance /Accounting – what information do they need?
• Create a template for the disaster TY letter
No matter how hectic and busy things
get, try to get the TY letters out the door
within 5-7 business days.

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Creating a disaster fundraising plan
• Communications
• Fundraising appeals
• Acknowledgements
• Inkind Policy
• Events
AGENDA

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If you’re responding to the disaster or impacted you should have
an Inkind Acceptance Policy
o Create a page on your website with information on what you need
and items you won’t accept
o Include a POC, link to the disaster donation form and any other
pertinent pages
o Let staff know, especially the receptionist so they can refer people
o Post the link to your home page and in disaster appeals or
communications you send out
o Have a form for staff to use when
accepting the donations
AVERT YOUR OWN DISASTER
Tip: create a URL
shortcut to make it
print friendly

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Creating a disaster fundraising plan
• Communications
• Fundraising appeals
• Acknowledgements
• Inkind Policy
• Events
AGENDA

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• During disasters it is common for businesses,
civic and church groups, schools and
individuals to hold events to benefit
organizations.
• Be prepared by using a survey tool to collect
inquiries from people that want to fundraise for
you
• Collect the information you need, evaluate
proposals fairly and build your housefile
3RD PARTY EVENTS

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• Examples of questions to ask people and organizations interested in
hosting 3rd party events
• The basics - who, what, when, where, contact number and email
• What is the projected income
• How will the event be promoted
• Are the organizers planning to solicit for sponsors? If so who?
• Expected turnout?
• Purpose of the event?
• Put it in writing – have a one page agreement
• To protect your organization and be clear with the event organizer put together a
one page agreement
• Include things like – date and location of the event, organizer’s name and contact
information, that the organizer agrees to pay all costs and that funds will be
distributed to the organization within 30 days of the event
WHAT SHOULD YOU ASK FOR?

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DAY ONE
• Creating a disaster fundraising plan
• Communications
• Fundraising appeals
• Acknowledgements
• Inkind Policy
• Events
AGENDA
DAY TWO
• Implementation
• Disaster strikes – now what?
• Donor Conversion
• Can you convert disaster only
donors into annual donors?
• Examples
• What’s in the kit?
• A walk through of the tools