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Need a list to keep track of all your lists?

Every fundraiser shares at least two obsessions: $0 Balances on Pledges and LISTS. We keep them in notebooks, on notepads, in binders, in journals, on Post-Its, on napkins, and, if you’re anything like us, in online to do list applications that you quickly lose the password for unless you add it to your list of passwords.

It’s at that point that you realize you need a list to keep track of your lists.

Being OVER-listed is not only OVER-whelming, but when it comes to donors, redundant and therefore risky. Your major donors are bound to wind up on the same lists — $10,000+ donors on the $5,000+ donors list, $5,000+ donors on the $1,000+ donor list, and all of the above on the supporters list. And your major targets are bound to wind up on the same lists as well — board members on the country club list, country club members on the golf club list, and so on.

Overwhelmed yet? Keep in mind you know the names of each donor and target. Your client or candidate flying through calls may not. The result: Repeat calls, voicemails, and awkward conversations.

So how do you save yourself the embarrassment of calling someone twice or not recalling the details of the last conversation on a previous topic?

First, consolidate your lists. If any detail could be considered a “sub-topic” to the main topic that is the name of the list, make a note of it IN the list itself. Leave it there. When you want to find for that “sub-group,” search for it. Simple.

Second, if details have nothing to do with a list or even a “sub-topic” of a list, don’t add them to it. Not everything needs to be in a list, we promise you. Simply create a note. Like a Post-It on a donor record for quick reference. Leave IT there. When you want to recall it, search for it. Again, simple.

Get out from underneath your donor, prospect, interest, preference, and ever popular to do lists. Call us today.

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Count Your Money, Not Sheep

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there and worrying. It’s the worry that gets you, not the loss of sleep.

— Dale Carnegie


Any good fundraiser will tell you that he or she has shot up in bed with a donor or donors in mind to call. There are donors to ask for first contributions, to ask to double-down, to remind to send a check, to thank for the check, to wish a happy anniversary, or just to check in. There is breaking news to share before it makes the news, there are anecdotes that would be appreciated, and there are plenty of laughs to be had to foster client-donor relationships. There are messages to relay, voicemails to leave, and — as every good fundraiser hopes — conversations to be had!

So how do you keep it all straight?

It is fairly common to break calls into two categories: pending and complete.

But in the interest of a good night’s sleep, we take the process one step further. With the same idea behind a notebook on your nightstand — to empty your mind of tasks and other thoughts better considered after the sun rises — we take the calls out of your mind and put them into a kind of holding space.

Every time a call pops into your mind, create it. Whether you date it for the future or not, just create it. Type “The Ask” and the rest is done! All contact information will pull in the preferred order and the donor photo, bio, and donation history will follow suit. Your logo will shine at the top and your contact information will sit confidently at the bottom. Every time.

Then use one click — literally, one click — to move each call from pending to current to complete but in need of follow up to follow up complete. Even move them back again.

Share calls with other users and assign follow up to other users. Lighten your own workload.

Keep track of your and your clients’ calls, share your knowledge of details with others who can help you raise more and make more, free up your mind for more creative strategy, and for sleep’s sake!, never, ever copy and paste a call sheet together again!

Call us today. We’re here to help.

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Make new friends, but keep the old. In fundraising, both are gold.

Looking for new donors? What fundraiser isn’t?!

Turns out, your current donors might be the key to your future donors. For more reasons than you might realize.

Of course, you know to ask your major donors to recruit their colleagues and friends to join them at events and make donations in their name. But have you thought to ask the less obvious donors to do the same? If a donor of yours recruits even one person to join him or her at an event, make note of it. Then, when the next event is on the horizon, run a search for anyone who has ever brought a guest to an event and ask them to do the same again — this time with a donation.

To go one step further, if a donor of yours brings in even one donation, send him or her a report to show their progress. If they haven’t set a goal to raise yet, leave that part blank. Seeing their progress in front of them, particularly in a clean, professional manner that shows that you want them to look good, may make them want to up the ante!

Lastly, use all of the knowledge you learn about your donors to maintain long-term relationships with them to help you find new donors. Collect information like the following to help you identify who’s giving and who might give in the future:

• Where do your current donors live?

• What do they do?

• What are their hobbies, their interests, their preferences?

• How were you introduced to them?

• Do they sit on boards with one another?

• Do they run in social circles or belong to clubs you should familiarize yourself with and even keep track of the membership directory for?

From there, you may ask for introductions, to attend events at various venues with donors, even offer to contact friends of donors on their behalf directly from lists they may offer to share with you.

Donors are behind you for a reason — they want to help your efforts. If you make note of the details, draw the connections, and offer the documents and reports that make phone calls, emails, and letters simple, even a pleasure to do, donors will do it.

Who has the time?

Everything mentioned above takes less than five minutes in iDONATEpro.

Let us help you. That’s what we’re here for. Call us today.

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Category: What's New

Your Personal Brand

Spring has sprung! Proposals are out, contracts are in the works, and clients are starting to build and grow their support bases.

Much like you might think about storing, cleaning, and generally lightening up your closet, house, and office, you might think about freshening up your personal brand.

With as many fundraisers as there are out there, you need a clear point of differentiation – something that makes your work professional, distinctive, and effective – to succees in securing a solid clients base. And with as many worthwhile candidates, campaigns, and causes as there are out there, you need the information and materials to enable your clients to make the best first impression on donors as possible.

This becomes even more of a challenge when your clients are on the road and you can’t be with them while they make phone calls and take meetings. It becomes your responsibility to ensure that your call sheets, call lists, briefing papers, and reports not only include all of the most accurate information, but also represent your unique style.

At iDONATEpro, we offer comprehensive templates that pull from the latest, most accurate contact information every time. As long as you keep contact information up-to-date on the contact page, we keep it up-to-date everywhere else.

We also include your name and contact information on every template. Should questions arise while you’re not around, your client will know how to get a hold of you right away.

And, something that all too often goes overlooked by fundraisers, we include your company logo. Why a company logo, especially if you’re a company of one? Your logo is your chance to be you – to show who you are and the kind of work you create. It doesn’t have to be cutting edge or avant-garde, it just needs to be different, distinct, unparalleled.

Without exceptional documents, reports, and a point of distinction, you won’t get far in any competitive industry. Think about what sets you apart and give us a call to let us help you put it out there!

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Mitt Romney Raises, But Real Winners Are States

Republican fundraising efforts continue to grab media attention. All the Republican Presidential hopefuls have been garnering a decent amount of time in the spotlight. In a field with no clear front runner, and only Tim Pawlenty with his hat officially in the ring, potential candidate Mitt Romney has been campaigning particularly hard.

Accoring to the Wall Street Journal, Mitt Romney has started a 15 city tour to meet with potential bundlers. In a similar move to Obama, Romney is giving a goal to his bundlers. Attendees at Romney’s event in New York City this past Thursday are reportedly “being asked to raise between $25,000 and $50,000 for Mr. Romney within 90 days”.

“Finance meetings are also scheduled for March 30 in Los Angeles, as well as in Detroit, Dallas, Houston and Atlanta, people familiar with plans said. Romney fund-raisers are set to converge on Las Vegas on May 16 for a final push ahead of the first financial filing deadline.”

Romney’s efforts seem to be working. The USA Today reported on Friday that Romney had the most success gaining support from donors who had given to the Bush and McCain campaigns.

“So far, the Republican early check writers favor former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Overall, 36 fundraisers who collected at least $50,000 for McCain’s presidential run had donated to Romney’s PAC through the end of 2010, campaign records show.”

However, the real winners are the State parties. Politico recently reported on how State Fundraisers headlined by GOP presidential hopefuls have been bringing inflows of cash into the State party coffers.

“in the states where it makes good political sense—the various presidential prospects have raised money for parties in nearly half the states since the start of the 2010 election cycle—the fundraising events have proven to be lucrative endeavors.”

Right now, campaigns are balancing targeting major donors behind their efforts in a way that is personal to them and prospecting for new major donors.

iDONATEpro offers Call Sheet, Call List, and Briefing Paper features that track past interactions, donations, bios, even photos for the most relevant communication possible.

iDONATEpro also provides simple ways to track and find for donation history and capacity, as well as relationships among donors, so as to show you the prospects at your fingertips that you may have lost at the bottom of a spreadsheet along the way!

To find out how, call us today!

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2012 Presidential Hopefuls Set Fundraising Goals

Presidential election 2012 fundraising was back in the news last week as both sides made additional moves. Republican Presidential hopefuls have begun courting their fundraising teams. Meanwhile, Obama’s team has set an ambitious goal for his finance committee.

Bloomberg is reporting that fundraisers from the last Bush campaign are being sought out by current GOP hopefuls. According to Bloomberg, “Former governors Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, and current Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, are among those enlisting veterans of President George W. Bush’s fundraising teams”.

The Obama camp is taking a more direct approach approach.

According to the New York Times, “the top contributors to President Obama’s re-election campaign were given an ambitious set of marching orders on Thursday, with an elite group of 450 donors each asked to raise $350,000 this year to help finance what is likely to be the most expensive political race in the nation’s history.”

“The amount is more than twice what top Democrats were asked to raise four years ago, several participants of the meeting said, and the donors could be given an even bigger goal next year.”

And with Tim Pawlenty officially announcing an exploratory committee, things are only heating up.

Tracking pledges and donations raised by finance committees as they work quickly towards their goals can be complicated and time consuming. That’s why iDONATEpro has tools in place to track individual progress as the pledges and donations roll in, without any additional work for you.

Want to see how it works? Just ask.

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San Diego Mayor’s race heating up

Here at iDONATEpro headquarters in San Diego, we admit we’re lucky enough to enjoy the sunshine and beautiful beaches you think of when you think of Southern California. Now we also get a front row seat for what is expected to be a crowded and exciting race for mayor, as incumbent Mayor Jerry Sanders is termed out.

The San Diego Union Tribune posted an overview of the current field last week when current District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis announced that she would run. Carl DeMaio, a current Councilman, already announced his candidacy.

The Union Tribune reported that “Other potential candidates for mayor include Councilman Kevin Faulconer, Rep. Bob Filner, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, businessman Steve Francis, former Councilman Scott Peters and former Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny,” as well as Sen. Christine Kehoe, who has told supporters that she plans to file.

While two candidates have officially declared their candidacy, their fundraising efforts will have to wait. As stated in the article, “Candidates cannot begin to raise money for the mayoral race until a year before the election, which is tentatively set for June 5, 2012.”

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2012 Fundraising Season: Officially Open Already?

The Associated Press recently published an article titled Out of spotlight, GOP hopefuls prepping for 2012. The article discusses steps that possible GOP Presidential candidates are making in anticipation of the 2012 race.  Newt Gingrich’s announcement of a website to explore a bid is declared ”the most high-profile move so far”, but the AP goes on to state that “Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour are quietly preparing for possible candidacies with visits to would-be donors, calls to potential supporters and interviews with future hires.”

Meanwhile, the LA Times is reporting that Obama is launching his 2012 fundraising.

According to the article, “President Obama spent the day in Florida, touting new investments in education and, this being Miami, headlining two Democratic fundraisers to pour $1 million more into the party purse.” The article goes on to state that ”With only 613 days left, Obama’s campaign has determined it needs $1 billion for his reelection drive, $255 million more than last time.” This prompted the writer, Andrew Malcolm, to declare the start of the 2012 fundraising season.

Here at iDONATEpro, we are also preparing for the elections by working hard to ensure that we have the most comprehensive, feature filled, and user friendly system in place to meet all your fundraising needs.

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Data Integration with Our Concierge Service

If you need help exporting your data from multiple CRM tools, would like to bring in extensive lists, events, and donations at the onset, or would like to preserve specific donation history, you may leave your data integration to us.

Data may be collected and de-duplicated from Excel spreadsheets or any other data source. Data integration may be scheduled three days in advance. We offer a clear outline of the time it takes to integrate data based on various criteria and operate on an hourly basis.

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