Community fundraising across the Pond
Howard Lake | 22 October 2006 | News
US fundraiser Terry Axelrod is hoping to bring her model of community fundraising to middle and high value donors across to Europe and the UK in the not too distant future.
Axelrod, who heads up Benevon (formerly known as ‘Raising More Money) in Seattle, has spent 14 years building the model which has so far helped to raise millions of dollars in the States for a number of charities from poor inner-city schools to large children’s charities.
In a session at the International Fundraising Congress, Axelrod emphasised the importance of completing the whole cycle of the model otherwise it won’t work. The idea in a nutshell is to introduce prospective donors to your organisation with a ‘Point of Entry’ – maybe a tour around a school or a hospital, which Axelrod stressed must be fantastic rather than just OK or mediocre, then follow-up the contact with a personal phone call. Only when you are sure the prospect is ready should you ask them for money.
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At the end of the cycle comes more contact, inviting donors to introduce others to the organisation.
The model is taught through a two-day workshop, the cost of which also includes coaching for a year and a tailor-made model for your organisation. Axelrod said she no longer trains just one person from an organisation as it tended to fall down when that one person left and no-one understood the process and the thinking behind it. She now recommends that seven people from each organisation attend the training.
The company is hoping to work with an organisation in the Netherlands at the beginning of 2007, but has yet to bring the model to the UK.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.