Expanding Your Network Identifying, Cultivating, and Recruiting CoChairs

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Expanding Your Network Identifying,
Cultivating, and Recruiting Co-Chairs
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A.K.A.

• Six Degrees to Bringing
• Home the Bacon

Activity
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Identifying, Cultivating, and Recruiting
Co-Chairs

• Review What is a Co-Chair?
• Why People Get Involved
• Identify Co-Chair Prospects
• Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects
• Recruit Co-Chairs

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Review What is a Co-Chair?

• A co-chair takes personal responsibility for
• raising a specific portion of your fundraising
  goal.
• A co-chairs goal must be attainable and the
  co-chair must actually commit to a specific
  number.
• At a minimum, a co-chair must agree to
• Identify prospective targets and provide contact
  information
• Determine ask amounts for targets
• Approve ask letters
• Make personal follow up calls to all of his/her
  prospects

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Why People Get Involved
With limited time and money, what motivates
someone to be a co-chair?
Activity
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Why People Get Involved

• L.I.A.
• Linkage S/he knows someone involved in
  your organization
• Interest S/he believes in the mission
• Ability S/he can
• L.I.A. is the key to success. You must always
  remember that WHY someone gets involved
  influences HOW WELL they do their job.

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Identify Co-Chair Prospects

• Four Types of Co-Chair Prospects
• Current Stakeholders Board Members/staff we
• 2. Others currently involved donors,
  volunteers, clients/clients families
• People who your organization knows, but who are
  not currently involved friends, spouses,
  vendors, colleagues
• 4. People who you do not know and who are not
  currently involved politicians, celebrities,
  business leaders
• (pros/cons)

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Identify Co-Chair Prospects
Others
Who They Know
Who We Know
Board/ Staff
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Identify Co-Chair Prospects

• When considering a prospect, ask yourself the
  following questions
• Is this person committed to my organization?
• Can this person sell our mission?
• Does this person have the time to commit to
  fundraising for the event?
• What is the extent of this persons network? Does
  s/he have a network of people with financial
  resources? Is this person well connected to
  financial resources?
• At what level is this person capable of
  fundraising?
• Will this person feel compelled to reach his/her
  goal once set?

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Identify Co-Chair Prospects

• L.I.A.Three Criteria to Evaluate Your Prospects
• Linkage how closely is the prospect connected to
  you or your organization?
• Interest is the prospect interested in the work
  your organization does?
• Ability can the prospect give, get, or arrange
  the amount you need him/her to?

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Identify Co-Chair Prospects

• Prospects must have at least two of the three
  Linkage, Interest, and Ability.
• You cant change Ability (although you can help
  them explore it), but you can build Linkage and
  Interest through CULTIVATION!

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• Cultivating Building L.I.A.

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• If you have Linkage and Ability . . .
  Build Interest
• Interest in an organization comes from three main
  areas
• Mission the prospect is genuinely interested in
  your cause
• Relationships The prospect is interested in
  furthering relationships with the people involved
  in your organization
• Benefits The prospect sees other benefits to
  him/herself such as visibility for his/her
  business, social connections, etc.
• Determine what interests/motivates your
  prospect and use it to your advantage.

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• Tips for Building Interest
• Interest in Mission Invite the prospect for a
  site visit or to a cultivation event (cocktail
  party, etc)
• Interest in furthering relationships Invite
  prospect to an event/activity/gathering when the
  people they are interested in meeting will be
  present
• Interest in other types of benefits Have the
  person with the link arrange a meeting with the
  prospect and other key CBO stakeholders to see if
  the prospect might be interested in getting
  involved HAVE A SPECIFIC PITCH IN MIND THAT
  FOCUSES ON BENEFITS OF INTEREST TO PROSPECT

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• If you have Interest and Ability . . .
• Build Linkage
• Building on a current relationship is much
  easier than creating a brand new relationship,
  however, it can be done.
• Research prospects background, job, hobbies, etc
• Examine your networks for a possible link
  (sometimes you have to first build linkage with
  an intermediary)
• Do you know someone who works with prospect?
  Someone who is a member of his/her country club?
  Someone who lives in his/her neighborhood or goes
  to his/her church?
• If you cant find any connection to your
  prospect, but you KNOW they have INTEREST and
  ABILITY, THEY ARE PROBABLY NOT A PROSPECT FOR
  THIS YEAR.

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• Tips for Building Linkage
• Attend an event, meeting, etc which you know the
  prospect will attend
• Recruit a board member, co-chair, etc who knows
  the prospect
• Write a VERY compelling letter describing why the
  prospect should take interest in YOUR
  organization (as opposed to another similar
  organization)

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects
If you have Linkage and Interest . . .
Explore Ability You cant create ability, but
you can help prospects realize ability. Most
people you approach are capable of fundraising at
some level help your prospect realize his/her
potential! REMINDER If the prospect does not
have ability, dont get your hopes up.
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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• How do you know if someone is an honoree, a
  co-chair or just a donor?
• Influence vs. Affluence

Influence
Honoree
Co-Chair
Donor
Affluence
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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• How do you know if someone is an honoree, a
• co-chair or just a donor?
• Name recognition in the community Honoree
• Linkage with someone on your board/staff, but
  averse to fundraising Donor
• Great ability but NO time Donor or Honoree
• Past supporter who likes basketball Co-Chair
• Long-standing supporter Co-Chair
• Great connections owes someone in your CBO a
• favor Co-Chair

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• How do you know if someone is a co-chair or board
  prospect?

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• Cultivation Strategy
• After the Identification Process is complete, you
  must plan your strategy for cultivation.
• STEP ONE
• Put your prospects into categories (honoree,
  chair, donors, etc)

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Recruit Co-Chair Prospects

• Cultivation Strategy
• STEP TWO
• Determine GGA amount
• Rule of 5 Each person can usually fundraise 5
  times what they are able to give personally
• Do your research what has s/he given to other
  organizations?
• Ask the person with the closest relationship
  what they think is an appropriate amount
• If youre really not sure, guess high. People
  are flattered to be asked for more than they can
  give

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects

• Cultivation Strategy
• STEP THREE
• DRAFT A LEADERSHIP CHART!!!

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Cultivating Co-Chair Prospects

• Cultivation Strategy
• STEP FOUR
• Determine how you will appeal to each prospect
• Think carefully about what will motivate your
  prospect to say yes. Each prospect may be
  interested for a different reason
• What your CBO does for kids
• What you can do for them (networking,
  publicity, etc)
• Importance of a key relationship
• Event benefits, etc.

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Cultivating Co-Chair Prospects

• Cultivation Strategy
• STEP FIVE
• Determine who will ask each prospect
• Ask Yourself
• Who are they least likely to say no to?
• Who has leverage and pull?
• Who do they owe a favor?
• Do you need to double team them? If so, who
  should be involved?
• Do they need to be asked by someone who is going
  to be filling the same role (i.e., recruit one
  chair and have that person ask)

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Cultivating Co-Chair Prospects

• Cultivation Strategy
• STEP SIX
• Determine the order in which you will approach
  prospects
• Get the obvious yeses first (board members,
  last year co-chairs, etc) start filling in your
  leadership chart!
• Figure out if co-chair As participation will
  depend upon co-chair Bs - if so, get B
  committed first so that A doesnt say no.
• Dont do the biggest one first or last this
  ask will be most effective if you show that you
  already have some commitment and you dont need
  him/her to save the CBO, but you dont want to
  wait too long to get this person started!
• Save people with the least linkage for last.

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Cultivate Co-Chair Prospects
Fundraising Process
5
90
2
3
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Recruit Co-Chairs

• Once your strategy is in place, it is time to ask
  your co-chair prospects!

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Cultivating Co-Chair Prospects
Peer to Peer Network the Key to a Successful Ask
Make sure the asker is a peer or superior of the
prospect and someone the prospect would rather
not say no to.
WHO IS A PEER? Peers can share

• Social circle
• Neighborhood
• Careers

• Childrens schools/clubs
• Educational background/ Alma Mater

• Double teaming can be an effective strategy
  because
• The asker is backed up by a staff member
• The staff gets to know the prospect

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Recruit Co-Chairs

• Where and When do I Ask?
• The Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner Rule
• (RememberIts always your treat if you invite
• and always make it convenient for the prospect)
• Recruit over breakfast This is best for the busy
  career person. Call his/her assistant for a
  BRIEF meeting. Know exactly what you are going
  to say and ask forbe prepared.
• Recruit over lunch Youve met already and want
  to get to know him/her better.
• Recruit over dinner This is the best done when
  accompanied by a current board member/contact who
  knows the prospect. Best for the get-to-know
  prospect meeting.
• At His/Her office Best betconvenient for
  him/her, and allows for being short, sweet and to
  the point.
• At your office Best for a follow-up after
  asking, kick-the-tires meetings.

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Recruit Co-Chairs

• What Do I Say?
• Structure of The Ask for Phone Call or Meeting
• Opening
• Probe
• Close
• Pledge

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Recruit Co-Chairs

• Opening

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Recruit Co-Chairs
Probe

• Purpose to share program highlights, event
  details, benefits to the prospect.
• Delivery ENGAGE the prospect, ask them what
  they know, let them ask questions, voice
  objections, etc.

Try to LIMIT presenting and INCREASE conversation!
You have two eyes, two ears and one mouth...
Use them proportionally!!!
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Recruit Co-Chairs
Close
You MUST GIVE AN AMOUNT!
We hope you will consider joining us as a
co-chair. Along with this respected volunteer
position comes the request that you help to give,
get or arrange ______ by ___________(time).
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Recruit Co-Chairs

• SOMETIMES LESS IS MORE!
• ONCE YOU HAVE CLOSED
• Sit back and stop talking.
• Do not speak until they respond.
• Let them ponder. If you talk, you will weaken
  your case.
• Listen.

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Recruit Co-Chairs

• Openly discuss expectations duties/responsibilit
  ies
• Explain your rationale about why youre asking
  him/her to co-chair
• Be frank about fundraising expectations up front
• Dont do all the talking
• After you ask for him/her to join your efforts,
  sit back and wait to hear the answer
• If yes, ask when they can begin getting involved
• Invite questions, elicit their interest
• If no, ask if he/she might consider another form
  of involvement (donor, etc)

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Recruit Co-Chairs

• Youve only just begun . . .
• Send follow-up/confirmation email/letter
• Strategize and brainstorm work closely with your
  co-chair to examine his/her networks and figure
  out the best way to achieve his/her goal
• Clearly outline the co-chairs roles and
  responsibilities and determine how you can assist
  in the process
• Make sure s/he knows when the next important
  meeting or milestone is
• Give him/her your contact information and
  determine the best way to communicate with
  him/her (email, secretary, etc)
• Keep him/her informed, involved, acknowledged,
  and recognized