Board of European Students of Technology

A. Overview of Fundraising

1 What is Fundraising?

Before entering into further details, lets first have a look at some definitions for the word fundraising provided by the literature: Fundraising is the way of providing the means of existence for a NGO Fundraising is the process of soliciting and gathering contributions as money or other resources to organise your events *NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons with no participation or representation of any government. The very first thing that you need to remember at this stage is that fundraising is NOT begging. Fundraising is an activity in which both sides offer something that is valuable to the other and we can safely say that FR is similar to sales. Although the purpose is not profit, both sides get something from the deal, even the fundraiser! He gets to develop his skills, have fun and play a major role in sustaining and developing his organisation. Furthermore, FR is not about convincing companies, but rather convincing people. As a matter of fact, fundraising is a complex process, with logical steps and constitutive elements.

2 What does an FR responsible believe in ?

"Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success." The attitude is not enough. There must be a certain amount of time for learning and preparations in order for your FR to be successful. For a job fair in 2003 in BEST Bucharest, a total of 859 companies were contacted. You can imagine how much time and efforts this required from the FR team. Out of the 859 companies contacted, only 38 said yes. It was considered a big success.

Job Shop 2003, Bucharest

no 4% yes

96%

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Believe in what you sell" You have to be passionate about the event that you wish to be funded and your organisation. Passion is something that you can transfer from person to person, even if that person doesn't know about your event you might be able to convince him/her that your event is worth just because you believe in it and therefore you're able to present it well. Not believing in an event and trying to do FR is like moving to failure -> best option is not starting

"Don't lie" The relationships that you have to build with your funders will be aimed at being long lasting. And long lasting relationships will be built on trust and not on lies. If you're event doesn't offer a certain benefit or feature that a funder is interested in then admit it, be honest and you'll be praised by it!

"Failing to plan is planning to fail" Use your time wisely: we have deadlines; we are students and have other things to do besides the work of our NGOs. So keep in mind that you should plan how to use the available resources wisely. Every opportunity you have to present your event either in a call, or event, and especially a meeting is an opportunity to get a yes. So, don't waste it.

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand. While doing FR, every moment youll have will be an opportunity to learn (successful or not). Success will motivate your team and failure will let you analyse your mistakes so that they are avoided in the future. The only way you are going to improve your skills at FR is by doing FR.

3 Motivation for Fundraising

Where do fundraisers get their motivation? Why is it good to fundraise and what do we gain from it? Fundraising is: A way to learn When fundraising, you learn how to present yourself. By going to meetings with companies for instance, it is like you would go for job interviews. You also learn how to deal/approach with different kinds of people. Finally, you learn how to sell. Any job you will have will face you at some point with the necessity to sell an idea, a project to your colleagues, boss, etc

A way to get to know yourself better By having contacts with different people coming from different backgrounds, you will have to adapt fast to situations you are not used. Analyse how you behave and try to improve. A way to get a lot of opportunities Thanks to fundraising, you will get a lot of contacts that you can use for finding a job, an internship, etc later on.

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Fun You can fundraise things you would never imagine (visit to nuclear reactor plants, food, etc).

A challenge Fundraising is a challenge to test your limits - would you have ever thought that you are going to call a total stranger and ask for something? And doing that with the greatest confidence you have ever showed up, believing in yourself and your effort? Would you ever thought that you are going for a meeting with a 50 years old company boss and feel yourself totally equal, because you know you have something that he/she wants! Satisfaction Its the greatest feeling to get a "YES" from a company, knowing that YOU and your excellent skills are the reason why it's possible to organise another great event. Anyone can do FR Fundraising is not an activity that is only reserved to people with supernatural powers. Its concepts and principles are rather simple and can be mastered by anyone that is willing to work hard to achieve success.

4 Fundraising Must-Knows
The fundraising process can be structured in some steps. Easy as it may seem, if one of these steps is missing, then the whole process is compromised. So make sure you give each of them a special attention!

4.1 Get to know your organisation and event

The first step in becoming good at fundraising is to know your organisation and its services. Fundraisers are the ones creating the image of your organisation towards companies. This means that when you are confident about your organisation and its services/events not only you but also your organisation is perceived as professional and credible. When thinking of the most appropriate way to describe your organisation, keep the following things in mind: What makes you special (experience, university, size, impact)? What is the impact you have in the students that are a target of your activities? What companies/institutions you have been working with? How many members you have? Use impressive numbers and keywords of your organisation! As mentioned before, FR has the purpose of providing the means of existence to your organisation. Therefore, you should have a deep understanding of the needs of the event/activity you are going to organise in order to identify what do you wish to fundraise. The needs of an activity vary according to the activity and may include: Accommodation Food Transportation Materials (pens, notebooks, flipcharts, etc.) Products

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4.2 Identify targets and their needs

Its possible to fundraise most of the things identified during the needs assessment. You should also keep in mind from which sources youll fundraise targets. Associated to each target there is a resource we wish to fundraise namely: University Accommodation, money, materials, etc. Supermarkets and local shops Food and Materials. COMPANIES Money, lectures, visits. Institutions grants, facilities, transportation.

"Why should I support you?" As important as knowing the features and characteristics of your event & organization, it's even more important to know what are the benefits of the event to the partner that you wish to cooperate with. We convince our partners by talking in terms of selling points. A selling point is commonly defined as a feature of the event that might be attractive for potential partners. In order to find it, you need to analyse your event from all the stakeholders points of view. In the end, you are providing something of value to the partner and in turn your partner provides something of value to you, it's a partnership!

4.3 Enjoy the event

Surely with the support of some partners youll be able to organise your events and fulfil your mission and vision.

4.4 Follow up
Follow up is dissemination of the outcomes of our event to our partners through relevant means Follow up helps to increase the awareness of our organisation and its events to the external world. For instance, if you create a nice booklet with the outcomes of your event and present it to your university your Rector might be impressed. Follow up is also used as a way to nurture a long lasting relationship with your partners. For example, you may send a Christmas postcard to all the partners you cooperated during the year. Tools that might be used for follow up: Follow-up Booklets; Thank you letters; Reports; Photos; Postcards;

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B. Phone Calls

1 Characteristics of the Phone Call

Calling is one of the main steps when fundraising. However, its not easy. Indeed, when calling, you basically miss 2 components of the body language: the eyes contact and the gestures. Thus, you lose precious indications about, for instance, the mood of the person youre speaking to or his/her reaction towards what you are saying. Therefore, you should put a special care to the remaining piece of the body language: the voice. In this context, active listening and expressing yourself clearly reveal all their importance.

2 Aims of the Phone Call

When calling a company, your goal is usually to arrange a meeting. At a live meeting you have much higher chances of getting your offer accepted: you have time to get to know the other party, time and opportunity to present yourself, and also many other chances to persuade the representatives on the other side of the table. However, remember that you also have to get the name, some information about the person who is in charge (e.g. contacts) and who will be dealing with your issue. Sometimes, but not so often, it can happen that there is no need for a meeting. When fundraising For materials/food/drinks for example it is usually enough to talk on the phone and exchange some basic information via e-mail. In this case your goal is to raise interest, get a contact and agree on next steps. During a call youll have a unique opportunity to talk with a potential partner therefore, you ll be able to find the needs of your target and possible ways of cooperation between your organisation and the target.

3 Preparation
Before starting the call, consider making a research of the company/institution you are calling. Try to understand in which ways they have been cooperating with other NGOs, which kind of activities they organise, what is their corporate culture, etc. This step will help you figuring out what will you ask for and ask. When starting to prepare a call, think about the following things:

Board of European Students of Technology Who am I calling to? (Ex: HR department, first I ll have to talk to a secretary. / Recruitment Manager, Mr. Petrescu, whom I met at an event, etc...) Why am I calling? (Ex: I want to arrange a meeting to talk about our summer university. / I want to get the e-mail address of the Cheese Companys manager in order to send materials about Greek Evening. / etc.) When do I call? (Ex. Monday morning at 8:30 maybe not the best time? Lunch time not Too great as well? Etc...) What do I ask? (Ex. I ask for a meeting. / I ask if they received the booklet and want a meeting. / etc...)

If you feel uncomfortable in the beginning, dont be shy to write a short transcript! Of course it is not the best idea to read all the lines from paper, but checking some guidelines or keywords that you dont want to miss is totally OK! BUT REMEMBER, they are only guidelines. Everyone will be able to tell if you are reading something! You dont want sound like a person from Teleshopping! :P Make sure the BEST Office is quiet so you wont be disturbed during the calls. Also, try to gather all the materials that youll need (brochures, booklets, pen, paper, etc.) and keep them close to you in case something should be required. Afterwards, ask for feedback from the other BEST members. Who should you talk to? While making calls your objective is to talk to the person that will help decide if your event is supported or not. Finding the right authority is not always easy! The person who will be dealing with the possible cooperation with your association depends on the size and structure of the company. So who should you speak to? In case of: Small business Director Medium business Person in charge Large Company Department / Head of given department (usually HR, PR or rarely Communication)

4 The Call
4.1 The Secretary
Most of the time, you wont speak to the person in charge directly, but will have to talk to a (or maybe many) secretary. She is the spam filter of her boss, making sure that only relevant calls disturb him. So your first job (and not so easy one) will be to get passed the secretary.

Here are some tips and tricks: Tell the least information possible! It usually works. Say just your name and person you want to talk to. Dont say student organization to the secretary, if not a must. Of course, to the person in charge you will .But until you get to him/her, the fact that you are a student can be against you. Use the name of your university as a strong selling point via phone. You can just say that you are calling from a certain university and higher chance to pass! Call when shes out! If shes really tough, just try to avoid her! Before or after working hours the secretary is probably not working, but the boss may still be in the office. Give it a try!

Board of European Students of Technology Call another department! You can also try to call to another number in the company. When they found out that you called the wrong authority with your request they might directly put you through to the person you need. Ask when to call back (and call back!) if the person that you wish to talk to is away. Ask for the name of that person if you dont know it.

4.2 The Right Authority

When you reach the person that you wished to talk to, you should: Present yourself - Say clearly your name, which organisation you represent (BEST), and the purpose of calling. If you already know the name of the person use it and if you dont ask for it. Always try to use the name of the person in order to make the call more personal. Present the event you are organising Describe the event that you wish to fund. Talk about the features of your event but emphasize the benefits that the company/institution you are calling will have by being a partner at your event. Use keywords, impressive facts, numbers and figures about your event. Ask for a meeting - The primary goal of the phone contact is to explain your request and ask for a collaboration. A real meeting is more personal, so preferable, but most of the time they will ask you to send info by e-mail. This with the danger of not being read! So, try to set up a meeting. To succeed you must be ready to get past the first and even the second rejection. You should try to ask for a meeting several times (suggested maximum: 3) during a phone call. Here is an example: You: When may I come in for a meeting? PR: Our budget for this year is already fully spent. You: That's OK, I'd still like to come in to talk to you about the possibility of future openings. PR: I really dont see the point of this; We dont have any money left You: Then I'd like to come in and learn more about the company. I'm sure there are more possibilities of cooperation between your company and our organisation.

Although this approach does not always work, asking the third time works more often than most people would believe! It is important to learn how to do this, since overcoming initial rejections is a very important part of getting to "Yes." After (hopefully) hearing Yes from the person you should summarise and came to exact agreement about the meeting with him/her (dates, time and location).

4.3 A Two Way Process

If you think that phone call is a one-way process, you have to think again! Indeed, when calling a company, you provide info about you, your event and the services you can offer, but you should also use this opportunity to get to know more about the company, about its needs, about its interest. No need to waste your time on it later on if you can learn right away that it is not interested in students initiatives for instance. This implies to ask the representative you will reach targeted questions. Don t forget to make a list of them before calling! (Ex: have you ever participated in such an event before? What are the current needs of your company? E tc). Through this, you can learn a lot about your client and therefore, it helps you sending a more personalised offer instead of the standard ones.

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4.4 Tips and Tricks

Dont use jargon, Dont speak about money Listen carefully Dont use abbreviations Warm up your voice, dont yell and dont whisper Visualization, positive image Evaluate and emulate volume, tone, communication style of your client (Mirroring) Introduce just a small part of your offer. Ask if they already use that service. Propose a meeting: say date and time, plus fallback solution If the telephone call goes bad, agree on a future call, or send him material, or thank you mail

5 Follow up
So youre done with the tough job. But you still have an important part to do: follow up! Write an e-mail and send the offers (booklet) attached! The common structure of the email is the following one: Begin your email with Dear (name of the person), or Dear Sir, Madam, Say who you are and the purpose of your email (Following our phone call, ), Summary of the phone call, The next steps which will follow (Ex: another phone call to answer their questions on the brochure on a certain day), Finish your email with Best regards or Yours sincerely, Include your signature (name, full position within your association, contact info)

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C. Meetings

1 Before the meeting

You managed to get a meeting with a company? Great! Thats one step closer to success! In order to make the most out of it, there are some elements you need to investigate and to prepare. Dont assume, clarify There are a few elements that you need to fix with the company representative: Duration of the meeting: the length of the presentation you prepare will depend on it (i.e. the content of a 10 min presentation is different than a 40 min presentation). Number of representatives present during the meeting: you need to know this in order to bring the corresponding number of booklets, offers, etc How to get there: in case the meeting place is a bit far from the city centre, make sure you know which way to take. Also, some companies have several offices in one city and you need to know which office to go. E-mail confirmation: When you are setting up the meeting, try to have e-mail confirmation of the meeting. This will help both sides (you and the company) be aware that the meeting will happen. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail Prior to any meeting you should make sure that you have an in depth knowledge of the company so that you can make an offer that suits their needs: Try to find people you know inside (alumni, friends, colleagues, relatives) and get introduced Check the public events they are getting involved into and find their interest Look on their webpage, promotional materials etc. Also, keep in mind that you should know the details of the event by heart. Know every progress in the work, all the new things that you are going to have in the event (from promotion, logistics, etc.). Doing this helps a lot in knowing how to answer to all the representatives questions. It was empirically proved that it is better to go in 2 at a company meeting. If you are not that experienced in fundraising, it is advised to go to the meeting with an experienced member. Like this, you are going to benefit from knowledge transfer, continuity and get some cool tips & tricks.

Before going to the company meeting be sure you talk to your partner in advance about: How you are going to dress (formal clothes are advised but not exaggerated. Also try to look similar in terms of types of clothes); What materials you are going to take (support letters from relevant people, booklets, promotion materials, etc.);

Board of European Students of Technology Some signs that you might use there in order to not interrupt each other If there are two people going it is very important to clarify what is the role of each of them, who will present what, who will handle the different types of questions, who will write the reports.

2 During the Meeting

Always have a positive attitude and be enthusiastic Dont do FR just because the fundraising responsible told you to do it. You have to be eager to meet the company and set up a partnership. If you are not motivated enough better let somebody else do it and try to find the motivation for yourself as well. It is very important to have a positive attitude. Remember always that the enthusiasm is contagious and its a great tool for negotiation and for getting an agreement. Believe in what you are presenting to the company. Go to the meeting only if you think and believe that those things are achievable and a real benefit for the company. Arrive in time! To make a good impression, it is recommended to arrive at the reception of the company 10 to 15 min before the start of the meeting. Keep in mind that in some companies you are required to take you ID. The first thing as you arrive at the meeting place is to wait for the contact person that you are going to meet. Dont talk with your partner about the meeting from the time you arrive at the meeting place, until you are out of the building. When you meet the contact person, present yourself and exchange business cards. In the beginning, you should have some small talk, which is discussing on some things not connected at all with the topic of the meeting (i.e. weather, the trip if the meeting is in another town, the office, etc...). Usually the host starts this small talk, but sometimes it is good for you to start it as well.

You should sit only when asked to! All the other materials that you have brought can be handed at the end of the meeting, because otherwise they are just going to look into them and not be attentive at what you are presenting. In the beginning of the meeting it is advised to present the agenda of the meeting together with a short hint on the duration of the meeting. This is done to agree together with the people from company on everything, because it might happen that they don t have all the time you would like. This will avoid the situation in which youre in the middle of the presentation and they say I have 5 more minutes for you, go to the point and you might not have enough time to explain them everything youd like to. If you happen to have a list of topics ordered by priorities youll be able to adapt your presentation to sudden changes in duration. Most of the meetings involve the following topics: Presenting your organisation Although you already talked about your organisation during the phone call maybe, one of the company representatives isnt aware about your organisation. Also, you may use this opportunity to get into more details about your organisation and also show some examples of activities you have been doing. Present the event Give further details about your event, talk about on going developments, show examples of past editions. Offer Explain the benefits that the company youre meeting with has in cooperating with you. Go into more details about your offer.

When you get a question, there are certain steps you can take. First check if you understood the question right, rephrase and ask for confirmation. Then if you don t immediately know the

Board of European Students of Technology answer, dont be afraid to take your time to think it over. In case you don t have an answer, dont be afraid to say so. Tell them youll discuss it inside the association and that youll come back with an answer later. Keep your promise though and phone them later on with an answer. Take notes of the questions you get. If you are leading the meeting, try to not speak too much, try to make them realize what you are selling and how your product is helping them! You can do this really easily by asking a lot of questions like: What do you think about this? How is this helpful your company? Do you find this important? What are your decision powers? Depending on the company and on the situation, you might be able to take some decisions that might affect the work and the activities your association will do. When you go to a company meeting, you actually negotiate with the company, because you are moving towards a mutual agreement. So like in the case of the negotiation, the goal of the meeting should be the closing of the deal! Here are some steps on closing the deal: Summarize the needs they have expressed (using their words if you can) Summarize the ways you will meet those needs Summarize the possible concessions you may have done (not them) Ask the closing question: o o o o Do we have a deal / agreement / partnership? When can we send the contract? Will we see you at the event? Etc.

If they say YES, close shortly the discussion and leave (like say goodbye, and ask when to send the contract, but thats it) From this point on, Anything you say can and will be used against you! If the say NO, try to find out why by asking open questions. Talk about the content of the offer first, and the price last. Here are some open questions for this: o o o What is still missing from the offer to make it satisfy your needs? Which needs are still not covered? After you clarify these things, ask a closing question again!!

After all this send an e-mail with the summary of the negotiation. This will make it official! All in all, try to remember that in the company meetings there is no failure, just different types of outcomes. So regardless if the company will come to your event or not, its impression about your association will still exist, so its only up to you to make that impression a good one, in order to not be ashamed to go there again trying to sell a different event.

2.1 Tips and Tricks

A firm handshake inspires trust, just be careful not to hurt the other one Look the company representative in the eyes;

Board of European Students of Technology Dont play with objects on the table, your tie, pens pencils, etc. Concentrate on the discussion Dont say aaaaa, aaaaand, mmmmm or other mumbling like this. Take a moment, drink some coffee or juice! You are 2, help each other! If you are 2 (as recommended :p) dont correct each other Talk in turns Dont accept conditions that have not been discussed with your board and/or with the team Smile Dont talk to loud or to silently Dont tell them that you forget something. They dont know that you forgot, tell them that you would like to add something.

3 After the Meeting

Send a summary of the agreement to the company, to make it official Send a summary to the members of you organisation to motivate the people and keep them informed Send the contract in case you received a YES In case you received a NO, keep the company informed of your activities and opportunities for you to cooperate.

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And remember that FR is all about making friends, so make the most of it!