ML Innovations, Inc.

Annual Fund and Membership programs form the bedrock of any healthy development program.  Virtually all organizations feel the pressure to generate current dollars.  At times, that pressure often leads to an institutional emphasis rather than a donor-centered approach.  As a result, donors may not be as responsive and supportive as they might with a more personalized and compelling appeal.  MLI offers a variety of services to help your annual fund and membership marketing efforts become more donor-centered and, therefore, more successful:

• Annual Fund Audit

• Membership Marketing Audit

• Direct Response Audit

• Direct Response Services
  

• Donor Retention

• Request for Proposal Preparation

• Vendor Selection Assistance

• Quality Assurance Program

• Focus Group Studies

• Surveys

• Seminars and Trainings
  

With the strongest possible annual fund or membership marketing programs in place, your organization will be able to maximize current dollars and will be poised for an enhanced philanthropic planning program involving major and planned gifts.  According to research from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, those who name a charity in their will give more than twice as much through annual giving.  What remains unclear is whether stronger annual giving leads to greater rates of planned giving, or whether planned gift donors increase their giving through the annual fund.  Either way, there is clear synergy between annual and planned giving.  With a donor-centered annual fund or membership marketing program, your organization will not just secure dollars, it will secure true supporters.

Our initial review of your past, current and planned fundraising programs -- both in-house and outsourced -- can quickly reveal areas that would benefit from a refreshed, more targeted, more donor-centered approach.  We would welcome the chance to meet with you to discuss your ideas for where your organization might benefit from these proven approaches for enhanced results.  Contact us today to arrange a meeting.

During recessionary periods, traditionally, planned giving has been the only philanthropic area to see an increase.  We can discuss how your organization can capitalize on this trend now.  Whether or not your organization has a planned giving program, you can benefit from the knowledge and experience we bring to help you achieve greater results in this essential area.

It may seem obvious to say, but if your organization wants planned gifts, it needs to ask for them.  If your organization wants more or larger planned gifts, it needs to ask more people, more effectively, with a donor-centered case for gift planning support.  Unfortunately, in the United States, for most organizations, traditional planned gift marketing efforts have been rather passive.  Some organizations have long postponed putting attention and resources to such programs as they, mistakenly, believe it will reduce annual giving. (The studies do not bear this out, but rather indicate the reverse.)  Some focus their programs only on major donors, yet the vast majority of planned gift donors have been annual supporters of all giving levels.  Many programs are rather passive and just quietly lay out the opportunity for the donor prospect to self-identify if they are interested in learning more.

At MLI, we believe passionately that the same fundamentals that apply to every other area of development should be applied to planned giving.  Organizations must carefully identify their prospects, properly cultivate them, and effectively ask them for a gift.

• If your organization has no planned giving program, we can help you design one and make a case for its funding. 

• If you have an existing program, we can review your approach and results, and provide recommendations and a plan of action for greater success.

• We can draft RFPs (requests for proposals) and serve as liaison with any of your outside vendors to help you minimize the costs and maximize the returns on programs such as direct mail or telemarketing appeals.

• We can design and implement a concurrent public relations and special event program in support of the planned giving program to ensure greater success.

• If you are running an in-house effort, we can help you improve those results through more targeted forecasting, better scripting or case statements, caller and manager training, and improved follow-up protocol.

In the United Kingdom, the normally reserved British are actually a bit less shy than we are when it comes to discussing legacy giving.  The charity sector in the U.K. has aired a series of commercials to promote bequest giving.  Click on these links to see these rather attention-getting commercials posted to YouTube: Video 1  Video 2.  While U.S.-based organizations might not want to be as creative as their British counterparts, we should not remain as reluctant as we have been to openly discuss this valuable gift method.  At the forefront of your planning, you should keep in mind that only eight percent of Americans have included a charity in their will (per research from the  Partnership for Philanthropic Planning, formerly NCPG).  However, further studies reveal that one in three survey respondents would be willing to consider making a charitable bequest (per research from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University).  This represents an enormous gap between what traditional marketing produces and what is possible.

MLI offers a variety of services to help your organization generate a greater volume of planned gifts:

• Planned Gift Marketing Audit

• Direct Response Services

• Key Word Audit (based on the latest research)
  

• Request for Proposal Preparation

• Vendor Selection Assistance

• Quality Assurance Program

• Focus Group Studies

• Surveys

To help with financing such essential planned giving programs, we can also provide grant-writing, board presentation, and other assistance for identifying budget resources and making the program case.

While special events are designed for many different purposes, the key is to make sure that they are made an integral part of your overall giving program.  Special events may be planned to raise money, generate awareness, provide information, stimulate interest, garner publicity, thank donors, or a combination of objectives.  MLI can work with you to clarify your objectives and priorities, recruit and manage volunteers, coordinate all aspects of the event including on-site management, and provide end-of-event review.  MLI can also review your existing events to ensure they are realizing your full organizational and event objectives.  By providing audience-centered services, MLI will ensure your organization achieves the most from its special events:

• Special Event Audit

• Request for Proposal Preparation

• Vendor and Site Selection Assistance

• Volunteer Recruitment and Management

• Strategic Event Planning

• On-site Management OR Staff and Volunteer Training to Manage Event

• Focus Group Studies

• Surveys

• Post-event Debriefing and Follow-up

MLI's philosophy on event consulting is to provide your organization with the tools it needs to always be successful in planning and managing your events -- even beyond our direct work with you.  At every step, we take a collegial approach through which we are always training your staff and/or volunteers in the techniques we have used for decades of successful event planning and implementation.  Careful coordination with other aspects of your fundraising programs is critical, and we work strategically to ensure that your events support and enhance -- rather than compete with -- these other components of your fundraising and membership efforts.  The bottom line of the event is important but the cultivation of donors and volunteers leading into, during and after the event is most critical to achieving maximum results.  Let's meet to talk about what you've been doing, what you hope to do, and how we might help you improve your events all around.  Contact us today.

One of the essential components of an effective development program is stewardship.  It is said that the most important communication from an organization to a donor is the first "thank you" after the first gift.  It is at that point that many donors make the decision about whether to ever support your organization again or whether to consider increasing their support.  Among planned gift donors, we know from research conducted by the Center on Philanthropy that one of the greatest motivating factors influencing a donor's willingness to make a planned gift is the responsiveness of the organization.  Donors want to know that their gifts are used efficiently and for the intended purpose  

A truly effective stewardship program will recognize the difference between internal stewardship and external stewardship.  It will ensure that donors receive the recognition and information they want on a timely basis.  When done most effectively, stewardship will make donors happy, solidify the commitment to the organization, grow the commitment, and ensure the organization has the resources to fulfill its mission.  MLI offers a variety of services to help your organization ensure it has a cost-effective, meaningful stewardship program in place:

• Stewardship Audit

• Request for Proposal Preparation

• Vendor Selection Assistance

• Strategic Recommendations for Improved Donor Stewardship and Retention

• Focus Group Studies

• Surveys

As with all MLI programs, we will work collaboratively with all interested parties within your organization to develop a coordinated approach to gift stewardship, and train your staff, volunteers, and board in the role they might play going forward to continue the momentum.  Contact us so we might talk about what you hope to achieve in this area to make next year's appeals even more successful.

Words matter.  Whether making a presentation to the board, addressing a large gathering, or testifying before government panels, choosing the right words is essential.  You want to be compelling without being inflammatory and without exaggeration.  With an MLI speech in hand, a member of your staff, board, or a volunteer will have greater confidence in their ability to successfully represent your organization and achieve its objectives.  Sending your best representatives into the community as well-versed advocates will help raise your profile -- giving a face and voice to your organization -- which is proven to help build your case for support, help recruit board members, volunteers and donors, and improve attendance at special events.

"A picture may paint a thousand words, but your words helped us paint a very compelling picture of the problems we face and the success we have achieved.  Thank you for putting our thoughts into words with such great impact." 

-- Paul Wagar, ARK Theatre

A tribute is a terrific way to recognize a donor or important volunteer -- and a compelling way to steward that supporter to even greater commitment.  A heartfelt tribute in speech, poem, or song along with a framed copy will be a highly cherished gift for those your organization cares for most.  MLI can work with you to research the essential details and wordsmith the ideal tribute.

"You really are the very best at what you do.  The whole room was laughing, and then weeping, at the great speech you crafted for me.  Thank you!"

MLI can provide research and writing services for the following:

• Speeches

• Advocacy Testimony

• Poems

• Songs

MLI has provided testimony before the Federal Trade Commission on behalf of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.  We have written articles, speeches and case statements on behalf of clients, and to personally advocate causes which impact the nonprofit community.  Contact us today to arrange a meeting to discuss how we can help you promote your cause or thank your donors through compelling public speeches.

Whether you are looking for an education program for your organization or your professional association, a workshop to educate board members about the development program, training for major gift solicitors, or a seminar to educate prospective donors on the variety of meaningful ways to give, with its international seminar experience, MLI can design a seminar to meet your specific needs:

• Volunteer Leadership Workshops

• Donor/Prospective Donor Seminars

• Professional Association Programs

If you are interested in attending one of our upcoming speaking engagements, you can visit our In Print page for a complete listing.  Or, to learn how we can create a workshop tailored to your particular needs, contact us today.

With a track record of successfully managing two rapidly growing, high-quality companies and advising several others, MLI staff work with select for-profit businesses that want to expand their activities in the nonprofit sector.  Our emphasis is on business growth through client-focused, first-rate services.  Whether a company wants to enhance its service or product quality, expand its market penetration, grow wisely, or market more effectively, MLI can provide the needed services based on decades of experience in the sector:

• Marketing Audit

• Product/Service Audit

• Strategic Plan Facilitation

• Business Plan Facilitation

• Marketing Plan Facilitation

• Creativity and Brainstorming Workshops

• Quality Assurance Programs

• Staff Training

Contact us to discuss how we can help your business grow.