Lists like the following (a one-page “donor bill of rights”) make that task fairly easy. Post it on the wall above your phone, make ticklers on your calendar, and implement processes to be sure your donors are well-cared for. Thanks to the Association of Fundraising Professionals for developing this handy reference.

1. Inform donors of the organization’s mission, of the way the organization intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for intended purposes.

2. Inform donors of the identity of those serving on the organization’s governing board, and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgment in its stewardship responsibilities.

3. Give donors access to the organization’s most recent financial statements.

4. Assure donors their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given.

5. Ensure donors receive appropriate acknowledgment and recognition.

6. Assure donors that information about their donations is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.

7. Assure donors that all relationships with individuals representing organizations of interest to the donor will be professional in nature.

8. Inform donors whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organization, or hired solicitors.

9. Give donors the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing lists that an organization may intend to share.

10. Give donors the freedom to ask questions when making a donation and give them prompt, truthful, and forthright answers.

The event was well-attended (about 200 people), and included names such as American mountaineer Ed Viesturs and Patagonia founder Yvon Chouinard. At the beginning of the event, Sarah welcomed everyone and engaged in other niceties with the audience. She recapped the museum’s first two years of operations.

Then Sarah moved into a discussion about the museum’s cultural significance. She discussed specifics such as how many children the museum could reach out to in a year. Then she attached actual price tags to those efforts. Then Sarah asked for money.

I was taken aback by Sarah’s approach because it was so…direct. I mean, within minutes she went from welcoming everyone to asking for money at an event that had a different overall purpose. I don’t think most people in the audience expected it. I certainly didn’t.

But Sarah was masterful in her approach with these 200 people. She never once said that anyone should give money. She simply presented a compelling argument. She nailed the emotional hook all fundraisers look for to connect with their donors. And Sarah pulled it off brilliantly.

She even had a slick video presentation. A dollar amount would appear on the screen and Sarah would say, “Who will give this amount to put a child through one of the museum’s programs?” Hands were raised. Then a new dollar amount appeared on the screen and Sarah would ask a similar question about another of the museum’s programs. More hands were raised.

I’m guessing that in about ten minutes, Sarah raised $5,000 for the museum. From an audience who (mostly) wasn’t expecting it. It was absolutely remarkable. My mouth was agape and my wine glass nearly slipped from my hand.

I’m pretty sure that if I asked Sarah, she would say that she isn’t a fundraiser. But she is, and here’s why: First of all, she runs an institution whose mission she believes in. Second, she knew what her audience’s emotional hook was. Third, she executed that hook by being respectful and by being herself. It was a slam dunk.

Sarah’s presentation reminded me again that there are many ways to raise money for museums and libraries. Leaders of these institutions have to know what it is about these places that resonates with themselves and with their donors. The rest just falls into place.

It is important to get a handful of big gifts for your endowment before you take your campaign to the outside world. The reason for delaying general promotion of your effort is to give your endowment a chance to be a success. If you already have half of your target goal in your endowment, other donors are going to be much more likely to contribute. It is likely that the first half of your endowment will come from one or two major donors; donors who are already committed to your cause and who also have extensive resources.

The next 25% will probably come from gifts that are still fairly significant in size. The last 25% will consist of small gifts ($500 or less). This is a standard pattern of development for endowments, according to the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Endowments have an essential place in cultural heritage institutions because they’re among the best vehicles for your donors to leave a legacy. Many major donors are interested in legacy giving. Be sure to give them ample chance to do so with your institution.

You’ll need to make some preparations before you go out and ask major donors for endowment money. Start with these:

• Strengthen your institution’s case for giving. Announce to donors the measures the institution has put in place (say, over the last three years) to save costs and increase productivity and relevance to the communities you serve.
• Set ambitious new goals for the director and/or major gifts officer to spend more face-to-face time with their donors and prospects. Enlist willing board members and key staff to join in the effort and provide additional support for the director/major gifts officer. Ensure that all major donors are contacted personally every three or four months and brought fully up-to-date on what’s happening in your institution.
• Make the greatest possible use of online communications such as the website, blog, electronic newsletters, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit new supporters at low cost. Reinforce messages to members and the public through other channels (such as events), and convert online activists to library donors.
• Step up donor cultivation activities and events.
• Find low-cost ways to learn more about the most loyal and generous donors, and integrate new information into personalized appeals to them.

These are the ingredients to building a strong organizational foundation for your endowment. I’ll write more about each of these components later.

It’s not that I don’t care about these things, but it’s that I don’t care about discussions that don’t explain why I should care about them. In other words, I care about why the old barber shop should matter to future generations, not just to the ones who experienced the barber and his lollipops themselves.

I know nothing about the philosophy of aesthetics, but I’ve suspected that why I care about cultural heritage has something to do with the study of aesthetics. But based on the research I’ve conducted in the last three days, I believe that aesthetics is the study of what makes life interesting. To me, cultural heritage is something that makes life interesting.

So far, I haven’t been able to find anyone on Twitter who identifies themselves both as an aesthetician and as an expert in cultural heritage. But I’ve found wonderful examples of people who identify themselves as one or the other: Melissa Mannon, Andrew Taylor, Nina Simon, and Nigel Warburton. Nigel had an interesting post on his blog about how museum curators affect our sense of aesthetics.

I’m hoping I find more on the intersection of cultural heritage and philosophical aesthetics. If you’re aware of any resources, please let me know!

Appeal letters are still one of the most effective ways to raise money. Good appeal letters have five important elements:

1. A defined project. This is your reason for writing the letter. Even if your letter’s purpose is primarily to support general operating expenses, be sure to call attention to a special concern, project, or event.

2. A personal story. Personal stories that illustrate how your institution makes a difference is a great way to draw people into reading your letter.

3. The financial challenge your institution is facing. Be clear about the costs associated with your project (see #1) and how donations can make a difference.

4. A reminder of your institution’s overall mission and how your appeal fits into it. When you ask for a contribution at the end of the letter, it will be in the spirit of asking the donor to reaffirm his or her support of the institution’s underlying mission.

5. A request for a donation. Always be direct in telling people what they can do to make your project (see #1) happen. If it’s money, ask for it. If it’s for volunteer help, ask for it. Depending on your technological capabilities, you may want to refer to the donor’s most recent contribution and ask him/her to increase it by a certain amount.

Appeal letters should be straightforward, simple, and one page in length.

What I like about the report is the high level of collaboration between countries and institutions to preserve and promote the value of cultural heritage. I detected a much less elitist attitude and much more inclusiveness in this report that what I’ve seen in other treatises. It will be interesting to see how many of these ideas and attitudes trickle down to institutions and professionals who were not at the conference. Nevertheless, it gives me great hope!

If you don’t want to read the whole report, you can read the summary here. Full information on the seminar is available here. And here’s a nice bibliography of resources that were used and referred to during the making of the report.

If it is indeed true that we no longer value our libraries and museums, I’ve wondered why this is. I read a book some time ago called Earth in Mind: On Education, Environment, and the Human Prospect, and much of the book’s emphasis is on one particular lacking in our educational system. Specifically, why we don’t incorporate actual experiences with nature into compulsory curricula (tramping out into the wilderness, learning how to camp responsibly, maybe getting tired, cold, and scared, drawing what you see, recording sounds, etc.).

I think the same could be said about the arts. Namely, that our educational system does not give us the means to develop the artists within us. Instead, we focus our energies on standardized testing, making sure all of us (and our kids) all live up to some prescribed standard. Who makes that standard? Why should there even be a standard? I’m not an expert in education, so please forgive (and correct, if necessary) any biases and fallacies you see in my thinking. What I can tell you is that if I was growing up in school today, I would be BORED TO DEATH.

Libraries and museums are among the last havens of the arts. These are the places you can go to let your imagination run wild. As cultural heritage professionals, we have a responsibility to grant access to the resources that allow “wildness” to, well…run wild. It is that “wildness” that makes us individuals and gives us the means to realize our capacity as human beings.

So, while our institutions are getting pummeled by apathy, lack of funding, and whatnot, what can we do? Again, we should build relationships with the individual donors who support our institutions. As cities and other organizations cut traditional funding, we’re just learning how to do our own fundraising. And if the science of fundraising holds true for cultural institutions, fully 85% of fundraising dollars will come from individual donors. Grants, foundations, and other funding organizations fall a distant second. You can get an easy start today by reading my posts here and here.

Good luck.

• Who you are?
• What your institution is trying to accomplish?
• Does it have a tagline that explicitly summarizes what your institution does?

The design and content on your homepage should address each question in a way that balances breadth and depth. Don’t overwhelm your reader with too much information. Install “read more” links that allow the reader to dive in deep should s/he decide to.

Keep your homepage content dynamic. Put a tickler on your calendar to change something significant on your homepage at least once per month. Consider using a modular or block design that allows certain features to be easily swapped out. So many of us are visual creatures, so build a library of reusable images that you can use to keep your homepage content fresh.

Simple, dynamic, and compelling content on your homepage will draw your donors in. Don’t forget to put a link to your giving page!