Great News - Two Successful People and Fundraising Projects

I had a great conversation with a client the other day! After reading my book and inviting me to deliver a private training for his region, Manny Loya. President and CEO of the Southern California Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation, used his relationship-building skills to re-engage his board, reach out to new donors and raise a record amount of money - in this economy!

As a trainer, I got the same sense of satisfaction as a teacher whose student comes back after graduating from Harvard and says, "I learned so much from you. Look how far I've gotten."

Those of us in the education field like to know that our ideas and techniques are successfully translated out in the real world. To help people make their lives easier these days gives me a lot of satisfaction. To read this case history, click here.

Here's another example: After Sean became Donor Relations Director at the community environmental group, he asked his Board to choose one of two development approaches:the get-‘em quick, bring in the money now or build relationships and retain donors’ method.

“I could have implemented either one, but I know that the latter method is ultimately the more successful one. That’s the one they picked.” he said. “Since I met Marshall, I studied his book and attended his workshops and my goal seven months ago, was to establish our own prestigious Partnership Council.”

In Sean’s own words, here’s how he did it!

Our agency completely changed its direction four years ago to focus on energy resources and its affect on global warming.

To begin cultivating Council prospects, I selected 60 people who had been donors or people we wanted to meet. I invited them to see the new agency at a breakfast. About 25 people joined us for the two-hour breakfast and 50% said they would participate!

We now have 15 committed, active leaders who are highly influential in our community and are now holding “eco salons” to introduce more people to our mission.

Already, we have accomplished the following outstanding results:

• Two new Board members - a very prominent contractor and a “green” realtor. We would never have met them without going through Marshall’s relationship-centered process and building our Council.

• My salary and that of my assistant was funded from the Community Foundation. After the first year of funding, our caseworker was so impressed with our progress we secured funding for two more years!

Now, I’m moving onto the next step of finding a campaign and motivating them to stay involved. It’s just like Marshall says, keep executing the basics over and over and you will be a master. Stay tuned for more great results!

Sean F., Donor Relations Director, Santa Barbara, CA