Many of us have new board members, board terms kicking off and board meetings reconvening this fall. It is the perfect time to have a discussion with your board about identifying prospective donors, paths to connect with them, and ways to cultivate these relationships. It is a time to invest in your development infrastructure to set yourself up for success during the 2020-2021 school year.
Development teams use a variety of techniques to identify prospects, but one that is under-utilized in charter schools is relationship mapping. In relationship mapping, we move from asking “who do you know” to “tell me more about you” to engage ambassadors – like board members or highly engaged parents – in tangible ways to cultivate funding relationships. By collecting more data, development leaders can clearly outline the school’s network, draw natural connections to existing and new prospects, and develop logical cultivation plans.
5 Steps to Getting Started with Relationship Mapping
When schools ask their boards for help identifying donor prospects, we often find our board members want to help, but may not know who to ask. Even when they know who to ask, they might not always know how to reach out. Let’s look at a better way to involve our board in identifying and cultivating donor relationships. Get started today with these five steps to relationship mapping:
1. Collect Data.
First, start by asking your board members to fill out a questionnaire to gather information, such as:
Where do you work now? Where have you worked previously?
What schools did you go to for undergrad? graduate school?
What clubs have you belonged to? (e.g. fraternities, sororities, civic or social clubs, etc.)
What professional groups have you belonged to? (e.g. associations for lawyers, CPAs, etc.)
What boards have you served on?
Where else do you volunteer? (e.g. scouts, church, youth sports, etc.)
Board members have numerous relationships within their personal and professional networks, but often don’t know who to approach or how. We suggest providing your board an overview of the importance of relationship mapping and how you’ll use the information gathered. Remember, you’re not collecting data to simply ask people for money, you’re doing it to identify potential donors and new ambassadors for your work. It requires a team effort between the head of school and the development leader to show board members why this is valuable. Of course, this process can be repeated for other groups, like highly engaged parents, school leadership, and major donors who are willing to make new introductions.
2. Analyze the Data.
It is important to realize that data collection may take a few passes. While some board members may provide comprehensive answers, others may be brief. A combination of efforts works well to gain more of these details.
It can help to ask your head of school a few questions, such as: “Do you know where John used to work?” and circle back with board members to ask follow up questions, such as:
“I know you’re retired. Wondering where did you work previously?”
“I see you were on this nonprofit board. Did you know Jennifer during your term?”
“This looks like a helpful contact. Since they have a common name, could you share what city and state they live in? Do you know where they work now?”
Another way is to present initial relationship maps back to the board. When they see other board members with more detailed maps, it can often trigger new ideas or details they can add to theirs. It is normal that some maps are larger than others but realize these can be expanded over time.
3. Research Contacts.
Your development staff will want to use the questionnaires you collected to research the contacts your board members may know personally or could get to know through a connection. You’ll want to be specific and broad in your research. We begin each search using Google. First, searching the contact name and city where they live. Starting broadly, we see if there are logical matches. Using data from our searches, we dig deeper into particular contacts to verify that it is the person we’re looking for and to unearth new information about them.
Next, we use wealth screening tools to identify their boards of service, company affiliations, and net worth. Wealth screening tools are also helpful when looking for people with common first and last names. Foundation Directory Online is another useful tool. Its advanced search features help you identify board members, directors, and trustees for prospective funders that your prospect is connected to.
In summary, there are a number of tools that can help your development team research contacts, including:
Google is a powerful tool that can help you learn more about your contacts and search for logical matches.
LinkedIn is useful to research first, second, and third-level connections to locate people you know who can help you make introductions. It may pay off for school development teams to use LinkedIn Sales Navigator (paid tool) that gives you expanded access to connections and more in-depth information on contacts.
Foundation Directory Online (free and paid versions) is an extensive directory of 228,000 corporate and family foundations to help you pinpoint those with funding interests aligned with your mission and view their officers. This tool pairs with LinkedIn to see how you’re connected.
Wealth screening software can help you see where your connections are to wealthy funders and family foundations. We enjoy using iWave but there are a number of these tools available.
This step is the time-intensive part, but your time spent on building your school’s network and mapping out relationships is well worth the effort. The payoff can be significant as the case below shows.
Ethos Classical Charter School wanted to identify connections to a family foundation they were applying to. Through the relationship maps, we found a board member closely connected to a corporate leader who knew the foundation, and a second board member had a connection through her law firm. Both board members were up for reaching out to the people they knew to ask for an introduction. We provided suggestions on what to say and how to ask. While Ethos didn’t land this grant, through this process, the head of school was invited to apply for a $350K corporate grant and introduced to one of the largest education funders in Atlanta. A big win!
Here is a sample personalized email to share with a board member when asking for an introduction:
“Good morning Susan,
As you may know, I’m a board member of Ethos Classical. Founded in 2019, Ethos Classical is a tuition-free public elementary school located in Sylvan Hills. Through a rigorous classical curriculum within a structured, supportive community, we ensure every scholar is on the path to college and a life of opportunity. We just concluded our first year where our scholars showed exception growth and perseverance, especially in the face of COVID-19.
I'm reaching out to see if you know Tom Smith. We’re applying for a grant to the ABC Foundation, which supports education organizations in Atlanta. We noticed that you were in the same Leadership Atlanta class as Tom, one of the Foundation's directors. I’m wondering if you kept in touch and would be willing to make an introduction. We'd love to talk to him about our fantastic program in advance of applying to the Foundation next month.
If you’re willing to make an introduction, I’d be happy to connect him with our head of school.”
Thank you,
John”
4. Visualize the Network.
After completing your research, we recommend organizing these contacts with relationship maps. We like to use Kumo (free and paid tools) that creates highly visual relationship maps. It literally makes your map for you. When working with your board members or a group of parents, share a visual relationship map with them personalized to their contacts. It really helps them to see where they can help you with relationships they already have and who are the contacts they should get to know over time.
Here is a sample relationship map created for the ABC School Network in Kumo using some fun characters:
5. Activate this Network.
Finally, think through how to activate these relationships. You’ll want to start with connections that board members already have and suggest an easy next step, such as inviting their contact to take a virtual school tour or attend a mission-related event. You’ll have the most success if you provide them all the materials that they’ll need – a sample personalized message, invitation details to forward, and a list of people to invite.
This year, plan a series of cultivation events where prospective donors can learn what makes your school special. Consider, what’ll work virtually or with safe social distancing. A variety of events work well, including virtual town halls, talks from guest speakers, virtual dinners, celebrating school or historical milestones, or events showcasing what is unique about your school. Ethos Classical hosted a Living Black Wax Museum where students acted out historical experiences to celebrate Black History Month – events like these are great for cultivation.
Here is a sample event invite Ethos Classical shared with board members along with a list of people to invite:
“Hi Stewart,
I hope you are doing well. [Add personal note]. As you may know, I’m on the board of Ethos Classical Charter School. Through a rigorous classical curriculum within a structured, supportive community, Ethos Classical ensures every scholar is on the path to college and a life of opportunity. As part of the launch of our school, I’m inviting you to visit the Living Black Wax Museum on [date/time] presented by our third grade class. Through this experience, I hope to get the word out about the amazing work Ethos Classical is doing for our students and community, while honoring Black History Month.
Please join me on [date/time] at [location] for the Living Black Wax Museum. You will not be asked for money. All I ask is as you’re enjoying the museum experience, you think about people in your life who may want to attend a similar event or learn more about Ethos Classical. You can expect a call from our Executive Director within 48 hours after the event to get your thoughts on the experience. We value your input and advice.
I hope you’re able to join me. Please let me know by [RSVP date] if you can make it. Looking forward to seeing you and catching up,.
Amanda”
Other simple things your board members can do. Follow your school on social media and comment on your posts so your network sees what we’re up to. You may have individual board members who use LinkedIn Sales Navigator and can help you pinpoint new connections. And don’t overlook checking for relationships your board members or parents may have at family foundations. The simpler the ask, the more likely it is to happen.
Relationship mapping makes a high impact on new donor cultivation. It can come down to whether your team has the time and capacity for it. The value proposition is significant and worth making time for.
Here are some next steps that you can take to get started with relationship mapping:
Attend this hands-on workshop on October 30 during the Annual DC Charter School Conference. It’ll walk through the steps in more detail and you’ll start building a relationship map during the session.
Complete this worksheet at your next board meeting
Consider having an intern help you with the legwork and research
Utilize network mapping to identify people to invite to your next cultivation event
Do you still have questions on where to start? We’ve coached several charter schools on how to do this so feel free to reach out if we can help you in any way.