Nervous to pitch a new idea to leadership? You’re not alone. Here are 5 fundraising teams who saw a problem, dreamed up a solution, made the pitch to leadership, and got the green light. Think of this as “SharkTank for Advancement.”
This one's for The Do-ers.
You know – the fundraising folks who are in the weeds, know how the sausage gets made, wear many hats, and other such euphemisms.
For Advancement and Non-profit Do-ers, we are willing to bet that there are one or two things on your very-full plate for which you just know there is a better way to do it.
If you are reading this and thinking “that’s me!,” then, spoiler alert, you’re our favorite kind of person.
Seriously, we get along best with people who work really hard AND are brave enough to challenge the “way it’s always been done.”
Luckily, we get to work with people like you all the time. We talk with lots of brave Doers from the very beginning – when they first spot a problem, see an opportunity to do it better, and want to explore a solution.
And, we get to witness the awesomeness of seeing these Doers push through to ROI like $17.7MM in new revenue, hundreds of new meetings, 100% portfolio coverage, 400% more event attendees.
And it all starts with making a pitch to leadership.
After talking to hundreds of teams across the country who have survived SharkTank-style pitches to their leadership teams (and gotten the green light), here are some of the most common tips:
- Do your research. Be prepared to answer any questions.
- Keep it short and snappy. Think of an elevator pitch: Here’s the problem, here’s the solution, here’s how I think it will help.
- Come with the numbers. How much is the “problem” costing, right now? How much would your proposed fix cost? What’s your projected ROI? How will you measure ROI?
- If you get a “no,” have a BATNA (a backup solution).
- If you get a “yes,” have a plan to share monthly progress updates.
Pitching a bold new idea to leadership can be nervewracking, of course. But, think of this as SharkTank for Fundraising. There’s so much to gain.
Here are stories from 5 teams across the country who pitched their ideas to leaders, SharkTank for Fundraising-style. (And they’re so glad they did.)
Table of Contents
The Pitch at ETSU: Scrap the mailer, send a video invite, instead
How it started
Long-standing tradition to send printed invitations to the Presidential Suite football tailgate
$$$ Printed invitations
Print vendor delay a week before kick-off
How it’s going
Within four days, the team sent out a charismatic video invitation from the President and his wife
They invited a new subset of donors to the Suite
The message got a 62% open rate
Highest video engagement from donors age 65+ (unexpected!)
Great feedback from invitees: “What was that video envelope thing? That was great!”
Saved $$$ by switching from print to video
2-person team is able to engage 100,000 alumni
Strategically replacing print with scalable, segmented video
The Pitch at MassArt: Replace appeal letters with video
How it started
Solicitations followed a familiar script: Printed, glossy, expensive
Responses and results of print solicitations were dwindling
Budget cuts hit
Direct mail costs got put on the chopping block
How it’s going
The team switched to video appeals using ThankView
Unrestricted revenue nearly doubled, from $6,402 (FY24) to $12,060 (FY25)
ROI skyrocketed from $0.75 to $10.40 for every dollar spent
A long-lapsed donor came back with a $10,000 gift—their first since 2018
The Pitch at Cleveland State: Revamp Giving Day outreach
How it started
Limited staff
Limited resources
In need of a fresh, new Giving Day approach
How it’s going
Created a rap video to promote Giving Day
Shared it with alums via ThankView
10% increase in total donors over the previous year
25% increase in dollars raised over the previous year
ThankView video email open rates hit 81.9%
Board members, alumni, friends all LOVED it
The Pitch at Boston College: Go all-in on a new tech tool for year-end outreach
How it started
Manual spreadsheets for fiscal year-end outreach
Chaotic group edits and assignments
Outreach overlap
Lots of missed767 prospects
How it’s going
In-platform (Signal) outreach assignments
Live notifications for gift officers
Prescribed outreach messaging
Multi-step custom cadences
Gift officer activity prompts (i.e. logging interactions)
The Pitch at NMSU: Swap form letters for a themed monthly stewardship video
How it started
Boiler-plate acknowledgement letters
Only sending to donors >$1k
Manual, time-consuming, worn-out thanking process
How it’s going
One monthly “thank you!” video
Sent to every single monthly donor
To donors $1-$1MM
Fun, themed, engaging
Donors love it!
Takeaways
If you are an Fundraising Do-er and you just know that there’s a better way to do something, trust your gut!
It can be scary to step out into the unknown, but we hope it’s helpful to see proof that:
- You’re not alone. In fact, you’re in the company of some awesome, cool, brave Do-ers across the country.
- It’s worth it. Use the ROI from the stories in this blog to give you confidence and back you up.
Join these innovative teams and approach your new idea as if you’re on SharkTank for Fundraising. Make the pitch. You won’t regret it.
And we’re here to help! Tune into the new EverTrue Innovators podcast for more SharkTank-style stories that will inspire you to dream big.
