October 12, 2006 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Kenneth D. Strmiska jokingly refers to the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation as “the patron saint of lost causes.”
The community foundation’s relatively inexpensive fees for its consulting work on fund raising and
strategic planning attract groups that might not otherwise be able to afford a consultant — including small charities and citizens who band together for a project.
Mr. Strmiska, who was president of the foundation for more than eight years before leaving this month for a job with the Council on Foundations, spent much of his time offering fund-raising tips to people with little experience asking for money.
During a recent meeting with CASA of Brown County (CASA stands for Court Appointed Special Advocates), board members wanted a primer on the basics. How do you make the ask? What’s the typical turnaround time between receiving a pledge and actually getting the money?
When Marilyn Bennin, CASA’s executive director, talked about the “begging” she’d be doing, Mr. Strmiska cut her off.
“That’s a teachable moment,” he said. “Begging is done randomly. Soliciting is strategic. It’s targeted at someone who’s interested in the cause and with whom you have some connection.”
“You’ve got a great story to tell,” he continued. “With begging, you’ll hear no a lot. With soliciting, you’ll hear yes 60 to 70 percent of the time.”
Part of Mr. Strmiska’s work is helping inexperienced fund raisers translate their goals into language that appeals to donors.
When working with a local group that wanted to raise money to replace a closed swimming pool, he urged them to talk about how the pool would make local neighborhoods viable again, and mix children from different races and socioeconomic classes.
With Greater Green Bay Habitat for Humanity, he urged officials and board members at the charity to talk not about getting a house built, but about the long-term positive impact that stable housing has on children.
“If the talk was only about shelter,” Mr. Strmiska says, “the response would be, ‘Well, go get an apartment.’”
