TDS Lite TDS stands for Taking Donors Seriously. It is the official fund-raising program for Young Life areas. Key Assessment Questions Who owns fundraising in the area? Is the vision and commitment for fundraising relationship based or is it event based? Is there a TDS team in place? Is there a current case statement? Have the donors been put on a list? Are lapsed donors on the list? Are the top 30 percent receiving face-to-face visits and being asked for their gifts? Is there follow-up to the banquet designed to maximize donor retention? Is there a calendar in place that the area follows? There are six essential elements (often called the TDS Non-Negotiables ): 1. Prayer 2. The Case Statement 3. Leadership 4. Field Development Tool (FDT) 5. Strategy 6. Prayer TDS takes time to fully implement. It is not a quick fix for financial problems. Try to add a couple elements a year and in three years the area will be following a plan that retains donors and provides consistent support. TDS Lite is a simplified version of the official Young Life TDS program. For more detailed information consult Young Life s TDS handbook. Prayer We not only recognize that it is within God s power to supply all our needs, we also desire God s wisdom and strength to carry out our responsibility in a way that ministers to all our donors.
The Case Statement Designed by the area director and updated once a year Include the mission / vision / 4 c s / committee, leaders, staff / budget Can be done on a single sheet fold over (4 pages) Pictures of kids are essential Must have a gift plan Maps of the area are a nice touch The easiest and quickest way to do this is look at someone else s model and copy it Area Director: Leadership Prepares the case statement Gets the descending order donor list from the Service Center Personally knows the top 10 12 donors in the area Builds teams: TDS, banquet, golf, etc. Coordinates communication to TDS team of confidential donor information TDS Chair: Partners with the area director in the above Holds face to face askers accountable for doing major donor visits Data / Finance Manager Maintains PPL master list Prints out banquet invitation lists, phone-a-thon lists, face to face lists Identifies lapsed donors TDS Askers: Review lapsed donor list annually Have relationships with major donors that win the right to ask Make 3 4 major donor asks yearly Brainstorm new names for PPL annually Young Life Committee: Own the banquet Do major donor thank you visits Conduct the phone-a-thon
Field Development Tool (FDT) The Field Development Tool (FDT) replaces the Priority Prospect List (PPL) as the most powerful financial tool available to Young Life areas. The FDT combines a cashflow projection (CFP) function with the PPL. The result is a user friendly tool that: Projects your area budget 12 months into the future. Enables you to see how changes in revenue and expenses (either actual or projected) will affect your area's bottom line. Provides a one-page summary of your area's financial health following the familiar R&E format. Strategy The most effective way to raise money is to ask for it. There is a separate strategy for asking major donors for their gifts (face to face) than asking all non-major donors for their gifts (in groups). Individual Strategy: Major donors ideally should be about 30 percent of the donors and their annual gifts should total about 70 percent of the budget Each major donor should have a person assigned who is on the point for the relationship with them The area director should personally know the top 10 to 12 donors in the area Once a year the point person needs to ask the major donor in a face to face meeting to renew their gift or increase it Once a year the area should thank each major donor personally anyone on the area committee can do this there are long lists of creative thank you ideas floating around the key point isn t which one you do, it is to do something Once a year every major donor should be connected to the ministry in some way like by attending camp, club, or an event like the banquet. Never let the banquet be the place where major donors are asked for their gift. Major donors tend to own their own businesses and are the best candidates to serve on the TDS team and lead in carrying out the individual strategy Group Strategy: All the other donors should be invited to the banquet annually (the area must have a system in place that guarantees all active donors are invited to the banquet). After the banquet there needs to be timely follow-up with those who attended. After that is done, there needs to be follow-up with those who have given in the past but have not given in this fiscal year yet
The best way to do that follow-up is a letter followed by a phone call through a phone-athon (see Young Life Web site for phone-a-thon guidelines) Follow-up = donor retention Financial Calendar/FMP The Financial Master Plan is a fancy way to say calendar. You simply want to plot on the calendar what is going to happen when. The best time to raise money is when you don t need it. When TDS is fully implemented and working, the area should have its budget raised in cash and pledges for the fiscal year by December 31. Here is an example: October Have banquet Mail banquet thank you letters to all attendees November Organize major donor thank you for first two weeks of December Mail year-end letter Thanksgiving week Do banquet Plus Delta exercise Secure next year s banquet date December Do major donor thank you gift deliveries Have fiscal year budget raised in pledges and gifts and turn attention to saying thanks and earning the right to ask again next year. January Mail Winter Newsletter Finalize fall banquet leadership team February Mail phone-a-thon letter to all non-major donors who have not given/pledged this fiscal year. Conduct phone-a-thon March Brainstorm new names for PPL Review lapsed donor list Begin major donor face-to-face visits April Continue major donor face-to-face visits May Continue major donor face-to-face visits June / July Finish any outstanding face-to-face visits Mail summer newsletter Send postcards from camp to donors
Three Hints August Update case statement Mail banquet invitations Table hosts receive banquet instructions September Banquet hosts fill tables Invite every donor to the banquet it is your showcase event. Communicate with major donors that you are not expecting their pledge at the banquet. Don t expect the TDS askers and the Young Life Committee to be the same people. Great askers are already major donors, have a network of relationships in the community, believe in Young Life, and control their own daily schedules.
How to Make a Young Life Area Struggle Financially Don t ask people to give. Don t have a team work on TDS. Rely on events instead of relationships. Don t stay consistent with people over time figure the best way to deal with major donors is to ignore them. Don t say thank you. Don t do a phone-a-thon. Forget to pray. Have an unrealistic financial goal or make planning mistakes and lose large amounts of money on camp trips (these problems are not solved by TDS).