GIFTS IN KIND (GIK) – Gimme something man and I want it FREE!

Gifts In Kind? What the hell is that? It’s really sad people but that’s what I hear all the time. This is not a new concept. It’s only been around for like ohhhhh 8 billion years. I believe Neanderthal man started it. The actual definition of GIK is: a kind of charible giving in which, instead of giving money to buy needed goods and services, the goods and services themselves are given.

It’s very sad to me that many people running not for profits (NFP’s) have not a clue as to the significance of in kind. I can almost see the gifted CEO wondering where the budget dollars are going to come from to hire the new data entry position. Or how are we going to pay for the next batch of school supplies for our clients. My first response to that is very primitive so I usually refrain from slapping and suggest a meeting or a development subcommittee. Not really. If you didn’t catch the subcommittee sarcasm until I said “not really”, please go and read my meetings blog. Those two areas of budget spending can be offset by the use of “gimme something man and I want it free.” This will require very little and most of the time a letter in the mail WILL NOT cut it. It’s a face to face ask. If you’re thinking, “Huh what, but I’m scared.” Go back to “How to get yo game on” and try to keep up with the innovators.

Gifts in kind are a good way for NFP’s to offset budget spending. Why buy something if you can get it for free. Sometimes an NFP can get so caught up in trying to raise money money money that they can not see that very money they are raising is being spent on items that they could get for free free free. There are many different ways in kind can help in these budget cutting times.

That new data entry position can very easily be in kind. How about a volunteer? Call a staffing company and fill them in on the budget cuts. Let them know if one of their staffers was donated to your worthy cause it can save you from cutting the elderly companion program. How they can write it off on their taxes. Also, let them know you will be thanking them in your next newsletter that goes out to thousands of households and businesses every month. Remember, do not rely solely on your wonderful mission driven purpose. Incorporate how it will help them feel better, help their business, and come to the rescue of the lonely elders in their community. When soliciting in the community, make your request as hard as possible for them to say no. Find the best and most heartfelt story you have within your organization and milk it for everything it is worth. So a brief summary of what I just said: state your request, define what that donation will do to help the community in the form of a heartfelt story, how they will get their money back from big brother, and how they will benefit from it via your newsletter.

The new school supplies are even easier. This is where you get the community relations staffer to earn their keep. Get an organization in your community to do a drive. Any civic groups, schools, businesses, etc… will do it with the right negotiator. Start with the assets that you have already instead of going in cold. Ask your board members to do one at their office. This won’t even cost them any money and they can brag about it at the next BOD meeting. Then when you go out in the community you can say, “We already have blah blah blah involved, and so n so too, etc… This is where name dropping is VERY acceptable.

Now comes the most critical and most important part of drive requests; also the most overlooked and messed up part. The list of needs you give to the person or business doing the drive. THE DRIVE LIST.

First, figure out the top 50 or so items that your organization is spending money on and prioritize them as most needed to least needed and most expensive to least expensive. Then you figure out the different areas of solicitation you will be conducting. You will have to make different drive lists for different areas. This is where many NFP’s screw it up. Do not and I mean do not put everything you need on one drive list. Too much on one list is overwhelming and it makes it hard for someone to pick something out of all this stuff. Make your lists about 20-25 and group specific. You do not want to request from the ladies auxiliary knitting circle reams of copy paper and file folders. The people conducting the drive want to feel the donation. “What? How do they feel a donation? I don’t get it.” Sometimes I wonder if everyone working at NFP’s have 46 chromosomes. Maybe we should incorporate chromosome testing right after the urinalysis. You also do not want tampons on the drive list going to men’s civic groups. Grammar Schools should not be asking students who ask their parents to buy some drive goods and there on the list is a douche kit request. “Mom, what’s a douche?” See. Make your drive list reflect the group. The theory behind giving is that when someone gives, they envision the gift being used. That is why food is the easiest in kind to get. They can see that soup warming the heart of a homeless man on a cold winter’s night. Joe, from the men’s auxiliary, does not want to envision a tampon in use and if he does we don’t want him doing a drive for us.

In kind is far easier to ask for and get than money. The in kind donor knows that what they are giving is the actual thing they want to give. How does a cash donor know what the money will be used for? The in kind donor can be in a large group, give a small amount and yield a large donation they can be proud of. They have made a difference without breaking the bank.

Finally, whenever you are sick of seeing that nine bottles of shampoo that you bought in a bulk ten-pack but frizzed out your died blonde hair, take the nine unopened ones to the local homeless shelter, domestic shelter, or whatever. This will offset their budget and help them in hard times. If everyone did this, NFP’s would be a doing the happy dance. Remember, one tiny in kind gift by a whole lot of people is equal to one big cash gift by one person.