If you’re looking for the least expensive fundraising agency so you can keep more of the money you raise, Rescigno’s is not for you. Let’s get that out of the way quickly.
Hiring an agency like that will mean that you end up getting less than the best bang for your buck. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking, “Sure, you just want more money for yourself.” It’s ok to be skeptical, but is it ok to be, as the saying goes, penny wise and dollar foolish?
That was a rhetorical question, by the way.
Your focus should be on finding the best experts to help you raise the most money. Almost 100% of the time that’s not the company that charges you the lowest fee.
When talking with potential clients who are concerned about price per piece I usually ask them to think about a scenario where a man is given a dime and turns it into twenty dollars. That may seem to be a good return on that dime. But what if another man was given a quarter and turned it into one hundred dollars? He spent a little more, but raised quite a bit more, didn’t he?
Maybe Mark Twain said it best when he said, “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” Or maybe it was my dad when he said, “ In this world, you get what you pay for.”
If you want to exceed fundraising expectations at your nonprofit, look to hire a company that has an expertise in what you need them to do.
Speaking of expertise, when I send an email to potential clients I include these words in the subject line: fundraising and annual fund expertise. But don’t take my word for it.
Interview me or others at Rescigno’s. Ask us questions. Go ahead and test our knowledge. And then compare us to others who do the same type of work.
Ultimately, the question you’ll have to answer is, do you want someone who is disinterested, but less expensive or someone who is totally engaged from the outset, though somewhat more expensive?
The next time you have to decide who to hire for your next fundraising or annual fund project, be brave. By all means, do your homework and then decide whether you want to partner with a company of experts who care about your results, or one that offers you little more than job fulfillment.