Today's featured resource will begin to help you clarify who to invite to your Point of Entry Events, why they will want to come, and how to design a system for having a full house every time.

We will be making a Treasure Map for your organization. You can do this alone or with a group: your Board, Development Committee, Event Committee, or staff group. The more people you do this exercise with, the more treasure you will find!

When you complete this exercise, you should have a huge list of potential people who would want to come to your Point of Entry Events.

Treasure Map Guide Overview:

The Treasure Map is a map/chart/web of all the individuals and groups your organization comes in contact with or might want to come in contact with on a regular basis.

You don't have to go out of your way to find these people. We're talking about the landlord, the UPS delivery person, the staff, their families, the clients, the opponents and/or competition, the vendors, your personal friends and family, everyone.

It also displays what these individuals have an abundance of or what resources they possess.

Here are some Questions that will help you flesh out your Treasure Map:

• Who is your real audience?
• Who really cares about what you're doing?
• Who are your obvious friends and foes (and in-between)?
• Who cares but you don't care that they care?
• Who doesn't care that should?
• Who is an organization like yours supposed to have as an audience?
• Who would you only dream of having as an audience/friend?

Let's begin:

1. Put your organization in the middle.
2. Surround your organization in any way you like with the other groups and organizations you naturally come in contact with, e.g. staff, volunteers, board, donors/funders.

   Be sure to include some of the groups you may take for granted, like your vendors, the other agencies or organizations you work with regularly, colleges and universities, the media, law enforcement groups, etc.

3. Now identify the resources that each group has in abundance (e.g. old furniture, money, art, expertise).

   What do we mean by abundant resources?

   Here's an example:

   Q. A homeless woman and her two children knock on your door and ask you for enough food for dinner. You know that you have barely enough food to feed your own children tonight. What will you tell her?

   A: You'll tell her "no."

   Q: The same homeless woman with two children, asking for food for dinner. This time you check and see that you have enough food for about a week. What do you say?

   A: Probably "no." You have a sufficient amount for yourself. Unless you're unusually generous, you'll say "no," or maybe give her a little bit of food.

   Q: The same woman, same children. This time you have plenty of food. An abundance of food in your cupboards. What will you say?

   A: Most likely, "yes."

   The point: We feel much more comfortable contributing that which we have in abundance. In fact, some people say that if we're not giving something we have in excess, it's not true contribution. Otherwise, we don't really have the freedom to choose to give it away.

   So, you've got to consider what resources each of these groups, and ultimately each individual, has in abundance. It's well worth taking the time to find this out before you ask them for anything.

   And in many cases, it won't be money. For example, most women have an abundance of shoes, make-up, and purses. Most men have an abundance of gear—sports gear, tools, equipment, and the trappings of their various hobbies.

   Now, go to each group on your Treasure Map and note in a new colored marker what resources they have in abundance. For example, what might your Board have in abundance? Contacts, commitment to the organization, money...etc. And what about your staff? Dedication, time commitment, expertise...etc. And how about your vendors? All those folks you buy from? An interest in keeping you happy, the stuff they sell, and money...

   Keep fleshing this out and noticing people and groups for the resources they could provide.

4. What are the self-interests of each group or individual? What's in it for them to be connected to you?

   Take out your Treasure Map again and look at the groups surrounding your organization. What is their self-interests in being involved with you? What's in it for them to be connected to you?

   As a fundraiser, you should know that self-interest is a good thing. It drives us all. It's what has you reading this on your computer screen right now. It's what has you decide which invitations you accept or decline, and what you spend your time on. Where you work, what books you read, who you spend your time with, etc.

   It's important to know the self-interest of each group (and, ideally, each individual) on your Treasure Map.

   Let's take, for example, your volunteers. What could be some of their self-interests?

   They want to learn, to fulfill a college requirement for an internship, to build their resume, or to have a more direct connection with your kind of clients.

   What are some other self-interests of your volunteers? Write them on your treasure map next to the circle marked "volunteers".

   What about your vendors?

   Their self-interest might be to be listed as a sponsor for others to see, to make you happy so you'll keep buying from them, to meet potential customers. Or, they might truly care about your mission. Perhaps they've had a personal experience with the very problem or issue you address. That would be a double-hit, if you were also a business customer of theirs.

   You get the idea.

   Now go around your Treasure Map and fill in the self-interests of each group.

5. Next, identify how the groups relate to each other and how their resources might relate.

   Who knows whom? Who naturally is talking with whom? How are the board members connected to the donors or the staff or the clients or their families? How are the staff connected to the other community organizations, the clients, the vendors.

   Draw solid lines connecting those groups who talk to each other regularly. Draw dotted lines connecting those groups who talk to each other occasionally. Your Treasure Map should begin looking like a giant spider web, with circles, lines and words everywhere.

   That's good, you're on the track of treasure!

6. Now add in imaginary groups you'd like to have be there in the future and what resources and self-interests they would have. Ask: who else needs or wants what we can do?

   Include all those individuals or groups you've always dreamed of having as supporters, if only they knew about you. This is where you can include all your local millionaires or billionaires, the sports celebrities, the key media people, and anyone else you haven't included yet.

OK, now stand back and take a look at your Treasure Map. Pretty impressive!

You should be able to see that there are plenty of folks out there who would have a natural inclination to say yes when you invite them to a Point of Entry.