Happy donors

5 Strategies to Get and Keep More Donors for Your Nonprofit

Happy donorsPeople are unpredictable sometimes. They’re also predictable.

If you see someone yawn, you’re likely to yawn too.

If I tell you seats are limited, you’re likely to purchase a ticket now rather than later.

What if you knew getting people to donate to your nonprofit could be a predictable consequence of something you did?

It turns out you can encourage people to act in desirable ways, simply by applying a few lessons learned from neuroscience, psychology and behavioral economics. The truth is scientists have learned quite a lot over the past few decades. It’s up to us to put that learning to good use!

Alas, as Daniel Pink, author of To Sell Is Human, has noted: “There’s a gap between what science knows and what business does.” This applies to social sector businesses too!

That’s right. Pink explains the most successful for-profit businesses use what science knows to “convert leads to customers.”  The secret to more sales is knowing what the customer wants. Your non-profit might convert prospects into donors, and donors into repeat donors, using the very same principle.

The secret to closing more gifts is knowing what the donor wants.

Today I’d like to consider five specific strategies that will help you ethically take advantage of some of the psychology underlying human behavior. Once you understand these principles, you can begin to strategically apply them to your integrated development (marketing and fundraising) strategy. If you’re nervous about this, you can test what you did before against a new strategy informed by science. Break your mailing list randomly in half, send an “A” and a “B” version of your appeal, and see which performs best.

Ready for 5 science-informed strategies?

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Woman donor with credit card and laptop

Boost Gift-Giving with These 5 Donation Page Improvements

Soliciting donations from your supporters is hard work. It requires identifying prospects, building relationships, and ultimately asking them to contribute to your organization. Luckily, your donation page can do some of the heavy lifting for you! When optimized for the donor experience, your donation page can help potential new supporters form a positive first impression…

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Pile of different envelopes

And, the envelope please…

Colored envelopes

What makes your appeal stand out in a crowd?

When asked what my favorite carrier envelope is for a fundraising appeal, my standard answer is:

One that screams “open me!”

Of course, there are a variety of reasons an envelope may beg to be opened.

And an equal number of reasons why it may scream “dump me in the trash.”

Today I want to help you avoid the trash bin.

And, good news – it’s not that difficult.

You don’t need to be a direct mail expert.

You don’t need to run a zillion A/B tests.

You just need to exercise some good old-fashioned common sense.

First, think about what gets you to open an envelope.

I’d love for you to do some noodling on this now – before you read further.

In fact, if you want to do something really helpful, STOP reading this article, convene a few colleagues, and do a little group brainstorming. Ideally, get your answers up on a whiteboard or other group memory so you can piggyback off of each other’s ideas. [Go do this now; come back to this article later.]

If you’re not prepared to play along (I get it, you’re busy), here’s a sample I’m sharing from a brainstorm I did with another nonprofit:

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Colored pencils

What to Say When Your Donor Asks: How Much do you Spend on Overhead?

Colored pencils

I’ve been asked this question many times.

And not just by donors, but also by board members.

One of the ways I’ve answered is with my own questions:

  • If you could invest 20 cents to get a dollar, would you?
  • If you could invest 50 cents to get a dollar, would you?
  • If the dollar you got was old, wrinkly and ripped, would that matter to you?
  • If the dollar you got was mint, would it be worth it to you to pay a bit more?

Maybe the return on your invesment doesn’t matter to you. But maybe it does.  In the case of the wrinkly vs. mint dollar bill, it would matter a lot only if you’re a collector.  Change that to 50 cents to buy a bag of fresh, nutritious produce that will last a full week vs. 20 cents to buy a bag of old, rotten vegetables, and you begin to understand.

All things are not created equal.

That’s true, BIG TIME, for what folks consider ‘appropriate’ overhead.

There’s a time and a place for the red pencil, but most of the time another color will do a more effective job of generating the revenues you need to survive and thrive.

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7 Breakthrough Annual Fundraising Appeal Strategies

 

Three San Francisco Hearts. Launch. Heartstrings. Rise. Benefit for S.F. General Hospital Foundation.It’s back-to-school and prime fundraising season.

In fact, the end of the year will be here before you know it!

Working on your fall campaign and year-end appeal?

Wish you had a way to prioritize the stuff that really matters?

Around this time of year, it’s common for me to hear one or more of the following — not just from newbies to the profession, but also from seasoned pros:

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