A quack at it?
Yes! Because I’m guessing you don’t have your ducks lined up to make this year’s email appeal worth all your effort. What do I mean? I mean the lion’s share of folk receiving your email is simply going to hit ‘delete.’ And that’s just not going to pay your bills.
You need to get all your duckies in a row. And I know exactly which two are missing.
DetailsPlanning your year-end fundraising? Check out this week’s links!
Year-end Planning
Click-It: 5 Things to do now for year-end fundraising success. From Network for Good comes this checklist of all the stuff you should be thinking about. Now! Here’s my favorite: Now is the time to put yourself in your donor’s shoes and thoroughly test your donation process, website, emails, and any other donor-facing elements. Identify any pain points and fix them now while you have some time. None of the above steps will matter if your supporters get hung up on your donation page, are stymied by your website, or can’t reach a real person when they attempt to contact you.
Online Donations
Details| We Have Blast Off! |
In a recent webinar I presented about How Creative Thank Yous and an Attitude of Gratitude Can Supercharge Your Fundraising, it became apparent there’s one question many of you struggle with:
Gosh dang it! How on earth do you develop a system that assures thank you’s really get out in 48 hours?
HERE’S THE BIGGEST SECRET:
DetailsSuch great links this week. Let’s get started!
Corporate Partnerships
Click-It: Safeway Foundation: 6 Tips on How to “Partner” with a Corporation Thanks to the folks at Third Sector and guest blogger Christy Duncan Anderson, E.D. of The Safeway Foundation for this great insider perspective on the sometimes mysterious business of securing business sponsors.
DetailsI love my Agitators, I really do. I’m hoping they meant to provoke, and were really being tongue-in-cheek with their recent article. Forget About Donor-Centric is very provocative, and certainly there’s truth here. Nonprofits do seriously ramp up their fundraising activities at this time of year, and it may appear they’re thinking more about money than their donor. It’s solicitation time, not stewardship time. And “Donor Tom” (Tom Belford) tells us he understands. He reasons that at this time of year he’s going to be so bombarded by appeals that he’s not going to be thinking about building a relationship with you. He just wants to give to those he’s already given to and “escape with some spending money for Christmas presents.”
That’s exactly the perspective you don’t want your donor to have.
DetailsPhilanthropy, Not Fundraising
More than ever before nonprofit leaders must lead from vision, not mission. Why? The world is moving really, really fast. Blame it on the digital revolution if you wish. But why waste time laying blame? It is what it is. Instead, get into the 21st century. Now.
The present (what you’re doing) is nothing more than a springboard to the future (the change you’re endeavoring to bring about). That’s what folks want to invest in. Positive change.
Nonprofits have tended to forget their visions in order to justify continued existence. Sometimes founders and other leaders become too wedded to the status quo. They can’t let their babies grow up.
DetailsFree Webinar alert below… Now, on to this week’s great links…
Giving Trends
Click-it: ‘Strategic Philanthropy’ Shifts Too Much Power to Donors. This is a provocative Chronicle of Philanthropy article about the way foundations give today. Did you know that 60% of them don’t accept unsolicited proposals? The trend is towards a Madisonian approach where foundations determine which issues are meritorious vs. a more Jeffersonian approach in which nonprofits, community groups and their constituents determine where resources are most needed. On which side of the debate do you fall?
Click-it: How America Gives. This is a super-awesome interactive guide
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They like it. More than a phone call. More than a visit.
Give your donors what they like. I’m not saying you shouldn’t phone or visit them at some point. But you’re better off connecting digitally than not at all. And many donors these days will never respond to a phone call. No matter how often you keep trying.
DetailsFirst, some words:
Now… on to this week’s great links…
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