Today I’m going to tell you how to create a fundraising appeal that’s all about your donor’s happiness.
Because if you can persuade your donor that saying “yes” will make them happy, then you both win.
Don’t you want to make your donor feel like a winner?
Don’t you want to be a winner?
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Are you starting to worry about whether you’ll raise enough money this year to meet your goals?
Are you concerned because last year’s appeal didn’t raise as much as you had hoped?
Are you fresh out of ideas for what to put into an appeal to generate the giving response you need to sustain vital programs?
Fear not! Help is on the way! Just use my gift to you — this 25-point checklist — before you send anything to your printer!
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If you’re planning ahead for #GivingTuesday, you’ve still got time to change your mind.
I’ve got a better idea for you.
Flip the idea and rather than asking folks to make a symbolic gift to you, why don’t you make a gift to them?
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If you could only do five things between now and the end of the year to make a noticeable difference in your nonprofit’s fundraising results, what would you do?
I’ve been writing recently about five subject areas – key priorities for success this year, and beyond. Today I’d like to offer one BIG “to do” in each area to help you hone in on some actionable steps that will move the needle and have a transformative impact on your results.
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I consider these three words the holy trinity of fundraising success.
They are simple.
They are easy to remember.
They really work.
Plus, if you wrap them up with some emotional color, you’ve got an offer that can’t be refused.
Let’s take a look.
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The end of the year will be here before you know it!
Working on your 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:
DetailsWhat can you do now to prime the pump so your donors are pre-disposed to give to you when they receive your year-end appeal?
In Part 1 of this two-part series I described some new research from Robert Cialdini, author of the seminal Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and the new book, Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade, and discussed how you might apply this research to your fundraising strategies. We learned the importance of leading with a “gift” or “favor” that would incline your donor favorably in your direction.
I promised that today we’d take a look at how to cement the likelihood your favor is returned, as well as explore some types of favors that are likely to be perceived as valuable.
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You asked a bunch of folks to give a year ago. Some did. You thanked them. Once. Maybe twice. Now you want to ask them to give again this year.
What’s wrong with this picture?
Too often nonprofits ask once; then assume folks who’ve made the decision to give will continue to do so. This is similar to retailers thinking that once someone has bought from them they’ll automatically do so again. Not true in either case.
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Annual giving is the cornerstone to any nonprofit fundraising effort.
And while some organizations think of annual giving as a way to raise money for their operational expenses and other projects and causes, I’m about to let you in on a secret:
It’s not.
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I am so inspired!
I recently learned about Van Jones’ virtual reality experiment, Day of Empathy via this video (thank you, thank you, thank you to Nancy Schwartz for writing about this on her Getting Attention nonprofit marketing blog: OMG Experiment to Connect & Activate (Dream Corps Case Study). The idea is to use virtual reality to build empathy (i.e., to help people walk in the shoes of others) in order to motivate action.
The idea of using virtual reality to build empathy on a communal scale is brilliant!
And it ties back to Darwin’s theory of survival.
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