License Plate: NOT GR8

Why are You Cutting Down Trees and Asking Me to Pay For It? 5 Cardinal Sins for Fundraising Renewal Appeals (aka, making a poor 2nd impression)

License Plate: NOT GR8I’ve taken to including a series of “DO’s” and “DON’Ts” for all sorts of fundraising and nonprofit marketing messages over the past several years.  My purpose is not to shame anyone, but simply to provide educational moments offering example-based food for thought as you craft your own appeals, thank you’s, reports and more.

Here’s an old, brief post of mine written before I started the “Do’s and Don’ts” feature. I happened upon it while searching for something else, and it gave me pause. It’s simple, to-the-point and, alas, still relevant.  Because I see these kinds of mistakes still being made. All. The. Time.

So, I thought I’d update a bit and re-share.

Why Do Fundraisers Who Should Know Better Keep Committing These Sins?

Maybe it’s because of the “monkey see, monkey do” nature of human beings. We see someone else do something and assume it’s good practice. Especially when they’re bigger than us and/or well regarded.

This ‘oldie but goodie’ I’m about to share followed on another post about the importance of making a good first impression with potential donors. With a renewal appeal, if you want to keep these folks, it’s equally important to make a good second impression.

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ducks in a row, swimming

5 More Top Strategies to Prepare for Fall Fundraising

ducks in a row, swimmingIn Part 1 of this two-part series of “Top 10 Strategies to Prepare for Fall Fundraising” we covered.

  1. Clean up Data
  2. Purge Mailing Lists
  3. Review Staff, Vendors and Freelancers
  4. Set Priority Objectives Based on Last Year’s Results
  5. Solidify a Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign

Today we’ll look at:

  1. Send Impact Reports to Set the Stage
  2. Stock Up on Compelling, Relevant Stories and Photos
  3. Connect with Major and Mid-Level Donors
  4. Prioritize Contacts with Mid-Level and Other Promising Supporters
  5. Plan Ahead to Welcome Donors to The Flock

Ready to get all your ducks in a row?

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Ducks in a row

Top 5 Strategies to Prepare for Fall Fundraising NOW

Ducks in a rowYou’ve got one month before fall fundraising season begins in earnest.

What will you do with it?

I’VE GOT 10 TOP STRATEGIES TO HELP YOU GET ALL YOUR DUCKS IN A ROW!

We’ll start with the first five today.

  1. Clean up Data
  2. Purge Mailing Lists
  3. Review Staff, Vendors and Freelancers
  4. Set Priority Objectives Based on Last Year’s Results
  5. Solidify a Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign

Next week we’ll look at:

  1. Send Impact Reports to Set the Stage
  2. Stock Up on Compelling, Relevant Stories and Photos
  3. Connect with Major and Mid-Level Donors
  4. Prioritize Contacts with Mid-Level and Other Promising Supporters
  5. Plan Ahead to Welcome Donors to The Flock

Ready?

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Just as there's a first kiss, there's a first time for everything for your nonprofit.

How to Persuade New Donors to Join Your Nonprofit Mission

Children holding hands

There’s a first time for everything, if you will it

 

What makes us think a perfect stranger, who’s never given to our organization before, will choose to do so?  It’s highly counter intuitive.

People are most likely to continue doing what they’ve done before.
Commitment and consistency is one of Robert Cialdini’s six principles of influence, and it’s useful in nonprofit marketing and fundraising. But only if you’ve got existing donors.
We talk a lot in fundraising professional circles about the folly of concentrating too many resources on donor acquisition and too little on donor retention. And for good reason. It’s significantly easier and more cost-effective to keep a current donor than to recruit a new one. Why?
It’s appreciably more difficult to get people to reach a new decision than to repeat an old one.
In fact, whenever I coach volunteers to do fundraising, I always suggest they remind current donors how many years they’ve already been giving to the organization.  This acts as a decision-making shortcut for these folks. Aha! They already decided this was a good idea.  No need to sweat it out again.  Done!
But… what if you’re a start-up organization that doesn’t have many donors?
What if your only choice is to go after first-time donors? How do you make a ‘sale’ if people are making a decision from scratch, with no previous history with you or knowledge about your vision, mission and values?
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Gala event room

Top Proven Nonprofit Fundraising Event Planning Tips

Gala event room

In my last article I offered a compendium of common sense event planning advice. It centered on the wisdom offered to Alice by the Cheshire Cat when she asked which road she should take:

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where–” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.

— Alice in Wonderland

Your direction and goal is important. Once you settle on the goal, then you’re able to pick the best road to take you there.

Hopefully you read the previous article, determined an event was your best strategic option to reach your primary end goal, and now you’re ready to get to work!

What are Some Top Planning Tips to Invite and Ignite?

Do these four things:

1. First you want people to come. 

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Gala event reception

Common Sense Nonprofit Event Planning Advice

Gala event reception

Let’s begin with the Big Kahuna piece of advice: Ask yourself WHY you want to do this event.

Were you to bring your event proposal to a wise shaman or mentor, this is the question they would ask you first – well before asking what theme or format you have in mind or what color scheme you want to use!

And yet this is the one question I find nonprofits failing to ask.  Somehow staff and boards alike think events are simply an inevitable part of the diversified fundraising mix.  Or maybe even the primary way to generate awareness and funds.

Events are neither inevitable nor primary. They are merely a means to an end.

And since they are extremely resource-intensive, it’s critical to think long and hard before embarking on a strategy that could potentially derail other more lucrative and cost-effective approaches.

Events have their place, to be sure; it’s up to you to put them in their place. You must take charge, lest they take charge of you!

What is Your End Goal?

You don’t buy a drill because you need a drill. More likely, you need to create a hole. Maybe the drill will do that best or, perhaps, there’s another more effective tool. It depends on the size and purpose of your desired hole. The same is true with nonprofit special events.

You don’t create an event for the sake of having one (no matter what one or more board members think would be swell.).

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Homeless man and donor on street

Why Smart Nonprofits Focus on Growing Monthly Giving

Homeless man and donor on streetFor at least the past five years I’ve been actively encouraging nonprofits of all stripes to begin or ramp up their monthly giving program. It made sense then. It makes even more sense now.

Why?

If there’s anything the past couple of years have taught us, you need a dependable source of income in order:

  • To be able to sustain programming for problems that never go away
  • To be able to weather current storms, anticipated and unanticipated, and
  • To be able to plan for the future.

It turns out there’s nothing as dependable as monthly donors.

In fact, donors who give to you recurrently sustain you so well a monthly giving strategy is often called a sustainer program.

Do you deserve a group of people who will sustain you through thick and thin?

Of course you do!

But you don’t always get what you deserve – unless you make it happen.

How to Make Monthly Giving Happen

As someone poetic so eloquently put it:

“Nothing will work unless you do.”

— Maya Angelou

There are four steps to a successful monthly giving work plan:

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Fundraising Do's & Don'ts logo

Fundraising Do’s vs. Don’ts: Monthly Donor Appeal Strategy

Fundraising Do's & Don'ts logoHere comes my occasional “Do’s vs. Don’ts” feature, where I share with you something arriving in my mailbox that seems a good ‘teaching opportunity.’

Today we’re going to review a monthly donor campaign strategy.

It arrived as an email. There’s (1) a subject line, (2) the email itself, and (3) what happens if/when you click through and are transported to the donation landing page.

We’ll take a look at the various elements; then assess what works/doesn’t work.

I’ll ask you some questions.

  1. Would you open this email?
  2. If yes, why?
  3. If no, why?
  4. What looks good about the email?
  5. What looks not so good about the email?
  6. Would it inspire you to click through?
  7. If yes, why?
  8. If no, why not?
  9. Once you click through, would you be inspired to take action?
  10. If yes, why?
  11. If no, why not?

First, I’d like you to think about your answers and jot them down.

Second, I’ll tell you what I think.

Third, if you disagree with me please let me know in the comments below.

Really take the time to notice what you like and don’t like.

I promise you’ll learn a LOT more this way. We learn best by doing.

Seriously, I mean it.

Let’s begin at the beginning.

Subject Headline

Claire, here’s a simple way to do your part to repair the world.

This may help: Take three minutes and jot down your answers to the first three questions on a piece of paper or your screen. I want to know if what was in the subject headline would have caused you to open the email or hit ‘delete.’

Okay.  Ready to learn what I think thus far, and also see what else we’re working with?

Let’s begin!

Does this Email Say “Open Me?”

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Pile of different envelopes

And, the envelope please…

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 brainstorming 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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