Thank you note writing

Don’t Blow Your Post-Holiday Opportunity to Thank Your Nonprofit Supporters

Thank you note writingFor good things once a year is not enough. Why do so many of us only eat turkey once a year?  Or pumpkin pie? I’ve no idea! It’s surely not rational. These are special foods we value and take great delight in. Yet we get into a bad habit of thinking on auto pilot. If it’s not Thanksgiving, the idea of roasting a turkey or making cranberry sauce doesn’t even enter most or our heads. And egg nog, hot mulled cider, panettone and stollen are mostly Christmas things. And then there are the once-a-year only potato latkes. Why are we missing out on an opportunity for greater joy and satisfaction?

When things are good, they bear repeating.

And this is most certainly the case with expressing gratitude to your valued supporters!

It’s not rational to thank your donors only annually.  They keep you going all year long. They deserve your gratitude all year long as well.

What better time to thank supporters than right now, and all through the coming weeks, after a holiday season filled with gratitude?

The much-anticipated “holiday season” is pretty much over. There’s a natural let-down for many.  Wouldn’t it be lovely for your donors and volunteers to get a call from their favorite charity? A call that simply expresses gratitude? If you reach your donor, the goal is to have a quick conversation. Most important: stick with pure gratitude as your focus. Your aim is to make your donor feel connected to your cause, and really good about their support. If no one picks up the phone, don’t waste the call. Leave an upbeat message.
            “Joe, hello! I just called because, in thinking over the past few days about all for which I’m grateful, I realized I’m grateful for you and all you do to make our community a more caring place. I just wanted you to know how much your support is appreciated. Thanks so much, and may the new year bring many blessings.”
My hunch is there’s nothing better you could do with your time today. Or early next week if you’re taking some personal (or shopping the sales?) time today.

All the “strategies” in the world can’t substitute for a genuine, personal connection that comes from the heart.

Don’t let weeks and months go by. Connect!  Express your thanks!  Don’t wait until you’ve got a perfectly crafted letter, email or insert piece. That’s called procrastination, or “letting perfect be the enemy of the good.” Sometimes, timing is everything.
Details
Leave a commentDonor Retention
four people raise hands in support of your cause

Psychology of Securing Lasting Nonprofit Donor Commitments

four people raise hands in support of your cause

The more publicly people commit, the more resistant they are to changing their minds

This relates to one of Robert Cialdini’s principles of influence and persuasion: “commitment and consistency.”

The main point is this:

Once we make a decision, and strongly attach ourselves to an idea by agreeing orally or in writing, it’s more likely we’ll stick with that decision than change our minds.

Because we are wired to want to be consistent.

That to which we commit, especially publicly, becomes congruent with our self image.

What does this mean for you as a fundraiser?

Details
Leave a commentDonor Retention
I am grateful

How to Cultivate Awe, Gratitude, Altruism and Meaning to Significantly Boost Nonprofit Fundraising

I am grateful

Philanthropy is about reciprocal awe, gratitude, altruism and purpose.

I’m a huge fan of the Greater Good Science Center at U.C. Berkeley, and often apply their research to nonprofit fundraising and marketing.  This particular article really strikes me today, because it talks about times when we feel isolated from others: How to Find Your Purpose in Life.

Over my 30 years of practice as an in-house development professional, I’ve encountered a lot of people feeling isolated. It’s one of the reasons they reach out to social benefit organizations, because they crave community and purpose. Depending on what’s going on in the broader world around us, this feeling can be more or less at the forefront of people’s experience. When this feeling creeps in, this is a time for you to rededicate yourself to your fundamental role as a philanthropy facilitator. Or, as my mentor (and who some call the “father of fundraising)” Hank Rosso said: your role in “the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.”

Here’s what it boils down to:

You serve your donors every bit as much as they serve your organization’s mission.

Please allow that to sink in.

You have a mission and purpose. Donors can help you get there.

Your donors are looking for purpose. You can help them find it.

It’s a symbiotic relationship.  And you have a role in fostering that relationship.  What is that role?

Your job is to facilitate your donor’s philanthropic journey. Their journey to discover their purpose.

So what’s this really all about?

Details
2 CommentsDonor Retention
Olympic flag

Lift Up Your Nonprofit Donors with Their Olympic Moment

Olympic flag

“Give me one moment in time.

When I’m more than I thought could be.

When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away.

And the answers are all up to me.”

Ah, the lyrics remembered from a Whitney Houston song sung at the 1988 Olympics Opening Ceremonies.  The Olympic torch. The parade of nations. The stories, stories and stories.

Chills run down my spine.  The hairs stand straight on my neck.  A lump comes to my throat.

Cheesy, I know.  But it gets to me.

We all yearn for that one moment where we step outside our daily, mundane lives and exceed our wildest expectations.

When we’re bigger than ourselves.

We can’t all be gold medal athletes, but we can all be gold medal philanthropists.

And gold medal philanthropy facilitators.

The Olympics lifts us up.  At its best, philanthropy does this as well.

It inspires us.

It engages us fully.

It’s as addictive as chocolate when done right.

In fact, MRI data show us when people even simply contemplate giving, the pleasure centers of their brain light up. The very same area of the brain that lights up when we eat chocolate! One might call this the “philanthropic high.”

And, unlike other addictions, this one is good for us!

Details
Leave a commentDonor Retention
Cookie Monster when his name is misspelled

Donor’s Lament: You Didn’t Thank Me Properly

Cookie Monster when his name is misspelled

Everything I learned about saying “thank you” I learned from:

According to Burk’s research from Donor-Centered Fundraising, more than 80% of thank you letters start with “Thank you for your generous gift of…” or “On behalf of the Board of Directors, thank you for your generous gift of…”

Y  A  W  N

  • Want to stand out?
  • Want your donor to actually read your letter?
  • Want your donor to feel good about the decision they made to invest in you?
  • Want your donor to feel warm and fuzzy inside?
  • Want your donor to say “Aw, that’s SO nice!”
  • Want your donor to feel the opposite of bored?
Details
1 CommentDonor Retention
Girls sharing secrets

5 Secret Nonprofit Donor Retention Action Strategies

Girls sharing secretsGiving is an emotional experience. It deserves an emotional response.

Be human.

Ever notice how sometimes when we put on our work hats we cease to be human? How we somehow morph into little robotic “professionals” and become enamored of jargon?

“Lybnts.” “Sybnts.” “Recaptures.”

Not that those things aren’t important. You need goals and objectives.

And given the dreadful state of donor retention in the U.S. today (and in the U.K and Canada as well), it’s vital you be able to measure how you’re doing. Because growth in giving is a factor not just of how many new donors and dollars you acquire, but also of how many donors and dollars you lose.

If you lose as many current donors as you gain new ones, you’re getting nowhere. Fast.

Treadmills Are Only Good in the Gym

Slow down.

Think about what you’re doing and why. You may need to change your frame of mind.

When you acquire a new donor, is it for that one-time transaction? If so, that’s not a very thoughtful strategy, because it costs more money than you make to acquire new donors. In fact, you likely won’t make back your investment for 18 months or so. You won’t make it back at all if you don’t renew that donor.

Nonprofits, sadly, have been on a non-stop treadmill. Donors in. Donors out. Donors in. Donors out. So… something about just measuring this stuff isn’t really working.

Details
Leave a commentDonor Retention

Are You Rocking Donor Retention 101?

You love me. I love you. Let's hang out and rock!

You love me. I love you. Let’s hang out and rock!

 

Really, donors definitely want to rock and roll with you. It brings them joy and meaning!

Yet, I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s doubtful you’re rocking along with your donors unless you’re making robust use of your donor database for this purpose.

In other words, you must make donor engagement and retention a TOP priority.

Retention lives or dies in how effectively, or not, you use your database to support your relationship-building, loyalty-driving efforts.

If you think of your database as a largely undifferentiated mailing list, you’re not going to realize your potential to:

  • Boost renewal rates
  • Increase average gift size
  • Upgrade donors
  • Secure major and legacy gifts
  • Recapture lapsed donors
  • … and more!

Really, I just can’t bear to think of you not maximizing return on your investment.

And that won’t happen unless you focus on donor lifetime value.

And lifetime value will be very, very small — unless you retain and upgrade donors over time.

There are 5 Keys to Donor Retention

Details
Leave a commentDonor Retention
Matchmaker-make-me-a-match.jpg

Which Song from Fiddler on the Roof Describes a Nonprofit Fundraiser’s Job?

While you might be tempted to guess “If I were a Rich Man,” that’s not it.

Because that would be making fundraising mostly about money.

And, actually, fundraising is mostly about love.

So the correct answer is “Matchmaker.”

That’s right. Your job is to make the perfect match between the values your organization enacts and the values your donor shares.

Because when people connect, and care about one another, our world tips ever more slightly back into balance.

Right now we live in troubling times, where the world seems wildly out of whack and people seem further and further apart.

Philanthropy provides a perfect opportunity to bring people together.

And who knows the most about making people fit together?  Matchmakers!

And today’s matchmakers have more tools than ever before at their fingertips. Hence the success of online dating services. Though it would’ve been easy to assume matchmaking is such a personal endeavor technology could never touch it, that’s not the case at all.  Because the digital revolution means people today are more connected than ever. Successful matchmakers don’t eschew technology; they embrace it. So should you.

Emulate These 6 Things Matchmakers Do

Details
Leave a commentDonor Retention