‘Hand-Me-Downs’ is a new Clairification School feature, based on my lifelong of borrowing, sharing, recycling and upcycling. Why reinvent the wheel when someone already invented a perfectly good one?! I’ve found there are very few new ideas in the world. When I come across a good one, I like to borrow it. I urge…
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Wondering where fundraising is heading in our highly networked, overly saturated, noisy-as-all-get-out post-digital revolution world?
It’s a bit of a jungle out there, with so much competition for attention — for-profits, other nonprofits, political campaigns, friends, family.
It’s a wonderful time to seize the opportunity to put in place a system that values multiple voices.
Truly, if you’re able to really show people how much you value them, you’re going to rise to the top of the heap.
Of course, sometimes it’s easier said than done.
Today we’ll explore 4 keys to raising money in our socially-revolutionized zeitgeist.
In How to Use LinkedIn to Give Donors a Reason to Connect with You we looked at ways to make folks want to learn more about you. Today we’re going to look at how you can bond with folks and make them receptive to becoming more involved and invested with your cause.
What I like about these strategies is they’re relatively easy and won’t consume a lot of your time. And the payoff should be big.
LinkedIn is a veritable treasure trove of opportunity that goes largely overlooked by most nonprofits. And that’s a shame! In addition to being super useful for finding new prospects, researching existing donors and building your brand identity, thought leadership and credibility, it’s a virtual way to build relationships with folks when you can’t get up close and personal.
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Are you Linking In?
If not, it’s time to take a new look at this social platform to appreciate it for the beneficial research and relationship-building strategy it can be for you.
I find it to be a highly under-utilized tool when it comes to building your nonprofit brand, establishing authority and credibility, researching and recruiting new volunteers, donors and employees, and building stronger relationships with your current constituents.
Today we’re going to talk about how to use LinkedIn to uncover new donor prospects and build donor relationships.
Not too much. Just four no-nonsense strategies. We’ll look at two more in my next article.
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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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“Five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.”
— David Ogilvy, advertising legend
Your email subject line matters. A lot.
So this article is all about learning how to rock your online ‘envelope’ – which is really what determines if your email will get opened.
When you stop to think about this, it makes a lot of sense. Your email subject line has a function! And its form should follow that function.
People’s inboxes are increasingly cluttered, so you need to stand out. Big time! Really, you’ve probably got no more than two seconds to make an impression.
Do you think carefully about purpose when you create your email subject line? Do you even craft it at all, or do you delegate this essential function to someone else, perhaps an assistant or someone in your marketing or digital communications department? Someone who perhaps doesn’t really understand the email’s primary purpose as well as do you?
If you’re like most nonprofit fundraisers and marketers, you likely spend a lot of time crafting the perfect email body copy, selecting images and figuring out just the right design that will entice someone to respond to your call to action. Then, at the last minute, you’re ready to send it and hastily come up with a subject line.
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If you haven’t cottoned onto the fact that all marketing – nonprofit included – has vastly changed since the digital revolution, perhaps this incident will wake you up.
And I’m hoping it will persuade you to stop thinking so much about “engagement best practices” – all the social media tools and online strategies you read about every time you turn around, and where you’re directly competing with every business on the planet, instagramming friends, and whatnot – and begin to focus on an area where nonprofits have an unfair advantage.
Deliver meaning.
That’s what folks don’t have enough of.
That’s what folks crave.
And that’s what explains Nike’s recent daring move to put forward a polarizing marketing campaign featuring the face of American football quarterback Colin Kaepernick,
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How do you create loyal donors? By creating satisfying engagement and amazing experiences.
At. Every. Step. Of…
The. Donor. Journey.
This is the trek you facilitate. You’re a bit of a Donor Sherpa. The way you lead will impact whether, and how long, donors will follow. Every step of the journey is important.
How carefully are you thinking through each step?
No matter what you do, the steps exist. Your donor has to step through them. Forwards or backwards. Upwards or downwards.
Ascertain what these steps look like for your organization’s donors. Are they leading folks onward and upward? Or are they forbidding, dangerous and inherently unenticing? Honestly assess whether the journey is one that is donor-centered. Or one that is all about you, your convenience and your needs.
Before we get started with the creation of five donor experiences to boost online fundraising, I’d like you to being with one “to do.”
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Nonprofit fundraising and marketing is very different today than when I began. Yet not every nonprofit I encounter seems to have received the message.
That’s why I’m writing. Because the road to success has changed more in the past five years than the preceding 50.
Why?
It’s been called a “digital revolution,” a “disruptive” force and the “end of business as usual.”
“Outbound marketing” has been proclaimed dead, making way for “inbound marketing.”
The world is networked digitally in a way that was, until recently, unimaginable to most of us.
So… what does this mean for nonprofits? Especially for small to medium-sized nonprofits who don’t have staff with titles like “Online Fundraising Coordinator,” “Digital Communications Associate,” “Social Media Specialist” or “Digital Philanthropy Manager.”
How can you compete to raise awareness and support among your likely constituents?
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Here come 15 steps to successful email fundraising.
I’m going to tell you (1) why you should care about this, and (2) what you should do.
Not long ago, I posed the question: Why Aren’t You Doing More Online Fundraising? I hope it caused you to think and ponder a bit.
Now, as you’re no doubt planning ahead for the most giving time of the year, is a good time to turn those thoughts into action. How big a role is email going to play in your year-end fundraising strategy?
If you’re making your email campaign an afterthought, don’t.
Email is a critically important tool — especially at the end of the year when most of the money is raised,
Don’t worry that your donors will be annoyed. If you do it the right way, they won’t be. In fact, they’ll thank you for giving them the opportunity to do something that makes them feel good — and for making it easy for them to do so!.
Let’s begin with the “why”.
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