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Heed Maya Angelou to Retain More Donors

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

― Maya Angelou

Respected American author, poet, dancer, actress, singer and civil rights spokesperson, Maya Angelou, knows a thing or two about what makes people tick.

And when you’re endeavoring to keep more of your supporters, this is exactly what you must know too.

The Big Secret

Make people feel good. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Simple, yes? Common sense, yes?

And yet, how many of you actively practice this in your daily life at work?

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6 Secrets to Getting Your Donor Thank You Out in 48 Hours

In my work with nonprofits, especially the small to medium-sized ones (but sometimes the big ones too!) 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?

The good news is: You’re not alone.  The even better news is: I’m going to give you the answer to your question.

HERE’S THE BIGGEST SECRET:

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9 Smart Strategies to Interview Strong for a Fundraising Role

Learn what it takes to interview strong for a fundraising job!
What Interviewing for a Fundraising Job Can Teach You about Asking for a Major Gift  – and vice-versa

When I started out, I was a terrible interview. My first boss told me she hired me despite the interview!

What I learned over the years was that to interview strong you need to know – going in – what points you want to make. Then you make them, no matter what questions are asked of you.

In other words, you have to craft your own passionate “Case for Support!”

  • What is the employer’s need?
  • How will you address this need?
  • Why you?

The secret to getting the job offer is to craft an offer that someone just can’t refuse. Sound familiar? It’s just like…

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Clairity Click-it: Mobilegeddon; Social Action; Benchmarks; Major Gifts; Leadership + Learning Opptys

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Click it!

Once again it’s the end of the week. Woo hoo! Time for your weekly serving of interesting links from around the web. This week, they’re mostly nonprofit specific. And they’re useful too! There’s help if you need to get your website mobile ready. Plus social media guidelines to get you a bit more action in return for your labor. Then there’s a great study – with tons of data – so you can benchmark your results against industry averages. And there are tips to help you with major gifts and with staff and organizational leadership. Plus, as always, some great learning opportunities for you (scroll to the bottom).

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Clairity Click-it: Keep Donors; Make a Case; Neuromarketing; Appeal Frequency + News to Use

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Click it!

Want to keep more donors? This week’s Click-It will show you how in a number of different ways. Create magical experiences for supporters by taking a page from Disney. Craft a persuasive case for support by stepping into your donor’s shoes and asking yourself, and your team, some critical questions. Learn more about the importance of personalization by watching a video from Starbucks. Understand the psychology of the three different types of buyers (aka donors). And think critically about the number of appeals you send, and how this may help or hurt your donor acquisition, renewal and upgrade efforts. Plus you’ll find some “News You Can Use” (tons of really useful data and reports) at the bottom of this post.  To your success!

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The Heart of Effective Major Donor Development: It’s Not Money

The heart of major donor development is customer service
The heart of major donor development is demonstrating impact and showing gratitude. Continually.

Everyone wants to develop a major gifts program. Or to strengthen their existing major gifts program. Why? Because they want to raise more money.

If you approach major gifts development solely from this perspective you’ll ultimately fail.

You might raise more money for a little while. But over the long-term you’ll lose more support than you gain. Because it’s not just about money.

Successful, lifelong major donor relationships are about two things:

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Clairity Click-it: Ice Bucket Aftermath, Integrated Fundraising/Marketing, Prospecting, Change + Learning Opps

There’s a whole bucket full of interesting, practical and inspiring stuff in this week’s Click-It (and I don’t mean an ice bucket)! I’ve got stuff about what you must do to compete in a digital marketplace… articles about integrating fundraising and marketing (which I’m passionate about)…  stuff about types of skills to look for in today’s communications staff and some ideas as to which marketing channels give you the biggest bank for your buck.  And speaking of bang for the buck, there’s info on how to research donor prospects. Plus I’ve got a thought-provoking cartoon for you at the end.  And, as always, some great learning opportunities (scroll to the bottom) you won’t want to miss!

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Borrow from Jimmy Fallon to Keep More Donors

Set aside some time to show gratitude - you'll be doubly rewarded!
Set aside some time to show gratitude – you’ll be doubly rewarded!

TYIF!

If you’re a fan of late-night talk show host Jimmy Fallon, you know he sets aside time every Friday night to write thank you letters. I think of it as “TYIF” (“Thank You It’s Friday). Jimmy’s notes are usually creative and thought-provoking, like “Thank you, emails that say “You have successfully unsubscribed from these emails,” for completely missing the point. One of his band members plays some soothing music that’s conducive to thank you writing – after a while, the music alone is enough to get you in a grateful, thank-you-writing mood!

What if your nonprofit did the same thing?!

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Clairity Click-it: Nonprofit Staffing, Online Gratitude, Neuromarketing, Social Media, LinkedIn + Learning Opps

This week’s Click-It includes some really cool tips I’ve found for you across the web. Lots of practical stuff, plus some interesting data about how the human brain processes information. I also learned about a new website that might help you persuade your board to add a new position (or increase your salary). And, as always, some great learning opportunities (scroll to the bottom) you won’t want to miss!

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