Sometimes in life we make a bad bargain.
At the time, it doesn’t seem so bad.
In fact, it might be a good bargain for that particular moment.
But then… things evolve.
The bargain no longer works for us.
But we may not realize it.
We may just live in quiet pain.
Sometimes nonprofit work can be like this.
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”.
Many nonprofits are stuck.
They’re tethered to their early decisions. Often made by others who came before them.
But times change. Organizations evolve.
Or they don’t.
The organizations that don’t adapt to changing times are often those that fail to make new decisions. They’re the ones who say “that’s not how we do things here.” Or they poo-poo decisions made by new folks who come on the scene, saying “they don’t understand our culture.”
These are the organizations that tend to shrink over time. They lose their energy. Their once-vital raison d’etre becomes less urgent. And their appeal to donors diminishes.
I recently listened to Jerry Panas, one of the most revered fundraisers in our country, talk about what he called the “deficit of mission.” He made it very clear that boards have two critical roles:
Who doesn’t love a holiday?
The very word conjures up notions of celebration, warmth and love.
If you’re a donor-centered fundraising practitioner, you’d be a fool not to take advantage. Why not tap into pre-existing positive vibes to increase the chances your appeal will be warmly received?
After all, if you can channel something positive that’s more or less universally felt, this gives you a leg up. It puts your donors in a giving mood using familiar symbols and traditions.
Except when it doesn’t.
Trust is the foundation of all lasting relationships.
If you don’t build trust, or if somehow you manage to destroy it, you’re going to lose your donor.
Sadly, this happens more often than not. By now you’re likely familiar with the stats on donor retention from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project. Only 23% of first-time donors renew. Only 46% of all donors, new plus ongoing, renew.
If you want to improve on these retention rates (and you definitely can!), I’m going to suggest you develop a plan to build trust.
Trust is built not simply by what you say, but by what you do. Not just once, but consistently over time.
You really must! Because the world in which we fundraise is changing rapidly.
Keeping up is challenging.
Yet that’s not a good reason to pretend that time has stopped. I’m not suggesting you neglect the tried-and-true fundamentals, of course (direct mail, telephone, events, face-to-face).
You need them! And they still work. But you’ve got to leverage them with today’s tools, within the context of today’s marketplace.
This is your time. This is our time. But, these times are different and what comes next is difficult to grasp. How people communicate. How people learn and share. How people make decisions. Everything is different now. Think about this…you’re reading this article because it was sent to you via email. Yet more people spend their online time in social networks than they do in email…Technologies such as social, mobile, virtual, augmented, et al compel us adapt our story and value proposition and extend our reach to be part of communities we don’t realize exist.
The people who will keep you in business or running tomorrow are the very people you’re not reaching today. Before you continue to read on, allow me to clarify my point of view. My inspiration for writing this is to help you augment, not necessarily replace, the programs you’re running today. We must still reach those whom matter to us in the ways they prefer to be engaged. .
— Brian Solis, The End of Business as Usual
I don’t usually do this, but today I’m incorporating the full text of a recent blog by Seth Godin. It’s not about philanthropy or fundraising. Or, is it? He says it’s about ‘goodwill,’ or the lack thereof. What it costs you to lose it. I say – you really should read what he says…
Today we’re going to think outside the box.
I’m going to suggest your nonprofit consider creating an app.
Yes, one of those things people buy at the app store.
Lest you think I’m crazy, this is an idea I’ve been noodling around for some time now.
And I think its time may finally have come!
Okay, maybe not 100%.
But there’s something to be said for the mobile, app-based experience.
Not just for retail giants, but for social benefit causes too.
The idea began to glimmer for me
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.
A good fundraising strategic plan, like a menu, should be broken into component parts so it’s easy to wrap your brain around.
With a menu, it might be appetizers, meat entrees, seafood entrees, vegetarian entrees, sides and desserts.
With a fundraising plan, it tends to break down into strategies. It might be annual giving, major gifts, legacy gifts, grants, events and so forth.
Before you can get to determining your priority strategies, however, you need to do a mini fundraising audit.
When I begin working with a new nonprofit client, I always ask the same three questions.
It simply makes sense to follow the money. Where is it? Let’s begin with that elephant-shaped piñata in the middle of the room. It’s filled with 80% of all philanthropy. You’ve got to figure out how to get the goodies out of it or you’ll just be scrambling for spare change. The most recent data…
A sailboat without a sail might float.
For a long time, in fact.
But without a sail, it can’t go anywhere, can’t fulfill its function.
Floating is insufficient.
– Seth Godin
These are serious questions that deserve your serious consideration.
So… take a moment right now to answer these three questions for yourself.
Go ahead.
Put an “F” or an “S” next to each one of these.
Are you aware that one of the hottest things in for-profit management over the past 5 – 10 years or so is “customer experience?” There’s an entire industry that’s grown up around it.
It’s something that goes beyond customer service.
Customer service is to an outbound marketing world what customer experience is to an inbound marketing world. The former you do to your constituents; the latter you do with them.
You may be asking why this is important.
Post digital revolution, nonprofits must adapt to the realities of inbound marketing. The way people find and engage with you in a constantly connected, networked marketplace has changed. Your constituencies crave interaction. And meaning. And, gosh darn it, they want you to make them feel good!
They want a full-bore, positive experience with you.
Fail to deliver? They’ll go elsewhere.
I’ve been asked this question many times.
One of the ways I’ve answered is with my own question: If you could invest 20 cents to get a dollar, would you? If you could invest 50 cents to get a dollar, would you?
By now you undoubtedly know you’re losing too many first-time donors.
In fact, the Fundraising Effectiveness Project report shows you’re losing an average of 77% of these folks!
Today I want to talk about a subset of new donors who don’t renew. They’re called “third party donors,” and they come to you through a variety of portals:
If you don’t build donor loyalty over time, you’re really missing out on the long-term value of every donor you bring in. And, guess what else?
You’re working too hard.
Donors come in. Donors go out. Donors come in. Donors go out.
One-time gifts are here today, gone tomorrow.
It’s like being on a non-stop treadmill. Just exhausting!
But there’s an easy way to catch your breath, and even begin to enjoy breathing again.
Instead of continuing on as a transactional fundraiser, become a donor experience transformist!
Charity auctions are an oft-held fundraising event, but even the most seasoned nonprofits often don’t host them well.
Since auctions are multifaceted events that are relatively complicated to organize, many organizations focus too much on getting the logistics in order and not enough on how they can provide an amazing experience for their donors.
Instead of considering how they can leverage their auction to build deeper supporter relationships, they bolt straight to the fundraising finish line: increasing event proceeds. It’s no wonder that event retention is so low!
In this article you’ll receive great advice from Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation, as to how you can make your auction a more positive experience for your donors, focusing specifically on how auction software can help.
Video marketing is taking over the world, and for good reason. Compelling videos are the best way to connect with your audience no matter where they are or what device they’re on.
For nonprofit organizations, video provides the opportunity to strengthen donor engagement and outreach across channels, especially through social networks where the medium continues to grow in popularity.
So how does video relate to peer-to-peer fundraising?
It’s all about getting people involved!
In order to get people passionate about raising money from their personal networks on behalf of your cause you have to show them why they should care.
Video is the perfect platform to help you do just that—in fact, 60% of people prefer watching a video to reading text. And it doesn’t have to be complicated.
Here are 5 simple video ideas your organization can use to encourage more participation and donations for your next peer-to-peer fundraising campaign.
E-newsletters are dinosaurs.
There, I’ve said it. There are many reasons I favor blogs over e-newsletters for nonprofits. They simply try to accomplish too much at once. As a result, they tend to accomplish very little.
Blogs are best if:
Today I’m going to tell you about just two of the reasons blogs out-perform e-newsletters, but they’re doozies.
And they accomplish all of the points I’ve just bulleted.
It’s the time of year when nonprofits are evaluating their recent fundraising results and making new year’s resolutions to bring in more contributions in the coming year. But… how?
What will move the needle for you this year?
No doubt there are a number of things you can do more effectively. I’ll be talking about many of them in the weeks and months ahead. Today, however, I want to discuss one thing you may or may not be giving serious thought to.
MONTHLY GIVING.
Chances are you already have some sort of monthly sustainer program. But… is it the best it can be? Could it do more heavy lifting for you?
Today I’ve asked an expert, Bill Sayre, President of Merkle RMG, to give me his thoughts on what you can do right now to begin and/or better manage a monthly giving program.
If you’ve got donors, then you have the raw material for a major donor program – and it’s easier than you think.
Begin with your own database.
Most organizations have plenty of donor prospects, without having to go outside and look for prospects who aren’t connected to you.
You know who I mean. The people your board members tend to suggest to you. Folks who may be rich, and may even be philanthropic elsewhere, but don’t have any interest in what you do. And no one knows them or can make an introduction to them.
Don’t start with the most out-of-reach prospects. You can be a major donor prospect rainmaker without having to go outside or reach too far.
Last year if you followed me, I gave you 5 priorities for success in 2016. I called them “Dive the Five.” This year, I’ve expanded my thinking a bit. ‘SEVEN IS HEAVEN.’ Create Compelling Annual Giving Offers Master Integrated On Social Fundraising Master Major & Legacy Giving Master Donor Retention Master Donor-Centered Content Marketing Embrace…
It’s that time of year. You know. The best movies of the year. Best bos of the year. Most embarrassing moments of the year. List time! Here’s my “Top Ten” list of the most-read Clairification articles in 2016. Some of them were written this past year. Some in previous years (oldies, but apparently goodies –…
Lemonade Standitis is a bit like Zika virus.
Silent, but deadly.
It infects you, but you may not realize it.
The symptoms can be easily misdiagnosed, only showing up later down the line in a different form.
By then, it’s too late.
If you’ve got it, you’re no doubt leaving money on the table, working harder than you need to, and putting the long-term sustainability of your nonprofit business at risk.
Want to avoid this dreaded sustainability killer?
Do you have that year-end feeling?
You know, the one that many fundraisers get around this time of year?
Kind of frenetic? Kind of anxious?
You’re not alone.
Here come 14 steps to successful email fundraising.
You’re no doubt planning your year-end fundraising strategy now. How big a role is email going to play?
If you’re making your email campaign an afterthought, don’t. That holds for this year, and the foreseeable future. It holds before, during and after your pitch.
If you get good at email marketing and fundraising, you won’t be wasting your efforts.
Not today. Not tomorrow.
Since the end of the year is when most of the money is raised, there’s no time like the present to begin.
What can you do now to prime the pump so your donors are pre-disposed to give to you when they receive your next appeal?
In Part 1 of this two-part series I described research from Robert Cialdini, author of the seminal Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and his newer 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.
Today we’ll 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.
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.
A very accomplished friend of mine recently wrote a beautiful and provocative article I want to share. It resonated with me on many levels, not the least of which spoke to me wearing my hat as a philanthropy facilitator and nonprofit coach.
Thank you Tara Mohr for having the courage to share On Political Fear. Tara writes:
I don’t do othering. I don’t think one party or place on the political spectrum has a monopoly on truth. I think we all need to be speaking up right now.
Tara, in speaking up, describes herself as “proudly afraid.”
Thinking about how to get more new donors this year? Wondering if you should purchase lists?
Consider this: Response to peer-to-peer fundraising is about 25% compared with direct-to-donor campaigns where response is 1 – 2%.
Why? People respond better to people than they do to organizations. Especially when it’s people they know and trust.
Never think of your event as a stand-alone. That’s a waste of your time.
Always think in terms of “What’s next?”
You must always be cognizant of moving folks along a relationship continuum.
From awareness… to interest… to involvement… to investment.
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.
We’re in the midst of a generational shift: Millennials have recently surpassed Boomers as the largest generation in America, and have surpassed Generation X as the largest part of the American workforce.
As these changes happen, nonprofits should take a look at their marketing channels and make sure they are using the right methods to reach each generation.
What prompted me to write this article was a recent post by Matthew Sherrington on the 101 Fundraising Blog about the dangers to the public benefit sector posed by erosion of trust. We’ve known for some time that whenever there’s a charity scandal, the bad behavior of one player can become detrimental to all. But over the past year in the U.K. the problem has become even more challenging. Could it happen here? Matthew says “yes.” And I concur. Trust is a fragile thing.
In the U.K what happened was a perfect storm of perceived over-solicitation and insufficient outcomes, exacerbated by a barrage of media that sounded an alarm about nefarious practices. Trust plummeted. A wake-up call, for sure.
But what does it mean?
This is important.
It’s about a new report that may change how you do fundraising.
It should.
Let me explain.
By tending to focus more on expensive, staff-intensive acquisition strategies like direct mail and special events, charities are bringing in one-time donors who never give to them again.
The majority of nonprofits are not paying enough attention to social media. This may have been understandable five years ago. Today, it’s just plain dumb. If You’re Absent No one Can See You Nonprofits constantly talk about their need to “build awareness.” In our digital world, it should be patently obvious that if you want…
Imagine you’re baking a cake. You put in the flour, eggs, milk, and sugar, whip it all together, and put it in the oven for an hour. But, when the timer dings and you open the oven door, you find that instead of one perfect cake, you have two!
This situation is physically impossible (unless you’re a wizard or a magician), but it’s a good illustration for how matching gift programs can benefit your nonprofit.
When donors take advantage of their employers’ matching gift programs, they essentially double the amount of money that they give to your organization. Two cakes (I mean, donations!) for the price of one!
Hope you enjoy these links, free resources and training opportunities. Again, I’ve organized according to two of the top 5 areas I’m hoping you’re working on improving this year. This week it’s:
There are also some “food for thought” articles in other areas, plus links to free resources and upcoming training opportunities. There’s bound to be something here you’ll find useful!
Hope you enjoy these links, free resources and training opportunities. Again, I’ve organized according to three of the top 5 areas I’m hoping you’re working on improving this year. This week it’s
There are also “food for thought” articles in other areas, plus links to free resources and awesome upcoming training opportunities. Use ’em or lose ’em!
Philanthropy is a mindset. An embracing culture. A noble value.
Fundraising is a means towards that end. Servant to philanthropy.
Philanthropy, not fundraising.
This has been the tagline for my business and blog since I began Clairification in 2011. It grew naturally out of my experiences working as a frontline development director for 30 years. I’ve always insisted that no single person could possibly receive credit for a donation. “Donors don’t give because of development staff,” I’d tell program staff. “They give because of the great work you do!”
In Part 1 of this article I encouraged you to make this the year you begin to study psychology and apply it more to your integrated development (marketing and fundraising) strategy. I shared with you an infographic developed by marketing strategist Gregory Ciotti that some of the psychology underlying human behavior. Because there’s a lot for nonprofits to learn and apply, I’m taking you through them one by one. Today let’s complete the Top 10 list.
Today’s focus is on donor retention, as our year-long “Dive the Five” virtual course continues! In fact, you can use the principles you learn here for donor acquisition as well. In for-profit parlance, we’ll be discussing how to “convert customers.” In non-profit parlance it’s all about turning prospects into donors and donors into repeat donors.
I encourage you to make this the year you begin to study psychology and apply it more to your integrated development (marketing and fundraising) strategy.
“Human beings have always been social animals. The digital revolution has simply made electronic media (email, the internet and social media) our ‘go-to’ place to socialize and connect with our fellow humans.”
This sentiment that Claire crafted really spoke to me as I was reading her article the other day.
It’s a deep truth. We are social beings. We’re also incredibly mobile now, though.
Ironically, even though we’re constantly on the go, we are the most connected we’ve ever been.
Two good posts recently at re: charity (Brady Josephson) and Future Fundraising Now (Jeff Brooks) about what charities should do today to prepare for tomorrow. Both embrace a quote from Jeff Bezos:
I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.
Sounds good.
But think about this a bit more.
Two good posts recently at re: charity (Brady Josephson) and Future Fundraising Now (Jeff Brooks) about what charities should do today to prepare for tomorrow. Both embrace a quote from Jeff Bezos:
I very frequently get the question: ‘What’s going to change in the next 10 years?’ I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next 10 years?’ And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two — because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.
Sounds good.
But think about this a bit more.
“My board is driving me nuts!”
Today is “leap day” — that little something extra we’re given every four years, just to slow things down a bit and make February last a bit longer.
Leap day has something in common with nonprofit boards of directors — that little something extra, volunteers put in charge of the business, that has an unfortunate tendency to slow things down and make decision-making take a lot, lot longer than it usually should.
Do you want to increase your fundraising proceeds dramatically, without significantly increasing your resources?
In this post, you’ll learn how to effectively increase your fundraising proceeds through use of online Peer-to-Peer fundraising.
Peer-to-Peer fundraising (P2P fundraising) is the idea of leveraging your cause/organization’s supporters and empowering them to become your best fundraising advocates in order to expand your mission’s reach and grow your donor base and proceeds. It’s a multi-tiered approach, where donors are asked to raise money in addition to donating.
This year I’ll be sharing a lot of resources related to the “Dive the Five” fundamental principles we’ll be discussing in our ongoing virtual fundraising curriculum. You remember them, don’t you?
I want you to use these “buckets” as an organizing framework for your development efforts this year, so I’m organizing my “Click-its” this way as well.
From time to time I’ll add in other subjects and offer you some food for thought that I just can’t help but share with you. And, as always, if you scroll to the bottom you’ll find some free resources and upcoming learning opportunities.
This week’s Click-it is another mélange of fundraising wisdom, ranging from events to social media and taking a look at which generations are good target markets for you. Plus some fun posts.
And, as always, if you scroll to the bottom you’ll find some free resources I’ve selected for you. There’s some really worthwhile stuff here — and I’ve got a lot of it this week.
See you next week where I’ll return to my “Dive the Five” virtual nonprofit curriculum. Want to know the top five priority areas for your focus in the coming year? Make sure you’re subscribed to Clairification so you don’t miss an article!
And now, on to this week’s articles…
This week’s Click-it is a mélange of fundraising wisdom, beginning with mission statements, target markets, email tactics, fundraising psychology and some insight from the invariably provocative Seth Godin.
And, as always, if you scroll to the bottom you’ll find some free resources I’ve found just for you.
You may recall that I promised to do new something new this year – “Dive the Five.”
I’ve selected five major themes to discuss with you this year in depth.