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.
In fact, “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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Time to Reframe How You Do Nonprofit Fundraising

Things not looking as you remembered them?
Reframing how you’ve done fundraising in the past is not optional.

It’s time for a change.

You must do it, because fundraising and nonprofit marketing have changed a LOT over the past ten years. Actually, over the past two years. There is absolutely no denying this at this point. You need to adapt. Or suffer the consequences.

If you’re still doing the same exact things you did ten, five, or even two years ago, it’s time to rethink. If you have leaders who doubt there’s a need for change, simply explain the reasons as I’ve outlined below:

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Awesome/Less Awesome Sandwich Board

Key Strategies to Give Meaningful Nonprofit Work Feedback

Awesome/Less Awesome Sandwich BoardConfession: This is something I struggled with in my 30 years as a manager.

I wanted to reward folks, but I tended to focus too much on things like money (which the organization often didn’t have enough of) — and too little on gratitude, praise and recognition. We all want validation and approval. And not just once a year.

Alas, positive reinforcement didn’t come to me as naturally as pointing out weaknesses. I had both a boss (and a mother) who role modelled this for me.

Sigh…

This same critical boss also told me, whenever I wanted to give someone a raise, money didn’t motivate people.  All sorts of other things mattered more, including work environment.

At the time, I didn’t really believe this. I was constantly advocating for well-deserved raises because I thought it was the best gift I had to offer. And, by golly, it seemed like the right and fair thing to do! She told me resources were limited, and the satisfaction from a raise is fleeting, compared with things like greater authority, autonomy, praise and recognition.

You know what? She was right. Not about leaning into criticism, but about what is most meaningful to employees in a workplace.

What Matters Most?

I found, as much as the people who worked for me enjoyed a good raise, they complained a lot more about lack of advancement opportunity, responsibility without authority, a top-down infrastructure, lack of job fit, unrealistically high expectations, shortage of support and an overall stressful work environment.

If money is really bad, of course, it will get in the way.  However, it’s worth noting money is only fourth among the top five reasons people cite for leaving a job. In fact, the preponderance of research into the value of money as a motivator notes it is a motivator only up to a certain point; once folks reach that level, more money has a negligible impact on their satisfaction.

[Background: I was fortunate during my career not to work at places where folks were expected to buy into the “starvation cycle” mentality and live below minimum wage. Where I worked, people generally were fairly and well-compensated. Sure, they’d likely tell you they wanted more money.  But this was not the reason they left.]

“In a nutshell: money does not buy engagement.”

— Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, author, Why Do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? (and How to Fix It)

Employee engagement is a product of overall work environment (culture) and specific management support (feedback, praise and recognition).

Begin with an Engaging Work Environment

A huge part of what employees will describe as “work environment” has to do with meaningful engagement, or lack thereof. And there are two ways to promote this engagement:

  1. Develop a broad, organizational culture of philanthropy [See here, here, here and here.]
  2. Develop a feedback system incorporating authentic praise, recognition and a focus on strengths, not weaknesses.

I talk a lot about the former. Today I’d like to hone in on the latter.

(1) Because… for engagement to stick, the two types must go hand-in-hand.

In fact, research reveals

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Donor conversation

Top Strategies for Open Nonprofit Donor Conversations

Donor conversation

Every donor conversation should be co-creative.

 

A few years ago I enrolled in an intensive coaching course. It wasn’t designed just for aspiring professional coaches, but for anyone who wanted to bring a more thoughtful, empowering approach to everyday conversations.

What struck me most was how directly these lessons apply to fundraising — especially donor conversations.

At the heart of this approach are two qualities every fundraiser needs.

1. CURIOSITY

When you’re genuinely curious about another person you ask questions to draw them out.

And questions to help them get to the place they want to go; not where you think they should go.

Because what’s right for you is not always right for someone else. They’ll tell you what’s right – with you acting as their guide – but only if you’re interested enough to ask.

It happens some questions are better than others if you want to get to the core of the matter at hand. We’ll get to those in a moment.

2. LISTENING

There’s a better way to have dynamic, effective conversations than jumping in prematurely with your own opinion.

I’ve always known this, but it turns out there’s more to it than adopting the old adage: “You have two ears and one mouth; use them in that proportion.”

Because it’s how you approach the listening that matters.

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Leave a commentMajor & Legacy Gifts
Heart held in hands

Better Nonprofit Communications: 7 Simple Ways to Increase Donor Response

Nonprofits put enormous time and care into donor communications. Yet too often, appeals, es, newsletters, websites, and event promotions fail to generate the response organizations hope for. Why? Usually. it’s not because the mission isn’t compelling. It’s because the communication isn’t connecting quickly or emotionally enough. Today’s donors are overloaded with information and constantly distracted.…

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Big earred deer

4 Strategies to Listen so Others Will Talk

Big earred deer

The better to hear you with!

You have two ears and one mouth. Use them in that proportion.

Ever hear that?

It’s the secret to building authentic, lasting relationships. Full stop.

Whether you’re dating, parenting, teaching, attending a conference or hosting a dinner party, the ability to be fully present – in listening mode – will impact so many things. For good or ill.

  • Whether people want to keep talking to you, or don’t.
  • Whether people feel relaxed and open, or anxious and stressed.
  • Whether people want to tear down walls, or build them up.
  • Whether you learn something, or don’t.
  • Whether you’re perceived as compassionate, understanding and helpful, or not.
  • Whether people like you, or don’t.

Donor loyalty and love are earned, and it begins with YOU listening.

If I had to boil down Penelope Burk’s two decades of groundbreaking research in donor-centered fundraising into one thing donors want, it would be this: SHOW ME YOU KNOW ME. There are lots of ways to do this, but we sometimes miss out on the most obvious one.

Become a Donor Coach

Your job – as fundraiser, nonprofit professional and philanthropy coach – is to help your donors see the way to greatness. Think of this as part and parcel of your job as a philanthropy facilitator. In donor coaching mode, you need to listen so you can find “coaching moments” – opportunities to motivate donors to engage with, and act on, their passions in a way that brings them meaning and joy.

“Coaching is a worldview that is driven by the intention to be of service to others.”

— Dianna Andersen, Cyliant

Your job is to guide folks over the river, through the woods, up the mountain and

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basket of fresh produce

Fresh Nonprofit Marketing Ideas: Be Patient. Be Strategic. Be Funded.

When it comes to marketing communications, you need a strategic plan that will serve you in the current digitally-revolutionized and highly networked world.  Not what you’ve been doing every year for the past decade, but something that will really serve you in today’s rapidly evolving and competitive marketplace. Honestly, this isn’t new advice. Nine years…

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cat and bird size each other up

Show Me You Know Me* — 5 Strategies To Sustain Donor Relationships

 

cat and bird size each other upLet’s pretend you and your donor are not connecting meaningfully right now. You’re not sure why. Could it be they feel financially insecure…  they’re worried for their kids… they’ve been let down by politicians… they’re just feeling cynical and/or hopeless? For whatever reason, things aren’t singing between you and them. They haven’t renewed. They haven’t upgraded. They haven’t responded to any of your outreach. They seem to have other priorities.

So, you decide to go to counseling to reinvigorate the relationship. The therapist makes a wise observation: Sometimes in life, one partner feels strong; the other less strong. In such times, the stronger partner has resources to support the weaker partner. Other times, neither partner feels they have coping resources. During these times, we have to depend more on ourselves, be patient, and accept that our partner is not currently in a strong position – even though we really need their support.

Are you being a support for your donor? Are you helping, not selling all the time? Are you being patient, yet persistently showing you care?

We’re in turbulent times.. Alas, as need is burgeoning there are fewer individual givers.  During the pandemic, some industries, like education, began losing support. As did many smaller charities not involved in addressing hot-button topics. And prior to the pandemic studies showed giving to be sluggish. Donors are less loyal. Donors may be distracted by emergencies. Or so-called rage giving. Or simply uncertainty about what lies ahead. So they’re giving less consistently. As a result, donor centered fundraising has never been as important as it is now.

People are feeling a need to be nurtured. In other words: Ask not what your donors can do for you, but what you can do for your donors. Recognize they don’t serve you; you serve them. They don’t owe you; you owe them.  Your job is to help them experience the joy of giving. It is through you they will achieve their most meaningful work.

Embrace the true meaning of philanthropy as love of humankind.  Remember your donors are humankind; you must love them if you want to be a part of philanthropy.  Otherwise, you’re just transacting business.

So… what can you do to embrace love — 360 degrees — and thereby open the doors to passionate philanthropy?

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2 CommentsDonor Retention