I firmly believe part of the role of a philanthropy facilitator is to foster both individual and community well-being. You must both: (1) focus inward, as you can’t help others unless you first help yourself, and (2) focus on the way you connect with others. What you say, What you do, and, most important, How…
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Remember learning your multiplication tables? The concept is powerful for fundraising!
People love to S-T-R-E-T-C-H their dollars.
This is the basic psychology underlying “BOGO” (Buy One; Get One free) and “2 for the price of 1” sales. For a variety of reasons, we’re crazy about getting a good deal!
If I get more for my money, that’s smart.
It’s frugal to find ways to leverage our family’s spending.
I like to use my money in the most effective way I can.
It’s easy to apply these desires – to be smart, frugal and effective — to the creation of compelling fundraising offers.
All you have to do is go back to third grade!
2 X 1 = Twice as much!
Why not put that education to use in order to create your most compelling fundraising appeal? An offer your donors will have trouble refusing!
When you show your donors how you can leverage their donation to accomplish more than they even imagined, you greatly increase the likelihood they will respond to your call to action.
Let’s take a look at the best ways to accomplish this objective.
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Have you ever wondered how major donors think about philanthropy?
To a large extent, they think about it the same way as anyone else. They just have more money.
It’s good to remember major donors are, first and foremost, just people.
And like all human beings, they are on a continual quest for meaning. It’s the existential search to be all that one can be.
And you can help them!
You (as executive management, development staff or board member) are a facilitator of philanthropy. Your organization exists, in part, to facilitate your donor’s quest for meaning and teach the joy of giving. To do this effectively, you must be attuned to your donors. And, since the wealthy have the ability to make a larger impact when it comes to furthering your mission, you especially must be attuned to these folks.
NOTE: I am not suggesting you eschew small gift fundraising. All gifts are important, and some of your smaller donors will likely engage in other critically important ways as well. They may become ambassadors, advocates, inlfuencers, volunteers and even legacy donors. You never want to put all your eggs in one basket. At the same time, it’s smart to develop a strategy to unlock giving from those who have potential to make transformative gifts.
In the past I’ve looked at six major donor philanthropic triggers. You need to know about these things, because if you can key into any of them you’ll have a strong basis for pursuing a major gift from the prospect whom you’re approaching:
Today I’d like to review six more things you should be on the lookout for; then I’ll suggest four strategies to help you enter into your prospective donors’ worlds so you can make a win/win match – one that will help your major donors simultaneously help your cause and themselves.
Coincidentally, I found a back issue of Lifestyles Magazine from 2008 (yes, I’m a bit of a hoarder) and was struck by some of what the publication had to say—a veritable peek inside the minds of major donors. There’s a clue right in the way Lifestyles (now out of publication) describes their mission (highlights are mine):
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Here comes my occasional “Do’s vs. Don’ts” feature, where I share with you something arriving in my mailbox that seems a good ‘teaching opportunity.’
Today we’re going to review a fundraising campaign thank you email.
It’s very simple, which is why I’ve selected it. Because simple can be deceptive. So much so, in fact, that putting it together may seem unworthy of a strategic approach. Gosh darn it — we had a successful campaign and now we’re simply closing the loop and letting our community know it was a success. How much time investment is merited here, really? Come on! Just the fact we’re sending this is good, right?
Wrong. Alas, as the old adage goes, anything worth doing is worth doing well. Otherwise, you might inadvertently create an unintended consequence.
You may think I’m picking nits. Perhaps. But if you’ve got nits, they’re pretty uncomfortable. And that’s how this email made me feel. Except… for the parts that didn’t make me feel that way. This email is a melange of do’s and don’ts.
We’ll take a look at the various elements; then assess what works/doesn’t work.
There’s (1) a subject line, (2) the email itself, and (3) what happens if/when you click through and are transported to the donation landing page.
I’ll ask you some questions.
First, I’d like you to think about your answers and jot them down.
Second, I’ll tell you what I think.
Third, if you disagree with me please let me know in the comments below.
Really take the time to notice what you like and don’t like.
I promise you’ll learn a LOT more this way. We learn best by doing.
Seriously, I mean it.
Let’s begin at the beginning.
This may help: Take three minutes and jot down your answers to the first three questions on a piece of paper or your screen. I want to know if what was in the subject headline would have caused you to open the email or hit ‘delete.’ If you’d open it, why?
Okay. Ready to learn what I think thus far, and also see what else we’re working with?
Let’s begin!
Does your nonprofit promote stock gifts? You should!
A groundbreaking study by Dr. Russell James J.D., Ph.D., CFP®, professor in the Department of Personal Financial Planning at Texas Tech University, found nonprofits that consistently received gifts of appreciated stocks grew their contributions six times faster than those receiving only cash.
This is HUGE.
If you learn to ask for gifts from appreciated assets you’ll get more generous gifts. The study shows:
The most productive strategy is simply to accept gifts of stock.
But it’s up to you to offer up this giving framework to your supporters. Otherwise, they’re apt not to see this as an opportunity.
And speaking of ‘framing,’ this can establish a persuasive reference point for would-be donors. Researchers have found people don’t treat all their money as if they have one big pool of it.
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Do you write anymore?
I don’t mean do you type.
I’m talking about good old-fashioned handwriting.
You know, that very human practice most of the world seems to have abandoned post digital revolution?
It may seem practical and smart. After all, using a keyboard is definitely quicker.
But something critical gets lost in translation.
Not just to your audience, but to yourself.
Could keyboarding be causing you to disconnect? To lose your passion?
This is why writers including J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Danielle Steele, John Updike and Joyce Carol Oates have rejected word processors and computers in favor of writing by hand. At least for their first drafts.
CAVEAT: Don’t fall into the trap of thinking these “handwriting people” are all just “old,” “old school,” or “stuck in their ways.” Rather, they intuitively discovered things about hand writing. All subsequently borne out by neuroscience. Once upon a time I intuited this as well. I couldn’t imagine giving up my yellow writing pad and pens of various colors. How would I think expressively if forced to type everything? Gradually, I was persuaded (shamed?) to jump on the bandwagon of modernity and efficiency. And, lo and behold, it was incredibly efficient. So fast! I got used to editing as I went along. Pretty soon I couldn’t envision ever going back. BUT…
But… after many years on the wrong track, I’m coming to understand the documented benefits of composing by hand.
You can learn more about some of these benefits from specific studies here (improves memory and promotes deep encoding); here (bolsters learning), and here (advances idea generation), to name just a few.
Today I want to share six of these benefits I think you’ll find most relevant to your nonprofit work.
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There’s a lot of potential legacy giving out there in the universe. Per Giving USA 2022, giving by bequest was an estimated $46 billion, (an increase of $5 billion from just two years previous). What are you doing to assure some of it will flow to your cause?
I cover this subject in depth in Where Are Our Nonprofit’s Legacy Donors? Contrary to the way most nonprofits behave, legacy gifts don’t simply fall from the sky. They’re not delivered by storks carrying baskets filled with wills, trusts and beneficiary designations. You need to do something proactive.
You can’t simply rest on your reputation, however solid it may be. You could be raising tons and tons of money annually, and it won’t necessarily translate to bequests. It’s not because your donors aren’t the will-writing kind. That may be true for some of them, but there are other simple ways to leave a legacy accessible to all. Donor willingness is not the problem.
You are!
No charity succeeds simply waiting by the phone for folks to call. You’ll receive a bequest or two, perhaps. But nowhere near what you could receive if you took the bull by the horns and created a program that speaks to why people make legacy gifts.
There are two main reasons: (1) they’re asked, and (2) it feels meaningful to do so. So, given this, what do you incorporate into your program? What if I told you there’s a way to take charge of your own destiny, as you simultaneously help donors take charge of theirs?
STEP #1: Figure out a strategy to get folks thinking of you as a recipient of their philanthropic largess after death. There are elements to include in a full-fledged legacy giving program, and I’ve written about that plenty (e.g., see here and here).
STEP # 2: Help donors connect their giving to their personal identity and meaning. People may believe you’re awesome. But when it comes to distributing the hard-earned income accrued over a lifetime, they just don’t think of you that way. As an extension of their family, deepest values and essential identity. This is where many nonprofits fall down on the job, and it’s what I want to discuss today.
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Today a friend, who serves on the board of a struggling local arts organization, asked me what they can do to increase their fundraising. I asked her a few questions; then answered simply: “Have more conversations with people; make more friends.”
You see, they have people who know about them but they’re just not giving.
They have donors, but they’re not giving enough.
Why? Because they haven’t been treated like friends and family. They don’t feel connected.
What’s the best advice to build stronger connections with likely supporters?
Remember this basic truth. Humans are a social species.
People also buy from people.
So if you consider fundraising “making a sale” (which I do, because it’s part of being human to be constantly trying to persuade others; read Daniel Pink’s To Sell is Human), you must show up as authentically human.
And how do you do this?
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Did you ever wonder if there is a foolproof way to communicate with donors?
Actually, there is!
And it’s not about process.
It’s about another ‘P’ word.
Can you guess?
I’ll give you a hint.
It relates to the secret business your nonprofit is in.
You may think you’re in (arts, healthcare, human services, environment, social justice, animal rescue, education or whatever) but, fundamentally, your core business is something else. Something deeper.
Something that emanated from whoever founded your nonprofit.
Without this special something, your nonprofit wouldn’t exist.
Have you figured it out?
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The Unfair Exchange Bernadette Jiwa, The Story of Telling.
“That will be eight dollars,’ the woman, who is carefully weighing and wrapping two serves of freshly made fettuccine for us to take home, says.
As my husband is about to hand her the cash, she takes another handful of the pasta from behind the glass and adds it to our package.
She doesn’t announce that she’s giving us twenty per cent extra for free.
She doesn’t even invite us to notice the gesture at all.
It’s enough for her that she knows she has added value.We think of value as a hard metric—the anticipated fair exchange of this for that.
But value can be a surprising, generous, unfair exchange.
Something that is given because we can, not because we must.“
Ah… value.
Wow, wow, WOW!
This is what all fundraising, fundamentally, is about.
Yet one side of the exchange is a hard metric: The donor’s cold, hard cash.
While the other side of the exchange is something decidedly less tangible: Freely given gratitude from you and your organization.
Or at least that’s how it should work.
What does your donor love and loyalty plan look like?
Do you even have such a plan?
If the only reason you acknowledge donations is because you feel you ‘must,’ it’s likely your donors aren’t walking away from the encounter feeling much more than matter-of-fact. The transactional receipts many organizations send out are registered by the donors as “Ho, hum. Guess I’ll go file this with my tax receipts.”
This kind of exchange is fair, sure.
But it’s not generous.
WHAT ELSE DO YOU HAVE TO GIVE?
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