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,…
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Now more than ever you must, must, must invest in your fundraising efforts.
Rather than spending time worrying – panicking? – why not turn your mind towards positive things? Like creative ways to invite others to help keep your mission afloat?
In my post earlier this week, I shared some ingenious ideas implemented by other nonprofits — all so you can resourcefully borrow their ideas. I will keep sharing, because that’s how we learn. And… that’s what Clairification School is for, right? [If you’re not yet enrolled, there’s no better time than the present!]
It’s a blank slate now when it comes to fundraising. Yes, use tried-and-true principles of donor-centered fundraising. But don’t be tone deaf to the unprecedented times we are in.
Coronavirus is all folks are thinking about right now. Even while they try not to think about it.
Stay relevant, or prepare to be ignored.
You can help people!
Here’s the deal.
I’ve never in my lifetime heard so many people asking: “what can I do to be of service?”
Living in a pandemic sucks, but you’d be remiss if you didn’t avail yourself of this opportunity to (1) keep your mission, and those who rely on you, afloat, and (2) help would-be helpers feel helpful!
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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 major donor engagement strategy.
It arrived as an email. There’s a subject line, preview pane, the email itself, and what happens if/when you click through.
We’ll take a look at the various elements; then assess what works/doesn’t work.
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.
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.
Claire, tell us what you think
We’d like to hear from you
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 (“Claire, tell us what you think”) or the email preview pane (We’d like to hear from you”) would have caused you to open the email or hit ‘delete.’
Okay. Ready to learn what I think thus far, and also see what else we’re working with?
Let’s begin!
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.
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.
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All you need to do to transform failure to success is to adopt my personal #1 SECRET – the one principle that makes the greatest difference to long-term, sustainable fundraising success.
This is a secret that will transform donor loyalty and increase donor retention by leaps and bounds.
Plus, it’s not rocket science. It’s pretty much common sense.
Anyone can do it. Everyone should do it.
I’m going to share that principle here; then I’m going to turn this principle into a word – actually three variations of the same word – that you can use to transform the way you’ve been doing business.
What will happen as a result?
I promise you’ll close more major gifts!
Are you ready?
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What’s in a name?
“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” said Shakespeare.
But, would it?
Seth Godin thinks words matter. As do I.
Just?
The meaning of the word is the reason we used the word.
If we don’t agree about the meaning of the word, we haven’t communicated.
Instead of, “that’s just semantics,” it seems more productive to say, “I’m confident we have a semantics problem.”
Because that’s all of it.
The way we process words changes the way we act. The story we tell ourselves has an emotional foundation, but those emotions are triggered by the words we use.
Not just.
Especially.
— Seth Godin
Maybe that’s okay. Or perhaps
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If you can remember this acronym, you’ll be able to persuade more donors to join you and stick with you. This is deceptively simple stuff.
And it really, truly works!
Give me a ‘D’ for DOUBTS!
Give me a ‘U’ for UNIQUENESS!
Give me an ‘E’ for EXPECTATIONS!
What’s that spell?
That spells what you must overcome to win over donors!
What’s that spell?
That spells what you owe your donors!
What’s that spell?
That spells what you must meet to show you’re worthy!
Ready to ‘D.U.E.’ it?
Let’s get started!
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Words matter.
You know this when it comes to your personal life (surely you can hear your Mama’s voice in your ear). You certainly know this when it comes to political correctness (surely you know the words to avoid, at all costs). You even know this when it comes to your professional life (surely you take pains to avoid certain acronyms and jargon).
Well… guess what?
Words matter when it comes to fundraising too!
When asking people for a charitable gift, choose your words with care.
Here are some common ‘ask’ words:
I have strong favorites, as you may be able to infer from the words I’ve boldfaced.
Let me tell you why.
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The inimitable Seth Godin recently posted some wisdom I want to share, because it applies directly to how you must ‘sell’ your nonprofit if you hope to inspire folks to join with you to solve the problems you address.
As is always the case with Godin, it is succinct. It’s also both common-sense and deeply insightful — critically so — when you take a moment to dig in a little. It relates to one of the most critical elements of any fundraising appeal:
The problem.
You see, folks won’t give to you simply because you exist. Or because you’re nonprofit. Or because you’re ‘do-gooders.’
They won’t even give to you because you claim you’re addressing important issues or resolving a significant problem.
It takes more than that to capture people’s imaginations and inspire philanthropy.
The problem has to be vital, and the solving of it relevant, to them.
There are at least nine different ways in which a problem will capture a donor’s attention.
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