Thank you note writing

Don’t Blow Your Post-Holiday Opportunity to Thank Your Nonprofit Supporters

Thank you note writingFor good things once a year is not enough. Why do so many of us only eat turkey once a year?  Or pumpkin pie? I’ve no idea! It’s surely not rational. These are special foods we value and take great delight in. Yet we get into a bad habit of thinking on auto pilot. If it’s not Thanksgiving, the idea of roasting a turkey or making cranberry sauce doesn’t even enter most or our heads. And egg nog, hot mulled cider, panettone and stollen are mostly Christmas things. And then there are the once-a-year only potato latkes. Why are we missing out on an opportunity for greater joy and satisfaction?

When things are good, they bear repeating.

And this is most certainly the case with expressing gratitude to your valued supporters!

It’s not rational to thank your donors only annually.  They keep you going all year long. They deserve your gratitude all year long as well.

What better time to thank supporters than right now, and all through the coming weeks, after a holiday season filled with gratitude?

The much-anticipated “holiday season” is pretty much over. There’s a natural let-down for many.  Wouldn’t it be lovely for your donors and volunteers to get a call from their favorite charity? A call that simply expresses gratitude? If you reach your donor, the goal is to have a quick conversation. Most important: stick with pure gratitude as your focus. Your aim is to make your donor feel connected to your cause, and really good about their support. If no one picks up the phone, don’t waste the call. Leave an upbeat message.
            Joe, hello! I just called because, in thinking over the past few days about all for which I’m grateful, I realized I’m grateful for you and all you do to make our community a more caring place. I just wanted you to know how much your support is appreciated. Thanks so much, and may the new year bring many blessings.
My hunch is there’s nothing better you could do with your time today. Or early next week if you’re taking some personal (or shopping the sales?) time today.

All the “strategies” in the world can’t substitute for a genuine, personal connection that comes from the heart.

Don’t let weeks and months go by. Connect!  Express your thanks!  Don’t wait until you’ve got a perfectly crafted letter, email or insert piece. That’s called procrastination, or “letting perfect be the enemy of the good.” Sometimes, timing is everything.
Details
four people raise hands in support of your cause

Psychology of Securing Lasting Nonprofit Donor Commitments

four people raise hands in support of your cause

The more publicly people commit, the more resistant they are to changing their minds

This relates to one of Robert Cialdini’s principles of influence and persuasion: “commitment and consistency.”

The main point is this:

Once we make a decision, and strongly attach ourselves to an idea by agreeing orally or in writing, it’s more likely we’ll stick with that decision than change our minds.

Because we are wired to want to be consistent.

That to which we commit, especially publicly, becomes congruent with our self image.

What does this mean for you as a fundraiser?

Details
December

Last Minute Strategic Year-End Email Appeal Tips

DecemberStudies show one-fourth of all charitable giving happens in December. For some organizations (maybe yours?), it’s as much as one-third. Year-end fundraising is not chopped chicken liver!

While you absolutely should be using multiple fundraising channels to get best results, right now whatever you’ve got planned for offline is pretty much cooked. So your best bet for boosting year-end results is digital.

What do you have planned online between now and December 31st?

The 2024 M+R Benchmarks Study found nonprofits raise anywhere from 17% to 34% of their online revenue in December, depending on their cause. For well over a decade, the last week of the year – and particularly the last day of the year– have been huge for online fundraising.

To boost your year-end fundraising success, you need to craft an email offer your donor can’t refuse.

4 Top Strategies to Clearly Convey Your Offer 

If you’ve not yet planned your campaign, start here — and now. If you’re ready to go, take a moment to check your plan against these tips. In a nutshell, you need three things for any effective fundraising offer:

  1. Specific problem you’re addressing — made real and relevant to the prospective donor.
  2. Specific solution you’re proposing to address the problem – with your donor’s help.
  3. Specific ask showing how the donor can help– the distinct purpose and amount of the gift you’re requesting, tied to what it will accomplish.

It’s really that simple, but let’s get a little more into the weeds so you’ve a better idea how to execute these three offer components.

1. Describe the problem.

Details
Halloween skeleton

8 BOO BOO’s! Are You SCARING Nonprofit Donors Away?

Halloween skeleton

Is this how you’re making your donor feel?!?!

 

BOO!

Halloween is creeping up on us, so I’ve got some really scary stuff for you!

Don’t get too spooked. There are also a few treats.

In fact, you’ll get eight delicious goodies — in the form of “to-do’s.”

But first… the bad news.

No bones about it, you’re frightening folks away if you’re committing any of these 8 boo-boo’s!

Details
ducks in a row, swimming

5 More Top Strategies to Prepare for Fall Fundraising

ducks in a row, swimmingIn Part 1 of this two-part series of “Top 10 Strategies to Prepare for Fall Fundraising” we covered.

  1. Clean up Data
  2. Purge Mailing Lists
  3. Review Staff, Vendors and Freelancers
  4. Set Priority Objectives Based on Last Year’s Results
  5. Solidify a Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign

Today we’ll look at:

  1. Send Impact Reports to Set the Stage
  2. Stock Up on Compelling, Relevant Stories and Photos
  3. Connect with Major and Mid-Level Donors
  4. Prioritize Contacts with Mid-Level and Other Promising Supporters
  5. Plan Ahead to Welcome Donors to The Flock

Ready to get all your ducks in a row?

Details
Ducks in a row

Top 5 Strategies to Prepare for Fall Fundraising NOW

Ducks in a rowYou’ve got one month before fall fundraising season begins in earnest.

What will you do with it?

I’VE GOT 10 TOP STRATEGIES TO HELP YOU GET ALL YOUR DUCKS IN A ROW!

We’ll start with the first five today.

  1. Clean up Data
  2. Purge Mailing Lists
  3. Review Staff, Vendors and Freelancers
  4. Set Priority Objectives Based on Last Year’s Results
  5. Solidify a Multi-Channel Marketing Campaign

Next week we’ll look at:

  1. Send Impact Reports to Set the Stage
  2. Stock Up on Compelling, Relevant Stories and Photos
  3. Connect with Major and Mid-Level Donors
  4. Prioritize Contacts with Mid-Level and Other Promising Supporters
  5. Plan Ahead to Welcome Donors to The Flock

Ready?

Details
Whiteboard planning session

Nonprofit Strategy: Three Things to Cleverly Finagle

Whiteboard planning sessionOnce upon a time I let folks know I’d “finagled” a discount for them. After one reader told me the word “finagle” means “to obtain something by devious or dishonest means,” I sent an apologetic “Ruh Roh” email. I received a lot of forgiving (thank you!) feedback. Many kindly supported my initial use of the word “finagle.”

Apparently, there is more than one definition of finagle.

Susan sent me this:

finagle (third-person singular simple present finaglespresent participle finaglingsimple past and past participle finagled)

    1. (transitive) To obtain, arrange, or achieve by indirect, complicated and/or intensive efforts.

finagle a day off work

    1. (transitive) To obtain, arrange, or achieve by deceitful methods, by trickery.

finagled his way out of a ticket by pretending to be on the way to a funeral, distraught

I think the word has come to mean “using super-human negotiating skill to obtain a superior result

Terry sent me this:

I thought you meant “obtain (something) by indirect or involved means.” I always felt it was sort of clever or creative negotiations to get something done when it seemed like it couldn’t be done

Sam sent me this:

I always thought it was someone who could manipulate circumstances to achieve a goal. No adverse implications. No criminal intent. Just clever in being able to make something work that really shouldn’t have worked.

And there were more. I thank you all.

You made me think.

And not just about negotiation (which is a subject unto itself), but about being clever.

And thoughtful.

And about what it takes to obtain superior results.

All good outcomes require a little positive finagling to get there.

Lots of things can be good and bad at the same time.

For example,

Details
Cookie Monster when his name is misspelled

Donor’s Lament: You Didn’t Thank Me Properly

Cookie Monster when his name is misspelled

Everything I learned about saying “thank you” I learned from:

According to Burk’s research from Donor-Centered Fundraising, more than 80% of thank you letters start with “Thank you for your generous gift of…” or “On behalf of the Board of Directors, thank you for your generous gift of…”

Y  A  W  N

  • Want to stand out?
  • Want your donor to actually read your letter?
  • Want your donor to feel good about the decision they made to invest in you?
  • Want your donor to feel warm and fuzzy inside?
  • Want your donor to say “Aw, that’s SO nice!”
  • Want your donor to feel the opposite of bored?
Details
Three San Francisco Hearts. Polaroid Heart. Heartwave. Broad Stripes and Bright-Stars. Benefit for San Francisco General Hospital Foundation.

Why Smart Nonprofits Focus on Growing Monthly Giving

Three San Francisco Hearts. Polaroid Heart. Heartwave. Broad Stripes and Bright-Stars. Benefit for San Francisco General Hospital Foundation.For at least the past seven years I’ve been actively encouraging nonprofits of all stripes to prioritize beginning or ramping up their monthly giving program.

Not a lot of nonprofits were really leaning into this then. But, as much sense as it made then, it makes even more sense now.

So, I’m going to ask you: How are you doing with this?

Here’s why I’m asking.

If there’s anything the pandemic years have taught us,not to mention recent climate-related disasters, you need a dependable source of income in order:

  • To be able to sustain programming for problems that never go away.
  • To be able to weather current storms, anticipated and unanticipated.
  • To be able to reliably plan for the future.

It turns out there’s nothing as dependable as monthly donors.

In fact, donors who give to you recurrently sustain you so well a monthly giving strategy is often called a sustainer program.

Do you deserve a group of people who will sustain you through thick and thin?

Of course you do!

But you don’t always get what you deserve – unless you make it happen.

How to Make Monthly Giving Happen

As someone poetic so eloquently put it:

“Nothing will work unless you do.”

— Maya Angelou

Let’s get down to work!

There are four steps to a successful monthly giving work plan:

Details