Archive for the ‘online giving’ Category

I am reading my favorite blog today, the Agitator. The authors Roger Craver and Tom are “direct response” guru’s (remember it used to be called “direct mail?” Now it’s much more sophisticated direct response.)

They are citing an article by Denny Hatch about the best way to write “marketing copy.” That’s the technical term for the wording we use when we write appeals, brochures, email broadcasts and our fundraising materials.

Denny is apparently an old pro at marketing and copywriting. He says that we need to be sure to do the following things:

1. Set a deadline that will create urgency. By WHEN do we need to hear from you? Now we all know that you really have a terrible time raising money if you don’t have some sort of deadline.

You have to give people a reason for acting NOW. Write that check NOW. Put it in the mail NOW. Because we have to act quickly … (you know how to complete this sentence, right?)

2. But choose your deadline carefully. If you leave it out too long in the future, the  need to act now dissipates. But if it is too close, you are at the mercy of mailing schedules that might go wrong and ruin everything.

3. Use emotional hot buttons. If you appeal to these powerful, motivating emotions, you’ll have the most success. These hot buttons are called “key copy drivers” — because they are so powerful they can change behavior.

When you insert them into your effort, the more powerful your argument. Those copy drivers are: fear – greed – guilt – anger – exclusivity – salvation – flattery.

So how do you flatter your donors?

Tell them how smart and wonderful they are and how they’re so helpful, kind and caring.

I’ve seen lots of fundraising material that appealed to anger and guilt. Haven’t you?  Not so sure about using greed or fear here.

But don’t forget that it is POWERFUL emotions that will get attention and create action – and funds to help your cause.

I hope you are in the full swing of the holiday season! And I do hope you’re pulling in LOTS and LOTS Of year-end gifts!

Here’s some coaching I gave a colleague this morning.  She is working on some last-minute email appeals for her new job. The first draft of the note talks about the great things this group has done in the past year and asks for a gift. She asked me to give her an edit.

“No!” I said, “this won’t work! Here’s what your donors want to hear:”

1. What, specifically, do you want to accomplish this coming year? Tell your donors EXACTLY what you are raising money for.  This means you are NOT making a generic appeal. You are making a very specific appeal. You are asking your donors to contribute to some specific goals and projects.

Remember, NEVER, EVER make a generic appeal. It will kill the energy of your letter. You’ve got to be as specific as possible.

2. How much money will it take to accomplish this? Donors want to know if you are actually planning. If you tell them you need $25k or $100 or $2 million, that gives them some benchmark for their own gift.  They want to know what part they might be playing in the effort to get the job done.

And telling them how much money it will take shows that you are well-run. You have made your plans and you’re deliberately planning to execute them.

I have found that just the act of naming an amount helps the money to actually come in.  The word gets around town that this group needs xxxx and sometimes foundations or special donors show up and make that last gift to meet the goal.

There’s lots of power in driving a stake in the ground and setting a goal.

So many organizations are afraid to set a goal because they need as much money as possible, and they want to raise as much as possible.

But I strongly recommend nailing down some goals and a dollar figure. I promise it will help you raise more money!

Here’s some pretty interesting info from this weeks Fundraising Success E-Newsletter. Here’s some data  just released by the “eCampaigning Review Study” that looked at 2 million donors to 50 nonprofits around the world.

The study found that 70% of the nonprofits didn’t send a followup email within one month.  And – can you believe this – 37% did not send a thank you email.

This shows where nonprofits stand in developing their e-fundraising skills – they are only doing the very basics. Apparently nonprofits are learning how to successfully raise money online.  BUT. . .

They are missing the followup! I can’t imagine how they could neglect the thank you and the followup. If they don’t followup, then the donors are most likely to never give again!

There is a lot of research out there indicating that first time online donors are less likely to give again than first time donors by mail. If there was ever an urgent “to-do” in any fundraising office – it’s being ALL OVER first time online donors – and thank thank thanking them.

The Fundraising Success article suggests that a nonprofit create a “welcome route,” – a series of communications to first-time donors.  I love the idea of a Welcome Route. But it’s hard – I know it’s hard – to plan for the followup when you are under so much pressure to bring in new gifts.

But the investment in welcome packages is an investment in next year’s campaign. You are laying the groundwork for NEXT YEAR’s fundraising. You need to engage your donor NOW while she is still excited about her donation and she is really interested in your work.

We all know that developing long term relationships with donors is the KEY to long term, sustainable fundraising. But just because we know it, doesn’t mean that we do it.

This needs to be one of our new-year’s resolutions for 2010 – loving our donors and thanking them in every possible way!

To your fundraising success,

Gail

Did you know that most donors check out your web site before they make a gift? – whether they are giving on line or through the mail.

A Kellogg Foundation study found that potentially up to 50% of your donors are going to want to check you out before they give, whether they give online or not. Here are questions you should ask about your site to see if it is hurting or helping your fudnraising campagin.

First, “your web site is now your front door,” advises Ted Hart in the 09 Year-End Strategies Telesummit. I interviewed Ted last week as part of the Telesummit and he shared a long list of things donors are looking for on your web site.

1. Does your web site represent you well? Does it tell a compelling, moving story? (i.e., photos of people helped by your organization)

2. When someone comes to your site, can they find out what they want easily?

3. What’s the call-to-action on your site? What do you want visitors to do?

4. Does it convey legitimacy and credibility?

Do you post info on your website that proves your nonprofit status? Do you post the names of your board members, i.e., members of the community who stand behind your organization? Does it say how is accountable for this organization?

5.  Are you offering people the ability to give online safely (through encryption technology).

6. Is there also a way to download a form that a donor can mail in or fax to you if they don’t want to contribute on line?

7. Are you offering people the ability to have a dialog with you? Is there some sort of interaction, such as a survey or a place to post comments? Donors want the ability to comment, to discuss, to learn more about you.

8. Do you have a physical address and phone number prominently displayed for easy access?

9. Does your web site share how past donations have been used? (This is where you can share your good news, terrific stories of what you’ve done with your funding.

10. Are you telling visitors how they can volunteer? (you certainly don’t want to give the impression that you don’t want volunteers!  But this topic is sometimes completely missing from a web site.)

And here’s a smart email strategy for the last week of the year that will absolutely bring in more gifts.

Remember when you get repeated emails in your in-box reminding you about something? I don’t know about you but I absolutely need these reminders.

I am moving so fast (way too fast most of the time – however I’m at the beach right now taking a day off!).  And I can’t keep quite up with my schedule and my to-do list sometimes, too.

So God bless the email reminders!

I am eternally grateful for them in my dim, over-saturated-with-media-and-too-many -ideas brain.

So don’t back off sending emails to the final group of non-donors at the very end of the year.  They just may be like me – fully intending to make that gift, but haven’t quite gotten around to it yet.

So here’s a great strategy from Convio, the nonprofit technology company,

• Plan to send a three-part, carefully timed, coordinated email appeal at the very end of the year.  Convivo recently presented a strategy that included -

*   a “holiday support” e-mail sent on Dec. 23, 2008;

*   an e-mail stressing tax-deductible opportunities on Dec. 29, 2008;

*   and a final tax-deductible push on Dec. 31, 2008.

According to Fundraising Success Magazine’s email newsletter today, this particular campaign by Convivo, the nonprofit software company, resulted in a “47 percent increase in the amount raised online in December 2008 over December 2007, and a 109 percent increase in total income raised year over year!”   (the exclamation point is mine!)

In the Year-End Strategies Telesummit, direct mail expert Mal Warwick said these types of emails at the very end of the year are a “don’t miss” fundraising strategy that will definitely bring in more contributions.

How can using multiple communications channels dramatically enhance your year-end fundraising results?

In the Year-End Fundraising Telesummit, we laid out a sample multiple channel strategy that might cover the last three months of the year.

What on earth are “multiple channels” anyway? And why do we want a “multiple channel solicitation strategy?” This term is discussed a lot by the pundits and I thought it would be helpful to break it down to simpler terms.

Well, each channel is a way to reach your donors. There are lots of ways to talk to your donors and ask them for help. We use different forms of communication all the time with our donors, in fact.

What channels do fundraisers use to carry solicitations, warm-ups for solicitations and followups for solicitations?  Here are a favorite few – and I’m sure you can think of some more.

• postcards
• letters
• face-to-face asks
• phone calls
• email solicitations

So what might a carefully-timed multiple channel end-of-year-campaign look like?

1. In October -warm up your donors so they are ready for the appeal

• send an email out to your entire base of donors who will be solicited this fall. (include nondonors if you are planning to solicit them.)
• send a postcard to everyone prepping them for the campaign, echoing the message from the email.
• also, perhaps hold a thank-a-thon before you solicit, if you have time.

2.  In November – solicit

• Send the appeal letter with the ask.
• Followup with a phone call.
• Send a follow-up appeal letter.  (We haven’t’ heard from you yet!)

3. In December – followup and close gifts when you can. Touch the donors who have not yet given.

• Send an email followup.(possibly announce a matching or challenge gift to inspire last minute donors)
• Possibly send another letter.(be polite here and not too heavy handed.)
• At the very end of the year, be sure they have an email solicitation in their in-box.

Moral of the story? NEVER rely on one form of communication to carry your appeal successfully. Using multiple channels magnifies your request and gets it on your donors’ radar screens.

Not all donors are alike. It reaches different donors in different ways. It follows up with the same messaging and imaging.  It makes for a successful year-end campaign!