Let us all be thankful at the outpouring of generosity from donors in response to Haiti’s crisis. The people of Haiti need and deserve our help.

From my standpoint also, I am looking carefully at the fundraising and donation techniques that are being used to raise (or collect) these funds.  What’s particularly amazing is the number and quantity of donations by text.

The Red Cross’s texting campaign is making history.

Apparently they now have over two million donors who have made $10 gifts to the Red Cross Haiti relief effort. Of course the real question is whether these donors will become repeat givers. And that depends on whether the Red Cross is able to establish real communication with them, and convey the ultimate impact their gifts made on the ground in Haiti.

And in a way, this is really “gift receiving” and not “fundraising” because it’s an outpouring of gifts that are not necessarily being solicited. BTW, the Agitator blog has a great entry today about the difference between “gift receiving” and “fundraising.”

Will there be followup?

The true test of all this gift collecting and/or fundraising is in the followup to donors.  Studies show that donors who give on line are less likely to renew their support than those who gave via check in the mail.

Will recipient organizations be able to convert one-time donors over to a longer-term relationship? How will they handle thank you’s?  How will they go forward communicating with donors?

I’ll be looking at renewal rates on these gifts to see what happens after that first gift.

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.)

Here’s a worrisome problem with online gifts. (Let’s make our problem into our opportunity here!)

Did you know that donors who make their first gift to an organization via email are much less likely to renew their gift than those who give through the mail?

As direct mail guru Mal Warwick said recently in the 09 Year End Fundraising Strategies Telesummit, “What we have been discovering ironically is that lots of people seem to be wiling to make a first time gift online. But of course these numbers are relatively small compared to people who make first time gifts by mail or phone.”

BUT we have trouble renewing our on-line donors, by and large.”

Donors ARE likely to respond to a direct mail appeal after they’ve given once online.  Even though they probably would not ever give a second gift on line.

Here’s how you solve the problem: Provide incentives to donors to furnish their street addresses and then use the mail to get hold of them.

Of course, getting their phone number would probably work even better. But it’s going to be harder to get their phone number.

If you had their phone number, then you could phone donors to thank them for their gift – ALWAYS the best strategy.

So the moral of this story?

1.  Pay very careful attention to your donors who are giving online.

2.  Track the people who make a first time gift online.Create a monthly or weekly report that gives you the names and amounts of first time online donors.

3.  Create something appealing to your first time online donors that will incline them to give you their address. Perhaps it’s something free that you might send them, or tell them that you have a special thank you package for first-time donors that you’d like to send them by mail. Would they like to get your catalog? Or would they like to join your mailing list for alerts?

4. Followup by mail with those who provide their street addresses. Send them a special thank you package that makes them feel very special.

5. Put them on your list for future direct mail appeals.

If you don’t follow this strategy – you will likely lose those donors because they will not repeat their gift.  And I know you want to keep them!