Archive for the ‘Year-End Fundraising Strategies’ Category

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!

It’s the week of Thanksgiving here in the U.S. and we are counting our blessings. As you consider what you are thankful for, perhaps you might remember your DONORS – the wonderful people who make the work of your organization possible.

I think most of us fundraisers take our donors for granted. And I think many board members and non-development staff members also feel this way.

I am doing a feasibility study for a capital campaign here in North Carolina, and I ran across a blatant example today. I was interviewing a donor who had made a major gift to the organization’s previous capital campaign. And the donor never felt adequately thanked.

He was invited to the groundbreaking with the other major donors. And he saw his name on the donor board in the lobby of the building that he contributed to. And he received a thank you letter.

But he also saw all the whoopla being made over a bank’s gift to the project. The organization made lots of fuss over some donors and none over other donors, including him.

And he felt sorta neglected.  Can you imagine that a major donor might feel neglected?  In fundraising, we consider this almost a crime.  But I bet it happens more often than not.

What happened in this case?

You guessed it: there was turnover among the development office staff. The vital link of knowledge and consistency was broken. And when the staff left, the relationship with the donor walked out the door too.  The new staff had other priorities . . . and the donor was left out in the cold.

During this season, please remember your donors – particularly your major donors. Go back to them and thank them for all they have done to make your organization successful.

How about thanking your organization’s founders?

How about all the donors to your last capital campaign?

How about former board members?

Hint: these folks are probably major donor prospects, aren’t they? So it is reasonable to invest some of your time thanking them.

Remember thanking donors is the first step to preparing them for the next solicitation.

When in doubt, love your donors!

Hi, I’ve been on vacation last week on the lovely west coast.  My friend Jane Heimerdinger from the `Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawaii invited me to speak at the CASE VII Conference in San Francisco. And I stayed out on the west coast visiting the Napa Valley a few days. Life is good!

The Chronicle of Philanthropy columnist Holly Hall just posted an article on the Chronicle’s Prospecting blog:  “Most Americans Intend to Make Holiday Donations This Year.” You know I have been preaching optimism about year-end giving right now – from my perspective, things are looking up.

I am seeing a turning tide of not only hopefullness, but clear indications that donors are starting to loosen the strings on their wallets.

The Chronicle cited a study by the American Red Cross of over 1000 adults in November that showed the same results.

If you can imagine, almost 25% of those polled said that their income had decreased during the recession!  But even including those people, 80% of all those surveyed said that their year-end gifts would stay the same (62%) or increase (7%).

And only 20% said their giving would cut back.  I think it is so very encouraging that the people in this poll said they would economize in other areas in order to keep up their giving.  This agrees with other studies earlier in the year that cited the same opinions.

We need to remember  – Amerians are a generous people. And we are accustomed to giving in the fall and particularly during the holiday season.

May your end of year campaign be the best ever! Onward!

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

Here’s a great blog post from direct mail expert and fellow blogger Alan Sharpe. I highly recommend his blog and newsletter.

If your non-profit organization is like many others, you receive half or more or your contributed income at the end of the year as part of what used to be called the “Christmas Appeal.” In recent years it has come to be known as, in politically correct North America at least, the “Year-End Appeal” or “Seasonal Appeal.”

Which means your year-end appeal letter can make or break your year, financially speaking. Here are some tips on how to craft a winning year-end fundraising letter appeal package.

1. Keep it simple
One non-profit ministry that I shall not name mailed their year-end appeal letter in a poly bag along with their donor newsletter. They had been late in getting their newsletter in the mail and so, to save on postage, they mailed it along with the seasonal appeal letter. The campaign bombed, and bombed big. Donors, as far as we could tell, read the full-colour newsletter and ignored the letter that came with it. So my advice is this: keep your year-end appeal simple and focused on one goal: securing a year-end donation.

2. Be creative
You will be competing with other organizations in the mailbox. Every charity sends an appeal at Christmas. So stand out by mailing something creative. When I worked with Doctors Without Borders as their fundraising letter writer, they mailed a Christmas card to donors that donors then signed and returned to the organization with their gift. Doctors Without Borders forwarded the card to a volunteer doctor or nurse who was serving overseas, and whose name was on the card. The cards were greatly appreciated by the volunteers (many of whom were homesick at that time of year). The cards also involved donors in a way that warmed their hearts and motivated them to contribute.

3. Look back with thanksgiving
Use your year-end appeal fundraising letter as a way to thank donors for their support during the past year. Don’t list the names of every staff person you hired or promoted, or go on at length about happenings at head office. Instead, tell at least one heart-warming or compelling story that illustrates in vivid terms how your donors’ gifts changed lives. Use quotes from the people that you serve wherever possible. They add credibility and human interest to your letter.

4. Look ahead with anticipation
Also use this Christmas appeal letter to present your vision for the coming year. Show donors how their gift this “Holiday Season” will make a difference next year for your organization and the people you serve.

5. Use a seasonal theme
Try to tie your appeal to the season. Giving, presents, exchanging greetings, snow, “goodwill toward man” and other themes are popular at Christmastime. If you can tie your appeal to an emotion or sentiment that is already prevalent at the end of the year, and do so in a relevant way without being overly sentimental, do so.

6. Accentuate the positive
Please don’t appeal for donors to get your books out of the red and into the black. If you have a negative cash flow at year-end, don’t ask donors to correct it. They will see your predicament as your fault. Donors are not motivated to eliminate debt (unless it’s Third World debt). But they are motivated to change the world through a gift to your organization. So present your appeal as an opportunity for the donor rather than a rescue operation for your chief financial officer.

7. A special word for Christian charities
Avoid the “God gave us an unspeakable Gift and so should you” approach in your Christmas appeal letter. Instead, show in concrete terms how you will use a donor’s gift to further the work that your Christian donors care about, using a biblical theme if possible.

Here’s a question from our colleague Chris Harp.

“Gail, my question has to do with how to reinvigorate an annual appeal that started in August, but probably should have started in October. Even though our past appeals have been year-end appeals, my board thought sending letters out early would garner increased contributions, but I’m afraid people have just put their letter aside. We are down about 50% at this point, and if we mail the same amount as a reminder, we’ll cut into our profits. Any low-cost ideas to reinvigorate this campaign?”

Hi Chris, I really think you have no choice but to send another mailing to people who haven’t given yet this year. I know the cost of this mailing will cut into your profits as you say, but try running the numbers:

What will you get if you send the additional mailing? :

Expected revenue from the second mailing less the expenses of the second mailing = net increased revenue.

What’s the expected revenue and cost of doing nothing?

If you DON’T send another mailing:

Estimated revenue that might dribble in during November and December from an August mailing = not many more contributions.

I think you must mail an appeal again, for two major reasons. One, they need to be reminded and asked, clearly.  Two, you need to put that pledge card and reply envelope in their hands again.

Almost certainly they have misplaced the pledge card and envelope. And you MUST make it easy for them to give.

Now, there are some other alternatives:  You can send them a postcard, “we haven’t heard from you yet!” and direct them to your web site to make an on-line contribution.

Or you can phone call them to followup the August mailing. I”d love to see your board members making those phone calls since they were the ones who directed the strategy to mail in August.

Finally, there’s always email. You can certainly email folks on your list who have given you their email addresses.

I think you need to plan your year-end appeal using what I call “multiple communications channels” anyway. Use a combination of phone, email, letters and postcards to really jack up your message on your donors’ radar screens.

Good luck and let me know how you do!

Halloween was last night and we turned deep into the dark side.  Goulies and ghosties walked the streets in my neighborhood.

So let’s turn to the dark side of your year-end fundraising campaign – and shine a light on mistakes many organizations make.

Here’s my Top 10 list of ways to sabotage your year-end fundraising effort.

1.  Send a letter that’s hard to read, with ponderous sentences, long paragraphs and no white space.  (This fails the “easy to read” test, which is the first hurdle for your reader, who is skimming your prose for the highlights only.)

2.  Send a letter much like last year’s with tired messaging, no visuals, no metaphors, no stories.  Your reader is unlikely to keep reading if it is not interesting.  You are not writing an academic treatise; instead you are writing marketing copy.

3.  Bury The Ask deep inside a paragraph at the end of a sentence. (Your reader must be able to easily find out how much you are asking for and for what purpose.)

4.  Don’t include a  reply envelope. (you’d be surprised how many organizations leave out this VITAL component – you have to make it easy for people to give!)

5.  Don’t update your web site. (Studies show that donors – even those who give by writing a check and sending it in the mail – will most often check out your web site to research you before they give.  And your website MUST look professional and up-to-date!)

6. Only send out one appeal letter. (this is the kiss of death for many campaigns.  Studies show that one letter will typically get a 15% response – NOT enough to make your year-end goal. Your donors are too busy and need repeated reminders. And no, it is not tacky to keep reminding them!)

7.  Don’t do phone followup. Studies show that a followup phone call can double your results.

8.  Don’t do an email push to non-donors the last two days of December. Studies show that a majority of on-line donors give in December and most of them are on the last two days of December.

9.  Don’t send a PROMPT, warm, personal thank you immediately to your donors. And “warm, personal” does not mean “on behalf of the board of directors we thank you for blah blah” – this impersonal bunk doesn’t warm your donor’s heart.

10. Don’t have your board members call donors to thank them within 24 hours of the gift’s receipt. Penelope Burk’s landmark studies showed that when board members made this type of followup call, then subsequent gifts from the donors rose by 39%!

There is one step, and one step only, that can make the largest difference in your year-end fundraising results.

And it’s not letters or email or fancy packaging or phone calls or any of that stuff.

It’s this:

Identify the top 10-15 largest donors who gave last year but have not yet given this year – and go see them. Find out what is on their minds and ask them to support you this year.

Spending your time with these funding sources is clearly the absolute best place for you to be in November and December.

So go see these wonderful donors who already believe in you and have supported you in the past. They have already voted with their pocketbooks that they are sold on your mission.

These folks are pre-sold.

You won’t need to educate them, or spend a lot of time developing a close relationship, because it already exists.  It’s the most productive place for you to put your energy – especially if you evaluate the return on your investment of time and energy.

And if you added up the amounts that these funding sources represent, I’ll bet it is a substantial part of your year-end fundraising goal. All of us fundraisers know that it is the higher dollar donors who make the most difference in our totals.

Spend your time where the pockets are the deepest, if you want to raise the money that you  need.

If you don’t do anything else in your year-end campaign, you must do this.

I was reading one of my favorite blogs last week – For Impact – and just had to share this with you.  Tom Suddes and Nick Fedders (the For Impact folks) are two smart, and contrarian guys.

I highly recommend their blog – especially if you are in capital campaign mode.

It’s a dynamite addition to my “31 year-end strategies in 31 days of October.”  Here’s the most compelling advice you could possibly get to boost your year-end campaign strategy.

Here’s what they wrote last week.

“Just saw a note from one year ago today (19 Oct 08) in my journal… from über-investor Warren Buffett:

“Be fearful when others are greedy.
Be greedy when others are fearful.”

My parallel thought goes like this:

Be ASKING when others are hiding.
Be ASKING even when others are asking.

JUST ASK. It was almost a year ago when the economy crashed and everyone in the nonprofit world panicked. I wrote NOW MORE THAN EVER, where I basically said that this too shall pass….. and then that every For Impact organization needed to stay in front of its best investors (not hide under the desk).

I guess the recession is “officially” over. Dow just went back to 10,000. However, there is still a ton of people without jobs; and, clearly, things will never go back to the way they were.

For most of us in the third sector the DEMAND for our services and support has dramatically increased.

NOW MORE THAN EVER… we need to be out with our best CHAMPIONS and PROSPECTIVE INVESTORS.

Go forth… and JUST ASK!

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.)