Posts Tagged ‘fundraising ideas’

The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported this week that some international relief organizations said their average gift size to help the Haiti crisis is smaller than after the tsunamis in 2004.  The good news is that the number of gifts went up even if the size of the gift was down.

For example, (and I’m quoting from the Chronicle article here:)

In the first 10 weekdays after the earthquake in Haiti, Mercy Corps received 61,505 contributions, compared with 49,561 donations during the same period after the tsunamis. But the average size of the Haiti gifts was $109, compared with $208 for the tsunami gifts.

As of Wednesday, the American Red Cross had received approximately $231-million, a little more than a third of the more than $644-million raised by major U.S. relief groups. Online donations for Haiti have averaged $92 for the group, compared with $150 after the tsunamis.

World Vision U.S. has raised almost $30-million for its work in Haiti, roughly the same amount the organization had received during the same period after the tsunamis. But the charity’s average gift size is $130 this disaster, compared with $191 for the tsunamis.

Here’s my take on this: Clearly the disturbing trend to smaller gifts is because of the recession. How long will we be here? Gift size has dropped almost across the board.

I, for one, am anxiously waiting for signs of spring – looking for signs of a resurrection in the economy and in giving. These trends in gift size may be the first bellweather to let us know how things are going. And clearly, the tide hasn’t turned yet.  But these donors are more of the anonomyous type – the kind motivated by media to “help out” in times of crisis.

We CAN be successful when we make focus in on our CURRENT donors – those who are already on the bandwagon with us. All the more reason for us to be keeping our donors and friends of our cause excited about the impact we are making in the world.

I just read in the Benevon newsletter yesterday of some stunning results from first time “ask events’ – major funds that were raised from both new and old donors. When we pull in those personally devoted to our cause and tell our story with impact and passion, they WILL give.

Our inner circle donors are a better bet right now than new donors who come to us thru the media.

A friend and client sent me this email last week:

“I am a development director so am particularly sensitive to these things, but I have to say I was appalled yesterday to received a long typed thank you yesterday for a small donation I gave 10 weeks ago at a fundraising breakfast.

“I went to the breakfast at the behest of two friends who serve on the board of directors.  I also know another board member and the executive director, who gave a fabulous short speech at the event.

“The event was packed with enthusiastic people.  All was done just right, except for the follow-up.

“Why not have thank you envelopes pre-addressed ahead of time so the table captains can quickly jot a note after the event?

“Why not call everybody who attended, say thank you, what did you learn, and how would you like to get involved?

“My donation was miniscule.  What these people don’t know about me, however, is that if I don’t spend it all ahead of time I stand to inherit a nice chunk of change in the next couple of decades.

“They don’t need to spend a lot of time thanking me, but an impersonal 10 weeks later is abysmal.

What can we learn from this? So many of us are using “ask events” successfully. These types of events are becoming more and more frequent. They can be wonderful fundraising tools.

But a 10-week old thank you? This is how to drive your donors away – and FAST!

Just think of all the work that went in to the ask event. And how little work went into the followup.  Isn’t that like so much of what we do in fundraising?

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.

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.)

We all talk about the need for a visual and emotional “hook” in our fundraising letters. But it’s really hard to pull off!

What you want to do is create a visual metaphor or a story that portrays your message. In the 09 Year-End Fundraising Strategies Telesummit, direct mail guru Mail Warwick calls this the “dynamite marketing concept.”

It’s something really compelling about the campaign that catches people’s attention and motivates them to learn more about it and eventually to responds.

Here’s what not to do!

Mal shared his perspective,”The problem is that nonprofit folks typically think what they need to do in their letters is to tell their donors all about the great work they are doing.

“They like to talk about the specifics of their work, the programs and projects they have in place, and then they think the donors will come running.”

But we really have to step back and get into the mind of the donor.

We have to determine which aspects of the work we’re doing would really appeal to the donor’s fundamental values and beliefs and what benefits that would provide.

This is very different from starting out an appeal letter “for 20 years the xxx organization has lovingly served xxxx group of people in our community.” (yawn)

Instead start your letter with a story. Just like the way lots of newspaper articles begin.

Perhaps it goes like this:  “Johnny Smith woke up Monday morning, hungry again.”

Wow, doesn’t that strike you in a completely different way?  It creates a visual narrative that draws the reader in. You want to keep reading don’t you?  Starting with a story is an amazing technique.

You could go on to say that Johnny lives right here in our community, and his single mother could not find work. You could talk about how many nights a week he goes to bed hungry. Or perhaps how he stuffs his empty backback with cafeteria food at school because he knows there is no food at home.

As you read this, you are forming pictures in your mind, aren’t you? It is generating an emotional feeling in your soft heart (I hope.)

THIS is the way to appeal to your donors’ hearts. And you’d be surprised at the result.

Here’s a guest post from a smart colleague of mine: Amy Eisenstein.  In her newsletter today, she gave us 7 ways to strengthen our end of year fundraising appeals.  (Check out her webiste:  Tri-Point Resources; she has lots of great information and an excellent newsletter.) Here’s a dynamite list of things you don’t want to forget!

Amy says:

“I spoke to a group of almost 50 fundraisers this morning, from a variety of non-profits in Wilmington, DE, and only a quarter of them had started drafting their year-end appeal!

If you are like so many others who haven’t started your annual appeal letter, what are you waiting for? Time is running out.

You can’t be late with your appeal this year, because people with limited resources are going to give to the first organizations that come knocking.

1.      Create a timeline and work backwards.
When do you want appeal letters to land in mailboxes? Early November is ideal, but anytime before Thanksgiving will do. December is late!  The mail house will need a week, as will the printer. You probably need a week to write the letter, and a week for board members and others to write personal notes. (That’s a total of 4 weeks.)

2.      Contact vendors (printer and mail house) and get quotes.
Select your vendor and discuss timelines with them. Make sure they can work under your deadlines and understand the urgent nature of your appeal.

3.      Develop a concept and write your letter.
Include personal stories, client quotes, and photos, when appropriate. This is your opportunity to tell your supporters what you accomplished this year, and who you have helped. They should feel the tug at their heartstrings!

4.      Create a Business Reply Envelope (BRE)
Don’t send your appeal without one of these. Start saving ones you get in the mail as samples for next year. The reply envelope is another place to tell your story, such as your mission or more quotes. Ask for specific amounts, such as $25, $50, $100 and Other. Remember to collect donor information for your database, including address, phone number, and email address.

5.      Personalize, personalize, personalize.
-  Segment your list. Can you send different letters to board members, donors, non-donors, and lapsed donors?
-  Always use Dear Amy, not Dear Friend.
-  Ask board members, staff, and volunteers to write personal notes to people they know (and those they don’t).
-  If you can handwrite envelopes to your largest donors, you should.

6.      Use “live” first class postage.
This is not the time to use your bulk mail permit or postage meter.

If the envelope doesn’t get opened, it doesn’t matter how good your appeal is. Don’t let your appeal end up in the trash before being opened. First class stamps and handwritten envelopes exponentially increase your open rate.

7.   Follow Up
-  Before the appeal is mailed, write generic thank you letters. Have a system for how they will get out, as fast as possible.
-  Implement a thank you calling system. Ask board members to help make thank you calls.

A thoughtful thank you goes a long way in securing the next gift. Stand out this year as an organization that is extraordinarily grateful for the donations you receive!

I bet you are starting to receive year-end appeal letters like I am. Have you ever stepped back to examine exactly what they look like?

Are they dense with type?
Is the type font so small you have to dash for your reading glasses?
Is it all one dull black color?
Are the paragraphs so long that you sorta skim the first sentence and then skip on to the next paragraph?

OR, perhaps
There are attractive photos?
There is nice use of color?
There are boldface headings that make it easier to read?

And perhaps,
They use bold type and italics to highlight key points?
The are margins nice and wide?
There is plenty of white space?
Are paragraphs short?

Guess what! What your appeal actually LOOKS like has an enormous amount to do with whether people actually read the whole thing.

So often we labor over just the right words. Lots of people spend too much time writing and re-writing over and over. And finally we have it perfectly written. Then we jam all the lovely copywriting into a very small space.

There is to much to say that we end up shrinking the font. We narrow the margins to get it all there.  We throw lots of sentences into paragraphs.

And can you find the appeal?

Especially if you are skimming which is what everybody is going to do!

But we forget to step back and take a look at its overall appearance. The amount of white space on your letter may have more to do with whether someone reads it or not!

Number one rule of writing fundraising letters?

Make sure your letter is easy to read!

(Example:  Look at this post and how easy it is to read with all the white space. )

I’m wildly interested in what Margaret May Damen had to say about appealing to women donors in her 09 Year-End Strategies Telesummit interview with me last week.

After years on the big-time university fundraising scene, I know all too well how so many development folks focus waaaaay too much on the men. I know I used to do it too.

But now, take a look at her statistics: According to the Harvard Business Review, 84% of all women make ALL the financial decisions in their households. My oh my.  Too many development officers are missing the boat if they are talking to men.

Here are Margaret May Damen’s top three strategies to engage women donors’ hearts AND their pocketbooks.

1. Gather a group of top women donors across generational divides. Ask them for their best ideas on how to succeed with your mission.  And ask them to be the pebble in the pond. To go out there and tell the story of what our organization is doing.  Ask them to increase their gifts by 10-20% – not for a dollar goal but for a specific need.  And then ask them to go out and ask two or three other women for the same thing.

2.  In your next newsletter – put a photo or a testimonial in it from a female donor. There are TOO MANY photos of men in our materials – and it matters to women!  Why are they being left out?

3.  Call your female donors and ask them outright – for a specific need, not a general goal:  “Our students need meals – with another $100 from you we can buy 20 more meals.  Can we count on you?”

I was in the presence of a great man yesterday.  Greg Mortenson, author of “Three Cups of Tea” risked his life to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

And HE said to US that he was “humbled” to be speaking to nonprofit leaders! Wow, it was I who was humbled to be in the same room as him.

The odds against what he was trying to do in those far-away countries were almost overwhelming. No money, few connections, no experience.

He started his fundraising by writing 500 letters to celebrities asking for funds to build his school.  Needless to say, that strategy failed. Then a friend of a friend volunteered the full funding needed for the first school. The rest is history.

Our lesson here is that it was the personal connection yet again, that funded his project.  The friend heard about what he was trying to do and was interested.

Mortenson’s key fundraising secret?  “Storytelling is a great way to raise money.” He says that statistics are one thing but painting a picture with a story makes all the difference.

Mortenson shared some key qualities of people who’ve been successful. I’d say these are the qualities our nonprofit sector needs now more than ever. Qualities that successful social entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders share:

1.  You have to always think out of the box. (Consider this: where will solutions to today’s problems in our sector come from?)

2.  You can’t be afraid to fail. The key to success is sometimes having to fail first. (Are our boards willing to take these risks?)

3.  You have to be willing to work really really hard and persevere. (You can only do this if you are committed heart and soul to your mission and your vision.)

4. Learn how to listen – to the people you are trying to help. Their voice needs to be appreciated and understood. They can often show you the way, perhaps following a path that is totally outside your own box.  (Mortenson’s Pakistani friends had to teach him this lesson.

How long has it been since you really listened to the people you are serving?  They may have some interesting answers.