Posts Tagged ‘Year-End Fundraising Strategies’

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.)

Here’s what my new friend Dovie Prather of the Boys and Girls Clubs of America has to say about face-to-face “asks.”

Dovie is a true believer in the person-to-person appeal. She told me that she coaches her volunteers with these words:  “Don’t be shy about looking in your prospect’s eye and asking!”

I met Dovie at the Boys and Girls Club of America NE Leadership Conference where I gave a plenary presentation last week. I asked her about the BGCA’s year-end fundraising strategies.

Here’s how she motivates her volunteers to go out and visit people one-on-one to ask for support:

“While the recession has hurt many people, some people ARE still making money in the recession. We are still there for our community. The kids still need a place to go where people care about them. Our doors are still open for any kid who needs help.

You MUST go to your regular supporters with an annual ask.”

That’s a lesson for all of us:  go to the loyal donors we’ve always depended on. Those folks who we KNOW believe in our cause and our mission.

And what will we find?

They will still be there for us.

Dovie told me that their annual campaign strategy RELIES on the face to face appeal.

And when you are thinking that all those donors out there are feeling pinched and nervous about the economy, just remember this:

“It only takes ONE DONOR to make a difference in the life of a child.”

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!

In the 09 Year-End Fundraising Strategy Telesummit, direct mail guru Mail Warwick shared an amazingly simple tactic that can have a major impact on your donors’ generosity.

You would never think that this simple step can dramatically increase the return from your fundraising appeals.

Here it is:  Send a postcard or email to donors right before the fundraising appeal letter goes out. People will see the postcard or read the email a few days before their letter arrives in their mailbox.

This is very likely to increase response from those who get the email or postcard.

What you are doing is “warming up your donors.” (see my other blog post on warming up before the ask.)

What you might say is this – and this is from the transcript of Mal Warwick’s Telesummit interview – “I want you to be the first to know that we are soon to launch our year-end campaign.  Our goal is X. The theme is Y.  The deadline is December 31, and so on. . . .”

“You will receive a letter describing the campaign in a couple of days and I hope you will pay close attention and respond.”

This is clearly not rocket science, BUT it cam make all the difference. This is what I have alwyas called a “two-pronged appeal.”

First there is the warm up – an email, a phone call, or even a personal letter letting the donor know that they will be asked soon..”

Then there is the appeal itself.

I used this strategy when I was a staff fundraisser, directing the fundraising program at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-CH.  (Yes I am a TAR HEEL!)

And it was very successful! A no-brainer, easy to implement, that had a major impact on the success of my campaign.

You can use this in mini-campaigns too, such as soliciting your board or advisory board, or a special group of donors.

Try pulling out a segment of donors for this special treatment if you can’t do it for everyone on your donor list.

I think you’ll be surprised and pleased at your results!

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.