Author: JoyOlson

Don’t let your emails get trashed! Here are 5 tips to getting those emails open and better yet, a positive response.

Hello, this is Joy Olson, coming to you today from Blockbuster Fundraising with 4 tips that I think will heat up your fundraising success.

In 2015, I read a blog that I  saved because I felt it was so concise and spot-on.

The blog, 22 Strategies to Take Your Fundraising to the Next Level, by Dan Quirk in Strategy, is the exact title, blog and author for your reference. Click here to link:

So I have rethought and repurposed these tips for today because I think they are of value and now is a perfect time to them into immediate action during these dog days of summer. Don’t wait till October, do it now!

These 4 tips will definitely  help ‘heat up’ your year-end fundraising success, you can count on it!

TIP # 1 Tie Your Brand, Mission, and Image  in Beautiful Bow

Refresh your thinking about your brand, mission and image!

Ask yourself these questions:

How is it working for you this year? How can you improve and pull it all together for even better results? What has been your most successful direct mail piece and why did it work so well? What do your supporters love most about your organization?

Polish that and repurpose the image and the story that is working!

Use your best stuff for year-end goal-oriented messages! Start thinking theme and make it good, interesting, thoughtful, heart-rendering and impactful! Make sure you’re on target and that you know what has worked best and do it again, even better!

You can do it! Tweak and Refresh and Create some real excitement!

Tip #2  DONOR RECOGNITION and tip number two is really Number #1  and is always the best tip of all because it’s about your donors!

Right now is a perfect time to hit the donor recognition bandwagon. Plan a couple of fall get-togethers to tell your major donors  how very much you appreciate them! You’re not going to ask them for a dime, you’re just going to have a nice time together and recognize them for making it happen for your organization! Emphasize the impact of their gifts of support have had and that you couldn’t have done it without them!

This is a wonderful time of year to plan these get-togethers as fall cools off and people are home once again.

Tip #3 is get your Digital Fundraising updated and tweaked! Refresh and make-over your web page now for year end! Get that CTA (call to action),  and Donate Now button looking very sharp, easy to see, easy to use! Make sure it all looks good on mobile! Make sure all your links are working!Work on your stories for your videos and use videos onn FAcebook Live to get a sense of what’s going to really reach the heart of your supporters. Facebook has made it so much easier for call to actions tabs and also lead ads. Check it out!!! There are many great articles and gurus out there to help with social media and you need to be learning and using this wonderful social media advantage we now have to connect with our donors and soon to be donors! Your online stories and videos that work can be links in your year-end emails that will be a huge success for you if you’re ready with your very best heartfelt story videos. I believe strongly that you can improve your December by 10% with just this focused effort!

Work on your stories for your videos and use videos on Facebook Live to get a sense of what’s going to really reach the heart of your supporters. Facebook has made it so much easier for call-to-action tabs and also lead ads. Check it out!!! There are many great articles and gurus out there to help with social media and you need to be learning and using this wonderful social media advantage we now have to connect with our donors and soon to be donors! Blockbuster Fundraising facebook page keeps you current with many of the best thought leaders in this area so keep a watch here.

Make your online stories and videos that get the most shares and views ready for your year-end emails. Those emails will be a huge success  if you’re ready with your very best heartfelt story videos. I believe strongly that you can improve your December online results by 10% with just this focused effort!

Use our wonderful social media advantage  to connect with your donors and soon to be donors!  AS I mentioned earlier, your best online stories and videos will be a huge success  if you’re ready with your very best heartfelt story/videos.

Tip #4 your Partnerships! Make sure that you reach out to your current partnerships and confirm that everything is a solid go for 2017! Find matching gift opportunities from current partnerships for year-end campaigns because we all know those matching gifts really really enhance donor returns! Reach out to those partners you’ve had your eye on for future connection and say hello! Give them an enticing idea as to how they could fit into a 2017 project that would be a perfect fit.

And so there you go, 4 tips to heat up your fundraising efforts that you can work on right now that are going to make a huge difference for you come year end!

Thank you for stopping by Blockbuster Fundraising! Hey happy summer, happy fundraising and see you soon!

I’m sounding off on generational fundraising today and I think we’re going to have some fun and hopefully you will get some good ideas on segmenting your donor list for generational preferences and relationships!

Each generation living today has come of age with profoundly different experiences concerning mass communication and these differences have
directly impacted how each of these generations give to nonprofits.

Seniors who came of age during the era of print media still prefer their print communications and charitable giving. The same is mostly true for baby boomers who however are young enough to be experiencing the rise of all new social media in their daily lives which consequently is impacting their life long giving habits.

Then there’s Gen X and Gen Y who both came of age during the rise of mass Internet communications and they increasingly shun all print communications and fundraising but they adapt quickly to the new trends in mobile and social giving.

And Gen Y who come of age in a post-print era and will be connecting to the non-profit causes and givings through technologies that haven’t even been invented yet! Kind of scary isn’t it?

Due to the rapid speed of technology and technological advancement, from this point forward, we nonprofits will have to embrace multiple
communications and fundraising tools if we want to reach our donors and supporters of all ages.

Each generation definitely has their own they’re their own way of giving and each has a favorite or prefered communication channel and every development officer should be aware of these preferences and prefered way of giving.

Millennials take action for causes that they like and they’re active on the phone and text and guess what? They check YOUR website before giving a gift!

Gen Xers are most likely to fundraise for a cause and they’ll get out there if they care and try to do something about it! Gen Xers will check their email regularly, use social media and prefer text messages.
Gen Xers volunteer more and more often than any other generation.

Let’s look at the baby boomers. This is interesting because baby boomers spend many more hours a week online they definitely are answering their phone calls and their emails and this makes it really nice as you can talk to these donors! Not only will they answer the phone, you can
have a nice and meaningful conversation with them! Yea!

The silent generation,a wonderful generation, are very civic-minded and they really feel like they’re making an important difference when they’re donating to a cause that’s close to their heart and this and that’s nice because they are very interested in your project if it has the impact that’s close to their heart and they feel that they can help make it happen, thereby making a real difference.

Watch the Video and download the Generational PDF Check List for more info to help you with each generation.When you segment your donors, this information will be invaluable for better results and better donor relationships!

Click here for Generations Slide Presentation: generations

So how are you really doing with your fundraising?  What’s your ROI so far this year? Do You Know? Have you analyzed your fundraising performance? And do you know how to calculate your ROI? Do you include all the indirect costs associated with your fundraising efforts? It can be confusing but you must get a grasp of what is working for your organization and what you’re spending so you’ll be able to answer the question when the ED  or Board asks “How are we doing?”

A quick review  of the national averages for non-profits fundraising costs and returns proves to be eye-opening to say the least.

First, look at Acquisitions. In 2015  it took $1.15 in order to raise $1.00 with direct mail acquisition efforts. Wow, certainly not a get rich quick scheme but always considered very necessary  to look for new donors. Many non-profits use their annual event  or other fundraising events to acquire new donors but direct mail is still King.

Direct Mail is still a solid performer with a budget cost of 20% and a return of 80%. Content and storytelling can really help make a huge return possible so you want to work hard on content to touch the donor heart with the beautiful impact of your work.

Counting on your Events to kick in big dollars?  Norman Olshankey,  President of NFP consulting, says “For most organizations, events (with a few notable exceptions) should not be undertaken if they are expected to provide a good financial return on the organization’s investment of time and  resources to produce an event.”national averages show events cost 50% of your budget and return 50%. Rather a wash but probably less than that when yo figure in every indirect cost of a large event.

Do you ever wonder why Major Giving is such a pronounced area of training and instruction in the Development field? Consider these facts from the AAFRC Trust for Philanthropy: 78.3% of all charitable contributions are made by individuals and the top 10% of those donors give a  whopping 80 to 90%. That 10% are your Major Donors and are so very important to the future of your mission. The national average major gift fundraising cost is 5-10% of your budget ! Every dime you spend on Major Gifts nets $1.00. This makes it very easy to see why this is where you should concentrate your efforts and do it now!

To know and understand your  “Return on Investment” will make you a great Development Director.  Here’s  a link to an exceptional blog I saved from Hubspot 2 years ago  that I think you will really appreciate. It is save-worthy for sure.

Here’s to you getting the most from your fundraising efforts and click below to get a quick check list to help!

Joy Olson

Click image for your CheckList of 6 great connection questions to ask your New Donors to get that second gift!

Are you getting ready to do an acquisition mailing to look for those valuable new donors?  Are you thinking about doing the mailing early this year due to elections and all those election mailings and messages?

You are probably like me when you look at your budget and realize how much you’re going to have to spend to do that acquisition mailing and know that your return is going to be minimal! But is it?

On the one hand, if you fall into the national average, for acquisition, you spend 115% and get a negative 15% return. Ugh! Add to that  less than 20% of those new donors are ever going to give to you again! (from NFP) WHAT????

But wait! If you can get those new donors to give again, those new donors are of maximum value, especially if you can turn that one-time gift into a loyal supporter.  If you get that second gift, you’ve got a 63% chance of them giving again! So how can you do that?

Here are 4 tips from JoeGarecht of The Fundraising Authority that I totally agree with! One of the tips is something you may have never thought about and will want to get your volunteer manager involved to help.

First, CALL THE NEW DONORS! Call and thank those new donors and thank them right away! Do not wait over a week and get help from other staff members if you are too busy. Make sure that you have a few questions to ask  on the call enabling you to gather information to build a connection and get invaluable feedback. Ask why they decided to give at this time, what is it about your organization that they identify with and do they feel like this gift they made will make a difference? What difference would they like to make?  Record the answers and if you have staff, board members, or volunteers helping you make these calls, ask the same questions and keep notes! These notes are your connection to a lifetime donor!

Secondly, stay in touch ! Don’t let the next time they hear from you be a year-end giving request! You have some information from your calls that allow you to reach out and get in touch when you have information that will interest them or make them feel good about their previous gift! So reach out, via mail, email, call!

Thirdly, get them involved with your organization with service in areas in which they  have interest. This is where your volunteer manager will be of great help to find the right fit. If the new donor gets involved with your organization, they feel connected and become more interested in helping and advancing your cause.

Lastly, ASK FOR ANOTHER GIFT!  Even for Development Officers, this is sometimes really difficult and everyone agonizes about what is the right amount of time to wait to ask again.

Here’s a great answer from Ron Rescigno.

“Ask again — quickly!  If yours is like most nonprofits, you wait too long to make the 2nd Ask.  Research shows that the earlier you acquire a 2nd gift, the higher the lifetime value of a donor is.  The ideal 2nd Ask happens within 3 months (or 90 days) of the original gift.  Why not try for a smaller recurring unrestricted annual gift that deepens the donor’s connection to the organization?

My answer is to ask again within 45 days. It is fine if it’s a follow-up ask  in relation to their particular interst (that you now know what that is from conversations). Why not try for a smaller recurring additional gift that deepens the donor’s connection to the organization?

Remember that if you can get that second gift, your chances of them giving again to your organization is 63%. That’s worth the try, don’t you think?