As nonprofits, we know how many new donors and first time donors get away! We lose them folks, 70% never show up again! We need to welcome them with open arms immediately and turn them into interested, cared-for donors! Here are proven strategies and examples that work wonders!
Category: Cultivation
20 Questions Created for Fundraisers
#SummerLearningSeries Today’s Topic, a Quiz!
20 QUESTIONS, the Donor Communications Test!
Have You Taken This Quiz? Written by Tom Ahern and created for fundraisers, the goal is to promote a quick, common understanding of profitable, proven best-practices in appeals, newsletters and thanking your donors, both print and digital.
http://www.aherncomm.com/20-questions-free-downloadable-test-re-best-practices-donor-communications/
Are You Celebrating Your Donors?
Time to CELELBRATE! Celebrate Your DONORS and Celebrate Donor Milestones!
Got really inspired by Donor Relations Guru’s blog, “Celebrating Donor Milestones-Reasons to Ring the Bell” and you’re gonna love these inspired ideas! And better than that, so will your donors! Celebrate with me and watch now!
How To Win Back Lapsed Donors
Hey! Gotta a LAPSED DONOR PLAN ready to go now? Why? Because this is a perfect time to regroup and reactivate with a plan to rebuild those relationships before it’s too late! Reach out now with these super tips!
Are You Taking Advantage of Opportunities the Top 2017 Fundraising Trends Offer?
https://youtu.be/vPDdvNvQGO8
Is your NonProfit taking great advantage of the 2017 top fundraising trends?
Watch this video for top ten review and ways you can act now to take action for fabulous 2017 fundraising results!.
Thank you CauseVox for your Top10 Trend List! More help here: https://www.causevox.com/fundraising-plan-calendar/
Why Do Trends Matter to NonProfits?
The National Council of NonProfits has this to say Nonprofit Sector Trends
“Trends in the economy, demographics, technology, communications, and even how we spend our leisure time, can affect the core capacities needed by every charitable nonprofit to be effective and sustainable.
It is our hope that by shining a light on nonprofit trends, those who lead charitable nonprofits, as well as those who invest in their missions, will be armed with information useful for decision making and planning for the future.”
– See more at: https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/nonprofit-sector-trends#sthash.Lot9vsos.dpuf
WHY MONTHLY GIVING IS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY NOW
Develop a great monthly giving program
A monthly giving program can really help your organization. We know that on average 40% of giving from individuals occurs in December. Wouldn’t it be great to spread some of those gifts out over the whole year? Transitioning some of your donors to monthly gifts is the perfect way to do that.
Here are some ideas for how to convince your donors to give monthly.
What to ask for:
Setting your monthly giving amount at the appropriate amount is an essential first step. Start with your average online gift amount then take 15-20% of that for your baseline. If your average online gift is $100, set a baseline recurring gift of $15/month and up from there. This is a great starting point for new donors, but for current donors who may be giving more you will want to edit your ask to be specific to their giving level.
Learn from your current monthly donors:
If you have a group of monthly donors they can give you great insight into what works and what doesn’t. Call them and ask them for their opinion and thank them for being monthly donors. Find out why they give monthly. What do they have in common? You can use these ideas to reach out to other monthly donors.
Seven groups to target:
Here are seven groups of people who are likely to be attracted to the idea of a monthly gift.
• One time donors who give less than $200 each year
• Donors who give more than three times a year
• Young supporters
• Volunteers
• Donors who have given in the past but not last year
• Event attendees
• Former board members
Questions to ask your team
Before you start your monthly giving program, ask your team these questions:
• What do we want to accomplish through monthly giving?
• What does that mean to our programs and our mission?
• What is the result of achieving our goal?
Answering these questions will help your donors understand your mission in your monthly giving program and help you to better talk to your donors about the impact and good their monthly gift will exert.
Making Donor Calls Always the Right Call
NOW is the perfect time to catch up on your Donor Calls! Donor Calls Mean Donor Loyalty and Retention, which in turn, means everything to your Non-Profit Success! Here are some summertime call tips from Joy at BlockbusterFundraising.com
Developments Starring Role
“The skills of a good development director are much the same as those of a good sales manager. It is the job of an organization’s development director to inspire his or her salespersons—the volunteer solicitors—and arm them with all the tools they need to be successful.
At the same time development directors must be able to run a tight ship and bring a sense of control, perspective, and order to the process of raising money.
Good development directors are donor-driven, rather than institution-driven.
They function as the donors’ voice within the organization, bringing donor cares and concerns to staff and trustees. Yet they must remain conscious and protective of the integrity and purpose of the organization. They are in the best position to say no to a request which asks too much of the organization and undermines its mission.” Read entire blog:
DONOR SEGMENTATION SUCCESS
Donor Segmentation for maximum fundraising results
First things first: What is segmentation?
Segmentation is the act of dividing your donors into groups based on specific criteria. It is critical that you are able to segment your donors. A donor database with CRM (customer relationship management) technology will help you do this.
So how should you segment your donors?
There are hundreds of ways you can segment your donors: by zip code, gift size, age, and even (if you’ve kept very careful data) what day of the week they have made a donation.
Here are some of the most useful methods of donor segmentation.
AFFILIATION AND INTEREST
Segment on how your donors are affiliated based on your mission, organizational structure and community involvement. Which programs and causes is this donor interested in? This will tell you what to focus on in your appeal letter to get the best results.
ENTITY TYPE
What type of entity is this donor? This type of segmentation is critical in creating a strategic plan and forecasting so you can plan for gifts coming from individuals, corporations, government and foundations.
GIVING CHANNEL
How is your donor making their gift? You want to make sure you are offering your donors the opportunity to make a gift in the manner that is most convenient for them. Know when to use mail and when to use email or social media
GIVING LEVEL
Segmenting by the annual giving level will help you know what gift amount you should be suggesting to your donor. Make sure you are ethical and courteous but you must also be careful not to insult or disrespect the donor’s ability or capacity. Remember it is imperative not to ask for too much or too little
GIVING STATUS
Another important segment to look for is giving status. An appeal to a new donor should have a different focus and message than one to a lapsed donors. Retained donors can be segmented too – ones who have increased gifts, decreased gifts, or stayed the same.
Final thoughts
Segmentation gives you creative, intentional ways to engage your donors. It helps you craft your message in a way that your donor will find appealing and personalized. And we all know that the more your donor feels cared for and connected, the more likely they are to make another donation for your cause!
CONTENT IS KING!
Winning Content Ideas
Your content is the key to your successful year-end appeal. By now, you’ve gathered your stories and created your plan. Use these tips to make sure you structure your content and present it in a way that is sure to yield great results.
Four quick tips to winning content and formatting
1. Keep shorter paragraphs
Shorter paragraphs are easier for your donors to scan for details that are important to them. Longer paragraphs will cause your donors to lose focus and interest.
2. Include a P.S.
If your reader reads nothing else, they will read the P.S. Save this area for an important call to action, deadline, or quote.
3. Get your CEO to sign the letter
Your CEO is the face of your organization. His or her signature will hammer home with your donors that this is important and that they are important.
4. Find the right image
Use an image that will steal their heart and let your donors know what will happen right now if they don’t participate. Think of your picture as a place your donor can swim to to be the hero of the story.
Four more tips to perfect your year-end appeal content.
Network for Good gives us four tips from the Wild Woman’s Guide to Fundraising.
- Be present active and direct
- Spark people into action. You want to strengthen verbs with an active voice and first person pronouns. Say things like: “Go on. Pick up the pen. Write a check.” Or: “This child is hungry now. You can help her now. Please give.”
- Move your call to action front and center
- Don’t save your call to action for the end of the appeal. Instead, pepper your request throughout the letter. Offer donors several moments to think about giving. If you are sending an email appeal, be sure to link those calls to action to your donate page.
- Focus on the donor! This is all about the pronoun “you.” Use it throughout the appeal. Talk about how your donors have made the world a better place with this gift. Your donor is the hero of this story. This increases the odds that they’ll click the donate button or send you a check because you acknowledged their important role in your mission.
Avoid these three common formatting mistakes
Be sure you present your content in a way your donors can read it easily and take action.
1. Long unbroken paragraphs
2. Tiny font or hard to read fonts
3. Tight spacing between lines of text.
Six tips for how to grab your donor’s attention and make your case.
1. Increase your font size and don’t use any long paragraphs.
2. Turn a long paragraph into a bulleted list.
3. Spotlight key ideas or messages with a bold font or yellow highlighting.
4. Feature a quote in larger text from a person the donor is helping.
5. Use readable fonts for the body of your letter.
6. Make sure you include the P.S.
As you write your appeal, ask yourself: How does this look right now and is there anything I can do to make this easier for the donor to read and act on. The more you can improve, the greater results you will see for your cause!
Monthly Giving Rules
Is Monthly Giving on your radar in 2017? Better Be! Erica Waasdorf has written one of the only books on Monthly Giving and it’s essential, efficient, and a perfect resource for Monthly Giving best practices. We review it today, Monthly Giving, the Sleeping Giant”. . . let’s wake up the giant now!
Develop a great monthly giving program
A monthly giving program can really help your organization. We know that on average 40% of giving from individuals occurs in December. Wouldn’t it be great to spread some of those gifts out over the whole year? Transitioning some of your donors to monthly gifts is the perfect way to do that.
Here are some ideas for how to convince your donors to give monthly.
What to ask for
Setting your monthly giving amount at the appropriate amount is an essential first step. Start with your average online gift amount then take 15-20% of that for your baseline. If your average online gift is $100, set a baseline recurring gift of $15/month and up from there. This is a great starting point for new donors, but for current donors who may be giving more you will want to edit your ask to be specific to their giving level.
Learn from your current monthly donors
If you have a group of monthly donors they can give you great insight into what works and what doesn’t. Call them and ask them for their opinion and thank them for being monthly donors. Find out why they give monthly. What do they have in common? You can use these ideas to reach out to other monthly donors.
Seven groups to target
Here are seven groups of people who are likely to be attracted to the idea of a monthly gift.
- One time donors who give less than $200 each year
- Donors who give more than three times a year
- Young supporters
- Volunteers
- Donors who have given in the past but not last year
- Event attendees
- Former board members
Questions to ask your team
Before you start your monthly giving program, ask your team these questions:
- What do we want to accomplish through monthly giving?
- What does that mean to our programs and our mission?
- What is the result of achieving our goal?
Answering this question will help your donors understand your mission in your monthly giving program and better talk to your donors about why this is important.
Story Telling Techniques That Motivate Your Donors to Take Action
Telling your organization’s STORY has never been more important! It’s up to you to grab attention, grab empathy, and grab heartfelt donor connection, sometimes in minutes! Want to know how? Watch now!