Use these magic words in your year-end emails and love your fundraising results because these words really do work!
Category: donor year-end emails
10 Facts You Should Know About Year-End Fundraising
NEON is a great fundraising resource and you need to review these ten year-end fundraising facts now! 10 facts sure to help your results!
Craft Your Best Annual Appeal Letter Ever With these Proven Techniques
Craft Your Best Annual Appeal Letter Ever With these Proven Techniques!
More tips from Blockbuster to craft the best of the best annual fundraising appeal! All kinds of hacks, tweeks and proven techniques that will work for you and your mission.
Excellent ONLINE Checklist for YearEnd Fundraising
Use this excellent checklist when crafting your OnLine annual appeals for the best fundraising results you’ve ever produced.
You’ll definitely want to review this Online Checklist for ultimate year-end fundraising success!
4th Quarter Calls for Donor Retention & Upgrading
Retain and upgrade
Did you know that Individual donors account for 72% of all giving? Just think of how much more you could raise if you could retain and upgrade all of your donors. The sky is the limit! It is essential that you take the necessary steps to not only keep your donors but to encourage them to give more.
How to Retain Your Donors
Your current donors are your low hanging fruit, your easiest targets. You already know they are invested in your cause and they care about your mission. However, if you don’t handle them correctly, they could very easily take their donations elsewhere. Here’s how to keep them:
APPRECIATE THEM!
Organize a call unit to make phone calls to thank them for their past donations. Mention how grateful your organization is for their support in each appeal letter. Make sure they feel special and valued.
TELL THEM HOW THEY MADE A DIFFERENCE.
What did you do with the last gift your donor sent you? Did it pay for 10 children to attend camp? Buy food for 20 families? Sharing the tremendous impact that your donor made on the lives of others will not only make them feel good about their last gift, it will make them eager to give again!
How to Upgrade Your Donors
A sure way to raise more money for your cause without even having to find more donors is to get your current donors to give more. Some donors tend to send the same check year after year, while others may jump around based on their personal situation. Here are a few ideas for getting them to upgrade:
SUGGESTED GIVING LEVELS
How will your donor ever know that you could really use $150 instead of the $100 they’ve been sending every year? Simply suggesting a higher gift amount is sure to get your donor to at least consider upgrading. As long as it is done respectfully and thoughtfully, you’ll never offend a donor by suggesting a higher gift amount.
USE SPECIFIC DATA
Use specific numbers, goals, and costs when suggesting a donor increase their gift. Tell them why you need it and what it will do. Justify your ask.
MOVES MANAGEMENT
The most important thing you can do to upgrade your donors is develop a good moves management program. Look through your donor data and chart out who you plan to upgrade and how you plan to get there. Then, of course, make sure you follow your plan!
How to Handle Downgrades
Some donors are going to downgrade. That’s life. Maybe they were hit with unexpected bills, a job change, or felt like they needed to spend more of their donation dollars somewhere else. Regarding these donors with care and respect is vital. Don’t lose these donors!
RECOGNITION
Form a recognition society based on longevity of giving. This will make your donors realize that they are still important to you. They’ll want to keep on giving to stay in the “club.”
COMMUNICATION
Keep the lines of communication open. Make sure they are still receiving information about your programs and the impact of their donation. You could even explore other methods of giving from in-kind gifts to planned giving.
How to Dominate Direct Mail
How to Dominate Year-End Direct Mail
Success in direct mail cannot be achieved through a great letter alone. Even if you have the most compelling story written in an impeccable, easy to read letter, it won’t do you any good if it is not read by your supporters. This is why understanding direct mail is so important.
Direct Mail Tips and Tricks
Tune Your Timing
It is very important that your timing is right. At times during the year, there is a lot of mail in boxes everywhere – holiday cards, Black Friday deals, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and more! Make sure that your mail piece hits at the best time possible and stands out from the rest.
Expert Help
Make sure you are working with your mail service people. You need to discuss schedules, exact dates of when you want your pieces to drop, and really get in sync. The last thing you want to do is think you have everything ready to go on time and find out that your piece will take an extra several weeks to mail. It could very easily be a very busy year for them too!
Details, Details, Details
Make sure you have a very detail oriented assistant or team of people to help you look over your package and check every detail. This includes the letter itself, but also the reply card, envelope, mailing list, and anything else you are including. More eyes are the best policy to avoid mistakes!
Donor’s Eyes
Look at your direct mail piece as your donor will look at it. Remember your primary objective – what do you want them to do. Have you asked them often enough? Does your #1 benefit hit your donor right between the eyes? Have you made it clear what you want them to do and how they fit into your organization?
First Impressions
Does your mail piece encourage your donors to open it right now? Is it exciting? Try using colored envelopes or putting a short phrase on the envelope that will make your donors want to open it up right away. Obviously, make sure all of your donor’s information is correct on the envelope as well.
Reply Card
Include a reply card! Is your response device in your letter and does it include a summary of your letter? Without a response device, your supporters won’t be able to easily send in their donations. They may not even realize you are asking for a response at all.
Review of an Exemplary Donor Year-End Email
Dec 30th! Today we review an exemplary 2016 year-end email and remind ourselves that a call to donors about the last chance IRA 2016 deduction could be important! Hope your emails are year-end asks are having fabulous results! Join us tomorrow for a live New Years Eve celebration with resolutions and trends for 2017.
POST POST POST
Last three fundraising days are the largest giving days of the entire year! This calls for repurposing your great content on social media! Post, post, and post again on Facebook using your Donation Page link throughout the post, not just at the end! Make sure your Call To Action button is set to Donate and works seamlessly with your donation page!
Surefire Success Tips for Largest 2016 Giving Days
With these Blockbuster Fundraising Tips plus bonus tips borrowed from John Haydon, you’re ready for 3 biggest days for fundraising! http://www.johnhaydon.com/thank-you-page-best-practices-nonprofit/
Dazzle Them Now For Largest Giving Days of 2016
Just gotta love The NONPROFIT MARKETING BLOG and their “7 Musts for Last-MInute Fundraising Appeals”. These 7 tips are dazzling best-practices that will give you “striking and spiking” power for 2016 year-end!
Keep It going For Year-End Fundraising Success
3 tips you can use for your last 4 days of 2016 emails! Important Tips for 2016 year-end success!
Send More Than One Email Last Fundraising Days
After viewing this Daily Tip and reading John Haydon’s blog (http://www.johnhaydon.com/email-subject-line-examples/) you will be thinking about sending out more than one email on Dec 31st as well as revamping your subject lines! Keep It going because these last 9 days of 2016 fundraising are tremendously important and you can tweak your emails for super success! No Kidding!