Category: Dazzling Donor Communications

Donors communications must communicate your story and your true gratitude for their loyalty and support.

Lapsed Donor Love Letters to Lure & Reel Them Back

We’re focused on the Lapsed Donors and today focus on best lapsed-letter communications to win your donors back and rebuild those wonderful relationships!

Summer Stories Predict Sunny Fundraising Results

Storytelling Techniques for Your Fundraising Success

Nonprofit storytelling can be a powerful tool to recruit and motivate donors. Even more than shocking statistics, a story can spur donors to help because it makes the cause real and elicits empathy from potential supporters.

Allison Gauss from Classy.org had some great tips to tap into the power of storytelling.

Components of a Fundraising Story

The Character (Protagonist)

It all starts with a character. The main character gives your donors someone to identify with and care about. This is who they hope for, worry about, fear for, and cheer for. Decide who your character is and put them front and center!

Details

Details are what make your character and story more reliable. Tell your audience something concrete about your character that they will remember.

Goals

What does your character need or want? Your character’s efforts to achieve this goal is what moves your story forward.

Conflict

What is standing in your character’s way?

Villain That Stands In Way

Portray the object standing in your character’s way as a villain. It doesn’t have to be a person, it just needs to be something that your donor can help defeat.

Action

Empower your donor to be part of the story by helping the character reach a happy ending. Tell them what your organization can do with their help.

Ending

End with impact! What have you accomplished together? What progress has your character made? Make it clear that the fight isn’t over and their donation is needed to keep going.

Storytelling strategies

Allison Gauss also gives us four ways to present a story to help donors connect with your cause and move them to action.

#1 – Introduce the main character

Choose just one individual. Donors are much more likely to act when given just one individual rather than groups.
Pro Tips
• Offer details like the individual’s name, location, and personal goals (get permission!)
• Let the individual do that talking. Their story will be more impactful when your character tells it in their own words.
• Use pictures or video of the person so your supporters can put a face with a name.

#2 – Begin with a startling fact or statistic

The shock factor is a sure way to get your audience’s attention.
Pro Tips
• Think outside the box for metrics or facts that are so unexpected they demand an explanation.
• Reveal the people and places behind the headlines. Once you have your donors’ attention, give them more details about the situation on the ground.

#3 – Immerse your audience in a moment of conflict

Tell your story in a heart rendering way that makes your donor feel compelled to help.

Pro Tips

• Be descriptive, not dramatic
• Give your audience details like sights, sounds, and smells and let those evoke emotion.
• It’s not enough to convey devastation, show donors what actions you are taking and how they can help.

#4 – Make your cause a quest

Show your donors what you are planning. Show them a timeline of how you are helping. Tell your donors that with them, you are almost at the happy ending.

Pro Tips
• Use a concrete goal, whether it is a cure or a fundraising milestone, to motivate your audience.
• Explain what problems you have solved along the way that make your long-term goals possible.

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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.

  1. Be present active and direct
  2. 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.”
  3. Move your call to action front and center
  4. 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.
  5. 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!

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.

 

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!

CrowdFunding Success With Dazzling Stories

 Dazzling Storytelling Means Crowdfunding Success

If you are looking for a successful example of crowdfunding using stellar storytelling, look no further than The Smithsonian’s campaign to “Save the Ruby Slippers!” The Smithsonian conducted this campaign to preserve Dorothy’s Red Shoes on Kickstarter in October 2016 and raised $300,000 in just a few days!!!

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Of course, “Save the Ruby Slippers” is a great campaign because we can all relate to Dorothy’s shoes and what they mean to our childhood and our image of home. So what else can learn from The Smithsonian’s success?

What made this crowdfunding campaign a success?

  • They told us what would be involved in the conservation.
  • They told us why The Smithsonian needed us.
  • They answered questions about where their funding comes from.
  • They explained what was happening to the slippers.
  • They showed pictures of how they would be preserved.
  • They explained why it was important.
  • They told us what goes into the process of conservation.
  • They talked about the amount they needed and backed that goal up by explaining what was included in the budget and how much each item cost.
  • They talked about their own history.
  • They explained where the slippers would be displayed.

Did they stop when they reached their goal?

No!!

When the Smithsonian reached their $300,00 goal, they were ready to stretch the project. They announced they needed $85,000 to conserve and display the Scarecrow costume.

And, they thanked their donors. They thanked them for getting them to the goal and explained that the slippers would now be kept sparkling for future generations. They made sure that donors felt like team members who had accomplished a great success.