Category: Fundraising Techniques That Work

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Be sure to check out this super video

Get Ready Now for 4th quarter Blockbuster Fundraising Results With these 5 Tips!

Hi , this is joy Olson of Blockbuster Fundraising and so happy to be here with you today with a definite sense of urgency because Summer is over and now it’s all about year- end fundraising plans.

Labor day is over,  the kids are back in school and now it’s time to we’ve got to lay out the plans for a great year-end fundraising plan!

I’m excited for your success and I have five tips that I think are going
to really help make your day because you will get started with some winning plans and a winning plan is what it’s all about.

Tip #1. Year-end Fundraising is  a plan,  it’s a campaign,  it’s a party and it is fun!  Putting together your theme is  fun and creative  and it really starts with a detailed activity outline from right now in September through December 31st.

What are your goals? What are your strategies?  Where do you
need to be to get to your goals?  You’ve now have  three quarters to evaluate and measure  and know where you are financially and where you need to be by year-end. Good!

Your outline and schedule will enable you to have consistent communication throughout your organization and cooperation with all your departments. They will catch your enthusiasm for the super ‘party’ coming up!

Perhaps right now you’re planning a fall letter.  Your fall letter is really all about establishing a conversation with your donors, certainly  not a big push for money,  because you’re just getting set-up for your annual fundraising letter. So establish rapport, establish communication, establish gratitude and let them know how much you’re able to do because of their gifts!They have made a great impact!

Direct Mail is certainly on top of your to-do list! Most likely you are  going to do a fall letter, a  thanksgiving letter,  and of-course, your very special annual holiday ask letter!  This is a lot to think about, Content, content, content!  Take your time and make each and every communication as compelling and as an emotional connection as possible!

And then there are  your year-end Eblasts!  You will put these together with loving care for the final 5 messages of the year, along with a short emotional  video in each video that tells your story in a beautiful moment.

Get more tips here from topnonprofits!

Second Tip, STORIES! Get your best stories ready, this is so important and i know i’ve talked about this before but you definitely  want to bring your three or four  best stories to the party! These are the stories that touch your heart,  the stories that made you cry, or made you smile with delight and happiness because it was so special! Make three seperate videos from these stories.  Three short videos that highlight what you’re doing,  the impact of these wonderful things that you are achieving thanks to your donors support! i also heard a great idea from ignited fundraising today about telling a story and one of her ideas

Make three or four separate videos from these stories.  Short 60 second videos that highlight the impact of the wonderful story  that tells how you have helped,  thanks to your donor’s support!

I heard a  great idea from Lori at @Ignited Fundraising today about telling great stories and one of her ideas  was to tell a story about something or someone you could have helped  if you’d had more money and I thought, wow, what a good idea Check out the above link for her blog.

Tip Number Three, Donor Segmentation!

I’ve talked about this so often, you need to segment your donor base! Oh boy,  this is so important!  You want to know when they gave their last gift,how often do they give,and  how much are they
giving.  You need to personalize your communications to these donors and you want to give very special thanks to your major donors and tell them about the wonderful  impact their gifts are having for your organization and mission.

Remember when we talked about generational fundraising? Each of your different generations has  a way that they like to be
communicated with! Revisit that video as I think it will help in the segmentation process .

So there’s just so much to think about and I’m here to help you. Here is a good podcast that includes some good tips on donor segmentation.

TIP # 4  is YOUR WEBPAGE! Your website is your portal and your supporters and potential supporters are going to come to your website to donate!  Now is the time to really make sure that your website is easy to read and make sure that it’s really easy to donate and make certain that it is mobile responsive check it out check out all the links but you know now 14 people i mean fourteen percent of people are now giving on their mobile their mobile phone and make

Now is the time to really make sure that your website is easy to read and make sure that it’s really easy to donate and make certain that it is mobile responsive!  Check it out check out all the links both on your desktop and your mobile devices.but you know now 14 people

14% of peeps are now giving on their mobile  phone so make
it easy to donate everywhere and on every page!  I listened to a  really interesting webinar earlier today from Network for Good and they were talking about donation pages and said to resist the temptation to ask too many questions on your donation page!  Let them donate cuz that’s why they’re there on your page now.  They don’t want to share  their life story,  they just want to donate so make it simple,  make it easy, and put that big DONATE NOW button
everywhere.

TIP # 5.  YOUR COMMUNICATIONS AND CONTENT IS KING!
Make your letters and your emails can’t be more important than they are now so get the content perfect!  Personalize your communications, your direct mail especially.

Keep your emails  to 250 words or less and in  your emails ask your peeps to forward it to someone else that cares about your cause.

Click here for Tips  for headlines that will help you from winspireme.com.

You’ve really got a lot to do right now and it starts right now with your fall letter and next your Thanksgiving letter and you know what happens after Thanksgiving-  Black Friday,  Cyber Monday and then Giving Tuesday, Yikes!

Giving Tuesday was up 51-percent in return year-over-year sand that adds up to a meaningful impact so take one of your stories or a smaller project you have on the burner and go for it!Ask your donors, supporters,staff,  and your volunteer to help you with some peer-to-peer fundraising on this  and test the waters!

Okay, November 29th Giving Tuesday to kick off the huge December you are going to have! You gotta work it and I know you’re going to do a fabulous  job and I’m excited for you!

Blockbuster fundraising will be here for you with all the best tips and new ideas to give you year-end success and more!

See you soon! Joy

https://youtu.be/1T-7-zleiyQ

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