Category: Fundraising Techniques That Work

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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!

Year End Appeals That Have Appeal

Year-End Appeals That Have Appeal

What’s the point of crafting an annual appeal that has no appeal to the donors who receive it? Make sure you are on the right track, not skipping important steps that will ensure the success that your organization is depending on for year-end fundraising success!

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!

What Would You Do With An Extra Week of Fundraising?

Are you aware of the exceptional fundraising bonus you have in 2017? It’s an entire extra fundraising week between Thanksgiving and Christmas! How ill you use this extra 7 days?

You have an extra week this year of 2017 between Thanksgiving and Year-End to fundraise. Learn how can you best make good use of those 7 days to achieve greater success for your fundraising goals!

State of Donor Retention in 2017

2017 Donor Retention is still very low, only 46% according to the 2017 FEP Study. What can you do NOW to get more of your donors to stay?

So what are your retention goals for year-end fundraising? Do You know what your retention rate is right now? Do you know what the FEP report reported on 2017 Retention? Watch and learn as we review Jay Love’s (Bloomberg) recent blog on the sate of donor retention. Just in time to help your 2017 results!

Rock Your Year-End Storytelling

Your non-profit story is your most valuable asset. Your heartfelt story will inspire action and create change. If you can tell your story like a feature movie, your donors will never forget it. And, even better, they’ll share it with others and you’ll be a rockstar.

Rock your storytelling! Your non-profit story is your most valuable asset. Your story can inspire action and create change. If you can tell your story like a feature movie, your donors will never forget it. And, even better, they’ll share it with others.

Important Story Components

A Character
Stories that draw people in are stories in which people care about, identify with or are fascinated by a character. You’ve got to put your characters front and center. Who is the person who needs your donor’s help?

A Hero
You need a hero. Ideally, this would be your donor!

A Threat
What is your donor saving your character from? What will happen without your donor’s help?

The Head and The Heart
You need to balance this combination. Don’t just give the facts and figures. To really tell a story well you have to be able to hold someone’s pain.

Top 10 Insights from the 2012 Nonprofit Technology Conference
#1 – The best stories are the ones that you remember. That move you to share and take action.
#2 – People will forget what you told them, they’ll forget what you did, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel through stories. Make your story about your case and the character who will be helped.
#3 – Your storytelling doesn’t have to live within your marketing team. Your donors can contribute by sharing.
#4 – Keep recording stories! Talk to your donors and other staff and figure out some great stories to tell.
#5 – Consider your medium. Tell stories in direct mail, email, and also in video form.
#6 – In your video stories, make sure to not just have talking heads and keep your video to 1-2 minutes.
#7 – Don’t forget, a story has a beginning, middle, and end.
#8 – Use an image to touch heartstrings.
#9 – Simple stories are the best.
#10 – Don’t be afraid to fail!

The Power of Year-End Segmentation

The Power of Segmentation for Year-End Success is Amazing!

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!

12 Year-End Fundraising Checklists

12 fundraising checklists that will take your year-end fundraising to huge heights so you’ll definitely want to review and check off each detail!

Blockbuster is all about bringing all the very best fundraising tips to one place where you can spend minutes a day, reviewing, refreshing and learning from the most excellent fundraising leaders globally available. Today’s Facebook LIVE presents 12 fundraising checklists that to be best you want to review and check off each detail! Save and watch in October so your plans are complete and completely super ready for fab 2017 success!

AWESOME ANNUAL APPEAL IDEAS

Resist surrendering to the good news compulsion in your annual appeal. You have to make people want to help you. Your job is to convince them that you need their help.

Annual Appeal Suggestions and Who better to take annual appeal suggestions from than the Dean of Direct Mail? Jerry Huntsinger from the Showcase of Fundraising Innovation and Inspiration (SOFII) gives these nine great tips for winning appeal letters.

Tip #1 – Good news?
Resist surrendering to the good news compulsion. You have to make people want to help you. Your job is to convince them that you need their help. So if all you talk about is good news, they might think you don’t need their help.

Tip #2 – Talk about yourself
Don’t be reluctant to say “I.” Your donors want a letter from a real live person who is compassionate and cares about their mission. Don’t make it stuffy and institutionalized. Keep it real and personal.

Tip #3 – Surprise!
Don’t let your donors anticipate what you’ll do next. Keep them off balance; keep them guessing. Every fundraising package they receive from you should contain an element of surprise. Check your format and make it unique. You don’t want your donors anticipating your every move.
Tip #4 – Stories
Tell more stories this year about the needy people or animals you are helping. Your donors want to help real people and not an organization.

Tip #5 – Graphic Excitement
Put more graphic excitement in your letters. People are busy and save time by scanning the page and then deciding if the material deserves more of their time. Use bold font and underlining, short paragraphs, more attention grabbing statements, and more headlines.

Tip #6 – Loooong letter
Rethink your prejudice against long copy. This letter has to do a lot of telling and asking so you want to take your time. Make it longer and more compelling.

Tip #7 – No worries
Stop worrying about donors being offended by your fundraising appeals. Worry more about convincing them to send money! They want to hear from you. Don’t be shy. Just write a great letter with great stories.

Tip #8 – Getting to know you
Get to really know your donors specifically. Who signs the checks? Read the positive letters they send in. Every week call three donors at random and talk to them. Tell them you are trying to get to know your donors better.

Tip #9 – Thinking of you
Donors don’t think about you nearly as much as you think about them. They think about you when you call and when they receive a letter from you. So make it good! The better your communication with them, the more fondly they’ll remember you.

6 #GIVINGTUESDAY HACKS

October is the perfect time to review or begin or improve your 2017 #GivingTuesday campaign. Here are 6 #GivingTuesday Hacks just in time to jump-start great results.

#GivingTuesday Tips

What is #GivingTuesday? #GivingTuesday is a counterpoint to the consumerism of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It started with just a few hundred nonprofits in 2012 and it has since blossomed into an international day of giving around the globe. In 2015, the total donations for the day were up to $116.4 million from $45.6 million a year before!

#GivingTuesday is the launch of your year-end giving season. It starts the energy and excitement to carry you through December 31st. Think of #GivingTuesday as an online kickoff.

1. #GivingTuesday Goals

Your giving Tuesday goals can be about more than just dollars raised. Here are some different goals to set:
• Number of donors
• Number of new donors
• Number of volunteers/hours (if you are including an activity)
• Number of recurring donors
• Percentage participation among key groups like staff, board, alumni, or clients
Set goals

It is imperative to have a clear goal that you, your team, and your supporters can rally around. If you had a #GivingTuesday campaign last year, you can use those results as a benchmark. Another great goal-setting tool is to use a giving pyramid. Map out what you will need to get to your goal. One or two donors at the top level with more donors at the lowest level.

2. This is a chance to tell fresh stories, attract new younger supporters, accelerate your social media presence or diversify your fundraising channels.

3. Make a plan

You need a concrete plan with goals and a calendar timeline. You won’t know if you’re on track without a detailed plan!
Inspire your donors to give

4. Use wonderful stories and an easy to use donation page with a prominent donate now button.

5. Show your gratitude

Have an instant thank you letter to send to your donors. Have a system in place to welcome new donors so they feel valued and appreciated right from the start.

6. Try a new idea
This is the perfect chance to try something new. Your #GivingTuesday goal will probably be a smaller one and you’ll be attracting lots of new donors, so this is your best opportunity of the year to try new ideas.