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Fundraising Tuesday: Let Donors Hear That They Matter

February 23, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

We want to hear from youIs your nonprofit not getting the donations that you would like? The reason might be that you are not telling donors what they want to hear.

I’ll let you in on a secret: I read all the appeal letters you send to the Fischman household, and the great majority of them are focused on your nonprofit organization.

You bragged about what “we” accomplished. You told Rona and me about what “we” need.

And in each case, “we” meant the organization…not the Fischmans or any other donors.

This is an Opportunity!

The bad news is that by saying “we,” you are putting the donors on the outside and making them less likely to give. Donors don’t want to hear that you’re great without them. Why should they donate if you’re already doing so well?

The good news is that you can tell donors what they want to hear–which is that they matter.

Let Donors Hear the Difference They Make

Do donors really need to hear that they matter? Don’t just take it from me.

To create compelling stories for your nonprofit marketing, consider ways to make the audience the hero of the story. –Khaled Allen

Your donors don’t care about your campaign goal! -Tom Ahern

So what do donors care about?  They care about themselves.  Not in a selfish way, but in how they help your organization succeed.  They want to know what difference their support makes.  The impact their donation has on your ability to fulfill your mission. –Chad Barger

making heroes not exploiting

Three female superheroes on a t-shirt

Why do superheros keep on going? Because they know something bad will happen if they stop. Making your donors the superheroes for your organization helps them understand they need to keep helping your cause, keep fighting the bad guys, and keep making the world a better place. –Kivi Leroux Miller

How You Can Say “You Matter” so They Hear It

If you are using the word you more than the name of your agency, that’s a good first step. By itself, though, you won’t do the trick.

'We are a great agency, so you need to support us' is not making the donors feel they matter. Click To Tweet

The key idea to express is “Because of you, the donor, this success story happens.” Draw a direct line between the donor’s decision to give and the lives saved, or the people helped, or the great work of art produced or performed.

It’s odd but true: the more you claim the credit, the less people feel inclined to give.

But please hear this: the more you step out of the way, the more you portray your organization as the donor’s tool for doing what they want done, the more likely your donors are to give. And to feel proud of themselves. And to give again.

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TY Thursday: Thank Donors by Giving Them Something to Do

February 18, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

first time donors

You have a new donor. Congratulations! But if you do nothing, chances are more than two out of three that they will never give to you again.

Renewal donations are even less likely if they didn’t give to you in the first place: they gave to their friend’s fundraising campaign. That donor has not gotten to know, like, and trust your organization.

Leave them alone, and they never will.

So, what can you do to win over that kind of donor? One thing that works, sometimes, is giving them the chance to get more involved right away–in the thank-you.

How the Innocence Project Thanked Me

The Innocence Project is an outstanding organization, but it hadn’t been on the list of groups that receive donations from my wife and me. Until this year. Then, a friend asked us to support the group to celebrate her birthday, and we did.

Here’s the thank-you email we received:

Dennis and Rona —

Thank you again for donating to the Innocence Project. Your contribution will go directly towards fighting to free innocent people, advocating for reforms that can identify, rectify and prevent wrongful convictions, and supporting exonerees as they rebuild their lives.

Last year, the Innocence Project’s policy team — in collaboration with the Innocence Network and other key partners — successfully won 21 major policy reforms in 17 states.

But there is so much more to do, and many more wrongfully convicted innocent people counting on us to do this work. Stay in touch and join our social community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too.

And if you want to read more, check out our special feature on our Netflix series “The Innocence Files.”

We’re so lucky to have you on this team. Stay in touch!

—The Innocence Project Team

P.S. One more way to say thank you: Take advantage of the “new donors” discount at our official online shop. Use code WELCOME at checkout for 15% off any order today.

What They Gave Me, What You Can Give Donors

First, the Innocence Project gave me something valuable without any further ado: they gave me reasons to believe I’d done the right thing.

But then, they invited me to “join our social community.” Note that wording! I’m not following them. I’m becoming part of a larger group. Now, of course that means I will hear more messages from the nonprofit, but it also means I will add like-minded people to my social media feed–new friends I probably could not have found by myself.

If I’m not the joining type, they’ve given me a series to watch, so I will feel more informed…and closer to the organization and its work. And if I’m a shopaholic, I can go check out their store!

Whether they gave for the first time on an impulse or simply to support their friend, first-time donors are more likely to become second-, third-, and multiple-time donors if they take an action that makes them feel closer to your organization. Which of these things could you give your new donors?

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What’s More Exciting: a Blizzard, or Your Nonprofit?

February 8, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Blizzard? Hah! I live in New England, where people line up for ice cream in the middle of a snow storm.

For the past several years, however, people have been snow-shy. Every time the white stuff was in the forecast, people remembered a month of being snowed in. (After a year of being locked down, quarantined, and going out only wearing a mask, that may not seem like much, but in 2015 we had no idea!)

The Blizzard of 2015 had great publicity, and it was all free. Can your nonprofit do as well by its own events? Click To Tweet

A Storm of Free Media

A blizzard has no bank account. It has no marketing budget. Without paying a cent, however, the storm that hit New England in January 2015 had its own hashtag…and hundreds of unpaid photographers.

I went on Facebook one Tuesday morning last January and found this:

Car covered with snow

And this:

Clearing snowy street

And even this:

Dog looking at snow

The Secret of the Storm’s Success

It snows every year. Why do people rush out each time it snows and snap photos?

It’s great if the photo is unique or memorable, but that’s not the reason people post their photos. Most blizzard photos look the same from person to person, from year to year. So, why are we all giving the blizzard free publicity?

I think it’s because a storm is a shared event. By taking pictures and posting them, people say, “I was here. I was a part of this.”

Of course, in 2015, we had blizzards every two weeks for a month and a half. By the end, there was nowhere to pile the snow, and people were too tired to take many photos. But at first, the excitement was real.

Can You Do As Well as a Blizzard?

At your nonprofit, are you making people feel that your events are shared events? When they attend your events (in person or online), do they want to claim them and show they were there?

You invite them to show up at the time of the event. Are you inviting them to show up later, with their photos?

Take my advice and plan ahead for how to get free media for your next event. For now, though, I’m signing off. After a relatively dry winter, we had a storm in Eastern Massachusetts. I have snow to shovel.

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