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Fundraising Tuesday: The Money is in the Mail

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Cat waiting for mailAre you thinking of giving up on fundraising by mail? Don’t.

Direct mail is still the most productive way of asking for donations to your nonprofit organization. If you give up on direct mail, it’s like throwing money in the trash.

Sending a good fundraising appeal by mail beats asking for money by email, by text, or by social media. In fact, a lot of the time, when a generous donor gives to your organization online, they saw your appeal letter first!

Why wouldn’t you send your appeal by mail?

  • “It costs too much.” Not when the return on your investment is so great! Those stamps and envelopes will more than pay for themselves when a larger number of donors send you a larger amount of money.
  • “We don’t know how to write a good letter.” You can get all the advice you need to write the ideal appeal letter from this blog. Or, you can pay me to do it for you!
  • “Our mailing list is out of date.” No time like the present to update it! And if your list is on a database or constituent relationship management system (CRM), the tool may check the National Change of Address database for you.
  • “We don’t trust the post office.” In 2020, that is a real concern, but it’s all the more reason to send out your mail early.

The only real problem that might prevent you from using the mail is this: “We haven’t collected our supporters’ mailing addresses.” Now, there’s a problem, and one you can start to fix right away.

Ask yourself, What do we have to share, or what can we produce to share, that will be so valuable to the donors that they will be willing to give us their mailing addresses? Share on X

Is it a fact sheet about the issue they care most about?

Is it a bumper sticker (design and printing donated by another of your supporters)?

Is it artwork by children in your program? Or free admission to an online program? Is it a gift certificate for a store that supports your mission and likes to make its support known, to reach potential customers?

Give the audience something that makes them glad to share their address. Then, send them a newsletter. Follow it up with an appeal letter, and follow that up by email, social media, and phone.

When they give, make sure you do more than send an auto-acknowledgment, more than an email welcome series.

Send them the ideal thank-you letter. In the mail.

Fundraising Tuesday: Hurrah! End-of-Year Fundraising Starts Today

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DecemberLabor Day is past. Autumn has not yet begun. But for nonprofit organizations like yours, it’s end-of-year appeal season.

Getting your end-of-year appeal right matters greatly. Most nonprofits receive 30% of their donations in the month of December alone.

Especially in 2020, when incomes are down and the need for your services is up, your end-of-year appeal could determine whether your organization closes in 2021…or sails into the new year, ready to serve the people who need you most.

So, what do you do now, today, this moment, to ensure a happy December?

Here are a dozen steps you can and must take, beginning right now, to make sure donors give generously when they receive your end-of-year appeal. Share on X

Think about your audience.

Starting now, know the people you are writing to. What do they care about, and what matters to them? I suggest you print out a photo of the donor whose heart you want to touch and keep it in front of you for the next few months.

Decide what story you’re telling.

Do you already have a story bank, with the names and narratives of real people you’re trying to help? Then you can find what you’re looking for there. If not, there’s not a moment to lose in asking staff and volunteers to put you in touch with a client whose stories you can tell. (With their permission, of course!)

Pick photos.

Again, you may have these in your story bank, or you may need to go out and take photos–again, with the client’s permission. Aim for action photos that tell the story all by themselves. Avoid head shots and group photos.

Greater Boston Food Bank envelopeWhy will the donor open the envelope?

The envelope is the first thing the donor sees, and it has to be inviting–or it will end up in the recycling bin, unread. Figure out whether you can put a tag line, a photo, or even just a name people know and trust on the outside of the envelope.

Dear “who”?

The first thing the donor will look for is whether or not you got their name right. If you don’t know what they like to be called, now–today–is the time to ask them. (And if you do know, make sure it’s in your database, so the correct name ends up in the salutation of your letter.)

The postscript comes first.

After their name, the first thing most donors look at is the P.S. Choose whether you want to use it to repeat the main theme of the letter, to offer a chance to have their donation matched, or to make the message more urgent. Write the postscript first and then work the letter in its direction.

Ask. Ask. Ask.

Your donors are generous people, but they like to be asked. Especially this year, a lot of other organizations are bidding for their charitable donations. You must ask them to give, directly, and repeatedly. I suggest coming up with three “ask” sentences to space throughout your letter before you even start writing.

Once upon a time….

If you have a story, tell it like a story. Focus on one individual or family. Show how life was going for them before some danger appeared: getting sick, losing their job, or getting targeted by terrible government policies. Make the peril imminent.

Make the donor the hero of the story.

Donors don’t give to your organization: they give through your organization. They want to help that person in trouble. So, tell success stories throughout the year, but when you’re asking for money–especially in your end-of-year appeal–leave the client in peril and urge the donor to help.

Make it easy for donors to donate by mail.

Include a reply slip with the name and address of the donor and the name and address of your organization. It should say, “Yes! I want to help [name of client in the story] and people like her to [get out of the trouble you’ve described in the letter].” It must include the option to give by credit card–or you will lose money.

Make it easy for donors to donate online.

Many people on your mailing list will give because you sent them an end-of-year appeal letter in the mail, but they will go to your website to do it. Make sure the website address, or URL, is prominent in your letter and/or on your reply slip.

Make sure donors get a REAL thank-you.

The acknowledgment from your online donation page is not a real thank-you all by itself. The receipt you send in the mail, for tax purposes, is not a real thank-you either. Plan to send the ideal thank-you letter within 48 hours of receiving the gift. Then, create a TY calendar, so that you are finding ways to make donors glad they gave, all the way until the next December.

 

Fundraising Tuesday: Ask, Often. Bill, Never

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When you get a bill in the mail or email for something you don’t remember buying, what do you do?

Do you just pay it? (I hope not.) Do you look into it? Or, do you make a note of who’s trying to defraud you, report them, and never get fooled again?

Nonprofits need to make sure their fundraising appeal doesn’t look like a bill

My good friend Joan Hill is a retired grantwriter and a generous person. Recently, she wrote to me:

Dear Dennis,

This is either

a)  an error

b)  the worst fundraising technique in the world, or

c)  a fraud

Plan to call the state Attorney General on Monday.  

Aargh!

Joan

The correct answer: c.)

It was a fraud.

But does your nonprofit’s appeal letter look like a fraud, too?

Here’s the bill that Joan received:

———- Forwarded message ———
From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, Aug 15, 2020, 8:29 AM
Subject: Invoice from Fund for WHO COVID-19 Solidarity (0754)
To: Joan Hill …

 

WHO logo

Here’s your invoice

Fund for WHO COVID-19 Solidarity sent you an invoice for $50.00 USD

View and Pay Invoice

Due on receipt

The world has never faced a crisis like COVID-19. The pandemic is impacting communities everywhere. It’s never been more urgent to support the global response, led by the World Health Organization (WHO). Donations support WHO’s work, including with partners, to track and understand the spread of the virus; to ensure patients get the care they need and frontline workers get essential supplies and information; and to accelerate research and development of a vaccine and treatments for all who need them. Some donations also support additional Fund partners UNICEF, the World Food Programme, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR), the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the vaccine development alliance CEPI. Donors from Canada, China, Japan, or certain European countries, and the UK, may wish to give online to our Fund partners in these countries.

Help & Contact  |  Security  |  Apps

PayPal is committed to preventing fraudulent emails. Emails from PayPal will always contain your full name. Learn to identify phishing.<Copyright © 1999-2020 PayPal, Inc. All rights reserved. PayPal is located at 2211 N. First St., San Jose, CA 95131.

Looks impressive, doesn’t it? And in fact, it is a real PayPal request–but it’s not a request from the World Health Organization, or anyone connected with the WHO.

Does your ask look like a bill, to the donor?

Knowing that scam artists like this are out there, legitimate nonprofits need to go the extra mile to obtain and retain the donor’s trust.

  • A real person should sign your direct mail, and a real person’s name should be used in the From: line of your email
  • When you are asking for money, make it clear: has this person supported you before? (In which case, thank them!) Or are you asking them for a first-time gift?
  • In either case, never, never, never make your ask look like a bill.

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