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Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Fundraising Tuesday: Raise Money Better than Wikipedia Does

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Wikipedia logoYou’re just a little nonprofit working on homelessness, or hunger, the environment, or the arts, queer inclusion or anti-racism, in your own community.

Wikipedia is read by 1.4 billion people worldwide.

Can you really do a better job at fundraising than Wikipedia? Absolutely. Share on X

Understanding Social Proof

Which statement is more likely to attract donations?

  • Very few people give, so we desperately need your help.
  • Lots of people give, and you will be in good company when you do.

It’s the second statement.

Surprised? Then take a moment to learn about social proof.

Social proof means that when you show me that many people believe something, it makes me more likely to believe it. When you show me that a good number of people are doing something, I am more likely to do it too.

That’s why people trying to end binge drinking have stopped saying “Binge drinking is a terribly big problem and we have to do something about it.” Saying that only normalizes the behavior. It drives drinkers in the wrong direction!

Instead, showing that only a really small percentage of people who drink alcohol get wasted is a much more effective way of preventing binge drinking. (It works with other forms of addiction, too.)

How Wikipedia Drove Donors in the Wrong Direction

Canadian fundraising expert Mike Duerksen pointed out on Twitter:

3 times @Wikipedia used negative social proof in one ad, likely harming #fundraising & suppressing response.

1. Only a tiny portion of readers give

2. Most people will ignore this message

3. If everyone reading donated

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I can almost see Mike shaking his head. He laments that Wikipedia “frames giving as not normal and of little value.” And why would any of us want donors to think that?

 

Using Positive Social Proof to Raise Funds

Here’s how you can make social proof work for you, instead.

  • Share stories from other donors about how giving to your nonprofit makes them feel.
  • Share stories from people who benefited last year “because you gave.”
  • Use endorsements from well-known and well-liked people.
  • If you’re going to use numbers, use really big and meaningful numbers!
  • Use photos of real people who resemble your target audience.

So the audience should be able to say, “Yes, those people are like me and they are using that product or service. Therefore, I’m the type of person who would use it.” –Bernard Ross, The Power of Social Proof

Fundraising Tuesday: What Can We Do in Just One Month?

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Giving TuesdayA worthy nonprofit recently asked me:

We’ve participated in Giving Tuesday for several years, and recently, the amount of giving we’ve seen that day has dropped. What can we do over the next month to get it back up again?

My answer?

If you want good results on December 3, then use the entire month of November to thank your donors. Share on X

In case you haven’t heard, Giving Tuesday was created when two organizations, the 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation, came together in 2012, about a month before that year’s Thanksgiving. They reasoned that if there was a “Black Friday” for buying retail, and a “Cyber Monday” for buying online, why not a day set aside for the joy of giving?

Since then, many nonprofits have created Giving Tuesday campaigns. Results varied. Some made a lot of money without reducing the donations they received in their end-of-year campaigns: the best of both worlds! Others found the returns on Giving Tuesday didn’t justify their efforts.

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit that used to find Giving Tuesday worthwhile but is worried about what to expect in 2019. Is there anything they can do to boost donations when they have only one month to work on it?

Say the words: THANK YOU

You can say them in a letter, by phone, in a thank-a-thon.

You can say them in an email, poem, or  video.

You can say them in your newsletter, or you can say them when you send out your welcome packet.

In a box, with a fox

You can say “Thank you” in a box, or you can say “thank you” to a fox–if you’re Dr. Seuss! But remember to say those magic words.

Don’t imply. Don’t leave the donor wondering. Thank them.

How many ways can you say “thank you”?

A smaller organization might need to pick one or two of these methods and spend the month just sending email, or calling donors.

A larger organization–one that actually has a development department, or heavens, separate development and communications departments!–might be able to do several of these.

Choose as many ways to say thank you as you’re sure your nonprofit can do well.

 

Fundraising Tuesday: End of Year? Your Foolproof Timeline

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October

October already???

Did you just have an “OMG, It’s October already” moment?

Your nonprofit may raise 30%, 40%, or more of all the donations you receive all year in the month of December. A lot of organizations do.

And a lot of them started planning their end-of-year campaign in September.

Will your nonprofit reach your donors before they’ve tapped out their charitable donations budget for the year? More important, when you ask them to give, what are you going to say?

Fear not. Communicate! Consulting presents your foolproof timeline for making your end-of-year fundraising a success.

What to do this week

Step one: Thank your donors. Whether you thanked them already, in multiple ways, throughout the year, or whether they haven’t heard from you since last December, they need to hear from you NOW. Show them your gratitude. Tell them, “You’re my hero!”

What to do this month

Step two: Figure out the story you want to build your appeal letter around. If you need permission to tell the story, reach out to get it. If you need a photo, or permission to use a photo, ask for that permission now. (Anything that takes somebody else’s input takes more time. Get started as soon as you can.)

Step three: If you use a graphic designer to put together your package (envelope, letter, reply vehicle), get in touch with them. And if you use a mailing house to send out your appeal letter, get in touch with them too. You don’t want any surprises later!

What to do next month

Step four: Write your letter.

  1. Make sure you call the recipient by name (not “Dear Friend”) and by the name they want you to call them by.
  2. Write a great postscript–before you even write the body of the letter.
  3. Use photos, bold type, italics, bullet points and other tools to break up the text.
  4. Tell a real story, and leave them feeling the end of the story depends on them.
  5. Write a different letter to longtime donors than you do to prospects. (Segment your mailing list!) For renewals, thank them for their last donation and tell them what happened “because you helped.”
  6. Ask people to give, in so many words, at least three times.

Step five: Print up your letter, envelope, and other pieces of your package.

Step six: Call your volunteers to help stuff and mail your appeal (unless you pay a mailing house to do it). And get it in the mail!

What to do in December

Cat waiting for mailStep seven: Follow up your appeal letter with email.

Step eight: Follow up your appeal letter with a phone call.

Step nine: Follow up your appeal letter with social media. (It might be their love language!)

What to do next

Step ten: Starting in December, and straight through Martin Luther King Day: thank the donors. Don’t just let your auto-responder do it: thank them with email, with a personal letter, with a welcome packet, with video, with invitations to events, on your website…as many ways as you can think of.

Step eleven: Find out more about the donors. Ask them to answer a question or two about themselves, or play detective.

Step twelve: Communicate! Through all your channels, tell your supporters stories that will inform them, entertain them, enlighten them, and make them feel closer to you.

When it’s October of next year, you want them looking forward to being asked for an end-of-year gift. (And if you need help doing that, call Communicate! Consulting. Now!)

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