Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Fundraising Tuesday: Don’t Scorch Your Donors

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watering plants

A good nonprofit fundraiser at work!

 

I put a plant into the ground.  Then I forgot about it.

The sun baked it.  It drooped.  It withered.

Oops!  Well, no problem.  I’ll just water it now.

Wait, why isn’t it coming back to life?

When your organization ignores a donor for months at a time, you are scorching and burning your relationship.

You may get lucky.  Their feelings for you may be so hardy that you can bring the relationship back to life with a really good appeal.  Most often, though, you’ll be watering a dead plant and wondering why it isn’t growing.

Real communications are the water of life.  Give your donors some water every week, and watch your relationships flower.

This post first appeared on Communicate! in 2016. We’re in the middle of a global heat wave in 2019. Remember to water your donors!

Fundraising Tuesday: Make It Convenient to Give

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write checkA reader asked:

Why might one give to a charity online when a check costs the charity less money to process?

Now, that is a good question–and a thoughtful donor! Yes, the nonprofit organization you want to help will get and keep more of your donation if you send a check. Why?

The companies that process online donations (by credit card, Paypal, etc.) don’t do it out of the goodness of their hearts. They charge the nonprofit a percentage of each gift. When you donate to your favorite charity, Aardvarks for Peace, the aardvarks get more of it if you write a check than if you give online.

Why Nonprofits Welcome Online Gifts

online donationEven if it costs them a little bit more, nonprofits should welcome online gifts.

Some donors do all their business online.

If you ask them to write a check, they’ll look at you aghast and then give their donation to some other nonprofit.

Most donors find online gifts more convenient.

If the donor is suddenly struck with the urge to donate, it takes less time to go the organization’s website, find the donation page, type in credit card information, and hit send than it would to take out the checkbook, find a pen, write the check, record it in a check register, stuff, seal, and stamp the envelope, and dump it in the mail.

Monthly donors find online MUCH more convenient–and you want monthly donors!

Imagine writing a check every single month. Now, imagine setting up a monthly donation online that will go out automatically. Which is more convenient for the donor? There’s no comparison.

And you want to encourage people who have already shown some commitment to your nonprofit to solidify that commitment by becoming monthly donors.

About 90% of monthly donors renew their donation the next year. That solves a big problem for your nonprofit.

  • If a donor gave to you once last year and not at all since then, the chances are less than 30% that they will renew.
  • Even if they gave to you two years running, the statistics show that only about 60% will renew the third time. That means you’re losing something like one donor out of three!
  • Monthly donors are your most loyal supporters. Thank them over and over, communicate their success, and you may keep them forever. Their lifetime value will far exceed any fees you pay for accepting donations online!

Do you want to make your online donations page produce more gifts? Do you need a strategy for creating “forever donors”? Email me and let’s set up a time to talk.

 

Fundraising Tuesday: Do You Want Runners, or Donors?

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runnners

They’re runners, but are they donors too?

What a beautiful day for a road race! The temperature is comforting. The skies are blue with watercolor clouds daubed here and there. The runners are wearing their shorts and t-shirts, jogging in place, ready to begin.

Lots of nonprofits hold road races as fundraising events, and some races make money for the organization.

But are the people who participate donors? Or are they just runners?

It makes a difference in how you communicate with them between events.

The Difference is Commitment

For a certain number of runners, your 5k is just a chance to do what they want to anyway: run. They can feel good about themselves because they’re helping a cause, any cause. But it may be kids with multiple sclerosis one week and homeless families the next.

We’re not picking on runners here. Foodies like to go to Taste of events. Socialites like to go to galas to see and be seen. That’s why those kinds of fundraising events are popular in the first place.

It does mean, though, that you can’t gauge the depth of a person’s commitment to your cause, or your organization, by their participation in the event. They may not even know what you do. They may just be taking part to oblige a friend!

Focus on Your Loyal Supporters

Of course, you want to thank every participant. Realistically, however, you have only so much time to spend, and you want to spend it well. That means putting it where it will be most valuable: with the most loyal supporters of your organization.

  • Which of your runners also spends a ton of time recruiting other people to participate and/or donate to your organization? Give that person a variety of thanks throughout the year.
  • Which runners dip into their own funds to give to you, not just for the race but for your end-of-year appeal? Make sure they know that you know how generous they are. Personalize the ask and the thank-you.
  • Be on the lookout for the moment when a runner becomes a donor through some other channel. That’s a sign of deepening commitment. Give them a call and find out what’s touching their heart.

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