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Fundraising Tuesday: Mike Pence Shows What NOT to Do

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Pence mailing

When you're raising money, you must know your audience. Share on X Mike Pence, the former Vice President, didn’t know me at all.

Okay, I’ll admit he knew me well enough to know that I’m an inveterate reader, with close to 2000 reviews on Goodreads. (Or maybe, he just got lucky.)

But when Pence sent me a letter in the mail and the envelope said, “I signed a copy of my new book just for you!”, he lost me. Why?

I’m the kind of voter who hardly ever voted Republican before Trump, and never since.

I thought Pence was a nonentity before becoming Veep and a bootlicker during his term of office.

The only good thing Pence did as Vice President–refusing to collaborate with the seditious conspiracy to eliminate rule by the people in the U.S. and install an unelected President–was his simple duty. Anything else would been a crime.

You don’t have to agree with me (although I hope you do!). What you should see is that sending this mailing to me showed me:

  1. He didn’t know me.
  2. He lied when he implied he did.
  3. He was wasting money by targeting an audience he was never going to reach.

Is Your Nonprofit Making Mike Pence’s Marketing Mistakes?

You may have many mailing addresses in your database or CRM. Great! But what do you know about the people at those addresses?

  • Are you calling them by the right name?
  • Are you writing to them about something that would interest them, not your Board or your program staff?
  • Have you segmented your list so that different groups hear about different topics?
  • Are you adding names only with permission? When people ask to be removed from your list, do you comply?

Please don’t make the Mike Pence mistakes. Yes, I do mean “Don’t support Trump” or the movement to end democracy in this country–I’m not going to lie!

But even if you and I completely disagree on politics, we can agree that wasting your nonprofit’s money on mailings to the wrong people is a mistake, a bad idea, a step in the wrong direction. If you believe your organization is doing good work, ruining your reputation like this is a sin.

So Help Me God.

 

Fundraising Tuesday: “Tell Us about YOU”

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“You” is the magic word in fundraising, and T’ruah charmed me by using it.

Not only did they send me email with the Subject line “Dennis, Tell Us about YOU.” That would have been enough to make me open the email. (That is a nonprofit’s first objective any time you send email!)

They went beyond the Subject line to talk to me personally and express how much they care about me throughout the content of the email.

Here’s what the message said:

Hi Dennis,

If you have 5 minutes to spare, I’d really appreciate it if you can fill out this quick survey from T’ruah. You’ll be helping out an organization you love AND you’ll be entered for a chance to win a $150 gift card from Bookshop.org.

Take our survey!
We’re interested in learning more about the needs of the changing Jewish community to better develop resources and programming. We are looking for respondents who can tell us about their media habits and how that intersects with their Jewish values and community engagement.

Will you consider taking the survey? Feel free to pass it along to Jewish family and friends!

I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you so much!

Warmly,

Shira Danan
Chief Communications Officer
she/her

Please notice what T’ruah did here.

  • They called me by my name, not “Dear Friend.”
  • They led with appreciation and closed with thanks.
  • They used “you” three times in the opening paragraph, as opposed to “I” once–and that “I” was to make the appreciation more personal!
  • They said “you” and “your” more often than “we” and “our” through the email.
  • They reaffirmed the closeness of the relationship with phrases like “an organization you love,” “family and friends,” and the closing, “Warmly.” Even the phrase “Jewish values” reaffirms that T’ruah and I are on the same team and the same page.

All that would have been great with any ask. But T’ruah used warm, personal, “tell us about you” language to actively find out more about me, the donor, and what I care about.

Sending a survey because you want to know how to manipulate someone better is one thing. Sending it in the key of “tell us about YOU, because we care who you are and what you want to hear about” is quite another. Which message is your nonprofit sending to donors?

Messaging Monday: Your Favorite Posts of 2021

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Here are the favorite posts of Communicate! readers during the past year about messaging, marketing…and miscellaneous.

Did you miss any of them? Now is a good time to catch up on advice that will help you gain more followers for your mission in 2022.

Have you already put some of that advice into practice? How did it go? We would love to hear about it!

What You REALLY Do to See More Friends on Facebook

A lot of the people who read this post were probably your followers, because they are just as frustrated with the behemoth we call Facebook as you are. Feel free to share this advice with them! Add specific instructions on how they can make sure to see your nonprofit posts more often.

When You’re Planning Meetings, Include Other Religions

This post touched a nerve with many readers who feel excluded when you plan around Christmas but only hear about their holidays when they point them out to you. We can all do better on this! For a calendar of Jewish holidays, check out https://www.hebcal.com/holidays/. (But that isn’t going to help you figure out Diwali, Chinese New Year, Naruz, or Ramadan. Search and learn!)

Determining Marketing Channel by Donor Segment: 5 Strategies

Guest author Grant Cobb explains how to:

  • Look at your donor’s past engagement.
  • Reference the donor’s preferred communication channel.
  • Use demographic information.
  • Categorize based on average gift size.
  • Orient your marketing around your donor’s location.

A Priest, a Rabbi, and a Communications Pro Walk into a Bar…

Can you tell a joke? Then you can write for blogs and social media.

Priest rabbi joke favorite

How to Talk about Your Nonprofit with a Complete Stranger

Does this sound familiar? You’re on the Board or staff of a nonprofit organization. You love the work it does. Yet when you’re in a social situation and somebody asks “What does your organization do?”, you’re at a loss for words.

It’s embarrassing–and it’s a wasted opportunity. That person asking you about your organization could become your most devoted volunteer, or your most loyal donor, if only you could get them interested.

And you can. Click the headline link to find out how.

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