Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

What Nonprofits Can Learn from Librarians

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My friend Sam Musher is a librarian in a public school, but she knows marketing. Librarians can do it

Sam recently posted on Facebook:

Dear everyone trying to advertise events to teenagers: Make. A. Poster. I would love to post your event on my bulletin board! But I will not be creating a sign for you. Give me a PDF, or I’m out.

Look at the valuable marketing lessons Sam the librarian has packed into these few lines!

  1. Know your audience. Teenagers in Sam’s school will pay attention to a poster on a bulletin board. They will not give a sheet full of text a second glance. You have to know the people you’re addressing and what will attract their interest.
  2. Know your influencers. Sam is the person who can potentially show your event to thousands of teens. It would pay you to please her. You have to know the people like Sam who are in a position to spread word about your agency far and wide.
  3. Make it easy for people to do what you want them to do. Everybody is busy. Don’t ask for free labor.
    • If you want an announcement to go on a bulletin board, send a poster.
    • If you want news to go in a newspaper, send an article that’s ready to print–with a photo!
    • If you want people to forward your email, give them a one-click forwarding option.

And a final word from Sam: “Bonus points if the poster looks really good in black and white. A surprising number of us don’t have regular access to a color printer.”

Take it from a librarian: many people use the library because they don’t have access to a landline phone, or a desktop computer: only a mobile device. Use the format that your audience will like.

 

TY Thursday: Thank Donors Now for a Better December

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It may still be summer, but December comes all too soon. For many nonprofit organizations, December is a time to worry. Will you see checks in the mail (or clicks on the Donate button) from the donors who gave last year?

You have a right to worry. In the U.S., only 30% of first-time donors to nonprofit organizations renew their gift the next year.

You read that right! If you’re like most nonprofit organizations, more than 2 out of every 3 new donors will give to you once and then forget all about you.

You can curse your fickle donors. You can rip the month of December out of your wall calendar, or scroll past it on your computer. Or…

You can turn that one-time donation into a renewal.  In one week. This week.

Here’s how.

The One-Week Impact Report

A massive earthquake killed thousands in Nepal and India on April 25, 2015. The massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit Nepal with devastating force less than 50 miles from the capital, Kathmandu.

Nepali girl near Kathmandu

Nepali girl near Kathmandu

My wife and I know people who come from Nepal, and the images of the devastation touched our hearts. So, on April 27 we made a small donation of $50 through the international charity Global Giving.

We received a report from Global Giving about what they were doing with the donation and what difference it made.  Not in December. They emailed us on May 6–one week after the gift!

Global Giving made a convincing case that they knew the organizations on the ground that could use the money well. They told us what those organizations were doing. For instance:

The Nepal Youth Foundation is providing emergency supplies to hospitals, sheltering and caring for people discharged from hospitals who cannot return home, particularly women and children.

Global Giving didn’t stop there. “You can click on the link to any of the individual projects to see the updates they’ll post about how they are using the funds,” they told us. “We have also posted a link to frequently asked questions on the page.”

All this for a $50 donation. All this, in the first week.

When Rona and I give again to Nepali relief, why wouldn’t we channel our donation through Global Giving?

More Than a Thank You

Now, I know a lot of nonprofit organizations are still struggling to send a timely, personal thank-you letter. And if you’re one of them, absolutely, do all you can to make that happen. But that’s the minimum that donors expect.

As fundraising consultant Alan Sharpe says:

The secret to getting donations for your non-profit is to give donors what they want. People give to causes to make a difference in others’ lives. And what donors really want to know is how their donation will help people.

Are you telling them the impact of their donation? Start! Do it this week.

Nonprofits Appeal to 3 Generations

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father daughter granddaughter

How does your nonprofit engage with all three?

I don’t go to many nonprofit events. I get invited to too many: I can’t attend all of them.

So, this spring I chose to go to The Welcome Project’s Yum: A Taste of Immigrant City and skip half a dozen other events held by groups I care about. I’m a Baby Boomer.

Lauren doesn’t go to many nonprofit events either. But she doesn’t pick and choose. She just doesn’t go. She’s a member of Generation X.

And meet Katie, a Millennial. She doesn’t go to galas…and “what’s a check?” But Katie will volunteer (especially along with her friends), and she will raise money for you online (by asking her friends).

How do you get all three generations to feel engaged and excited about your cause, and support your organization? Here’s how:

Approach us as we’d like to be approached.

For the details, read my guest post on Tripp Braden’s blog, The Three Generations Nonprofits Want to Reach!

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