You’ve heard the saying, “It’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Year’s–it’s what you eat between New Year’s and Christmas”?  Similarly, it’s not what you write to your donors in your end-of-year appeal letter that determines how they feel about your organization. It’s what you write all year long that makes them love you.

Communications are the key to a good marriage. Your nonprofit’s communications are the key to a good relationship between your donors and you.

By next Valentine’s Day, make your donors love you. Here are the four steps to win their hearts.

This winter, work on your email.

When donors or prospects give you their email address, it’s like they met you on a blind date and decided to give you their phone number. What they’re saying is, “I want to hear from you.” It’s a huge gesture of trust.

Be worthy of their trust.

• Find out the kind of content they want to see, and send it to them as often (and no more often) than they want to see it.
• Write subject lines that signal, “I wrote this especially for you and I know you’ll want to read it.”
• Personalize every email. “Dear friend” is not acceptable in 2022! It tells your donors they’re not worth your time.
• Keep your list up to date. There are good email tools out there: MailChimp and Constant Contact are two that many nonprofits use. Buy one and learn how to use it. You–and your donors–will be glad you did.

This spring, look at your website.

Your website is your online back yard and guest room. If you’re going to invite donors there, you want them to relax and stay a while.

• Make the lighting comfortable. Is the font size large enough for middle-aged eyes? Does it read as well on Chrome or Firefox as on Internet Explorer or Safari? Can donors read it on their mobile devices? Can they read it with their screen readers (if they have limited eyesight)?
• Make the room easy to get around. Place navigation bars on the homepage and on every page. Clearly label your pages and tabs, and don’t get too cute: “About Us” or “Who We Are” are better than “The 411.”
• Put out the treats.  Your donors need to find what they’re looking for quickly or they’ll leave your site. Be sure everything is within three clicks from the home page: for instance, 1) home page, 2) contact us, 3) email. If you’re inviting people to sign up for an event, consider using a landing page with its own URL.

This summer, spice up your blog life.

Did you ever meet someone and think to yourself, “I love talking with him. I could spend all night just listening to him?”

Writing a blog gives your donors a chance to say that about you.

Blogging is better for those long explorations than email. It’s more of a conversation than the rest of your website. Blogging is for lovers.

• Set up your blog using WordPress or some other professional looking tool.
• Get good ideas for blog posts from your own emails and from the questions people always ask you. Always write for your audience.
• Turn one good idea into ten different posts!
• Publicize your blog using your email and social media.

This fall, finally get social.

What would the love of your life think if when you were together, you only talked and never listened? Or if you only listened when he or she was talking about you?

Not very romantic, right?

But too many nonprofits think the reason to use social media is to have one more place to rattle on about themselves.

Social media are really more like social gatherings: parties, conferences, Chamber of Commerce meetings, public forums. You go those events to meet people and become an important part of the community. You go on social media to do the same.

Over time, if you pay attention to them, people come to know, like, and trust your organization. They actually seek you out for information and advice and opportunities to volunteer. They start thinking of you as “their” organization. They fall in love.

 

A guest post from Abby Teare at GrantsPlus

Grants are an important source of funding for many nonprofits. They provide critical support for programs and projects that help to further your mission. Grants also allow your organization to form lasting relationships, which you can leverage for future growth.

However, finding grant opportunities and funders that align with  your organization’s mission is a highly involved process. Once you find an opportunity that could work for your organization, you’ll need to submit a well-crafted proposal to stand out from other nonprofits competing for funding and convince the funder that your program or project deserves their support.

In this guide, we’ll walk through six do’s and don’ts of nonprofit grant seeking related to these key areas:

• Identifying Grant Opportunities
• Building Relationships With Funders
• Preparing Your Grant Application

Identifying Grant Opportunities

Don’t: Pursue Grants You Have a Low Chance of Winning

When you first start looking for grant opportunities, it can be tempting to apply for as many grants as possible to make sure you secure some funding. However, this strategy quickly becomes ineffective because each grant proposal requires a significant investment of time and effort for your organization to complete.

Instead, you’ll want to pursue grants that your organization is likely to secure. To determine your organization’s chances of winning a grant, ask yourself these questions:

• Do your nonprofit’s values and goals align with the funder’s?
• Do your organization and the specific initiative you’re trying to fund meet the funder’s eligibility requirements?
• Would the grant’s scope and requirements work for that initiative, or impede it?
• Does your nonprofit have a history of support from this funder and/or a personal connection to them that could lead to a relationship?
• Can your organization compete with other potential applicants?
• Will you be able to submit a thorough application before the deadline?
• Are you prepared to manage the grant effectively and report to the funder as required if you secure the funding?

If you answered yes to all of these questions, you likely have a strong chance of winning the grant and can continue pursuing it. But if you said no several times, the grant probably wouldn’t be a good fit for your nonprofit, so you should concentrate your efforts on other opportunities.

Do: Look for Grants From a Variety of Sources

While you shouldn’t apply for every grant that comes your way, you want to research many opportunities to find the right grants for your nonprofit. Grants can come from a number of different sources, including:

• Local, state, and federal government agencies
• Corporations
• Private and family foundations
• Community funds

Each of these grant sources provides different benefits for nonprofits—and comes with unique challenges. For example:

• Securing government grants boosts your nonprofit’s reputation, but they’re typically the most competitive, require your organization to manage a tight turnaround window, and carry significant reporting requirements.
• Foundation grants are usually simpler (though still competitive) to apply for, and you typically will need to develop a relationship with the funder to be considered.

Weigh your options carefully and consult with grant seeking experts to make the right decision for your nonprofit.

Building Relationships With Funders

Don’t: Submit a Grant Application Cold

Many funders offer grants by invitation only. Even if a foundation has an open grant application policy, which isn’t common, they’re much more likely to consider your proposal if you build a relationship with them first.

When you identify a potential funder, see if one of your nonprofit’s board members or active supporters already has a connection with them. This person could introduce your organization to the funder and start the relationship-building process.

If this introduction goes well, try scheduling a call or meeting with the funder to discuss your nonprofit’s work in more detail and gauge their interest. Before the meeting, research the foundation’s history and values so you can structure your talking points around the funder’s interests. Also, remember to send a follow-up after the meeting to provide additional resources the funder may have requested and thank them for their time.

Do: Communicate with Funders Regularly

After your initial meeting, you’ll want to keep your organization on the funder’s radar. First, look for organic opportunities to continue communicating with them. Representatives from foundations often attend nonprofit conferences and panels, so use these opportunities to meet up again and ask to keep in touch.

If a funder seems to be interested in your nonprofit after a few meetings, invite them to tour your organization or attend an upcoming event. Allowing the funder to see your mission in action can open up a natural space to ask if your work is a good fit for one of their funding opportunities.

Preparing Your Grant Application

Don’t: Wait Until the Last Minute

Although nonprofit grant seeking becomes easier once you’ve gone through the process a few times, finding the right opportunities and building relationships with funders will likely take months. You’ll need to plan well in advance to leave enough time for your organization to prepare a grant application before the funder’s deadline.

A sure way to have your proposal rejected is by failing to follow all the funder’s instructions. Late submissions typically won’t be considered. Plus, you likely won’t have enough time to craft a well-written grant proposal, double-check your budget calculations, and ensure you’ve met all of the other requirements if you start the application too close to the deadline.

Do: Prove Your Nonprofit Is Worth Investing In

A grant application that follows instructions is only a winning grant application if it also makes a strong case for why your organization deserves funding. Funders typically view grants as investments which can benefit your nonprofit in the long run. If you successfully secure, manage, and report on a grant once, the funder will be more likely to consider your organization for funding in the future.

You’ll want your grant proposal to be both informative and inspiring. Convince the reader that your organization will use the grant to address an important need and can achieve the goals you’ve set. Back up your ideas with concrete data and compelling true stories, and pay special attention to the budget section so the funder can see exactly how their investment will make a difference.

Look at this card.

Before you know what JBWS stands for, or where it’s based, or what it does, you know “I am alive today because of you!”

That phrase contains the three most powerful words in fundraising.

You might think those words were “I am alive (today),” and yes, those words make you sit up and take notice. Every donor wants to know what impact a donation will have. There’s no greater impact than life or death!

But I want to say the other three words are the most powerful.

“Because of you.”

Donors have to know that they are needed. They have to understand that they are wanted. And they need to be sure that when they give, their gift will be appreciated.

JBWS, an agency that supports victims of domestic violence and their families, clearly understands the most powerful thing they can say to donors. Does your organization?

Are you telling donors how great you are, or are you making the donor the partner of the person you are helping, and the hero of the story?

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