Shanah tovah/ happy new year 5777! It’s Rosh Hashanah on the Jewish calendar.
I wish all readers of this blog a healthy, happy year ahead.
Helping you win loyal friends through your communications
What should you do when a donor gives to your nonprofit for the first time? The obvious answer: thank them. But take it another step, and welcome them, too.
Thanking a new donor is essential, if you’re going to make the donor feel like the hero of the story. Welcoming a new donor invites him or her to think of your story together as ongoing.
A welcome kit (also called a packet or package) tells the donor, “You matter to us. You’re not just a cash cow. We’re in this together for the long haul.”
Pamela Grow suggests:
Typically your welcome package would go beyond a mere thank you letter to include items such as photographs, surveys, a benefits brochure, even a small gift such as a bookmark. Send them in an oversized envelope marked with a bold “Welcome!”
You can download a kit that Pamela likes, from Mercy Corps, for an example.
When you’re welcoming a donor, avoid any hint of a business transaction. The welcome kit is not an item they’ve purchased. It’s not a premium, or even a gift to a customer. It’s a warm smile and a hug, delivered through the mail.
Nancy Schwartz advises, “Imagine you’re welcoming a new member of the family, perhaps your sister’s husband to be. You want to make him feel like a part of the family.”
Another way to think about it: Rebecca H. Davis says you want your new donor to feel “like you’ve just handed them a loaf of warm, homemade bread and told them you are really glad they showed up on a cold, rainy Sunday morning.” Mmm, yummy!
Everything moves faster today than it did only a few years ago. You probably have heard that donors should get a thank-you letter within a week of sending their gift. Within two days of the time you receive it is even better…and if you call them on the phone within those two days (according to Tom Ahern), first-time donors who get a personal thank you within 48 hours are 4x more likely to give a second gift.
The same applies to the welcome kit: the sooner, the better.
“Mail the welcome pack out right after you receive the gift,” Nancy Schwartz advises. “Send it first class if you can swing it. Your donor has to receive it within two weeks of making their gift for full impact.”
Happily, a lot of donors are giving online these days. Your nonprofit gets their gift almost instantaneously. That makes it easier for you to thank them, and then to welcome then, as soon after they donate as possible.
It also poses a problem. You may not receive the donor’s physical mailing address. At first, all you may have for them is an email address. Does that keep you from sending a welcome kit?
Don’t let it stop you. Here are three steps you can take to welcome online donors:
Thanking your first-time donor is vital, but really, it’s the least you can do. Making them feel like an essential part of the cause you both care about: now, that’s really laying out the welcome mat!
If your nonprofit organization has business people on the Board, some of them may be in marketing. Some may be in sales. And all of them will know the difference.
You should too.
According to Laura Lake, the author of Consumer Behavior for Dummies, business people can see a clear line between marketing and sales.
If we broke it down to the basics, marketing is everything that you do to reach and persuade prospects and the sales process is everything that you do to close the sale and get a signed agreement or contract. Both are necessities to the success of a business.
Let’s translate this into nonprofit language. Nonprofits market their services to donors. Donors are the ones who pay you to do what you do, even if someone else (a consumer or client) receives the service.
Marketing is communicating with your donors. Sales is appealing to them to give money.
Marketing and sales are both necessities for businesses. “Without marketing,” Lake writes, “you would not have prospects or leads to follow up with, but yet without a good sales technique and strategy, your closing rate may depress you.”
Communications and fundraising are both essential for nonprofits.
Without donor communications:
But without a good fundraising appeal (your sales pitch!):
Too many nonprofit organizations focus on the sales aspect of their relationship with donors–to the exclusion of the marketing aspect. We buff our fundraising appeals to a high shine…when what really makes those “asks” successful is the relationship we build in between. The way you build relationships is through donor communications.
Communicate! Consulting can help you do both. If you want consistent, loyal support from the people who keep your nonprofit in business, write me: [email protected]. Because marketing and sales are too important to leave to stores., and you can do them well.