Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Fundraising Tuesday: A Well Crafted Email Raises Money

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Greater Boston Food BankYou’ve seen a lot of tips about writing the ideal appeal letter on this blog. That’s because direct mail still works. Even when donors go online to give, often what moved them to make that donation was a letter in the mail. But what about email?

Email works too: if you craft it with the same care you’d give to a letter.

Here’s a great example from the Greater Boston Food Bank. This is the website version, but I received it, addressed to me personally, in my inbox. What makes this message work?

  • The subject line grabs you from the start. “Who is Ashley,” you want to know, “and what is her story?”
  • The graphic gives you the reason for giving and the call to action–even if you never read any further.
  • The content turns a statistic into a story. You get the gist of the tale and its emotional impact in the brief amount of time you’re likely to spend on any single email.
  • The “Give Now” button and links in the text make it easy for you to give–and the landing page uses the identical graphic so you’re sure you’re in the right place to make your donation.

What’s the best fundraising email you’ve written? Send me a copy–I may feature it on Communicate!

How Do You Find Nonprofit Blogs to Follow?

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best blogs 2017I’m honored.

Literally.

In the past few weeks, the Communicate! blog–the one you’re reading right now–has been recognized by multiple groups in the nonprofit field.

The Fundraising Digest named it one of The Best Fundraising Blogs of 2017.

Top 75 Nonprofit Blog Feedspot selected Communicate! as one of the Top 75 Nonprofit Blogs on the web.

And it has previously been featured on Bloomerang‘s list of 100+ Fundraising Blogs You Should Be Reading in 2017.

I’m honored. But why should you care?

Nonprofit Blogs Keep You Up to Date

Reading the right blogs is an incomparable way to keep up with what nonprofits need to know. Share on X

What you need to know could be technical advice, like Three Reasons to Require Verified Opt-In for your Email Newsletter by John Haydon.  John explains the best way to ensure that the people getting your newsletter actually want to read it. (And John’s blog is on on these lists.)

Or it could be reading a great idea at just the right time of the year. Giving Tuesday is right around the corner. Mary Cahalane and Claire Axelrad have suggested you use it as Giving Thanks Tuesday, an opportunity to connect with your donors before you ask them for money.

If you subscribed to their blogs, you’d hear about that idea in time to put it into practice. And you’d find both Mary and Claire on these lists, too!

Nonprofit Blogs Share Timeless Wisdom

Not all good ideas are new, and not all of them have a use-by date. Sometimes what you really need is a reminder, and the inspiration to do the best you already know how to do.

One of the most popular posts on the Communicate! blog since I first published it in 2015 is The Golden Rule of Nonprofit Writing. It’s very short, and here’s the key insight in one sentence:

The golden rule of writing is to write unto others the way you wish they wrote unto to you.

The next time you are getting ready to write a newsletter, or a fundraising appeal–or even a tweet–remember this blog post. You can find it on my blog. And you can find other pearls on other blogs, if you read the right ones.

Take a Moment to Look Through The Lists

I’m like you. I have a lot to learn, and a limited amount of time to spend each day learning it. The key for us both is to pay attention where it counts.

May I make a suggestion? Give yourself a gift today. Take the time to look at one of the lists from The Fundraising Digest, Feedspot, or Bloomerang. Mark the blogs you’re most interested in reading, then subscribe to them.

You can get the new blog posts delivered to your email inbox. You can subscribe to them as an RSS feed.  You can even use Feedspot as a tool to see posts from the blogs you like best and easily share those posts on Facebook or Twitter.

Because other people you know have trouble finding the right blogs to follow, too, and you can make it easier for them.

 

TY Thursday: Your Board Will Thank You for Doing This

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ty-quote1

Over here, you’ve got a pile of donations. You sent each of these donors a thank-you letter, on letterhead, signed by your Executive Director, within a week of when you received their gift. But you haven’t been in touch with any of them personally since then.

And over there, you have your Board of Directors. Several of them have said, “I love this organization. I’ll do anything for this organization–except ask for money. I’m just no good at asking.”

Do you want to make your donors feel flattered and your directors feel useful, all at the same time? Then ask your Board of Directors to start saying thanks.

Donors and Your Board, A Match Made in Heaven

Every thank-you matters, but an expression of gratitude from a Board member to a donor matters more. No matter how sincere you are, when you, a staff person at a nonprofit, says thanks, the thought crosses the donor’s mind: “I’m paying your salary.” When a member of your Board of Directors is the one thanking the donor, they have these advantages:

  • They are volunteers. They’re regular people who care about the organization enough to give their precious time.
  • They are donors themselves. When Board members make a monetary contribution, of whatever size is significant for them, they can talk with fellow donors about why the organization matters “to both of us.”
  • They are leaders. It’s impressive when someone who holds a position of authority is the one making the call. It makes the donor feel valued and honored.

Getting thanked by a Board member helps donors think, “I made a good decision when I gave.” But it helps your Board of Directors, too. It confirms their own commitment to the organization…and it gives them valuable firsthand information about how their organization is perceived.

5 Ways a Board Member Can Say “Thank You!”

Thanks in many languages

  1. Add a personal note to a thank-you letter. Especially if the donor knows the Board member, but even if they haven’t met…yet!
  2. Follow up with a phone call. Penelope Burk found that donors who got a call within 24 hours gave 39% more than those who simply received a thank-you letter…and check out Gail Perry’s story of how a thank-you call made her boyfriend a major donor for life.
  3. Throw a party. Maybe one of your Board members loves to entertain. Your staff have been meaning to hold a donor appreciation event for ages but never find the time. Ask the happy host or hostess to have the party at their place. (They will still need help inviting the donors to come, but it’s less work, for more return, than if staff do it.)
  4. Send a gift. Who’s the shop-a-holic on your Board? Ask her to pick out a small but thoughtful gift personalized to your donor, wrap it, and mail it with a note. Your donor will be surprised (and maybe make a new friend for life).
  5. Tell the world. Someone on your Board is on social media all day. Chances are you can figure out who it is–if you don’t know already! Ask that Facebook fanatic to “friend” a donor and then sing his or her praises online. Not only will you be thanking the donor all over again, you’ll be making the donor’s friends ask, “What’s that organization that loves my friend like that?”

If you ask a member of your Board of Directors to thank donors by doing something he or she likes to do anyway, you will have a happy Board, a happy donor base…and a happy result the next time you ask for money!

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