Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Fundraising Tuesday: Make It Convenient to Give

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write checkA reader asked:

Why might one give to a charity online when a check costs the charity less money to process?

Now, that is a good question–and a thoughtful donor! Yes, the nonprofit organization you want to help will get and keep more of your donation if you send a check. Why?

The companies that process online donations (by credit card, Paypal, etc.) don’t do it out of the goodness of their hearts. They charge the nonprofit a percentage of each gift. When you donate to your favorite charity, Aardvarks for Peace, the aardvarks get more of it if you write a check than if you give online.

Why Nonprofits Welcome Online Gifts

online donationEven if it costs them a little bit more, nonprofits should welcome online gifts.

Some donors do all their business online.

If you ask them to write a check, they’ll look at you aghast and then give their donation to some other nonprofit.

Most donors find online gifts more convenient.

If the donor is suddenly struck with the urge to donate, it takes less time to go the organization’s website, find the donation page, type in credit card information, and hit send than it would to take out the checkbook, find a pen, write the check, record it in a check register, stuff, seal, and stamp the envelope, and dump it in the mail.

Monthly donors find online MUCH more convenient–and you want monthly donors!

Imagine writing a check every single month. Now, imagine setting up a monthly donation online that will go out automatically. Which is more convenient for the donor? There’s no comparison.

And you want to encourage people who have already shown some commitment to your nonprofit to solidify that commitment by becoming monthly donors.

About 90% of monthly donors renew their donation the next year. That solves a big problem for your nonprofit.

  • If a donor gave to you once last year and not at all since then, the chances are less than 30% that they will renew.
  • Even if they gave to you two years running, the statistics show that only about 60% will renew the third time. That means you’re losing something like one donor out of three!
  • Monthly donors are your most loyal supporters. Thank them over and over, communicate their success, and you may keep them forever. Their lifetime value will far exceed any fees you pay for accepting donations online!

Do you want to make your online donations page produce more gifts? Do you need a strategy for creating “forever donors”? Email me and let’s set up a time to talk.

 

Fundraising Tuesday: Do You Want Runners, or Donors?

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runnners

They’re runners, but are they donors too?

What a beautiful day for a road race! The temperature is comforting. The skies are blue with watercolor clouds daubed here and there. The runners are wearing their shorts and t-shirts, jogging in place, ready to begin.

Lots of nonprofits hold road races as fundraising events, and some races make money for the organization.

But are the people who participate donors? Or are they just runners?

It makes a difference in how you communicate with them between events.

The Difference is Commitment

For a certain number of runners, your 5k is just a chance to do what they want to anyway: run. They can feel good about themselves because they’re helping a cause, any cause. But it may be kids with multiple sclerosis one week and homeless families the next.

We’re not picking on runners here. Foodies like to go to Taste of events. Socialites like to go to galas to see and be seen. That’s why those kinds of fundraising events are popular in the first place.

It does mean, though, that you can’t gauge the depth of a person’s commitment to your cause, or your organization, by their participation in the event. They may not even know what you do. They may just be taking part to oblige a friend!

Focus on Your Loyal Supporters

Of course, you want to thank every participant. Realistically, however, you have only so much time to spend, and you want to spend it well. That means putting it where it will be most valuable: with the most loyal supporters of your organization.

  • Which of your runners also spends a ton of time recruiting other people to participate and/or donate to your organization? Give that person a variety of thanks throughout the year.
  • Which runners dip into their own funds to give to you, not just for the race but for your end-of-year appeal? Make sure they know that you know how generous they are. Personalize the ask and the thank-you.
  • Be on the lookout for the moment when a runner becomes a donor through some other channel. That’s a sign of deepening commitment. Give them a call and find out what’s touching their heart.

Online marketing for your nonprofit can be simple as 1, 2, 3

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A guest post by Kelsy Ketchum

All ages are online!

In today’s digital age, online communication is essential. Donors need to know exactly what your nonprofit is about and what they can do to help.

Most of them are looking to the web for that info.

Your digital communication strategy needs to encourage people to support your cause. You likely already have a traditional marketing plan, and the good news is that much of it can be adapted to the internet.

You don’t have to be a technological wizard for online communication to work wonders. Here are the three steps you can take to create an effective digital marketing plan.

Email campaigns

 Whether you want to increase the number of subscribers to your newsletter, recruit volunteers and get them to stay, or start a new fundraising campaign, email is a cheap and relatively simple way to get the word out.

But you don’t want to just send out a quick message with a lot of text and be done. Your emails should be interesting and interactive. Think through their design to make sure it matches your organization’s brand, and provide pictures or graphics to support your message.

Reminder:

  • Avoid spamming inboxes with a lot of messages. Limit your communication to a few times a month and clarify why you’re sending each email.
  • Customize the email to your audience.
  • Is there a call to action you want people to follow? Emphasize it! People are more likely to participate if they know exactly what they need to do.

You’ll also want to track how your email campaigns are doing and manage your analytics, which can help you see where you’re succeeding and what your organization can do better.

Savvy marketing pros who need advanced reporting capabilities may want to consider a business intelligence solution for their nonprofit to combine multiple data sources together.

Social media

To succeed at digital communication, your nonprofit will need to go beyond email and dive into the realm of social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even Snapchat are all useful tools to get your message across and bring new donors or volunteers into the fold.

Social media lets you share info more frequently than email, so you can provide daily updates on certain projects. It also has a wider reach, since you can use hashtags or post in specific groups to reach new audiences who may not follow your organization directly.

Social media posts can be slightly less formal than email or official correspondence, so have fun! Encourage employees to share your nonprofit’s posts on their own social media feeds – word of mouth is still a great way to spread your ideas, and social media makes the process easier.

Website and donation pages

Crafting a compelling website with powerful donation pages can bring in even more donors than other digital communication strategies.

Your priority should always be clarity of information. Label the sections of your website and pages clearly and double-check that your contact info and other essentials are easy to find without digging through multiple web pages.

Highlight important links and create a section for recurring donations to encourage people to donate more often. The easier it is for people to donate, the better your fundraising will be.

Don’t forget to use all the online tools at your disposal. Share your website and donation pages with friends and followers on social media and put a link to the website in every email so people can access it effortlessly.

The takeaway

It doesn’t take an IT pro to improve your digital communication and get the word out about your nonprofit. You can get started today, with these three steps.

No matter the goal, whether it’s increasing your donors or finding volunteers for your next event, better online communication can get you there with minimal cost or time, which is particularly helpful for smaller organizations with fewer resources.

 

About the Author: Kelsy Ketchum is an editor for Better Buys, helping organizations to find and select the right software solutions.

 

 

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