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Fundraising Tuesday: Will Your Nonprofit be Golden in December?

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December is a crucial month for your nonprofit. As Double the Donation points out, “30% of annual giving happens in December, with about 10% of all annual donations coming in the last three days of the year.”

What happens in December could make or break your nonprofit's budget. But what you do right now, starting today, can make your December golden. Click To Tweet

Here are the ten steps you need to take SOON to ensure a successful end-of-year fundraising campaign this December.

  1. Thank your loyal donors. Ideally, you would have been doing this all year long! But if the last time your donors heard you express your gratitude was a week after they gave, last December, the single most important thing you can do is to send a letter or email thanking them again, and showing the impact they made by giving.
  2. Go over your donor data. Remove any duplicates from your list. Check for any addresses that have changed, or anyone on your list who has died. Make sure that you are calling them by the name they prefer.
  3. Get to know your donors better. Spend a little time doing online research about a sample of your list. Call some of them. Do a survey. Find out what they care about at your organization and outside of your organization. That way, you’ll know what moves them!
  4. Segment your list. You’ll want to talk with renewal donors differently from prospects, and to people who care about (for example) your youth theater program because they care about theater differently from the one who primarily car about youth. Make sure you can find those different segments in your database or CRM.
  5. Collect stories. Once you know what your donors care about, find one person or family who faces great challenges in exactly that part of life. Tell their story, vividly, leaving off at the point where the donor can make the difference. (And give the donor the chance to be a hero of the story!)
  6. Collect photos. They’re one of the first things that donors look at when they get your letter in the mail. A photo on the envelope may tip the donor into actually opening it, and a photo inside may decide them to read it instead of throwing it into the recycling bin.
  7. Use your newsletters and social media to put donors in a giving mood. love lettersYour social media posts in October and November should should sound like to the donor. Success stories belong here. When you send the appeal letter, it should call the donor to immediate action.
  8. Write the ideal appeal letter. Direct mail still works the best at stimulating donations. If you have email addresses and no postal addresses for some of your donors, then send the ideal email appeal–but work on getting their U.S. mailing addresses for next year!
  9. Follow up your appeal. A letter in the mail will have even more impact if you use phone calls or email (or text messages, if you have permission) to remind donors how much they matter.
  10. Get ready to send the ideal thank-you letter within 48 hours of receiving the donation. That’s how you start this December to make next December golden!

Fundraising Tuesday: Making a First Impression

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There’s an old saying: “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” Nowhere does that saying apply more than when you write a fundraising appeal letter.

Whether the donor even opens the letter depends on the envelope. Whether they give it a second glance depends on whether or not you get the name right–and what you say in the postscript–and whether you’ve made the letter easy to read.

Now, let’s say they start to read those words you, the writer, thought about so long, and worked and worked to get just right.

If the first sentence of your appeal letter doesn't compel your donor to read on, you may just have wasted your time sending it. Click To Tweet

And that would be a shame! So, what can you do in the very first sentence of your fundraising appeal to spur your potential donor to read the rest, and donate?

First Sentences That Pull Donors In

Here are the first sentences of some fundraising appeals I received recently that made me read the rest of the letter:

It wasn’t Mai’s decision to call the police. (RESPOND, an agency working to end domestic violence)

In a few weeks, a high-priced team of lawyers will ask the Supreme Court to stop you from helping farm workers. (United Farm Workers)

Imagine you are 15 years old and you woke up this morning as your detention center roommate was being rushed to the hospital with a fever, sore throat, and a raspy cough.  (The Sentencing Project)

$15 doesn’t sound like much, I know. It could buy a nice lunch or a few fancy coffees…or it could provide emergency relief, lifesaving medical treatment, clean water and sanitation…right now. (International Medical Corps)

It’s personal. (Community Cooks)

It’s just an “LGBTQ Safe Zone” sticker. Yet, when you put it up in your synagogue, JCC, day school, or other communal space, you just might change the world. (Keshet, for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life)

Maria left an unsafe home and a volatile relationship and found her way to a shelter in Cambridge earlier this year. (Second Chances)

How many times have you seen a homeless woman on the street, and passed by with neither of you any better off? (On the Rise)

How a Great First Sentence Works

If you’re like me, you receive dozens of appeal letters over the course of a year. What was it about these examples that caught my eye and made me want to know more?

  1. Story. The first sentences in the letters from RESPOND and Second Chances put me right into the middle of the action. As a reader, I had to find out what happened next.
  2. Surprise. The International Medical Corps and Keshet spotlighted a small action I could take that could have a dramatic result.
  3. High stakes. The Sentencing Project made me imagine a teenager who could be getting Covid-19, a matter of life and death.
  4. Emotion. Some of these letters frightened me. Some inspired me. Some made me discontent with the way things are now. Some made me smile at the thought of how things could be.
  5. The letter was about me…and someone who needs help.
    • The UFW got me to bristle at the thought of “high-priced lawyers” taking away my right to give.
    • On the Rise made me think about how it would feel to have a genuine relationship with that woman on the street.
    • Community Cooks captured the essence of why most people donate: because it’s personal.

Notice what these first sentences didn’t do

All these first sentences avoided the deadly weaknesses that send so many appeal letters to the recycling bin, unread and unanswered.

They didn’t speak in generalities, but got down to cases.

They didn’t talk about what matters to the organization: the fiscal year coming to an end, or a budget that has to be balanced, for instance. In fact, they didn’t mention the organization at all.

Instead, all of them pinpointed what would matter to me, the donor. They literally put me first.

Two Ways to Make a Good First Impression with Your Next Appeal Letter

When do you write your next fundraising appeal letter? Maybe you’re working on it right now. Here are two things you can do make that first sentence a winner.

Find it in what you’ve already written. Take a look at your current draft. Are the first few sentences (or paragraphs!) humdrum? Did it take you a while to get to the part that’s going to be exciting to the donor? Then you can either move the exciting part ahead of routine part,  up to the first sentence–or just cut the beginning you have now and begin with what the donor will want to hear.

Write the first sentence last. If you’ve got a lot of good material but nothing to make the donor have to read it, put yourself in the mind of the person who’s picking up your letter in the mail. What is there about what you’re saying that you can say simply, briefly, in an exciting way?

Make that the first sentence, before it goes in the mail. You’ll make a good first impression–and more money for your cause.

Fundraising Tuesday: Two New Ideas for Renewing Donors

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Renewing donors takes loveRenewing your donors is much more effective than acquiring new ones. You already know they’re interested: they expressed that with their first gift! And if you have been saying thank-you and reporting on what you did with their gift (and what difference it made), they should be in the mood to give again. You’ve shown them the love!

It costs less to renew donors than to find new ones. Over time, they become your loyal supporters–or rather, you become their favored organization! Instead of asking themselves, “Am I going to give to this group again?,” they think “How much?” and “How often?” And sometimes, “Who can I tell about this fabulous organization?”

With that in mind, I want to congratulate WNYC Public Radio for giving me two new ideas for wooing those donors toward renewing.

“It’s Your Anniversary!”

WNYC’s envelope arrived in the mail with this message boldly blazoned on the front:

IT’S YOUR ANNIVERSARY

Stay current. Stay inspired. Renew today.

Look at all the things WNYC did right!

  • They used a deadline that was meaningful to me, not an internal deadline.
  • They caught my attention and made me want to open the envelope.
  • They used the word “your.”
  • They pointed out the benefits I get from giving.
  • They asked for money, right there, right then.

They also avoided doing the wrong things!

Have you ever received a blank envelope, with no return address, from an organization you supported–and when you opened it anyway, it said “We have not yet received this year’s donation”? Sadly, I have: on the same day this letter arrived from WNYC. Which one do you think received my donation?

A Personal Page for Renewing My Donation

Here’s a second great idea that I have never seen before, and I predict that many nonprofits will adopt it. You should steal it, now, for your organization.

P.S. Use your personalized online form to renew right now, rather than looking for a stamp and taking a trip to the mail box!

That’s right. The station set up an online donation form under www.mywnyc.org with my name on it. Not only that, but it had my name and address already filled in. All I had to do was choose an amount, fill in my credit card number, and click the button.

What a fabulous way to make the donor feel seen! (And on the back end, I’ll bet, it’s making it completely simple for the development department to see the renewal and thank me in real time.)

You should steal these two ideas now, for your organization.

It’s Not Renewing if I Didn’t Give Before

One thing the station did that you should NOT copy: don’t ask me to renew a gift that I didn’t make.

Yes, I gave to the program On the Media. Yes, WNYC produces On the Media. But that doesn’t mean I gave to the station…or want to.

Look, I’ve been on the inside at nonprofit organizations, and I know how much it matters to get unrestricted donations. When a donor does what I did last year–give to a specific program–it helps. But when the donor gives to the organization as a whole, the dollars go farther. I get that.

All the same, it’s dishonest to pretend I already made a donation and said “Use it where you need it most.” I haven’t said that: not yet, at least. If you want me to give to the organization instead of (or in addition to) the program I like, you have to persuade me. There are ways of doing that. Try them!

 

 

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