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Fundraising Tuesday: Ask My Name

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Hello my name is what?People’s names matter. Donors’ names matter to them. So, their names should matter to you too–especially when you are asking them for money!

But how do you know what to call them? Last week, I suggested that the simplest and most effective way to get the names right is just to ask.

You could ask online donors immediately, on the post-donation page of your website that thanks them for their donations.

You could also ask them when you call them to thank them for their donations. Or in a donor survey.

Keshet, the organization for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life, found another good way to ask which names to use. They checked how my wife and I would like to be listed in their annual report. Here’s the email:

Action Requested: How should we list you in our Annual Report?

Keshet banner

 

Dear Rona,

Thank you for being a supporter of our work for LGBTQ equality in Jewish life. In the next few months, we will be sharing Keshet’s 2019 Annual Report.

As a valued and appreciated donor, your name(s) will be listed in our Annual Report and will appear as: Dennis and Rona Fischman.

If you would like to request an edit or correction in how your name is listed, please click here.

L’Shalom,

James Cohen

Chief Development and Communications Officer

 

Pronouns: he/him/his

Notice how many things Keshet did right!

  1. The subject line told the donors why we should open the message–why it mattered to us.
  2. The name in the salutation matched the name in the email address.
  3. The closing was in Hebrew (“for peace”), affirming the Jewish connection.
  4. The signature included the name of a real person plus preferred pronouns–useful for all, but particularly important to the LGBTQ+ community.

Most important, however, was that Keshet asked what we wanted to be called. They saw the way the names were listed on the check we’d sent them, but they didn’t assume that was exactly how we wanted our names to appear.

They asked. You should too.

Because donors’ names matter to them. So, their names should matter to you too–especially when you are asking them for money!

Fundraising Tuesday: Get the Name Right

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keep calm what's my nameHow do you make sure a donor will actually read your appeal letter? You must get their name right.

After the envelope and the postscript–sometimes, even before the P.S.–the first thing the donor looks at is their name in the salutation. If the letter is sent to “Dear Friend,” that increases the chances that the donor will throw it away unread.

And if you get the name wrong, you may never get a gift from them again!

Over a lifetime, that could be hundreds or thousands of dollars that donor wanted to give your nonprofit–but ended up giving to some other organization. One that said I know you with the very first words of the appeal letter.

Why “Dear Friend” Loses Donors

Maybe the Southern Law Policy Center can get away with “Dear Friend.” They have a huge mailing list and an established brand.

Maybe the Arthritis Foundation can do it. They have a built-in constituency of people with arthritis pain.

But most organizations are not like those big national concerns. Some are national but very focused on one issue, like About Face: Veterans Against the War. Some are regional, like the Appalachian Community Fund. And many, many of us work at community-based organizations, focused on one city or town.

People who give to your smaller nonprofit identify with your work. They give because it’s their way of making a difference. In return, they expect you to know them and what they care about.

This chance to build a relationship with your donors is the superpower of the smaller nonprofit! But  if your small nonprofit goes with “Dear Friend,” you are giving away your biggest advantage in fundraising: your ability to add a personal touch. Make the size of your list work for you.

How Do You Know What to Call the Donor?

Spell the name rightYou might have chosen “Dear Friend” in the past because there are so many ways of calling the donor by the wrong name.

True, you don’t want to:

  • Mail to Dennis Fischman when you should be asking Rona and Dennis Fischman.
  • Call someone “Mary” when she only answers to “Mrs. Kimble.”
  • Call someone “Mrs. Kimble” when that person goes by Ms., or Mx., or Mary.
  • Mail to Chang Sho Huang and say “Dear Chang,” only to find out you’ve just called them by their family’s name (like writing to me, “Dear Fischman”!)

The solution to this in the short term might be to use the full name: “Dear Dennis and Rona Fischman.” As soon as you can, however, the best solution is to ask.

You could ask online donors immediately, on the post-donation page of your website that thanks them for their donations.

You could also ask them when you call them to thank them for their donations. Or in a donor survey.

The key is to ask–to record the answers–and then, to call them by the name they prefer.

How Do You Remember the Right Name?

Let’s face it, most of us are bad at remembering names.

On the personal level, there’s a theory that human beings are only capable of knowing 150 people and remembering how I know you and vice versa. On the organizational level, that’s the same number that’s recommended as the maximum a major gifts officer should have on their caseload.

Even if your Development Director has an exceptional memory for names, faces, and life stories, your organization will someday have the fortunate problem of getting too big for any one person to keep the data in their head.

That’s why you need a database.

Warning: Excel is not a database! 

Both my wife and I have received email from organizations we like and support that called us by the wrong name. In both cases, the “first name” data from one line of an Excel spreadsheet had been combined with the email address from another line.

There are many reasons why your nonprofit needs an actual database or constituency relationship management (CRM) system, but getting the names right is one of the most important.

If any of this sounds confusing, or if it sounds like too much work to do on your own, email me at [email protected] to set up a time to talk about whether you could use some consultant help. Because whatever else you do for donors, you must get the name right.

Fundraising Tuesday: P.S., I Love You

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As I write this letter
Send my love to you…

(The Beatles, “P.S. I Love You”)

Once your donor opens the envelope, the postscript is the most important part of your appeal letter to get right–if you want the rest of the letter to be read at all!

My Favorite Postscript of 2019

I’ve been going through the appeal letters I received in the mail in the last couple of months of 2019. Here’s my favorite P.S., from a local charity, Community Cooks, run by my friend Daniele Levine:

P.S. You make it all possible! Will you give as generously as you can now, so 61,000 neighbors can sit down to a welcoming meal this year without worrying about how they’ll feed themselves or their children? Go to communitycooks.org/give or mail your gift in the enclosed envelope. Thank you!

What’s to like about this P.S. ?

  • The “You” focus makes it sound personal and urgent.
  • “Sit down to a welcoming meal.” That’s specific.
  • “61,000 neighbors.” That’s some impact for my dollar!
  • “Without worrying” draws me in and makes me feel connected to the people I’m feeding.
  • “Thank you.” You can never say thanks often enough!

I do have a couple of ideas for improving this PS.

  • “Thank you in advance” is a magic phrase in my book of fundraising spells, because it expresses gratitude without taking the donor off the hook. I would use that instead of just “thank you.”
  • Ideally, the letter would tell the story of just one family whose whole year was saved because of meals that your donations provided. Then, the PS could harken back to that family, by name.

Ways to Use a P.S. to Increase Donations

I saw a number of different ways that nonprofit organizations wrote postscripts to their appeal letters. All of them have some value.

Say what happens when you give

You can change the course of a student’s life for the better by giving today! Your gift will provide healthy means, early education, and afterschool care to families in our community.

With your renewed support, more patients will receive compassionate, innovative, cutting-edge care when and where they need it. Thank you for making a gift today.

Please send your gift now. Help us to provide the evidence and advocacy to build a just and equitable criminal justice system.

Show the impact on a real person’s life

This year, Sophia and her 27 fellow peer leaders completed our train-the-trainer curriculum and trained 557 youth on workplace violence/ de-escalation, sexual harassment in the workplace, safety and health, and environmental hazards in schools! {Note: this would have been stronger if it focused on just Sophia]

Your last gift of $50 made such a difference. By renewing your support, you will change more lives like Rochelle’s and give a special gift to patients spending the holidays in the hospital. We can’t thank you enough.

Give something tangible to the donor

Some organizations used the P.S. to call attention to a premium they were giving me for giving: address labels, cards, a bumper sticker, a notepad. The Arthritis Foundation offered me a free pedometer. That’s on brand.

Strike board game

My favorite P.S. that promised me a freebie came from the Jobs With Justice Education Fund:

If you donate $85 or more, you will become eligible to receive a FREE new copy of our upcoming board game STRIKE! The Game of Worker Rebellion, to be released in March 2020, as our special thank you for elevating your support to the movement.

Now, that’s really on brand! And every time I would play the game, I’d remember that I gave (and talk about it with the friends playing the game, too!)

Give something emotional to the donor

The problem with giving things to a donor is that they may come to believe they donated just to get the thing. The more attractive the premium, the more likely they are to think their attachment is to that object–not to your mission.

Giving the donor an emotional experience makes them more likely to realize they gave because you and they share a commitment to the cause!

I’ve enclosed pictures of the Alvarez family. Take note of the beautiful photograph of Anthony, the neighbor boy who lost his parents yet found a home with this deeply hopeful family–all because Heifer supporters like you gave them a chance. Thank you. And please accept my very best wishes for a joyous holiday season.

This month, please keep your eye out for emails from myself and other Palestine refugees in the US who have benefited from UNRWA’s services and who now contribute to our broader American community as proud architects, doctors, engineers, and local leaders.

Ms. Fischman, thank you for your continued support. If you have any questions, please call our individual gifts officer, Joyce ____, on her direct line at _____________.

Stories of poverty can leave us angry, sad, and feeling powerless. But stories of overcoming poverty can inspire tremendous compassion. Please make ending poverty a reality by supporting us again today.

P.S. to This Blog Post

“Over 90 percent of readers read the PS before the letter. It is the first paragraph, not the last.” -Siegfried Vogele

Show the love to that 90 percent of readers. Make sure the postscript in your next appeal is worth reading!

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