Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

TY Thursday: The Great New Idea that Will Raise More Money

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Is your nonprofit looking for a new idea on how to do fundraising? I’ve got one for you.

What is it? Should you spend your time and money on a revamped website? Or get on TikTok? Should you add a chatbot to your Facebook page, or start texting all your donors and prospects?

That’s not it. That’s not the kind of new idea I’m talking about.

magpie sitting on bright shiny objectsChasing the latest piece of technology is a distraction. It’s what they call Bright Shiny Object Syndrome. Unless you are a magpie, you should avoid that!

So what is this great new idea? It’s thanking your donors.

Apparently, that is a new idea for a lot of nonprofits, because they aren’t doing it–or not very well!

Six ways to thank your donors poorly

If you want your thanks to have no meaning, and no effect on your fundraising, here is an idea of what doesn’t work:

  1. Not thanking them at all. (I’m a donor, and yes, this still happens!)
  2. Letting  an automated system send out a thank-you email that sounds like it was written by a robot.
  3. Having that email acknowledgement of the donation be the only “thanks” they get before you ask for money again.
  4. Sending a written thank-you letter that reads like a tax form.
  5. Mailing a more personal thank-you letter that asks for another gift right away (the dreaded “thask”).
  6. Mailing a good thank-you letter–even the ideal thanks–as a “one and done.”

A Thank-You Plan? Now, There’s an Idea!

If you really want to make friends, influence people, keep your donors and increase their lifetime giving to your organization, thanking donors well and often is the most important thing you can do. It cannot be haphazard. You will need a plan.

Here are some steps you can take that will make donors feel your gratitude.

First, edit that auto-response to the donor so it sounds like a person-to-person communication. (If your system won’t let you do that, get another system!)

Second, change your language from “We can’t do it without you” to “Thanks! Here’s what you did, by giving.” (Make the donor the hero.)

Third, have your written thanks go out in the mail within 48 hours of receiving the donation. That means having the ED, the Director of Development, or a Board member on call to sign and personalize the outgoing letters–during the busiest seasons, they should do it every day!

Fourth, invite them to take follow-up steps that get them more involved with the organization that do not involve giving more money. Ask them to follow you on social media, or sign up for your newsletter, to sign a petition or show up for an event.

Fifth, communicate, communicate, communicate! Make sure they never ask “Just what difference did it make when I gave to that organization?” without readily knowing the answer.

Sixth, put your thanks on your communications calendar. Not only will the donors be happy to hear from you, but it will make your day, too!

 

The Heroic Work of Maintaining What We Have

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Ms. MarvelWe live in a world where innovation and disruption are considered heroic.

That’s certainly the culture of corporate enterprise. Nonprofits talk the talk, too. Even those nonprofits that warn against Bright Shiny Object Syndrome worry that if they miss the next new trend–whether it’s recurring giving or artificial intelligence–someday, they’ll regret it.

But are we worried about the right things?

Should we first be worried about making sure that we are doing, is working? (And perhaps, making it work a little better?) Share on X

Scheduled maintenance for your nonprofit

looking at websiteI recently reviewed the website of a nonprofit organization. In some ways, it was gorgeous. The photos were attractive. The design performed just as well on a mobile device as on a desktop computer.

But–all the external links were broken.

The program descriptions were two years out of date.

And the financial report (which is crucial for closing the deal with institutional funders and sophisticated donors) was a PDF dating back to 2014!

Innovation and disruption are not going to help this nonprofit.

This organization should not be launching a new crowdfunding campaign, or adding a chatbot to its Facebook page. It should be focusing on its website–which has been a basic tool for nonprofit communications and fundraising since the turn of this century.

It should also be coming up with a system for making sure its website stays useful to donors and prospects. Whose responsibility will that be? How often must they check links and update documents? When will the nonprofit plan to redesign the site?

You wouldn’t wait to take your car into the shop until the engine seized up. You take it in for regularly scheduled maintenance and checkups. Please, do the same with your nonprofit. Like Ms. Marvel or Superman, your quiet work will hide your real identity. You’re a hero.

Where to improve first

John Haydon

John Haydon

Just like your website, in 2019 a Facebook page is a basic tool of your organization. But even in 2019, I stand by what I wrote on John Haydon’s blog in 2013: there are lots of things even more basic than Facebook.

Your nonprofit should not be using Facebook. Here are ten reasons why.

1. Your website sucks

A Facebook page should make people head to your website to see more about you. But if your website is unattractive, hard to read or navigate, and impossible to view on a mobile device, then you don’t want to send people there.

2. You don’t have a blog

So they came to your website once. Why should they come back? A blog gives people a different reason to visit, each time you post. If you’re not blogging, why are you bothering with Facebook?

3. You post stuff that nobody wants to see

Who cares how many people your nonprofit served or what awards your Executive Director won? If you’re not telling people how their donations made a tangible difference in one person’s life, you’re talking to yourself.

4. You don’t capture people’s email addresses

Remember, you don’t own Facebook. Zuckerberg does. You own the email addresses that people have given you permission to use. First, make sure that you have ways to get that permission.

5. You don’t have something concrete to offer

Why would people give you their email addresses when they get so much email already? Only because you give them something even more valuable in exchange: information they’re eager to have. What can you offer?

6. Your contact management system is broken

When you get those emails, are you still storing them in Excel? Or are you recording them in a database that lets you send each person the message that matters to them, and keep track of your relationship with them?

7. Your customer service sends the wrong message

What you do speaks louder than what you post. Do you answer the phone, respond to voicemail and email, and greet walk-ins with courtesy and professionalism? Do they get the help they are seeking?

8. You don’t want to devote enough time

Heather Mansfield estimates that to participate effectively in just one social medium like Facebook, it takes seven hours a week. Are you trying to do it in an hour a week? Then you’re wasting that hour. Don’t bother.

9. You don’t want to spend any money

Facebook is making it harder and harder to reach even the people who already know you and like you without paying for the privilege. You don’t need megabucks, but have a budget for boosting your Page and your posts.

10. You don’t have a communications strategy

“Outreach,” “visibility,” and “awareness” are not good reasons to be on Facebook. Do you know who you’re trying to reach, for what purpose, and what they would do if you engaged with them successfully?

Small improvements, large results

Do these ten points sound like you? The good news is that with a little help, you can fix each and every one of them… and raise a lot of money as a result. Including on Facebook.

But see, these improvements are not bright shiny objects. They’re not innovation, and forget about disruption.

Old and improved beats new and improved nine times out of ten. Make sure you maintain and improve what your nonprofit does already. Share on X

The No-Nonsense Nonprofit

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Is your organization a no-nonsense nonprofit? Maybe! If:

no nonsense

You don’t chase after every passing fad, or fall victim to Bright Shiny Object Syndrome. At the same time, you don’t think “the way we’ve always done it” is always the best way.

You take your mission seriously and your opinions lightly.

You schedule time to consider new ideas and learn new things into your work week. (You know that putting it on the calendar is the only way to make it happen.)

You don’t care about “best practices”: you want to know what will work for your organization.

You know the difference between what’s technical and what’s practical.

You know that things take time. You’re willing to be patient. Eventually, though, you want to see the results.

You know that results and Return On Investment are two different things, and you care more about results.

You know that free is not always the best price, and you’re willing to invest money as well as time to change your organization for the better.

Communication for the No-Nonsense Nonprofit

I love working with a no-nonsense nonprofit to improve the way you communicate with donors, volunteers, clients, and any other audience you’re trying to reach…and here’s why.  By the time you hire me as a communications consultant, you know the value you’re going to get out of the consultation.

  • We’ve asked about the purpose of your communications. (Are you trying to renew more donors, attract new ones, advocate effectively on an issue, or even galvanize people who care about that issue to form a movement?)
  • We’ve determined how well you know the audiences you are trying to reach–and what else you’d have to know to send them messages they will read, view, listen to, and respond to.
  • We’ve committed to creating a communications strategy that suits your audiences and fits within the time and money your organization can dedicate to the task.

It’s exciting when an organization says, “We’re going to do better.” It’s even more exciting when I can provide a step-by-step outline of what it will take to get your nonprofit to the point that people are actually looking forward to hearing from you and upset if they miss a message!

If you are a no-nonsense nonprofit, we should talk about how you can use the services I offer to get tangible results for your organization. I will give you at least one suggestion you can put into practice right away during our first conversation. Contact me and let’s set a time to talk.

 

 

 

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