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Fundraising Tuesday: Yes, Ask for Money Now

June 9, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

June 2020 is the perfect time to ask the loyal supporters of your nonprofit to give.

This may surprise you. You may have been hanging back, thinking, “So many people are out of work, or sick, or both.” You may have told yourself,”So many people are thinking only about Covid-19 (or, right this moment, “racist police violence).”

You may have guessed they would want you to put your fundraising on pause.

But now we know that guess was wrong.

“Every Direct Mail campaign we’ve done since March (right thru to yesterday) has been getting Christmas level results,” – Denisa Casement, international fundraising expert.

“Right now is still the ‘bump,’ not the ‘slump’ stage. Folks who love you haven’t stopped loving you. They really want you to survive and thrive. So, guess what? It’s still early enough in the crisis that people are still giving. Your donors, especially, are still giving.” – Claire Axelrad, Fundraising Coach at Bloomerang

“Organizations that are connecting with donors are raising never-before-experienced levels of funds. New donors are showing up for the party. Donors are giving larger gifts than they’ve ever given. It’s truly extraordinary.” -Jeff Brooks, Future Fundraising Now

Now is not the time to hang back. Both the experts and the research show that donors will support nonprofits in uncertain times.  In fact, there’s research to show that global catastrophes actually cause charitable giving to increase.

Why are donors still giving?

Make donor feel special

People like to band together and help others, in normal times. In a crisis, that impulse reaches new heights.

Think about it. You’re sitting at home, either unable to work or trying to work extra hard while taking care of children and running a household. You have to guess when or whether you will return to the office, or your children to school, and when you’ll be able to hug somebody you don’t actually live with again.

Meanwhile, Covid-19 and the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Tony McDade have revealed (to those who didn’t know already) that the people who are supposed to keep us safe can actually be the ones putting us in danger.

When the word feels out of control, what do you do about it? You find something you can do to make a difference. You give. Click To Tweet

And then, there’s the fact that many people actually haven’t been out of work. They’ve continued to collect paychecks AND received an economic stimulus payment. I’ve seen a number of people saying, “I’m lucky, because I don’t need the help. I’m going to donate that money to charity as soon as it comes in.”

They could be giving to you.

But Donors Give Only If You Ask!

“Twitter and blogland are aglow with the same question: where’re the nonprofit direct mailings? Why, at a time like this, are so many nonprofits ignoring or neglecting the most productive channel for individual giving: direct mail?” -Roger Craver, The Agitator

It’s true in normal times and it’s doubly true in an ongoing crisis: people will give where they are asked to give. If you’re not asking,  you are slighting the very people you meant to be considerate toward. You’re hurting your donors, as well as your nonprofit.

You weren’t wrong to think some people can’t afford to give right now. Acknowledge that. Say, “If you can’t give right now, we understand and we are with you. But if you can give, here’s why your gift will make a difference.”

You weren’t wrong to imagine that a lot of people’s attention is on what’s in the news. But is that true of your donors? When they gave to you the first time (and the second, and the third I hope!), they knew that there were other problems in the world. The one they wanted to solve was the one you address.

To succeed, you pretty much just need to be in front of the donor with a relevant need. All the hard stuff — creating compelling calls to action, finding the right story, coming up with the right images and other evidence that can motivate donors to give … all of that is easy right now.  – Jeff Brooks

Donors are giving to the organizations they care about who care enough to send them a timely, thoughtful appeal in the mail. It’s proven.

Who is getting those donations?

Right now, the competition for your donors’ mailbox is weak. So many organizations have held back from sending out mail that the ones who do have a great advantage.

What’s holding you back?

If it’s not knowing what to say, or how to say it, or how to get a letter in the mail when your office is closed, please get in touch with me. That’s why I set up Communicate! Consulting in the first place: to make sure you could win and keep loyal supporters. I’m not giving up on you now.

Now is the perfect time to ask for money from your donors. Let’s get started

 

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TY Thursday: Are You Annoying Donors?

March 8, 2018 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

pet peevesWhen people find out I consult to nonprofits, they tell me their pet peeves. Most of what’s annoying them is how we ask for money.

Thanking and Asking Again in the Same Letter

More than one friend has complained to me about what Lynne Wester has called the dreaded thask: the thank-you note combined with a new ask. “I just sent a donation, and here they are asking for more. It’s like they’re trying to tell me I gave too little the first time!”

I tell them that the numbers show a certain number of donors will give right away if you ask them again. That doesn’t impress my friends. They want nonprofits to know that a certain number of donors will get that “thank-you, now give more” message and never give again.

You know we have a tremendous problem with donor renewal in our sector. The chances are that two of three people who gave to you for the first time in 2017 won’t give again this year. Could the “thask” have something to do with it?

Claire Axelrad tells us:

An Abila Donor Engagement Study found that 21% of donors say they were never thanked for their gift. Some weren’t, but my hunch is that a lot were. They just didn’t perceive what you sent them to be a thank you. Too often thank you letters sound exactly like fundraising letters.

What Donors Want You to Do Instead

Now, when you thank donors, you do want to ask them to take a next step. The “call to action” can be to join your email list, or follow you on Facebook, or even come to an event.

And you do want to give them more evidence that they made a good decision when they made their first donation. Show the impact they made.

But what you don’t want to do is ask right away for more money.  And what you really don’t want to do is what my friend who tweets under the name @thewhinydonor describes as her pet peeve:

The first thank you letter arrived today. And it contained an enormous reply envelope, bigger than the letter. COMPLETE TURNOFF.

When the first thing I see when I open your acknowledgement is a big reply envelope asking for more, my warm glow of giving is obliterated.

How are your favorite charities annoying you (and probably not even realizing it)? What’s your pet peeve?

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TY Thursday: Best Ways to Thank Donors in 2018

February 8, 2018 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Treasure chestEvery donor you keep is a treasure. It costs more to find a new donor than to retain a previous one. The more often a donor gives, the more loyal they become to your cause and the greater the lifetime value to your organization. So, saying thank you all throughout 2018 is not just a good idea. It’s money.

Need ideas to show your donors some love? Here are 14, just in time for Valentine’s Day, from Sandy Rees.

What makes a good thank you? Here are  5 easy steps to great acknowledgments, courtesy of The Donor Guru, Lynne Wester. (And also, check out my checklist for the ideal thank-you letter.)

If you prefer to look at a template, Network for Good offers this one to adapt to your donors’ needs.

spotlightGive up the spotlight! Don’t talk so much about your organization.

If you focus on gratitude, if you focus on love, if the focus is donor-centric, there’s something in it for the donor, they’re going to go, “Wow, that was really nice” (as Claire Axelrad tells us in this video from Bloomerang).

Ann Green is right: Even if someone donates online, she should get a thank you by mail or phone. If you haven’t sent a thank you letter to your year-end donors, do that now! http://ow.ly/h2L730hSWQS 

Now, remember these wise words from Tom Ahern:

Thanking someone promptly for a gift is just good manners: the bare minimum. Thanking is necessary, not sufficient. It does not equal “donor-centricity.” Thanking alone will not lead to better retention nor any predictable increase in future support.

Actions thank louder than words. Check out my guest post for John Haydon and at the end, you’ll find five ways you can thank donors like you mean it.

Besides saying thank you to renewal donors, you could also welcome new donors on board.

And the next time you ask for money, include the words Thanks in advance–especially if you’re asking by email! (A tip from our friends at The Agitator.)

Thanking donors makes you happy, so do yourself a favor and start putting these great thank-you tips to work today.

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