Communicate!

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TY Thursday: Your Donors Need to Hear “Thanks” Right Now

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It’s always a good time to say thank you to your donors. Right now, in Fall 2020, it’s the best time. Because your donors need to hear from you.

Why Donors are Worried

worriedConsider how much uncertainty we are all confronting in Fall 2020.

  • We are still facing a worldwide pandemic that has killed over 200,000 people in the U.S.–and the numbers continue to rise.
  • Flu season is upon us, too, and while the vast majority of us get our shots, the few who don’t are a danger to themselves and all of us.
  • We may see another major shutdown of businesses and public facilities.
  • Millions of people are out of work. The first stimulus package helped many of them, but not all and not enough…and we will not know about a second stimulus until after the election. Possibly after the Inauguration in 2021.
  • The world is holding its breath for the results of the election, but we don’t and can’t know ahead of time how long it will take for those results to be official and what legal or extralegal challenges they will face.

In times like these–I’m not going to say “unprecedented” because that has become a cliche–donors are worried.

People who give money like to feel they are (more cliches coming here) changing the world, making a difference, having an impact. Right now, it’s hard to feel any of those things, and easy to feel out of control.

Why Your Donors Need to Hear “Thank You”

By thanking your donors, you help restore their sense of control.

By telling them stories about people they helped, you bring it down to a human level.

By making them the hero of the story, you make them feel powerful, instead of powerless; caring, instead of careless. You make them feel good to other people–-and you make them feel good about themselves.

Thanking donors gives them the best gift they could ask for, and it makes them want to keep on giving back. Share on X

So, throughout October, on Giving Tuesday, on Thanksgiving, and any chance you get, make sure to thank your donors. You will feel better about yourself when you do! And you will build loyalty among your donors that will last beyond 2020.

Fundraising Tuesday: Why Should Donors Vote for YOU?

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It’s Election Day in Massachusetts. Please remember to vote today–and to train your volunteers all the time!

campaign volunteer

What do your volunteers say about who you are?

My dear wife Rona Fischman is constantly shaking her head at what passes for communication.

I told you before about the phone solicitor who lied to her, the email marketer who never told her the truth, and the bank that failed to earn her interest.

Here’s the story of the campaign volunteer who nearly lost her vote–in one phone call.

Why Should I Vote for You?

On the Saturday before Election Day, Rona got a live call to her business phone from an Alderman at Large candidate’s organization. (An Alderman is like a city councilor.) The volunteer asked Rona if this candidate could count on her vote.

Rona said something like this, “I have four votes. Two are spoken for. The other two are up for grabs. Tell me why your candidate should get one of them.”

The guy on the phone was gobsmacked. He could not tell her why she should vote for his candidate. After a short silence, he said “____ will work tirelessly for the good of the people of Somerville,” and hung up.

Rona went on Facebook and asked all her friends, “Should this candidate lose my vote because his calling staff don’t have a clue why he’s right for the city?”

That’s not the kind of question a candidate wants voters to ask.  It’s not the kind of question your nonprofit organization wants its donors to ask, either.

To Win Donors, Train Your Volunteers

Please, please, please train your volunteers.  At the moment they interact the public, they are your organization.  What they do and say is what you stand for–at least to the person interacting with them.  And when you ask for donations, you will need that person to vote yes.

What’s Your Campaign Story, Nonprofit?

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As tomorrow’s election approaches, the news is full of last year’s election. Particularly, both presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and seasoned campaign manager and Democratic National Committee operative Donna Brazile have books out trying to explain what happened.

campaign biographyLooking back at elections can teach us something, but there’s an equally interesting kind of book to read: the kind that’s published before the election. We’re talking about the campaign biography.

Barack Obama’s The Audacity of Hope was a brilliant example. It told the story of who he was and made that the story of what we, the voters, wanted to see. It won him donations, volunteers, votes. It helped make him President.

Nonprofits can learn a lot from the campaign biography.

There’s an election going on, and your nonprofit organization is one of the candidates.

You’re competing for volunteer time.  You’re competing for donor money.  Everyone in your community can choose from a slate of good causes and “cast their vote”–for you, for a similar organization, or for a completely different cause that also appeals to them.

You need name recognition to win.  No one will vote for you if they don’t know who you are.  But how do you make sure people hear about you, and remember your name?

Tell stories.

Tell stories that dramatize the problem you’re trying to solve.  Tell stories that give people hope that there are solutions.  Give them a chance to be the hero of the story by giving you their time or money.

When they choose between you and other organizations, make sure they know your name.  Then you’ll have a chance to get their vote.

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