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Fundraising Tuesday: 10 tips for writing an email that raises money

November 2, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

When you ask donors to be generous, when should you make that ask by email?

One good time is when you’ve already sent them the ideal appeal letter by mail. When they’re thinking about making a donation but they’ve been putting off their gift until later, then email can remind, follow up, and jog them into action.

Another time email works is when your organization doesn’t have a street address, but you do have an email address.

Let’s be clear: that’s not the best situation for you. Most donors are still more likely to respond to direct mail than to email. When they give, a letter also increases the amount they are likely to give. Even if they end up taking out their credit card and giving online, chances are great that it was getting a letter in the mail that motivated them to donate. So, you will want to ask them for their mailing address (and permission to use it) as soon as you can.

But if email is what you have, and it’s time to reach out for donations, how do you ask in a way that makes donors most likely to respond?

10 tips for writing an email that raises money

  1. Email appeals aren’t like fundraising letters. Getting a letter in the mail still has a certain cachet, especially if the envelope is special. Getting an email, on the other hand? It feels like just more clutter in the inbox. You have to make sure yours stands out.
  2. Send it “From” a real person. A name the donor will recognize, like a celebrity or someone famous in your community, is great,  but the name of your ED, Board Chair, Development Director, or someone the donation will benefit also works. Not just from “Any Old Organization”!
  3. Get the donor’s name right in the “To:” line. If that doesn’t happen, the donor will hit the Delete button–and nothing else you wrote will matter.
  4. Write a “Subject:” line that makes them have to read more. According to Hubspot, “33% of email recipients are choosing whether to open your email just based on the subject line alone.  Here are some examples of  great subject lines. Spend as much time as you need to write one that readers can’t resist.
  5. Use an image. People who don’t read your email will let their eyes rest on a photo or graphic–so make sure yours says, “Here’s what you’re giving for.”
  6. Tell a story. Don’t try to argue people into believing their donation is needed. Talk about a real person who needs help.
  7. Ask. You may think it’s obvious why you’re writing to the person receiving your email today, but they may not know, or pay attention. You have to say, “Please give today.”
  8. Ask again. Once toward the beginning of your email (because that may be as far as they read). Once at the end, and possibly once in the middle, too.
  9. Just ask. The appeal letter is not the time to be looking for volunteers, or requesting people to phone their legislators. It must have a single call to action, and that action is to donate.
  10. Make it easy to give. Link to the Donate page on your website, and make sure that once they arrive there, the donor will be sure it’s the same organization, asking for the same thing. Do include your mailing address for the people who still want to send you a check, but they will be the minority.

One bonus tip: Keep it short.

When you’re sending an appeal letter by mail, two sides of a page are enough to convey a powerful message to donors who already know, like, and trust you. For new prospects, four sides may work better. They convey credibility, as much as they share information.

With email, it doesn’t work that way. Shorter is better.

I have seen recommendations that say you should limit your email to three short paragraphs of two or three sentences each. I don’t agree with that (unless the email is a follow-up to postal mail, or one in a series of emails), but it gives you a sense of how much an average email recipient can be expected to read.

My recommendation? Write a first draft of your email, using the ten tips listed above. Let it sit. Then…

Go back and edit out anything that’s there just because your Executive Director likes it, or your Board likes it.

Cut anything that’s there because one program will get jealous if another one is mentioned and they are not.

Get rid of anything that matters to people inside the organization, but not to donors.

You should be communicating with donors all year round: informing them, thanking them, showing them the impact of their previous donation. In this, your fundraising email, you should be doing only one thing, and that’s asking donors to give. That’s how you keep it short!

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Fundraising Tuesday: Will Your Nonprofit be Golden in December?

October 5, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

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!

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TY Thursday: How to Thank Recurring Donors

April 22, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Recurring donors are the ones who’ve agreed to donate every quarter, or every month. They know, like, and trust your nonprofit organization enough to let you charge their credit card or deduct from their bank account without getting their authorization every time.

That’s a huge gift–on top of the actual gift amount.

When you have monthly donors, 90% of the time they keep on giving, even when their initial pledge runs out. They are your most loyal supporters. Compare that to the less than 30% of first-time donors who typically renew, and you’ll see just how valuable they are!

Recurring donors give automatically. When you thank them, though, it should be anything but automatic. Click To Tweet You need a deliberate and thoughtful approach to showing donor love to this special group.

A Thank-You Email to a Recurring Donor (Me)

For years, my wife and I have given to Boston Area Gleaners, which collects food that would otherwise go to waste and gets it to food pantries and other places for people in need. Last year, we decided to give $5 a month.

That’s not a huge amount, but it got a huge response. Take a look at the following email from the Gleaners.


Subject: Thank you for your monthly gifts

Thank recurring donorsDear Rona,

I hope that you and your loved ones are safe and well.

As a monthly donor for Boston Area Gleaners, we try not to bombard you with emails, but every few months we want to make sure that you hear from us to know how grateful we are for your ongoing donations and to hear a little about what your support allows us to do. While a lot of our focus over the past few months has been on raising the funds to secure a new home for the Gleaners, our daily operations also continue, and because of your support we are able to keep providing nutritious food to families in need.

As we just wrapped up our fiscal year, we have been reflecting on these past twelve months. The past year has been challenging for everyone, but particularly so for those who have been struggling to feed their families. With your help, we have been able to distribute over 8 million pounds of food to hunger relief agencies and other organizations on the front lines who are working in some of the hardest hit communities in the region. A significant amount of that distribution has happened in the last several months—our typical ‘offseason’—during which your support enabled us to set up new equipment, maintain operations, and continue packing food. According to recent data, food insecurity rates in Massachusetts are at an all time high. As the state starts to reopen, It is going to be critical that those who are experiencing food insecurity are not forgotten.

As the weather warms, we are looking forward to a busy gleaning season and to welcoming more volunteers into the fields again. The next few months are going to be busy for the Boston Area Gleaners team, but we hope to invite everyone to visit our new home soon.

Our monthly donors hold a special place in the heart of the organization, and we thank you for your unwavering faith in us. 

As always, please be well.

Usha Thakrar

Executive Director


What does this TY to recurring donors do right?

It says “Thank you” in the subject line.

It calls the donor by name.

It says because of you, and therefore, it makes the donor the hero of the story.

It sets expectations. As a monthly donor, I don’t need to get a TY just for the sake of the TY every month. But I do want to know that the organization is keeping me in mind, and that I will hear what my gift is accomplishing.

It uses photos effectively. Photos of people grab the eye and show the process of getting the food where it needs to go, at every step of the way. Photos of yummy-looking plants make the donors feel good about what they are giving: not just a check, a meal!

It reports back and looks forward.

What this TY to recurring donors could do better

The subject line needs to be more exciting if I’m going to open the email. (And all the good content in the email will be wasted if I don’t!)

The paragraphs need to be shorter if I’m going to read them. (Bold type helps break up the wall of text, but more paragraph breaks are needed!)

“We” needs to mean the organization and me–not just the organization. That’s putting me off, just when you mean to draw me in.

Ideally, the TY should include a call to action. NOT another request for money (the dreaded “thask”), but a chance to volunteer, or to pass word about the Gleaners to a friend…or just to like them on Facebook.

All in all, though, the Gleaners are doing a pretty good job of making sure that Rona and I will keep on giving monthly and stay in the magic circle of recurring donors.

How is your organization thanking the people who support you the most?

 

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