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Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

What’s More Exciting: a Blizzard, or Your Nonprofit?

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Blizzard? Hah! I live in New England, where people line up for ice cream in the middle of a snow storm.

For the past several years, however, people have been snow-shy. Every time the white stuff was in the forecast, people remembered a month of being snowed in. (After a year of being locked down, quarantined, and going out only wearing a mask, that may not seem like much, but in 2015 we had no idea!)

The Blizzard of 2015 had great publicity, and it was all free. Can your nonprofit do as well by its own events? Click To Tweet

A Storm of Free Media

A blizzard has no bank account. It has no marketing budget. Without paying a cent, however, the storm that hit New England in January 2015 had its own hashtag…and hundreds of unpaid photographers.

I went on Facebook one Tuesday morning last January and found this:

Car covered with snow

And this:

Clearing snowy street

And even this:

Dog looking at snow

The Secret of the Storm’s Success

It snows every year. Why do people rush out each time it snows and snap photos?

It’s great if the photo is unique or memorable, but that’s not the reason people post their photos. Most blizzard photos look the same from person to person, from year to year. So, why are we all giving the blizzard free publicity?

I think it’s because a storm is a shared event. By taking pictures and posting them, people say, “I was here. I was a part of this.”

Of course, in 2015, we had blizzards every two weeks for a month and a half. By the end, there was nowhere to pile the snow, and people were too tired to take many photos. But at first, the excitement was real.

Can You Do As Well as a Blizzard?

At your nonprofit, are you making people feel that your events are shared events? When they attend your events (in person or online), do they want to claim them and show they were there?

You invite them to show up at the time of the event. Are you inviting them to show up later, with their photos?

Take my advice and plan ahead for how to get free media for your next event. For now, though, I’m signing off. After a relatively dry winter, we had a storm in Eastern Massachusetts. I have snow to shovel.

Fundraising Tuesday: Do You Want Runners, or Donors?

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runnners

They’re runners, but are they donors too?

What a beautiful day for a road race! The temperature is comforting. The skies are blue with watercolor clouds daubed here and there. The runners are wearing their shorts and t-shirts, jogging in place, ready to begin.

Lots of nonprofits hold road races as fundraising events, and some races make money for the organization.

But are the people who participate donors? Or are they just runners?

It makes a difference in how you communicate with them between events.

The Difference is Commitment

For a certain number of runners, your 5k is just a chance to do what they want to anyway: run. They can feel good about themselves because they’re helping a cause, any cause. But it may be kids with multiple sclerosis one week and homeless families the next.

We’re not picking on runners here. Foodies like to go to Taste of events. Socialites like to go to galas to see and be seen. That’s why those kinds of fundraising events are popular in the first place.

It does mean, though, that you can’t gauge the depth of a person’s commitment to your cause, or your organization, by their participation in the event. They may not even know what you do. They may just be taking part to oblige a friend!

Focus on Your Loyal Supporters

Of course, you want to thank every participant. Realistically, however, you have only so much time to spend, and you want to spend it well. That means putting it where it will be most valuable: with the most loyal supporters of your organization.

  • Which of your runners also spends a ton of time recruiting other people to participate and/or donate to your organization? Give that person a variety of thanks throughout the year.
  • Which runners dip into their own funds to give to you, not just for the race but for your end-of-year appeal? Make sure they know that you know how generous they are. Personalize the ask and the thank-you.
  • Be on the lookout for the moment when a runner becomes a donor through some other channel. That’s a sign of deepening commitment. Give them a call and find out what’s touching their heart.

Fundraising Tuesday: Make Your Spring Event a Year-Round Success

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cleaning up afterEvery day this week, I’m invited to a gala, an annual meeting, or some other nonprofit event. Is one of them yours?

Congratulations on getting it scheduled. That’s a lot of work in itself.

Even more congratulations if it’s over!

But is it really worth all that time and work to produce an event for just one day?

What if you could make your Spring event produce results for your nonprofit all year long?

Here are some tips on what to do next.

  1. Post about it on social media..If you didn’t take photos or videos this time, ask your supporters who did, and share theirs!
  2. Thank your donors. Everyone who came? Maybe. But everyone who gave more than the price of admission? Defiinitely.
  3. Keep on thanking them. Here are 20 ways you can show gratitude all year.
  4. Get to know your donors.
  5. Communicate with each segment of donors as they’d like to be communicated with: on the platform they prefer, on the topic that matters to them.

If that sounds like a lot of effort, here’s a tip on how to make it easier.

Don’t schedule any extra events this year!  In fact, consider cutting one that under-performs.

Don’t just take it from me. Listen to Joan Garry:

“Special events are great, but they should only make up a relatively small percentage of your overall income.”

Were you planning on adding an event this year? Don’t! Put the time into thanking, informing, and serving your donors instead. It will be fun and profitable.

Thanks for inviting me to that party. Now, send me a great newsletter. (And if you need help producing it, Communicate! Consulting can help.)

Best wishes,

Dennis

Yes, I’d like weekly email from Communicate!

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