Fundraising Tuesday Archives

Fundraising Tuesday: 3 Ways to Ask for Monthly Donations

October 12, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

There’s every reason your nonprofit should ask donors to make monthly donations. Monthly donors:

Give more. As Sarah Fergusson points out, “Many moderate donors make great candidates for your monthly giving program. For instance, a donor who gives $100 per year may not have the capacity to become a major donor who gives upwards of $1,000 annually. However, they might be able to give $10 a month, increasing your nonprofit’s yearly earnings by $20.” Multiply that by a lot of $100 donors and it adds up!

Keep on giving. Monthly donors rarely become lapsed donors. They renew from year to year. According to Network for Good, Monthly giving programs typically enjoy retention rates over 80% after one year and 95% after five years.

Make additional gifts. People who give monthly donations are among your most loyal supporters. So, as Amy Eisenstein says, “Donors give at modest levels for recurring gifts and at much higher levels for special, occasional projects.”

Contribute a huge amount over a lifetime. Consider this information from monthly giving expert Erica Waasdorp:

Right now, the average recurring donor gives between $24 and $36 a month—that’s $288 to $432 per year! Just think, if they keep giving monthly for 5 years, that’s $1,440 to $2,160. Starting to get really interesting, right?

And that’s not even considering that people who give monthly donations are the most likely group to leave you something in their will!

How Do You Ask for Monthly Donations?

Let’s say you’re convinced that asking donors to give every month is a good thing for your nonprofit–but, you’ve never done it before. How do you begin?

A quick look at my mailbox give us three different ways to ask.

In the postscript

My wife and I support RESPOND, an organization based in Somerville, MA working to end domestic violence. At the end of a fundraising appeal, Jessica Brayden, the CEO of RESPOND, asked us:

P.S. Have you thought about becoming a monthly donor? The sustaining support we received from our monthly donors throughout the Covid-1i pandemic has given us the flexibility to meet the changing and growing needs of survivors. Visit respondinc.org/donate to get started!

What’s great about using this method is that people read postscripts. The P.S. is often the first thing donors look at in your appeal letter–after their own name! So, if you use the P.S. to make it quick and easy to sign up for monthly donations, chances are you will get them.

On a buckslip

You’ve seen those little extra enclosures that some nonprofits tuck into their fundraising appeals, right? The technical term for that piece of paper is a buckslip. It’s called that because historically, it was the size of a dollar bill. No matter what size it is, it can make you big bucks–if you use it to ask for monthly donations.

That’s what Greater Boston PFLAG did. The buckslip they enclosed with their fundraising appeal is 8″ x 5″, it’s entitled OTHER WAYS TO GIVE, and it includes too many things to my mind: Employer Matching Gifts, Bequests, IRA Charitable Rollover, to name a few. But crucially, it tells me:

Monthly Giving

Your monthly gift to Greater Boston PFLAG provides reliable support for our year-round work to create a safe, inclusive, welcoming society for LGBTQ+ people. Check the relevant box on reverse side to give monthly. You can cancel at any time.

In a separate appeal

Does your nonprofit have long-time, loyal supporters? The kind you know will give every year, or twice a year, without fail? These are people who care about your mission. They may be actually looking for more ways to support what you do!

A special appeal letter may be just the right approach to ask these dedicated supporters to start giving monthly donations.

Planned Parenthood took just that approach to ask my wife and me to become monthly donors. Look at what they did:

Used an unusual size envelope (so it wouldn’t look like regular mail)
Printed this message on the front of the envelope: “Your Exclusive Invitation Enclosed”
Explained the program in a letter that called us “supporters who have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment.” (Gee, they noticed!)
Included a separate note from the President and CEO
Branded every piece of paper with the words “Monthly Giving Program”–even the reply envelope!

If a donor is giving for the first time, or the second, it’s possible you might want to take a softer approach. The postscript or the buckslip might introduce them to the idea (and some people will accept that introduction right away).

However, if you know that Rona and Dennis Fischman (or a donor on your list) stands with you, has your back, and is in it for the long haul, you should ask them directly to start giving monthly donations. By asking, you are recognizing–and deepening–the special relationship they already have with your nonprofit.

Fundraising Tuesday: Celebrate and Raise Money

July 6, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

International Women’s Day is March 8th, every year. The month of Ramadan began April 12, 2021. Also in 2021, Passover began on the evening of March 27. (It lasts eight days.)

What do these holidays have in common? Someone found a way to raise funds by celebrating these holidays with the people who observe them.

Three Ways to Celebrate Holidays with Donors

Mary’s Pence invests in women across the Americas. On International Women’s Day, my wife, Rona, got an appeal letter from Mary’s Pence. They knew she is a feminist and she is engaged in interfaith work. It was a reasonably good guess that she might be approachable on International Women’s Day.

Timing is not everything. The letter made much too much of the organization and its programs, too little of the women it helps (and their stories), and almost nothing of the donor herself. It’s all “I” and “we” and hardly any “you.” But by inviting her to celebrate, at least they got her to read the letter!

UNRWA USA sent Rona a card wishing her Ramadan Kareem: literally, a month of Ramadan that treats her generously. They tied that feeling of generosity and abundance to this appeal:

For just $50, you can fill a pantry for a refugee family living under the poverty line in Gaza with a month’s supply of food assistance.

If Rona were Muslim, the chance to give a month’s supply of food during the month of Ramadan might have been an irresistible offer. UNRWA also tied it in to the religious duty of Zakat, or almsgiving. As a Daughter of Abraham, she was impressed, too.

HIAS works around the world to protect refugees who have been forced to flee their homelands because of who they are, including ethnic, religious, and sexual minorities. Its origins are Jewish: it was originally called the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

This Passover, HIAS sent Rona and me a holiday reading playing on the biblical phrase “Open for me the gates of righteousness.” We could incorporate it into our seder, or we could download the HIAS Haggadah and celebrate our holiday using that as our main text.

HIAS’ mailing was a “soft ask.” It gave us the opportunity to give without pushing for it at the moment. It was part of a longer-term strategy of relationship-building, where they gave us something meaningful so that we would feel more connected with the organization…and more ready to donate when they did ask.

How Do You Know When to Celebrate?

To make your messages hit home with donors, you need to know who they are, and which holidays especially matter to them. By recording this information in your CRM, you can segment your list and send the holiday greetings that they will welcome.

Some cultures celebrate their holidays on their own calendars, so for people who use the Gregorian calendar (January-December), the dates will appear to change. Not for the people in those cultures, though! Eid al-Fitr is always at the end of Ramadan, and Rosh Hashanah is always the first day of the month of Tishrei. Losar is always the first day of the new year on the Tibetan calendar.

Many secular calendars are starting to include these dates, but it would be a good idea for you to look up days that your constituents celebrate and put them in your schedule, too. Here’s a head start for you on the Jewish holiday calendar for 5782 (2021-22).

Fundraising Tuesday: How Silent Auctions Get The Word Out for Your Nonprofit

June 22, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Jeff Porter of Handbid

Nonprofit trends have changed dramatically in recent years. A few event types consistently prove to be successful for earning donations and long-term support. Silent auctions are particularly effective for getting the word out about your cause to your audience. This includes your current supporters, new donors, and potential business partners.

Silent auctions have several moving parts, making them more complicated than other fundraisers. With the right auction software, auctions can reach supporters in ways other fundraisers often struggle to do. After all, few other fundraisers offer donors something in exchange for their contributions.

To show how effective auctions are, this article will cover three ways they can help your nonprofit:

Engage donors in a memorable event.
Attract new audiences.
Create connections with local businesses.

Engage donors in a memorable event.

Browsing auction items, bidding, and winning a prize is outright fun for your donors. At the end of the night, many of your guests will go home with a physical reminder of your event. Supporters who talk about their prizes with their friends and family will likely mention where they won them.

Handbid’s silent auction guide recommends procuring prizes that are experiences. This could include classes, vacations, or small day-out prizes like a massage or spa trip. While these prizes aren’t physical reminders, supporters will need to redeem them later. This means the auction they won them from will stay on their minds.

The only catch for creating a memorable experience is intertwining your nonprofit with your auction event. Some supporters may share with friends and family that they had a good time. Unfortunately, they might not remember what cause their bids supported. You can get ahead of this problem by educating supporters on your mission through your outreach and the event itself. This applies to announcements, printed handouts, and thank you emails.

Attract new audiences.

Silent auctions give supporters a new reason to donate. Unique auction items might attract supporters who hadn’t considered giving to your cause. Silent auctions are also super flexible in how they can be run. Their format allows for in-person, online, and hybrid events, which all can attract new supporters:

In-person auctions appeal to local community members who live close enough to attend. At in-person auctions, you can solidify your connections with long-term local supporters. Don’t forget to also welcome new supporters who have recently moved to your community.

Online auctions allow your nonprofit to connect with supporters all across the country. Virtual events have risen in popularity because of their global reach and lack of venue and catering costs. Online auctions can last for several days, so more supporters can discover your auction and cast a bid.

Hybrid auctions engage your local supporters, your remote supporters, and anyone who prefers to attend from home. These events allow supporters to decide how they engage, letting them choose how and when they interact with your nonprofit.

Auctions can help your nonprofit excite both new and current donors by marketing high-value and unique items. The chance of winning something can be as much of a reason to attend as the opportunity to support your cause.

Create connections with local businesses.

Your nonprofit will need to get auction items from somewhere. This makes auctions a great opportunity to reach out to local businesses. Bear in mind that not every connection will lead to a corporate sponsorship. 360MatchPro’s guide to corporate philanthropy points out that many businesses support charitable causes to improve their image and attract new customers. In other words, they have good reason to support your nonprofit—you’ll just need to do a little work to point it out to them.

Contacting businesses is a multi-step process. Not to mention, acquiring a full item catalogue can take months. Here is a breakdown of how your procurement team can start reaching out to businesses:

Create a list of potential business sponsors. Your team will need to research local businesses that cater to your audience. Then, create a list of potential partners. Likely candidates are businesses that have supported similar events, are doing well financially, or offer a product or service related to your nonprofit or event. Ideal partners will fit all three of these criteria.

Reach out to middle and low-priority businesses. With practice, your team will get better at appealing to businesses. Start with lower priority business partners. Your team can refine their approach without the stress of talking to one of your dream partners.

Follow up and thank businesses. After your event, follow up with a sincere thank you. Mailing thank you cards shows your nonprofit’s dedication to your professional relationships. Calling them on the phone after your event to thank them can open the door for future collaborations.

Remember that some businesses will prefer to support your event in different ways. Some might donate items or offer them at reduced prices, while others prefer to make a cash donation. No matter how they give, be sure to tell them thank you.

Jeff Porter, Founder & CEO of Handbid, has spent 18 years in the non-profit industry. In 2004 he founded the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of Colorado where he still resides as board chair.

Jeff learned early on that non-profits desperately needed better and more affordable fundraising solutions. Leveraging his software background, he built most of the tools his charities used, and in 2011 he launched Handbid at his own fundraising event. The goal was to improve the guest experience, reduce administration and increase revenue. Handbid accomplished all of those goals, effectively doubling revenue in its debut. Nine years later, Handbid’s suite of tools has delighted over a half-million guests, generated millions of bids, and helped thousands of charities raise well over $100 million.

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Fundraising Tuesday: 3 Ways to Ask for Monthly Donations