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Fundraising Tuesday: Using Your Database to Get the Name Right

November 17, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

My wife’s name is Rona. My name is Dennis.

There is no one at our household whose name is “Mr. Rona Dennis.”

Yet that is the person the United Way is asking for money.

Why it’s crucial to get the name right

no recyclingAs a nonprofit fundraiser, when I see a mistake like the one the United Way made, I shudder. Why? Because I know that the average donor will see that envelope and throw it away.

If you mail an envelope to the wrong name, it's like mailing it to the wrong address. It will never be seen. Share on X

People’s names matter to them. It’s vital to get the name right. If you mess up on the name, you are saying to the donor, “I have no idea who you are, and I don’t care. You don’t matter to me: only your check.”

In fact, your nonprofit needs to know not only the donor’s name, but what they like to be called. Am I Mr. Dennis Fischman? Dennis Fischman? Dennis? Or something else?

Even a dear friend letter will get tossed, unread. But that’s presuming the donor has actually opened the envelope to see the salutation. If the name on the envelope is wrong, whoosh! Into the recycling bin it goes, no matter if you wrote the ideal appeal letter and tucked it inside.

How to make sure you get the name right

The best way to know what the person likes to be called is to ask. Then, you have to make sure to enter the correct information into the database. But you have to enter it into the correct fields, too.

Look again at what the United Way did. I’d bet they meant to place “Rona” in a Donor 1 field and “Dennis” in a Donor 2. Or else, they meant to put “Rona and Dennis” in the First Name field and “Fischman” in the last name. (It depends how their database is set up.)

Instead, though, someone put “Rona” in the First Name, then skipped to the next field, Last Name, and put “Dennis.” They didn’t double-check, and they didn’t ask themselves where “Fischman” was supposed to go. Enter the street address, city, state, and zip. On to the next set of data to enter!

You can do better than that.

Just take an extra moment before you save the entry to double-check it.

Otherwise, the recycle bin is waiting!

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Fundraising Tuesday: Do You Know Your Donor’s Business?

July 23, 2019 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

frustrated donorYour donors expect you to know a lot of things about them, including what they like to be called and whether or not they are a loyal, consistent giver.

Here’s one other thing you should know: when they make a donation to your nonprofit, why? What business are they in when they are giving?

Let me explain what that means with a story I know personally.

An Offer She Could Easily Refuse

My wife, Rona Fischman, owns a company and leads a team of exclusive buyers’ agents. They don’t list any property, and they don’t have any allegiance to the seller. When you buy with them, you know they are on your side, from first meeting through closing.

A big company wanted to buy out Rona’s company. They didn’t succeed, because they didn’t understand the business she was in.

First, they tried to hire her top agent out from under her. Rona had trained him and supported him through his lean years. Last year was his best year ever. He liked the relationship he had with his clients. He had no reason to join them, and instead, he  reported the offer to her.

Then, they tried to get Rona to bring her company under their wing. They showed her how successful their agents were at listing properties: precisely what Rona’s office doesn’t do!

Finally, they tried to convince her that her business model was dying. But they showed her data from other markets in other parts of the country–and they had nothing to refute her own track record. Rona was not enticed.

Knowing Your Donor’s Business

We may congratulate ourselves that we would never treat a donor the way Rona was treated. But do we really know the donor’s “business”?

What made that person give to us the first time?

If they have already made a second gift, what convinced them to renew?

Which of our causes, programs, services, or events is what really matters to that donor?

Are we the #1 organization on the donor’s list, or #21?

How does giving to our organization make the donor feel about themselves?

Your Offer to Your Donor

The vast majority of first-time donors in the U.S. never give to that same nonprofit organization again. Why? Because we don’t know our donors, we make them the wrong offer.

We call them by the wrong name.

We ask them to support the program we’re interested in–not the one that they’re interested in.

And we don’t take the time to find out what they really care about.

Nick Ellinger recently wrote on The Agitator:

What happens after the typical online donation? We thank the person. Yay! And we select as the next activity: share about your donation on social media. Boooooo…

What should you do first: ask someone to share their experience or find out if they had a good experience? Or, put another way, if someone nearly threw their computer out the window because of something on your donation form, do you want them to share this experience with their friends?…

To grow and upgrade and get that mid/major/monthly/legacy donor you seek, you must upgrade your knowledge of the donor.  You must learn why they give and give more of that to them.  You must fit yourself into the place they have for you in their heart.  What order does that happen in?

Learn first, then act.

 

 

 

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TY Thursday: Show Donors What You Share

May 11, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

share interestsWhen you think about creative ways of thanking your donors, take a lesson from my wife. Rona runs a real estate company, not a nonprofit–but she understands how to make friends for her organization. She stresses what they share in common.

A lot of Rona’s home buyers care about housing for all. That means Rona supports groups like the Somerville Homeless Coalition. She truly cares, but her gift lets her clients know she cares, as they do.

A large number of Rona’s clients are cyclists. That means Rona posts news about bike trails and biking to work on her company’s Facebook page. It’s not strictly about real estate? That doesn’t matter. It shows clients that she understands them and appreciates the things they appreciate.

Your nonprofit can do this too. And you should.

What Your Donors Love, Besides You

There’s a saying, “People give to people.” That can mean they give to help people (not organizations). True. It can mean they give because a person they know asks them to give. Also true.

But the most important thing it means is that your donors have to know, like, and trust you if they are ever going to become to your loyal supporters.

They have to think, “That organization includes a lot of people like me.”

So, your job is to find out what counts as “people like me”–and show that they are right. Your organization does include people who care about more than just one thing. You and the donors share a lot in common.

Get to Know and Love Your Donors

How do you actually find out what your donors care about? A few good ways:

  1. Asking them. You can do this whenever you have a conversation with a donor and make a note of it in your files. Or, you can make a more organized effort, using surveys and focus groups. Do it gradually if you have to, but keep on asking.
  2. Social listening. Set up Google alerts for the internet, and set up lists and use tools on social media, to find out what your donors talk about a lot, and what they love and hate.
  3. Analytics. You can use the built-in tools on Facebook or Twitter to learn a lot about your audience in general, and that will give you some clues about your prospects and current donors, too.

You Know What Your Donors Share,  so Show You Care

With the results of your conversations, surveys, focus groups, searches, social listening, and analytics in hand, you probably know a lot about your donors! And now you can do what Rona does.

Example: Are you a healthcare organization with a lot of supporters who care about the environment?

  • Put an ad in the program of the local environmental group’s event.
  • Find ways of working together to make the community a healthier place to live.
  • Let your donors know you did, because it matters to you too.

And in your newsletter, email, blog, and/or social media, you can not only publicize your donations to and collaborations with environmental groups. You can regularly include articles about environment and health.

Showing your donors what you share in common is another way of thanking them for their gift…and making it more likely that they will give again.

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