Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Navigation Bar

  • About
  • Services
  • What Clients Say
  • Contact

TY Thursday: Did the Donor Mean to Give to YOU?

February 4, 2021 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Does every donor who gives to your nonprofit really intend to give to you? Chances are, the answer is no!

I am not talking about the donor who meant to give to Connexion in Massachusetts and mistakenly sent a check to Connections in Texas. That kind of mistake is rare.

Nor am I talking about the person who hit Donate on your website when they didn’t mean to. On most websites, the donor has to take a few steps before giving–sometimes, too many!–and that provides them with the chance to reflect.

I’m talking about the donor who knows the gift is going to your organization but doesn’t so much care about your organization as about something that you do. And make no mistake: there are a lot of donors like that.

So, how do you thank them?

Why Donors Give When It’s Not Your Organization They Care About

They care about their friends

Have you ever seen one of your loyal supporters start a Facebook fundraiser for you? Maybe for their birthday, or some other special occasion, Kelly Padilla asks her friends to help her reach a goal of $500…to benefit you.

Let’s say Kelly reaches her goal. Great! You have a little money you didn’t have before. But what you don’t have is a whole new set of donors: because they didn’t give to support you, they gave to support Kelly.

That’s true whether Kelly raises funds for you online, runs a charity race, buys a table at your gala, or even holds a house party. It’s true whether the gift is for her birthday, in honor of her retirement, or in memory of her mother who passed away recently.

The people who donate to these kinds of fundraising campaigns give because of their relationship with her, not their relationship with you.

They care about a program and the people it serves

There are lots of occasions when a donor gives because they like a particular program of yours but wouldn’t have been moved to give to the others.

This happens often in crises. After the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, for instance, I gave to an international NGO for Haiti relief. When they stopped letting me designate my gift for Haiti, I stopped giving to them. The others may have been worthy, but they were not what I meant to support.

Even on an everyday basis, donors may like one part of what you do more than others. I know it hurts to realize that. You have no black sheep in your nonprofit family. They’re all your babies! But a donor has a different relationship to them.

  • When I worked at an anti-poverty program, some donors cared about preventing evictions and homelessness. Others loved seeing pre-school children in Head Start.
  • An agency that supports survivors of domestic violence may have to talk about women survivors in most of its appeals, because its longtime donors identify with women. They may have to send segmented appeals to get support for male and non-binary survivors.
  • My dad spent the last 48 hours of his life in hospice care, and I used to give to the hospice agency. When it was swallowed up a county-wide hospital network, and that network assumed I would just switch my giving to them, I directed my donations somewhere else. I have heard stories like this from other donors!
  • If your agency does policy advocacy, a small number of donors will care about that intensely, and a larger number will want their money to go toward helping individuals and families.
“When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”
― Dom Helder Camara

Your donors may not call you saints or communists, but they know whether they want to give food to the poor or challenge the system that creates poverty. It’s one of those goals that they care about: not your whole organization.

They care about a program you sponsor

Recently, I receive a wonderful thank-you in the mail. It included a personal note from the Development Director; her business card; and a brochure, a newsletter, and an annual report, all beautifully illustrated with photos in color.

The puzzling thing? I didn’t remember giving to the organization!

It turned out that I had given to a couple of smaller groups of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women who relied on this umbrella organization for fiscal sponsorship. The name of the larger organization showed up on my credit card statement. It did not stick in my memory.

Because it was the women I cared about–not their fiscal sponsor.

How Do You Thank Donors Like These?

It’s a really good idea to thank every donor, even if in some cases you are unlikely to hear from them again. We know statistically, for instance, that people who give in memory of a friend’s mother who died this year are unlikely to give again next year. And few of the people who gave to support Kelly’s birthday fundraiser will become repeat donors, when you ask.

So, what can you do to give your nonprofit the best chance of building relationships with donors who might not care about your whole organization?

  1. Thank the fundraisers. Make sure that Kelly feels like a hero.
  2. Save the date. Can you remind yourself to ask Kelly to do the same next year? Or to ask people who gave in memory of her mom to give in her memory on the anniversary of her death the following year?
  3. Ask what interests the donor. When you call and thank them, ask what moved them to give. Or create a follow-up email and ask that question. It may be an issue at large or a specific program at your agency. You need to know.
  4. Record the information in a searchable database. If you can’t query your CRM and find out all the people who gave because of a particular issue, get a new database!
  5. Make sure the donor feels seen. Send them articles, stories, photos, quotes, appeal letters, and thank-you letters that let them know that you know why they give.

Because if they don’t mean to give to your organization yet, treat them right, and maybe you will earn their loyalty.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Pocket
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Print

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

October 22, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

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. Click To Tweet

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.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Pocket
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Print

TY Thursday: Thank Donors by Keeping Them Informed

July 30, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Why do donors give? Because they want to know they made a difference.

Sending the ideal thank-you letter is a good start. You can ward off donor’s remorse and make the person who pulled out their credit card or checkbook feel immediately, “That was a good decision. I did the right thing.”

But if that’s all you do to say thanks, chances are very high that the next time you ask, they won’t give again. They may not even remember they gave the first time!

So, one of the best ways your nonprofit can say “Thank you” to donors is to give them what they want. Show them the difference they made: the impact of their donations.

How do you do that? Who’s doing a good job of it now that you can emulate?

Example: The Welcome Project

The Welcome Project logo

Back in May, I asked my friends on Facebook:

Question for my friends who donate to their favorite charities: which organizations are doing an especially good job right now of letting you know what your donations are doing for people in need?

More than one person mentioned a local organization that I’ve supported for years, The Welcome Project. The Welcome Project builds the collective power of immigrants to participate in and shape community decisions.

Since the November 2016 election, TWP has pushed the city government and schools of Somerville, Massachusetts to serve the needs of all its residents–no matter what is happening in Washington. Since the start of the pandemic, it has created a fund to help immigrants who aren’t eligible for other kinds of relief.

What is TWP doing to tell its story…and to let donors know they are making a difference?

  1. On its website, TWP has helped immigrants to find the help they need during the pandemic, from food to small business loans. It provided the information in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Kreyol.
  2. By email, the Executive Director issued a strong and personal statement about the death of George Floyd. He also spotlighted the need to enforce the mask wearing ordinance without giving police an excuse to target people of color.
  3. By social media, TWP invited its friends and supporters to:
    • Advocate for efforts to clean up air pollution that’s affecting communities of color more than anyone else.
    • Stand up and be counted in the U.S. Census.
    • Assist TWP in analyzing the Mass. police reform bill being considered in the state legislature.
    • Lobby for a state law making drivers’ licenses easier to obtain. (One of Somerville’s state reps is the sponsor of the bill.)

TWP also presented useful information about events affecting immigrants at the local and the national level, from Covid testing to DACA.

As a donor myself, when I see and hear all this news from the Welcome Project, I feel:

  • Gratified that the organization I supported is so active.
  • Included in its efforts, almost as if I were there.
  • Informed about issues I care about.
  • Empowered to take action, from attending demonstrations to lobbying the legislature.
  • Identified with TWP. They make me feel, “This is my organization–I am a part of it.”

And although I have already donated to the organization and to the immigrant assistance fund, the next time they ask, I will be more likely to make an additional gift. Because I know it makes a difference when I do.

Does your nonprofit say thank you by keeping donors informed and involved? Look at this example to learn how. Click To Tweet

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • Pocket
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Print
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • …
  • 6
  • Next Page »

Yes, I’d like weekly email from Communicate!

Get more advice

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Copyright © 2021 · The 411 Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.