Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Fundraising Tuesday: Send the Right Message

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Learn to adapt

Adapt your message to fit the way you’re sending it

You know that the only way to convince donors to give is…by asking them. You also know that if all you do is ask, they will get tired of hearing from you, quick.

People who give to your nonprofit organization want to know their donation is making a difference.

They may also want to hear more about the cause they care about, so they feel smarter and more well informed after receiving your message.

And occasionally, they may be happy if you just make them smile!

You can keep your donors happy with great storytelling and useful information through a variety of channels, from print to email to social media. You can even share the same content through those different channels. But you will not win any friends by automatically pushing the same message out through print or email as you do through Facebook or Instagram.

Adapt the content to the medium you're using if you want your donors to get the message. Share on X

Your message in print

Fewer organizations are sending paper newsletters these days because of the cost of printing and mailing. If you are sending a print newsletter, that means you have less competition–but you have to make your donor want to read it. So:

  • Write great headlines. If the headline is boring, your article will never be read.
  • Include captivating photos. One person is better than a crowd, and a person in action is best. Make sure the caption reinforces the message.
  • Use visual design to break up the page. Subtitles, bold and italic print, bullet points and plenty of white space will make your newsletter more inviting to the reader’s eye (and avoid the dreaded “wall of text”)

You can send a longer article in print than you can on electronic media as long as you follow these three tips. A longer article full of  thoughtful content can seem more authoritative and more valuable than lots of short bites. Not everybody will read it, but those who do will come away feeling, “That was a good way to spend my time. I learned something.”

Your message by email

I see a lot of email newsletters these days–but few that are really done well. Email is different from print, and it’s vital to adapt your content to match.

Don’t:

  • Email your print newsletter as a PDF. Many people cannot or will not open the attachment–and it sends the message that you’re stuck in 2006.
  • Use the subject line “The Something Agency Newsletter.” The readers who don’t delete that message will file it away for later…and never get around to it.
  • Cram it full of unrelated articles. Better to send more email, more often!

Do:

  • Send the email in the name of a real person. For example, my email comes from Dennis Fischman, not just Communicate! Consulting.
  • Write the subject line last. Once you know what the email is about, write an arresting title. Not “Our agency’s work in the public schools,” but “No sixth-grader should have a sexually transmitted disease”–readers will open that email!
  • Make it mobile-friendly. More than half the email messages sent today are opened on a tablet or mobile phone. Make sure to reach over half your audience!

Your message by social media

social media in palm of hand

Social media: handle with care!

Social media are different from print or email because, well, they’re social.

Before you think about sending a message through social media, try listening to your donors for a while. Find out what they’re interested in. Engage in conversations they’ve started. Try to act like a friend, not an advertising agency.

When you do have something to say on social media, though, remember that not all social media are created equal.

Facebook aims to be the Swiss army knife of social media. It’s possible to share short messages, longer posts, photos, links, and video all on the same platform.

It’s much harder, though, to make sure your followers see anything you put up. Fewer than 6% see any particular post, on average. So, you must aim to win the loyalty of your Facebook followers. If you can persuade them to sign up to be notified when you post, you’ve struck it rich.

Twitter is perfect for fast-breaking information. If you can get your followers to live-tweet your events, you will reach many more people than attend in person!

Twitter reaches an audience that’s hungry for information, so it’s an especially good medium for sharing links to your blog posts or newsletter articles. Because it moves so fast, the trick is to tweet the same material multiple times during a day or week. Use the same link but vary the text you use to attract readers to click the link. Also, use one to three hashtags with your tweet to let people who are interested search for that topic and find you.

Pinterest and Instagram are built around photos. With a camera in everyone’s pocket, it’s easy to snap photos, edit them, and place them in online albums you can share with supporters. Hashtags are even more important here, and you can use a greater number than on Twitter.

YouTube is still the premier place to share videos. Your agency can use video to capture interviews with people you help…or to say thank you to your donors.

There are plenty of other social media, and it’s important not to let that fact overwhelm you. I recommend starting small, and learning to use one medium very well.

Your message? It really belongs to the donors

No matter which channels you use, remember that your message must serve your donors–and not just your agency–if you want them to read, view, or listen to what you send. So, tailor your message to their interests even more than you adapt it to the communications channel you’re using. Your donors will thank you.

Thank-You Thursday: Get on Their Screen with Video

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If you work at a nonprofit organization, you’re probably pretty charitable yourself. Are you getting a lot of thank-you letters in the mail? Great. But have you ever received a thank-you video on your phone or computer?

You would remember if you had.

The Personal Impact of a Thank-You Video

There’s something about the face and voice of a real person saying “thanks.” Yes, I love getting thank-you letters in the mail.Video can’t substitute for an envelope with a stamp on it that you can hold in your had. But it can add.

A video can show you where your donation made a difference. That’s the approach The Nature Conservancy takes.

It can present the faces of the people who are doing the work, as charity:water did with their staff.

Or it can show you the faces of the people whose lives are better because you helped. The Children’s Hospital Foundation took that approach. They even titled their video “Thank you for supporting kids like me.”

Making Your Thank-You Video

These examples come from larger organizations, but the thank-you video is a great tool for the small nonprofit too. If you have a smart phone, you have a video camera in your pocket.

Production values are not what matter in a thank-you video. Here’s what does (according to Raymund Flandez, writing in the Chronicle of Philanthropy):

  1. Be brief. Don’t send out a fifteen-minute description of everything you do. One minute of gratitude says it much better.
  2. Say thanks–and say why. Let the donor know the impact his or her gift has made.
  3. Speak personally. Make sure the donor can tell who it is that’s saying thank-you and why they care.

Sharing Your Thank-You Video

Once you’ve made your thank-you video, you have multiple ways to share it.

You can email it to the donor–but sending it as an attachment may make recipients worry about being spammed. Your video is more likely to be seen if you’re using an email service like MailChimp that allows you to embed the video in your message.

You can distribute the thank-you video through your Facebook page or other social media. You can post it permanently on your website or YouTube page, so you have the link to share in the future.

And you can personalize it. With a very little bit of editing skill, you can add the individual donor’s name to the basic video and thank him or her directly. Try personalizing some of your thank-you videos and see how that affects your donor renewal!

 

 

You should plan to thank your donors throughout the year. But how? Every Thursday, I’ll share a different idea. (The first one was Give Your Donor a Voice.)

 

Thank You Thursday: Give the Donor a Voice

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You should plan to thank your donors throughout the year. But how? Every Thursday, I’ll share a different idea. Here’s the first installment of Thank You Thursday.

One great way to say “thank you” to your donors is to let them do the talking.

donor speaksIf you’re a Downton Abbey fan like me, you’ll recognize this face. For ten seconds before each episode, philanthropist Darlene Shiley comes on screen and tells us why she donates to keep the program on the air.

This is a fabulous thank-you idea that your nonprofit should steal, and I’ll tell you why:

  1. What’s a greater compliment to your donor than making him or her the voice of your organization?
  2. What’s more convincing to other donors than hearing heartfelt support from someone who already gives?
  3. No one reads the list of donors scrolling by except for fundraising professionals (and donors looking for their own name). But everyone watches a video.

Why Video is Right for Your Nonprofit

PBS provides a great example of using what you have to say thank you. They have Downton Abbey, a studio, cameras, lighting.

Your nonprofit might not have a TV show (unless you’re taking advantage of community access television), but you do have lots of media. Your website, your email, your social media…all of them offer you chances to give your donor a voice.

And sure, if you have someone on staff or on your Board who’s great with a video camera, call them in. But it doesn’t take a professional. If you can hold your smart phone steady, you can take a video. And there are tons of software programs that let you edit your video. A few rough edges may even make it look more authentic.

Thank You, Donor, You’re a Star!

Which donor should you ask to speak for your nonprofit? It doesn’t have to be the richest donor, or the one who gave the most. Jeff Brooks  lists Things no donor said, ever and includes this:

Would you please tell me more about your wonderful wealthy donors who give far more than I ever could?

That’s why you’re not telling us about all your donors. You’re choosing donors who will love the chance to tell us about your cause.

Darlene Shiley gives a lot–but she also speaks with genuine warmth. That’s why not only PBS but San Diego State University, California State University, and other organizations have given her a voice on video (out of all the philanthropists they could have chosen).

Find your Darlene. It may be someone who gives a tiny amount but gives every year. The amount doesn’t matter. What matters is that the person on screen wants to speak up for you–considers it a privilege to be asked. Find that person and put him or her on screen.

Why Stop at One?

You may be blessed with more than one person who can speak for you on video, especially if you let them tell their story. Don’t fret about which one to choose. You can say thank-you to all of them by giving them a voice on your different channels.

Asian Women for Health lets donors and activists tell their story on the News page of their website and on YouTube.

JOIN for Justice runs “Our Stories,” a series of videos, on its homepage and all over its website, and on Youtube, and periodically on its Facebook page.

In my community, the Somerville Homeless Coalition shared its new video, It Takes a Somervillage, by email. The video includes donors as well as public officials and partner organizations. All of them took it as a compliment.

You can feature the voices of many supporters over time. The important thing is to get started. You want to thank your donors all year long, and the time to begin is now.

 

 

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