The path to improving your fundraising in the mail & email is the same as it is to improve at anything:
- Make lots of attempts
- Have a tight feedback loop with good data
In tennis, want to get better at your backhand? Hit lots of balls and pay attention to where they land. In writing, want to get better at dialogue? Write lots of dialog-heavy scenes, have other people read them and give you feedback.
In fundraising, want to get better at the mail & email? Send lots of appeals and reports, then review your response rates, your net revenue, and your retention rates.
Remember, your fundraising is just as important as your programs. Your nonprofit has two jobs, and both must be done or you don’t have a nonprofit any longer:
- Deliver programs that solve a societal problem
- Inspire and retain supporters to fund the programs
If you want to scale past a few hundred donors, it’s highly likely you need to get good at using the mail & email. Which means your best bet is to make lots of attempts with a tight feedback loop.
Steven Screen is Co-Founder of The Better Fundraising Company and lead author of its blog. With over 30 years' fundraising experience, he gets energized by helping organizations understand how they can raise more money. He’s a second-generation fundraiser, a past winner of the Direct Mail Package of the Year, and data-driven.
- Steven Screen
- Steven Screen
- Steven Screen
- Steven Screen
