Steven, Author at The Better Fundraising Company

8.25 Seconds

Steven | February 13, 2024February 7, 2024Ask

Let me share two numbers with you:

8.25 seconds — the average length of time a human can focus on a single task.

3 minutes — how long it takes to read the average appeal letter from a nonprofit.

Makes you realize why most fundraising appeal letters don’t work well, doesn’t it?

(By the way, you may read the “8 seconds” stat and think the same thing I thought: wait a minute, people concentrate for longer than 8 seconds all the time. You and I have watched movies from beginning to end, and we’ve read entire books. But movies and books are in a category called “preferred activities” – and it’s hard to argue that “reading an appeal letter” is a preferred activity for a donor with a full mailbox.)

So I’m not here to argue that your appeal letters should be 8 seconds long. But I will argue that making your appeal letters understandable in 8 seconds makes your fundraising more inclusive and opens your organization up to gifts from far more people.

Here’s how to make your appeals “understandable” in just a few seconds:

Get to the point quickly. Do NOT slowly build your case and then make your point (usually the Ask) at the end of the letter. Save that approach for grant applications.
Use visual emphasis (underlining, bolding, arrows, etc.) to draw attention to the most important information. The ideas you highlight should summarize the letter.

The most successful appeals are two letters in one: a person can glance through your letter and “get the gist” in just a few seconds, and then get the fuller picture if they choose to read the whole letter.

Writing and designing your letters (and emails) this way is not what your English teacher taught you. It’s probably not a style that’s preferred by important people in your organization.

But if you can write and design your appeals to remove the barrier of “a person must read the whole thing to get our point,” then you’ve opened up your organization to a new world full of supporters.

Net Revenue Available to Program

Steven | February 8, 2024February 5, 2024Repeat

Here’s a counter-intuitive truth to tuck away:

As a nonprofit’s donor file shrinks, their response rates for direct mail and email will tend to increase.

Wait, you might say… if a nonprofit is losing donors every year, why would their response rates be going up?

Response rates go up as an organization’s donor file is shrinking because the first donors to leave are the donors who are least engaged. This means that the remaining donors are more engaged – and are more likely to respond to a piece of fundraising.

I saw this earlier today when I noticed that the year-end letter for one of our customers was sent to 18,000 donors this year, versus 23,000 donors last year.

I thought to myself, “Well, at least their response rate probably went up.”

Lo and behold, their response rate went from 4.1% to 4.7%.

Their ROI went up, too: from 6.7:1 to 7.1:1

Hooray… right?

Nope. They raised $20,000 LESS in net revenue. (Remember, they sent the letter to 5,000 fewer donors.)

This is one of those times when two metrics that matter – ROI and Percent Response – went up. But the metric that really matters – Net Revenue – went down.

The organization’s Board is happy that their ROI went up. Weirdly, they are more proud of the increased ROI than they are worried about raising less money.

Listen, I love to maximize ROI. Probably more than the next guy. But what matters most is Net Revenue.

I used to serve a brilliant fundraiser that always used the term “Net Revenue Available to Program.” He’d never shorten it to “Net Revenue.”

His insistence on using “Net Revenue Available to Program” was an outward sign of an inward focus that I took to heart: our primary job as Fundraisers is to end the year with as much money as possible to send to the programs in the field.

Because you can maximize ROI and Response Rate all you want, but Net Revenue is the only thing you can send to the field.

Direct mail and… Kale?

Steven | February 6, 2024January 31, 2024Ask

Direct mail is like kale – nobody likes it the first time they try it.

Kale is a tough, leafy vegetable that tastes like a hedge.

But over time, a person can come to see the benefits of eating kale. You start to appreciate kale. And with the right prep and dressings, even enjoy it.

Direct mail is a tough, counter-intuitive, expensive way to raise money.

But over time, an organization can come to see the revenue that direct mail brings in and the relationship it builds. You start to appreciate direct mail. And with the right approach and understanding, even enjoy it.

Kale will never be as enjoyable as a cheeseburger. Direct mail will never be as enjoyable as a great conversation with a major donor, or the emotional high of a beneficiary’s story at an event.

You might not like direct mail or kale. But both of them are still good for you.

2.4 Gifts Per Donor Per Year

Steven | January 30, 2024January 29, 2024Major Donor Fundraising

At the Big Fundraising Agency I used to work at, we noticed a trend:

The individual donors who gave two or more gifts per year were the donors who were most likely to give again the following year.

Think of it like physics: a donor’s relationship with your organization has momentum. If a donor is giving often, they are more likely to keep giving. If a donor is giving infrequently, they are more likely to stop giving.

The data analysts further identified that if an organization’s individual donors averaged 2.4 gifts per donor per year, that seemed to be a “sweet spot” for revenue and donor retention.

I share this because many nonprofits have an unspoken belief that goes something like this: “most donors don’t want to give more than once a year.”

That belief then drives their fundraising strategy: they only send one or two appeals a year, they over-steward their donors, they constantly watch out for the mythical “donor fatigue,” they would never ask a Major to give more than once per year, etc.

Those strategies go against everything I’ve ever seen in data in 30+ years of fundraising. (Are there individual donors who are outliers? Of course. And when a particular donor says that they prefer something, honor that preference.)

My advice to you: follow the data. Create fundraising plans that actively give donors more chances to give.

A donor at rest tends to stay at rest, and a donor in motion tends to stay in motion.

The Squiggle

Steven | January 25, 2024January 24, 2024Repeat

What you’re looking at is called “the squiggle.” It was created by Damien Newman to describe the product design process.

I think the squiggle pretty well describes most people’s fundraising journey, too. Moving from left to right, all of us…

Start our journey careening wildly to figure out how fundraising works…

We begin to develop an understanding of how it all works…

We understand and refine our practice.

It’s good to remember that we all go through the beginning chaos.

For instance, ten years ago we had a client who had met their budget for the year by Thanksgiving. Their Board asked us, “Since we’ve already met budget, shouldn’t we stop fundraising for the year? And since we won’t be sending our year-end letter, could we mail it during next summer when we will need the money?”

After some internal snickers… we had a great conversation with the Board. Because of that conversation, the Board moved to the right on the squiggle. They’ve continued to learn and have become an incredible fundraising asset to the organization. (And they are still a client today.)

They just needed a little help from someone who was farther along on their fundraising journey.

In my own career, I’ve written about when my mentor asked me, “Why are you writing about the organization?” That was a moment of insight and I moved closer to the clarity and focus I have today.

I mention all this because we’re ALL somewhere on the squiggle. And the longer I’m on my fundraising journey, the more compassion I have for people at the start of theirs.

So in the spirit of passing it on…

If you’re in the Uncertainty / Patterns / Insights zone, what’s one thing you are doing this year that will help you move forward?

If you’re in the Clarity/Focus zone, what’s one thing you are doing to help another Fundraiser join you out there?

And wherever you are, are you compassionate towards the others on this journey with you?

_{The “Research,” “Concept” and “Design” labels on the bottom of the original graphic were removed to keep the point as simple as possible. Thank you to Damien Newman for allowing the graphic to be used on the Creative Commons license.}

The Work of Your Organization vs. The Need for Your Organization’s Work

Steven | January 23, 2024January 9, 2024Ask

Last week I wrote about how “generating attention” should be a bigger part of the nonprofit fundraising toolkit.

This is a quick post about how there’s a big difference between creating attention for the work of your organization versus the need for your organization’s work.

If you’re trying to get the attention of people who have expertise in what you do – think Foundations who focus on your cause, government agencies, partner organizations, and major donors who understand why your work is unique – then I would point people’s attention towards the work of your organization.

Those people are already planning on giving gifts / working with organizations like yours. They actively want to know how effective your programs are, why your work is unique and powerful, and hear stories about people you’ve already helped.

However, if you’re trying to get the attention of people who do not have expertise in what you do – think “the general public” or your individual donors – then I would point people’s attention to the need for your organization’s work.

Those people are not currently planning to give gifts to your organization. People are not interested in how effective your programs are until they know there’s a need for your programs.

So draw attention to the need for your work. Once they understand and feel the need, then they’ll be more interested in learning how their gift (and your programs) will help meet that need.

As you work to make an impact and get attention this year, know which kind of people you’re trying to get the attention of, and what you should be pointing their attention towards.

Attention Deficit

Steven | January 18, 2024January 9, 2024Report

When you’re starting out, you don’t have anyone’s attention.

That’s true whether you’re starting a nonprofit, starting a food truck, or starting a political career.

But when you’re starting a business or a YouTube channel or an advocacy campaign, you work hard to get people’s attention. Those folks wave their arms around. They say edgy things.

One of their driving principles is ”Without anyone’s attention, this venture will not succeed.”’ So they make a ruckus.

Why don’t more nonprofits make a ruckus like that? Why don’t more nonprofits say and do edgy things?

I think it’s because so many of us are nice. We want to be warm to people. We don’t want to make people uncomfortable. We want to convince people of our competency.

One of our driving principles is ”We want the power of our work to inspire people to give.” And that’s not even a principle – it’s just a desire.

But can’t we remain “nice” while making it a priority to earn more attention for our cause?

And as nonprofits, don’t we have the ultimate motivating reason to generate more attention? We know that that the more attention we earn, the more donors we’ll acquire, and the more of our mission we’ll accomplish.

The standard nonprofit toolkit does not have “generate a ton of attention” in it.

But shouldn’t it?

And as you look at your plan for this year, are you intentionally making at least one concerted effort to get more people to pay attention to what’s going on with your cause?

Yesterday’s Successes, Today’s Truths, Tomorrow’s Hopeful Futures

Steven | January 16, 2024January 9, 2024Ask

I just noticed that almost all of the fundraising our team helped create last year can be divided into three groups:

Yesterday’s Success. These are stories of people who have already been helped, and of things the organization has already accomplished.
Today’s Uncomfortable Truth. These are stories of what’s happening today, right now, that causes the work of the organization to be needed.
Tomorrow’s Hopeful Future. These are stories of what will happen if a donor gives a gift. For instance, “If you give a gift today, 1 square meter of wetland will be preserved from development” is a story about the positive future that will be created if a donor gives a gift.

Organizational insiders tend to think that sharing Yesterday’s Successes will motivate donors to give today. And it will, to a limited extent.

But consistently telling donors about things that happened yesterday means you’re not telling donors what’s happening today. And in our experience, the best way to motivate donors to give today is to talk about what’s happening today.

The fundraising programs that we see succeed wildly are programs that intentionally share what happened yesterday, and what’s happening today, and what could happen tomorrow with the donor’s support.

When you give your donors the full picture, they’re more likely to give you their full support.

Major Donor Fundraising For Small Nonprofits

Steven | January 11, 2024January 11, 2024Major Donor Fundraising

We recently surveyed a group of small- to medium-sized nonprofits. We analyzed their fundraising programs and arrived at a startling conclusion:

7 out of 10 of the smaller nonprofits did not have a system to manage their most valuable donors.

The donors who were driving most of their revenue were being treated just like everyone else.

This means these organizations were not maximizing the opportunity they had with those donors. And organizationally their behavior was risky because there was so much revenue at stake.

Believe me, I get how this happens. When you’re a small nonprofit or a 1-person fundraising/development shop, it’s impossible to get to everything.

So Jim and I decided to do something about it. Yesterday we launched Major Gifts Engine, a 6-month program to help small organizations install a major donor management system, based on best-practices but customized for the organization.

If you’re interested, you can read more about it here. And it includes a link to get in touch.

But not every organization will be able to afford it because it costs real money to have an experienced major donor fundraiser help a nonprofit set up a repeatable major donor fundraising program, determine portfolio sizes, choose which donors go in the portfolios, and create giving goals for each donor.

So if your organization needs this, but can’t join, I want to encourage you to intentionally invest time and whatever resources you have into your major donor fundraising. (Investing in your organization’s major donor fundraising is one of the highest ROI activities a small organization can invest in.)

Here’s a simple exercise you can do in about 90-minutes’ time:

Identify your top 10 donors by cumulative giving over the last three years.
Hand-write and mail each donor a card that thanks them for their extraordinary generosity.
Come up with 5 additional reasons to contact each donor between February and October. This could be things like forwarding them an exciting email with a note before the email goes to the rest of your donors, texting them a photo and short success story, hand-writing a note on their copy of your newsletter, you get it.
For those donors, write down (that’s important!) the amount you’d like them to give for this year. As the year goes along, you’ll find yourself noticing things they could be funding, and your ask(s) to them will be stronger because of it.

You know that much of this blog is about copywriting and fundraising offers and all the things I love to talk about. I started out as a copywriter so I tend to believe that a good idea and great copy will change the world.

And that’s true. But it’s pretty obvious that a good idea and great copy don’t usually out-raise a major donor you have a good relationship with. And they almost never out-raise a group of major donors that you’ve invested in, kept for years, and lifted to higher and higher levels of giving.

So as you start this year, invest in your major donor fundraising. Whether that’s investing in a system like ours or an activity like the one above, you’ll raise more money and have a greater impact.