Steven Screen

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.

1 Update + 2 Challenges Incoming

Steven Screen  |  Crisis
challenge

We have some “big picture” guidance for Fundraisers today.

(All of this will make more sense if you’ve downloaded our free guidance on Fundraising In a Pandemic: What Will Happen, How You Can Succeed.)

First, here’s an update based on what we’re seeing and the results the organizations we serve are experiencing:

  • The bad news – I suspect “the slump” is going to last longer than we expected. The number of things being canceled this fall implies that the economy won’t be up to full speed for months. This will lengthen the slump.
  • The great news – “the bump” is much larger and lasting a lot longer than we originally expected. A majority of our clients are having record-breaking springs. If you’re not fundraising right now, you should be. Donors want to help right now. As @PatrickTiernan said recently on Twitter, “Charitable giving allows people to exert a sense of control in a world that is otherwise spinning.”

And now, a word about the future. Most organizations are going to face two significant challenges over the coming months.

Challenge #1

Modifying your fundraising so that it’s relevant to donors, while still following direct response best practices.

Because if your fundraising sounds like it’s business-as-usual, it will sound irrelevant to your donors in the new world we’re living in.

Your go-to offers will work best if they’re recontextualized to today’s world. Additionally, you probably have new offers available to you (new things you’re doing, new needs you’re meeting, new expenses you’re incurring, new revenue shortfalls you’re experiencing, etc.)

This is going to be hard work.

Challenge #2

Staying the course when you start raising less money.

Sooner or later, that appeal that annually brings in $50k is going to bring in $35k. And then that email that usually brings in $35k is going to bring in $26k.

You’re going to be tempted to mail less. To stop spending money to acquire new donors. And to cancel that campaign.

But that’s almost always the wrong approach. Because during “the slump,” you’re playing a longer game than normal – you’re playing for mindshare. And you don’t keep mindshare by slowing your communications.

Because if you stay top-of-mind for your donors – when “the surge” comes – it will happen faster for your organization, and you’ll raise more money.

It’s Nice to Have a Map

We keep hearing from Fundraisers (and Board members and E.D.s) that they don’t know what to do next because the world is so different right now.

We’re sharing the updates above, and published Fundraising In A Pandemic so that any Fundraiser can have a “map” for what the next few months will look like.

Remember, organizations like yours have survived (and even thrived) fundraising situations like this one before.

And if you’d like help during this crazy time, get in touch. We can help you keep your fundraising relevant during the coming months, or even create your fundraising for you.

Good luck out there! And right now, perhaps more than ever, “lean in” to donor generosity. They want to help!

Reporting Back in a Pandemic (Or after Any Disaster)

Steven Screen  |  Report
reporting

Better Fundraising has three tips to make your Reporting Back to donors resonate.

Because if your reports are timeless – if they could have been sent at any time during the past year – it means they aren’t relevant to the world the donor is living in today.

And if they aren’t relevant, they don’t need to be read.

Which trains your donor to read fewer of your communications – and you don’t want that, do you?

So here are three tips to make your Report Backs relevant to your donors:

Report back on something that happened during the pandemic.

What happened in January isn’t relevant right now.

And your messaging has to be relevant right now, or it’s mostly useless.

You want to share a story of something that happened because of the pandemic. That might mean a transition to telemedicine to care for a hurting person. It might mean emergency rent assistance for someone who lost their job.

But it can’t be the same story you would have told if the pandemic hadn’t happened.

Think of it this way: during Christmastime, you don’t see a lot of stories about Halloween. And any story you tell right now about something that happened before the pandemic is at high risk of being about Halloween while everyone else is singing Christmas carols.

A “Breathless Report from The Field” will beat “Standard E-News.”

Your donor knows that the world is upside down. So don’t give her a standard e-news report.

Don’t treat your writing like business-as-usual.

The organizations that will bond with their donors most closely are ones who make their donors feel like they are right there – getting the fresh news. Yesterday’s update from the CEO. The email that came in earlier this morning from program staff.

We’re already seeing this in action. Organizations we serve are sharing simple little updates of stories that just came in. The person who received the meds they needed – the family that was rescued.

And the donors love it! High open rates. Lots of giving in response to Reports. And even replies to the emails thanking the organizations for letting the donors know what’s going on.

Donors respond to this type of immediacy.

Donors are wondering, “what’s going on right now?” and are forgiving (even appreciative) of communications feeling like they were put together at the last minute.

Remember: donors care more about your beneficiaries and knowing what’s going on than they care about the professionalism of your communications.  

Fear is Contagious. Hope Is, Too.

Donor generosity is amazing.

Hopefully, you’ve done a great job sharing the problems facing your beneficiaries, cause, or organization. And you’ve raised a ton of money these last few weeks.

So be sure to share good news and hope, too.

Because donors want to hear some good news; they’re hoping that there are signs of people taking care of each other when there’s so much bad news on the front page.

When you do this, give the credit to your donor. Be super clear that the good news is happening because of her, and her generosity.

Because if donors are looking for some good news – and you share good news with them and give your donor the credit for causing that good news – don’t you think that increases the likelihood that she’ll like your organization a bit more?

And don’t you think that will increase the chance she’ll read your next email or letter?

And don’t you think that increases the chance that she’ll give to you during the coming slump?

And she’ll continue to be a donor once all of this is over?

I don’t “think so” – I know so.

Silver Linings in a Pandemic

Steven Screen  |  Crisis
silver lining

We at Better Fundraising have noticed a lot of “fundraising silver linings” in the past few weeks.

So with absolutely all due respect to the loss of life, the people sacrificing on the front lines, and the ways we’ve all be harmed by the current situation… there are plenty of silver linings for donors, Fundraisers and fundraising.

  • Donor generosity is amazing.
  • Donor retention is going to be up this year, based on what we’re seeing.
  • Most of our clients had a great March. For many of them, it was their best month ever.
  • More nonprofits are practicing fundraising essentialism: doing the things that drive results and nothing more. Put another way, they’re abandoning the activities they’ve always done “because they were supposed to” and are doing the things that drive measurable results.
  • Organizations that had systematic approaches to major donor fundraising knew exactly who to call. And those donors came through.
  • Nonprofits that have put in the work before all this – communicating enough, making sure donors know that their gifts make a real difference – are seeing incredible giving.
  • Even nonprofits that haven’t put in the work are seeing the incredible giving. I repeat: donor generosity is amazing.
  • Nonprofits using data to know whether they are still in the Bump or have moved into the Slump, and modifying their messaging accordingly.
  • Nonprofits seeing incredible response to their emails continuing to send those emails until results start to drop.
  • Nonprofits sending direct mail because they know that their emails don’t penetrate the older portion of their file.
  • More and more older donors getting comfortable giving online.

Huge thanks to all the Fundraisers out there making all this possible. You’re giving donors chances to support the causes, beneficiaries and organizations they care about. And you’re raising money for causes that matter.

Pandemic Fundraising: What to Expect and How to Succeed in the Months Ahead

Steven Screen  |  Repeat
download

Every once in a while, we give you a free resource to help you raise more money.

It seems like a good time for that, doesn’t it? Because there’s a LOT of fear in the fundraising world.

So this free resource gives you what you need to guide your organization through the next few months – because we want your organization to be healthy after the pandemic!

Download here for free.

First, you’ll get a graphic that shows what will happen to your fundraising over the next few months. (It’s not possible to know the exact timeframe, but it’s absolutely possible to know the shape & pattern that donor behavior will follow.)

Second, you’ll get a document that shares – based on experience – how to communicate and fundraise your way through this.

The pandemic and economic downturn are doing grave harm to a lot of organizations. But you can minimize the impact and even come out ahead on the other side.

Some organizations are going to have incredible years – even organizations not overtly connected to the pandemic.

It all depends on the choices you make in the coming hours, days, and weeks. It’s up to each organization – to your organization – on how to respond.  

Please download this guide. It has our best experience and advice, taken from past crises and downturns, to help your organization succeed.

Timely Info about Emergency Loans

Steven Screen  |  Tips
loan

If your organization could use a loan to keep employees and/or stay open, keep reading.

Yesterday The Agitator posted a guide to help nonprofits get a small business forgivable loan.

Here’s a link to their guide.

They’ve done an incredible service by summarizing the situation, and what you need to do.

If a loan is needed / crucial / of interest to your organization, I’d hustle. The funds are limited – speed matters. As I’ve been saying, if a donor is going to give five emergency gifts during this time, you do not want to be the 7th organization to ask her. The same principle is true here.

Roger and Kevin, thank you.

And watch this space in the next 24 hours for a handy graphic that will attempt to predict how the next few months of fundraising are going to go, as well as a more in-depth explanation.

Quotes of Amazement about Donor Generosity

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Giving.

Donor generosity is amazing.

To give you a little joy in the middle of the craziness, here are a bunch of quotes about donor generosity that we’ve heard in the last week from organizations we serve.

I’ll just leave these right here for you to enjoy – and for organizations to think about if they or their beneficiaries are being harmed by the current situation but aren’t yet asking donors to help.

“Donors just blow me away with their generosity. So many have responded to share their own story of what they’re going through. And yet they choose to give. What a testament to what amazing people donors are.”

“I was talking to a friend last night, and she said, ‘Oh it must be soooo hard to raise money right now.’ And I thought that’s true if ‘hard’ means breaking all kinds of open rate, click-through rate, and revenue expectations. Then yeah, it’s really hard! ”

“It’s amazing to see how many people want to help right now.”

“It’s like year-end fundraising in March!”

“Donors that gave recently are giving again! This is unbelievable to me. It’s blowing me away!”

And my personal favorite (and a reminder for why your organization should be using the mail, too), a donor replied to an e-appeal with a gift and the following note:

“I forwarded your email to my mom, and she wants to donate but doesn’t want to do so online. Her friend would also like to make a donation. Is there a person and address she could send a check to?”

And finally, a quote from a small organization that used our easy formula for a successful Coronavirus e-appeal:

“I just wanted to thank you again and share the ongoing results of our emergency appeal (following your suggestions, of course). Immediately upon sending our 1st email last week, we received seven online gifts (may not seem like a lot, but it’s huge for us). As I write this email, we have received 81 online gifts, and 43 of those are from first-time donors.

“We also posted the appeal to our social media, which immediately resulted in comments and shares and gifts. Monday, I sent the same letter in the mail (with the edits you suggested in the Free Review Friday last week). I’ve also re-posted and emailed the appeal again this week.

“Not only are the gifts coming in, a couple of other amazing things happened – one of our grantors responded to the emergency appeal by releasing all the restrictions on the grant ($40K) and are allowing us to use the funds as we see fit – HUGE!!! And our local paper (distributed in our county) saw the emergency appeal and printed it inside the front cover of the paper. AMAZING!!”

Donor generosity is amazing! They’re unsung heroes in this whole thing – and I hope you enjoy your role in giving your donors opportunities to be heroic!

Why You Should Send a Letter Now

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Appeal.

Here’s why you should probably be sending out an emergency appeal letter to your donor file:

This chart shows the percentage of revenue that’s coming in from different generations.

Direct mail appeals work very well at reaching the group of folks in blue on the right.

You know, the ones who (statistically speaking) have the most compassion and money to give you right now.

And you know, the people who your email and social probably aren’t reaching in significant numbers.

To any organization who is considering using direct mail for their coronavirus fundraising,

DO IT.

I can’t say that everyone should do it. But chances are, you should.

Here’s how to think about it to make a good decision for your organization:

  • If the coronavirus or the current situation is harming your beneficiaries, your cause, or your organization, then you should be fundraising now.
  • If you’ve sent out an emergency e-appeal and it raised more than a “normal” e-appeal raises…
  • If you’re able to convert your e-appeal into a direct mail appeal and get it in the mail quickly…

Then you should absolutely send out an “emergency direct mail appeal.”

Get it written (your e-appeal is your first draft – and maybe your final draft!) and send it as fast as you can.

Speed matters. If your donors are going to give emergency gifts to five organizations, you don’t want to be the 7th organization who asks them.

And if you can’t get a letter out to everyone quickly, then figure out how to get a letter out to your top donors in the next couple days. One tactic we see working: print out your e-appeal, handwrite a note on the top and send it to your major donors along with a generic reply card and envelope.

The Big Idea here is to use the mail to reach your major donors and the LARGE group of compassionate folks who would like to help but aren’t email responsive. Good luck out there. And we’ll be posting helpful tips every day for the foreseeable future.

12 Tips for Fundraising Right Now

Steven Screen  |  Crisis
Coronavirus.

Last Friday, I streamed a free two-hour session reviewing Coronavirus fundraising – (mostly emails) and answering specific questions about fundraising during this crazy time.

I’d like to publicly thank Marc Pitman for gathering all the advice dispensed during those two hours and putting it in a super-helpful blog post. Read it here.

And here’s what Marc summarized:

One of the phrases Steven keeps using is encouraging us to “lean into donor generosity.” I love his constant reminder that nonprofits are needed now more than ever. Donors get that. And are currently giving to it. That giving will slow but right now is a time to be asking.

Some other nuggets he says are:

    • Your donors are amazing, and they want to help.
    • Let them decide what is relevant and important to them.
    • Crisis giving spikes, and then slows. The slowing isn’t about donor fatigue. It’s about donor inattention and about the nonprofit’s fundraising irrelevance.
    • Now is not the time to fundraise for the future. Fundraise for the crisis now.
    • Your job is to clearly state how your beneficiaries, or your organization are being impacted by this situation. And how the donor can help.
    • If your most pressing issue is a shortfall in fundraising, tell the donor.
    • Send the emergency email. Resend it to people who didn’t open it. Send it again. Send it every other day.
    • Keep asking until the data tells you to stop. NOT until your feelings tell you. When the appeals stop working, that’s the data telling you to stop.
    • There are still LOTS of older people who haven’t given because they don’t give to emails. If you can get a letter out this week, do it.
    • $25 is a low ask in an email. Average online gifts for many nonprofits is $80, $90, or even $100.
    • Don’t let your unease with asking take away from a donor the chance to make an impact.
    • Now is NOT the time to send an “update on how we’re responding to Covid-19.” That is irrelevant to donors. Share a current need that they can act on.

And one of my favorites: in crisis moments like we’re in right now, “pretty good and fast” will raise more money than “perfect and a couple days later.” Reaching donors now is far better than waiting until things have calmed down. And even better than waiting until you get the wording 100% perfect.

I stand by every one of those.

If you want more guidance right now, here’s a post from last week with the four main ideas that will help you the most right now.

Good luck out there! And stay tuned, we’ll be posting helpful advice every day for the foreseeable future.

COVID-19 fundraising principles

Steven Screen  |  Crisis
Response.

If you’re going to raise money for your beneficiaries and/or cause during the pandemic, follow these principles, and you’ll raise more money.

Note: Everything I’m about to say assumes one important thing – the current pandemic situation impacts your organization, cause, and/or beneficiaries. That could be the virus. It could be the economy. It could be travel restrictions. In other words, that there are “new or more needs” that you’re dealing with.

Here are the principles Better Fundraising is living by as we work with clients:

Speed matters. Sometime soon, several hundred thousand organizations are going to realize they’re in trouble and are going to send out e-appeals. You want to beat them to your donors’ inboxes. Don’t wait until the next vacancy in your communication schedule – cancel what’s coming next and replace it with something urgent.

Volume matters. Your donors’ attention is more fragmented than usual. That means your email open rates are going to drop by 20%. Your direct mail open rates will drop too. That means fewer people will see what you send out. And if fewer people see what you send out, you raise less money. So you need to send out more things.

Simplicity matters. You have less of your donors’ attention than you normally do. If your donor usually reads two paragraphs of your email before deciding whether to read the rest, for the next weeks, she’s only going to read one paragraph. So you have to get to the point quickly, and you have to keep it very simple.

Acute needs raise money. We’ve already seen this several times in the last five days. If your beneficiaries or organization is facing a critical need, share it with your donors. Donors LOVE acute needs.

So if your beneficiaries are short of rent money because their service industry jobs have been slashed, ask your donors to provide rent money. If you’re $1 million event was just canceled, ask donors to help erase your $1 million shortfall.

Make it clear – make it simple. Resist the urge to over-explain. Send it fast.

If you haven’t seen it, here’s a video I made with an 8-point outline for a successful e-appeal.

Good luck out there!