Steven Screen, Author at The Better Fundraising Company

5 Tips For Your Most Successful Digital Year-End Campaign

Steven Screen | October 30, 2018October 29, 2018Ask

Are you ready?

According to Network for Good, most nonprofits raise about 1/3 of their revenue in December. And 11% of their annual total during the last three days of the year.

Year-end is the easiest time to raise more money online! Think about it this way:

Your donors are more likely to give during the last weeks of the year than any other time of the entire year.

And because year-end is such an important time for digital fundraising, we want to give you 5 tips that will ensure a successful year-end for your fundraising.

# 1: Use the same message in every channel

Some of your donors are online, some aren’t. Pick your strongest message, then repeat it through direct mail, email, your website, and social media. It’s more powerful for your donors to see the same message in different media channels than it is for them to see two different messages. Repetition is your friend!

# 2: Ask early and often

You’ve been talking to your donors all year about what your organization does, you’ve told them how they can help. So this time of year, don’t Thank them. Or Report to them. It might feel counterintuitive, but our testing showed that Thanking and Reporting this time of year will cause you to raise less money than you could. Follow the advice below and just Ask well!

# 3: Emphasize the deadline

A deadline communicates urgency. December 31 is a natural deadline — for the tax year and for your organization. Tell donors your deadline and repeat it multiple times in your messages.

# 4: Set a goal

How much do you want or need to raise? What would it take for you to meet your budget? Feed everyone you want to feed by year-end? Shelter abandoned pets through the end of the year? Overcome a financial shortfall? Tell your donors the goal.

We need to raise $XX,XXX by midnight, December 31.

# 5: Communicate consequences

What will happen if you don’t meet the goal? Connect the donor right to the heart of your work.

We need to raise $XX,XXX by midnight, December 31 or we will have to cut back on the number of pets in our shelter in the coming year.

We need to raise $XX,XXX by midnight, December 31 or we will not be able to advocate for the arts as effectively next year.

Whatever your organization does, if having less money means you would be able to do less next year, say so!

Most important tip? Start now!

We’ve built a Year-End Digital Fundraising Toolkit so that you can develop a successful year-end digital campaign. Buy it now and you’ll save time, raise more money, and have your best year-end ever!

Order your Year-End Digital Fundraising Toolkit now!

Super Simple Segmentation

Steven Screen | October 25, 2018Ask

Most likely you can save a lot of money by “mailing smarter” – mailing your appeals and newsletters only to the people who are most likely to respond.

Put another way: a lot of nonprofits waste a lot of money by sending their appeals and newsletters to people in their database who are unlikely to respond.

Donor Segmentation

The idea of ‘donor segmentation’ is pretty simple at heart: separating your donors into groups and treating different groups differently.

Most smaller nonprofits basically “mail everybody” in hopes of raising more money and acquiring new donors. But in my experience, they almost always waste money by doing this, and have a smaller impact as an organization because of it.

Why? Because there are people in your database to whom you should not be mailing, because it’s a waste of money.

My Default Segmentations Settings

What follows is my “default mailing segmentation settings” – what I recommend most nonprofits do for appeals and newsletters.

Donor segmentation can get super-complex, but I’m keeping this purposefully simple. (In other words; for you Nerds out there using sophisticated RFM segmentation and ongoing testing results to refine your mailing selects, this is not for you.)

For almost all printed appeals and newsletters:

Each mailing should go to all donors who have given a gift in the last 18 months. This is commonly abbreviated, “all donors 0-18.”

However, if you mail your donors less than 4 times a year, each mailing should go to all donors who have given a gift in the last 20 months.

“But What About Non-Donors?”

I can hear people asking already, “But what about all the non-donors, names and volunteers on our database? We have to mail them!”

No, you don’t.

Or more precisely, No, you shouldn’t. You almost always lose money sending a regular appeal or newsletter to non-donors: the returns don’t justify the expense.

I’ll talk more about what you should do for non-donors, down below. But for now, let’s talk year-end…

Donor Segmentation at Year-End

At the end of the calendar year more donors are more likely to give gifts than at any other time.

So it makes sense to mail your year-end appeal to more of the people on your database.

Note: this could be your “Christmas” or “Year-end” or “Holiday” appeal – whatever your biggest appeal at the end of the year is.

Here are my default settings:

All donors giving in the past 0-24 months
All donors $500+ farther back, 25-36 months
All donors $1,000+ from 37 to 48 months
Additionally, year-end is basically the only time I regularly counsel smaller nonprofits to mail to the “non-donors” or “names” from their database. But even then, I’d only mail to people who were added in the last 24 months.

To Acquire New Donors

Instead of “mail everything to everybody,” here’s a better strategy to turn those “names” on your database into donors:

Mail them only a couple times a year
If they have been in your database for two years and never donated, stop mailing them
The only “normal” appeal you should send them is your Holiday/Christmas/Year-end appeal
Send them an appeal specifically designed to acquire new donors. That appeal should:
- Directly ask them to make their first donation.
- Ask them to support one specific, compelling part of your organization. Don’t ask them to “become a supporter” or “partner with us as we…” Here’s why this approach works better in test after test: it’s easier for a non-donor to understand one powerful part of your organization than it is for them to understand the whole of your organization.
- Pro tip: if this mailing works, you can use it every year without changing it!
Never send newsletters to non-donors

Follow this advice and you will likely save a lot of money that you’ve been wasting by paying printing and postage to send letters & newsletters to people who won’t respond.

And you’ll turn more of your “names” into donors by sending them targeted mailings.

So you’ve just increased your Net Revenue quite a bit: you’ve saved money, and you’ve acquired more new donors.

Resources for You

We just released our brand new eBook to help nonprofits get better at Asking. It’s free, go download it.

Our previous eBook, Storytelling For Action, is also a free download. It has the helpful “Story Type Matrix” that shows the research-based guidelines for what types of stories you should tell, and when you should tell them.

Remind, Don’t Persuade

Steven Screen | October 23, 2018Ask

When I said it, everybody in the room wrote it down.

That’s generally how I know I’ve said something helpful. Here’s what it was:

“At the end of the year your job is to remind, not persuade.”

Here’s why I said that. We’ve done a lot of year-end campaigns for a lot of organizations. We analyze the results of every single one.

When you look at them as a whole a pattern emerges. The successful campaigns? They aren’t beautiful writing that would make Shakespeare weep. They aren’t powerful case statements or success stories.

Here’s what the best campaigns tend to do:

Remind donors of the problem that your organization exists to help solve
Ask them to give a gift before the end of the year to help solve that problem

That’s it. You’re going to want to talk a lot of other things. And that’s fine — as long as the main messages you send — the first things your donors see and read — are the Need and your Ask for a gift.

You see, you don’t have time to persuade. In November and December, your donors are moving FAST. Your donors love it when your organization is clear about what you want the donor to do and how their gift will help. Because your donor is also getting a lot of other mail — mail that spends three paragraphs talking about the color of the leaves this time of year, or how excellent the year has been, or telling a story that makes it sound like they’ve already helped everyone.

The time for Thanking and Reporting to your donors for their previous gifts? That was before. Make sure you’ve done that by mid-November. Year-end is a time for Asking.

In our tests, year-end fundraising that spent significant time Thanking or Reporting raised less money

This is not just theory. This whole post is an attempt to explain testing results!

It may be hard. It may be counter-intuitive. (And it’s especially hard for smaller organizations that don’t communicate with their donors more than a couple times a year).

But trust me. The job of your fundraising from mid-November on is to remind your donor to send in a gift, not to persuade them. Just Ask. Ask Boldly. Ask without fear. Ask knowing that your donors love your cause and your organization’s role in helping them make the world a better place!

The Simple Outline for Appeals That Raise Money

Steven Screen | October 16, 2018October 15, 2018Ask

I noticed a pattern that I want to share with you.

We see a LOT of appeals around here and I read them all. And we spend a lot of time with the results because we want our coaching to be based on what works, not on what we like.

About a week ago I noticed the appeals that did not work well tended to follow the same general outline. It goes something like this:

Thank you for helping in the past
Let me tell you a story about someone we already helped
Please help us continue this good work

I think this is fascinating because every step of that outline makes sense:

Of course you should thank your donors for their previous giving. That’s just being polite, and it reminds them that they’ve given before.
Of course you should tell them a story about a person (or thing) that’s already been helped. That shows the donor that their past gifts made a difference, that the donor can trust you, and that your organization is effective.
And of course you should ask them to help you continue the good work. You need their donations, and the work is good.

But here’s the thing; even though every step in that outline makes sense, appeal letters and e-appeals that follow this outline don’t raise as much money as they could. We know this from years of experimenting and testing. This is one of those places in fundraising where common sense isn’t the best sense. What you need is data.

So what’s the alternative? Here’s the outline that works best for our clients:

There’s a problem right now
You are needed to solve it
Here’s how your gift will solve it

When our clients adopt this outline, their appeals and e-appeals immediately start to raise more money.

The next time you are appealing for funds, follow this model. You’ll raise more money. And your donors will love knowing that they helped solve a real, urgent problem.

I mean that. If you honor and respect your donors by sharing real problems that your beneficiaries and your organization are facing, Donors will love helping you. Be vulnerable with your donors, and they will reward you with their generosity!

If you want to go deeper on this issue, download our free eBook!

The Three Things to Become Great At

Steven Screen | October 11, 2018October 11, 2018Ask

I love getting into the tactics and details of fundraising. Things like “5 Tips for the First Sentence of Your Next Appeal Letter” and “How to Choose What to Underline and Why.”

Those tips really help people. They make a meaningful difference in fundraising results.

But tactics and details are not the most important things small and medium nonprofits can do to raise more money.

Keep It Simple

I’m a big fan of keeping things simple. Here’s a quote that perfectly describes fundraising success:

“Simple, clear purpose and principles give rise to complex and intelligent behavior. Complex rules and regulations give rise to simple and stupid behavior.” Dee Hock, Founder of VISA

So for the small nonprofits out there (and for new fundraisers), I propose three “simple, clear purposes” that create fundraising success…

**#1 – Become great at Asking people to make donations**

Your ability to know what your donors care about, and then Ask them in a way that makes them more likely to take action, is core to successful fundraising.

Super Simple Rules:

Ask with vulnerability, as if you actually need help today.
Be honest and clear about the bad thing that’s happening in the world today that your donor can help fix.
Show your donor how their gift will make a difference.
Even Harvard Business Review agrees: keep it simple.

**#2 – Become great at Thanking a person who makes a donation**

Making a donor feel your gratitude and appreciation is the key to Thanking – and keeping – your donors.

No donor has ever given a donation and thought, “Gosh, I hope this organization sends me an impersonal, boring letter to ‘acknowledge’ my gift and tell me more about the organization!”

But that’s what organizations do ALL THE TIME in their receipt letters and Thank You notes.

Here are my Super Simple Guidelines for Thanking:

Make sure the letter in your receipt or thank-you feels like it is about the donor who gave the gift, not about the organization.
No matter what vehicle you use to thank her (card, phone, in person, etc.)…
- Make sure she knows that her gift was needed.
- Make sure she knows that her gift was appreciated.
- Tell her how her gift is going to help (not what your organization has already done).

People! A great Thank You is about what the person did, not about what your organization is doing and how you do it!

**#3 – Become great at Reporting to your donors on the impact of their gifts**

Each donor gives a gift to you in faith that you are going to use it to make the world a better place.

Are you going to show her that she helped make the world a better place? Doesn’t she deserve that? Or are you going to just keep Asking her for more gifts?

Take off your ‘fundraising hat’ for a second and put on your ‘donor hat.’ How would it feel to you if the organizations you support never took the time to show you what your gifts helped accomplish?

Listen, if you want to increase the chances your donor will give you another gift, you need to powerfully show her how her first gift made a difference. Make her feel it.

After all, if she never feels like her gift made a difference, what do you think her likelihood is of giving again?

My Super Simple Rules for Reporting:

Have a printed newsletter.
Do it at least four times per year.
Tell your donor what she did, not what your organization did
Show her impact by using stories of beneficiaries.
(Keep statistics in your top desk drawer for when foundations and high Organizational-IQ major donors come to visit.)

Reporting is the least-understood part of effective long-term fundraising. And believe it or not, it can be done so well that your donors will send in money in response to your newsletters. The manual for this is Tom Ahern’s book. Or watch this free webinar.

Fundraising’s Virtuous Circle

If your organization does those three things well – Asking, Thanking and Reporting – all kinds of good things happen.

Revenue goes up. Donor retention goes up. You “close the loop” on fundraising’s Virtuous Circle.

Of Course There Are Other Things

Things like segmentation, your online fundraising strategy, donor surveys, donor engagement, etc.

But in my experience, doing your Asking, Thanking and Reporting well are the main things that make the biggest difference. So focus on becoming great at those things first.

For instance, if your organization doesn’t know how to Ask well, having a great online fundraising strategy is expensive and inefficient. If you can get 500 people in the ballroom for your event, great. But if you don’t know how to Ask well, you’ll raise far less than you could.

As an organization, make sure your organization is good at Asking, Thanking and Reporting, because you’ll raise more money and be able to help more people.

And as a Fundraiser, make sure you are good at Asking, Thanking and Reporting. Because if you can do those three things well you will rise in the nonprofit sector and make an even bigger difference than you’re making now.

Resources For You

Last week we released our brand new eBook to help nonprofits get better at Asking. It’s free, go download it.

My friend, becoming great at Asking, Thanking and Reporting is a knowledge issue, not a talent issue. You can learn this stuff, raise more money, be more confident that your fundraising is going to be successful, and help more people!

Five Tips for the First Sentence of Your Next Appeal Letter

Steven Screen | October 9, 2018October 9, 2018Ask

The first sentence of your next appeal letter is really important.

Most readers will use it to decide whether to keep reading . . . or start thinking about whether to recycle or delete your message.

So yeah, it’s important. We’ve written hundreds of appeals and e-appeals over the years, and studied the results. Here are five tips to make your first sentence GREAT:

1. Short and Sweet

Your first sentence should be short and easy to understand. If your first sentence is long, complex, has lots of commas and clauses, and maybe a statistic or two, would you want to keep wading through? Remember, your reader is using it to decide whether to keep reading . . . or not.

2. Drama, Drama, Drama

Fill it with drama or make it interesting to your donor. Drama and tension are two of the best tools you have for engaging their interest. Or make it something that would be interesting to your donor – which is likely something different than would be interesting to you!

The worst example of this I ever saw was a first sentence that said, “Recently we hosted a staff leadership seminar.” Ouch.

3. What’s The Point?

One of the best first sentences is, “I’m writing to you today because . . .” That sentence forces you to get right to the point – which donors really appreciate. Do you want to know why so few donors actually read fundraising letters? It’s because they know how long it takes most nonprofits to get to the point! So if you and your organization get to the point quickly, your donor will be far more likely to read more.

4. Who Cares?

Another great tactic is to make the first sentence about the donor. Think “I know you care about Koala bears” or “You are one of our most generous donors, so I think you’ll want to know . . .” Listen, most of the other organizations she donates to wax poetic about totally unrelated things or about how great they are. When you write her and talk about her, she’ll love it!

5. Less is More

After you’ve written the first draft of your appeal, you can often delete your first couple of sentences or paragraphs. This happens to me all the time in my own writing, and in appeal letters that I edit for clients. In the first draft, the first couple sentences or paragraphs are often just warmup. They can be deleted and your letter will be stronger because now it gets right to the point.

So next time you’re writing, pay special attention to your first sentence. Keep it short and easy to read. Fill it with drama if you can. And when more people read your writing, more people will donate!

PS — For more on writing appeal letters that move donors to action, check out our free e-book!

Stay Vulnerable, My Friend

Steven Screen | October 2, 2018Ask

I laughed out loud when I heard Tom Ahern say, “A lot of charities could be mistaken for egomaniacs.”

Egomaniacs

It’s true, right? You’ve seen it. You’ve heard from some of those nonprofit egomaniacs. You’ve even given to some of those egomaniacs.

And you and I know the antidote: those organizations need to be more donor-centric.

But I have to admit that “donor-centricity” never quite captured how I think about fundraising. I felt like it was missing an idea that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

So I inhaled audibly when I heard Brené Brown say, “Through my research, I found that vulnerability is the glue that holds relationships together. It’s the magic sauce.”

Vulnerability

“That’s it,” I thought. “That’s what nonprofits need. Nonprofits need to be donor-centric and they need to be vulnerable to their donors.”

Trust me on this, it will make sense in a second.

The dictionary says vulnerable means “capable of or susceptible to being wounded or hurt.”

Most nonprofits tend to communicate as if they are in-vulnerable:

Nonprofits rarely say to the donor, “you are needed now.”
Nonprofits rarely say, “All these good things that happen, it’s because of you.” (Instead they say “look at what we did” and then tepidly say, “thank you for your support.”)
Nonprofits almost never admit that ‘programs will be cut’ or ‘fewer people will be helped’ if the funding does not come in.
Nonprofits rarely talk about the people not being helped / the work not being done. Instead they only talk about successes.

I know this sounds weird because it feels like all nonprofits are asking all the time.

Go look at a lot of nonprofit communications all at once (like most donors experience it in their mailbox and inbox each day). What you’ll see is that most nonprofit fundraising communicates that everything is going fine for the organization, but they do kind of need your support, and it would be special if you’d “join” them.

Does that sound like the nonprofit really needs the donor to take action right now?

Nope.

And then the nonprofits are surprised that they don’t get more donations.

What Does “Vulnerability” Look Like in Nonprofit Fundraising?

Here’s what it looks like in practice. And weirdly, this is exactly what works best most of the time when organizations Ask for donations.

Ask as if they actually, really need help today. Like really, really need the donor to send help! Not hiding the need behind phrases like, “Please consider making a contribution” but boldly saying, “You and your gift are desperately needed. Please send in a gift today, or go online right now to www….”
Communicate that there are reachable people who need help right now. This is telling the donor that there are people in need right now who can/will be helped if the donor responds. Note: this is NOT hiding behind a big number like “4,317 children die of preventable causes each day.” That’s a statistic, not an example of reachable people in need.
Communicate the consequences of not giving. Share with your donor what will happen if she (and others like her) don’t give. Donors almost never hear these consequences. You know them because you’re an expert and you’ve seen it. But the consequences aren’t top of mind for your donor. Remind her. (NOTE: I’m convinced the % of Income donated to charity – a number that has remained basically the same for 40 years – would increase if donors were clearly told the consequences of not giving.)

This Will Feel Awkward and Scary at First

Folks will be worried that “donors won’t think we’re professional if we talk like this” or “we will scare people away” or “donors will think we aren’t good at helping people.” Or even the one I hate the most, “talking about people in need is emotionally manipulative.” (How is it emotionally manipulative to tell the truth, again?)

I cannot tell you what your donors will think. No one can. But I can tell you that the results from test after test are clear: if you are vulnerable and do the things I describe above, you will raise more money in the short term and the long term. With Mass and with Major donors.

Remember: Report

The other side of this coin: if you Ask with vulnerability, you need to Report to your donors what happened because of their gift.

You need to show them how their gift made a difference to your cause or your beneficiaries.

Because Asking powerfully with vulnerability over and over and over again – and never making your donor feel the results and the progress – that’s what makes people tune out over time.

We all have people like this in our lives; they only ever call you when they need help.

You don’t want to be that type of person. And nonprofits don’t want to be that type of nonprofit.

So on a regular basis, you need to send your donors a newsletter that shows them what they’ve done and expresses gratitude for their doing it. You need to send regular emails (not e-news) that share a single great story that shows how the donor’s gift made a difference.

Share the good news and give the donor the credit. This is another example of being vulnerable to your donors. Give them the credit.

Close the loop. Donors will love you for it.

How It Works

You Ask with vulnerability, like you really need help. You show the donor how bad things are happening in the world, but good things will happen if she gives a gift.

She’s emotionally moved. She’ll give you a gift.

Then you Report back to her. You show her an example of how her gift made the world a better place. How her gift helped somebody.

She’s overjoyed! Partially because you told her she made a difference. And partially because most nonprofits usually send her some chest-thumping marketing materials (“Look what we did!”) instead of telling her that she made a difference.

Now she trusts you. She sees that her gift made a difference. She’s FAR more likely to donate to you again.

Now you raise more money with each appeal. Now you keep more of your donors for longer.

Now you raise even more money with each appeal. More people become major donors.

It’s all a cycle. And it starts by telling a donor that she’s needed right now, and that her gift will make a difference.

Nobody said fundraising was easy. But at the core, I think it’s pretty simple to understand.

Want to Go Deeper?

We just released our brand new eBook, Asks That Make Your Donors Take Action. It’s free – go download it.

And in the meantime, be vulnerable!

Lessons from 25 Year-End Fundraising Seasons

Steven Screen | September 25, 2018Ask

This year will be my 25th year-end fundraising season. (In related news, I have a lot of grey hair.)

That means I’ve been a part of about 250 separate year-end campaigns for different nonprofits around North America.

Let me share with you what I’ve learned. Because we do lots of testing, pay close attention to what works, and have a pretty good handle on what works the best.

But before I do, allow me a brief aside. The thing I’m personally most excited about this year is the four low-cost products we just released. They take complex year-end fundraising campaigns and break them down into simple, easy-to-follow steps. They are written and designed so that you’ll learn what to do, when to do it, and how to say it. I couldn’t be more proud.

Today, I want to share how to think about year-end fundraising. It’s a short set of ideas that put you on the path to happy donors and full bank accounts.

Idea #1 – Your donors love to give, but they are busy

Before you do anything, just think about this for a moment. Your donors love to give! Share this idea with your staff and board. If you want to have a great year, you must remember that your donors love to give, but they are busy!

Most nonprofits think two unhelpful things:

Our fundraising makes people give gifts they don’t really want to give.
Every donor receives every message we send.

Neither of those things are true. And if you think those two things, you will only communicate with your donors a couple times in December. That’s a HUGE mistake.

Instead, remember that your donors love to give, but they are busy. They need to be over-communicated with during this busy season. (And if there’s a donor or board member who has already given their year-end gift, by all means remove them from the mailing list!) But for everyone else, you need to communicate to them often enough to break through all the noise, get their attention, and remind them to give you a gift.

Idea #2 – Think of your year-end fundraising as a service

That’s right. Not as fundraising, but as a service to your busy donors who love to give.

You are reminding them to do something they would love to do.

So what makes a good reminder?

A clear focus on the action you want them to take. In all your communications (letters, emails, your website, social) get to the point very quickly. Ask them to give a special year-end gift before the end of the year.
A clear focus on the deadline. Remind donors, again and again, that their special year-end gift is needed before the end of the year. Deadlines are magic in fundraising, and this is the best deadline you’ll ever have. Mention it early and often!
Remind them what their gift does. This is NOT a reminder of what your organization does with their gift. For instance, if you’re an Arts organization, don’t remind them that their gift ‘supports our programs to promote the arts…” Instead, remind your donors that their gift ‘supports the arts so that our community has a thriving arts scene and culture.’

Idea #3 – The only other ideas to add are reasons to give now

Resist the urge to talk about your upcoming capital campaign, or tell a story about somebody you’ve already helped.

The only other ideas to add are reasons your donor should give a gift right now. Things like:

Their gift will be doubled by a matching grant
Your organization has a shortfall and you need to ‘close the gap’ as quickly as possible
You have a big need for funds early in 2018 and the donor’s gift will help

The Main Point

You can do these things and still write a warm, personal letter or email. Really, it’s a matter of focus. Make sure you communicate the main things in a way that donors who just briefly glance at your letter will still get the point.

So, of course, you can talk about how it’s been a good year. And you can thank your donor for their previous generosity. You can even talk about how pretty the snow is.

But those should not be the main, most noticeable parts of your letter. If you write and design you year-end fundraising following the principles above, you’ll raise a lot more money!

This post was originally published in November 2017.

Is Your Annual Report Worth it?

Steven Screen | September 20, 2018Report

If you’ve been thinking about no longer printing and sending your Annual Report, keep reading.

But for you “Steven, just tell me what to do” people, here’s the summary: if you have a good donor-centered newsletter, published multiple times per year, you don’t need to send your annual report to the vast majority of your donors.

Because they don’t need it. And in all likelihood, it’s a waste of money.

Annual Reports Meet a Need… in the PAST

My personal theory is that in the past, annual reports served a useful purpose for donors:

They made the organization look professional
They made the organization look like they are good at what they do
They showed some of the impact that the organization made

All good things.

But here’s the Main Thing: most donors, most of the time, don’t make their giving decisions based on whether an organization is professional or good at what they do.

Smart fundraisers have figured out that most donors make their decisions based on how you make them feel. On emotions.

(I should mention that annual reports are very good at generating one emotion in donors: boredom.)

A Better Idea: Make Your Donors Feel Their impact

How do you make donors feel strong emotions? Send them a donor-centered newsletter that focuses on the donor’s role in the work your organization does, not on your organization’s role. Tell stories of individuals, and tell the stories with emotion.

Those emotional stories that show a donor what her gift did are what makes so many people give gifts in response to receiving a newsletter.

Listen to that again: when you send donors a good newsletter, donors respond with gifts.

When you send them an annual report – no matter how good it is – what do they respond with?

Nothing.

So you get to pick. The choice is pretty clear.

The Two Mis-directed Arguments to Send Your Annual Report

There are two arguments against cancelling your annual report. Neither hold water (in my experience) and they go something like this:

“Even though donors don’t respond, we know they like it and it helps drive future gifts.” I have cancelled a bunch of annual reports over the last ten years. We have NEVER seen a drop in giving. Not even once.
“We must give it to Major Donors, they need it.” No, they don’t. They do need regular Reports on what their giving has accomplished. The annual report is, at best, an OK Report. What’s far better? Customized reports that are aligned with the donor’s passions and interests. Stories of beneficiaries. Pictures of beneficiaries. Meetings on site. Etc. All higher effort than sending an annual report, and all more effective.

The Real Reason to Keep Your Annual Report

There’s one very good reasons to keep your annual report:

You have some Foundation partners, and/or large grantors, who require an annual report.

Then, by all means, make them one. But figure out exactly the requirements and just do that. Don’t do anything else. And print it only for them (if they even need it!).

What to Do With Your Freed-Up Time and Money

Create a donor-centered newsletter. Or if you already have one, make and send another issue. A great newsletter will outperform – and cost less than – an annual report.

Another idea we’re seeing that’s working: about once a month, have your ED send out an email that tells the story of one beneficiary. Make it feel really personal. Strip out as much of your organization’s standard email formatting as you can.

If You Are Forced To Do an Annual Report

If the Powers That Be require you to make an annual report, try to make it a Gratitude Report.

I first heard this idea from Agents of Good in Toronto. It’s a bit of a mind-hack, because the simple reframing of the name helps people see that even though the content is largely the same as an annual report, the goal of the content is to express gratitude to donors for their role. So the “Letter from the Executive” gets written to express gratitude, rather than the standard chest-thumping. The headlines are written to use the word “you,” which makes the content more likely to be read.

But here’s the thing; I think a Gratitude Report is pretty much the same thing as a donor-centric newsletter. Both of them focus on the donor’s role, not the organization. Both of them give credit to the donor.

You can do either one. Do both!

If you can’t do that, do the work to get your annual report stakeholders – the people who feel powerfully about it – to clearly define the purpose of the report and how you are going to measure success. Then measure it to see if it achieves that purpose. And think hard to see if there’s something else you could do to achieve that purpose for less money.

I bet you’ll come back to two ideas: a donor-centered newsletter or a Gratitude Report.

A Big Opportunity…

If you’re still doing a classic annual report, you have a big opportunity in front of you. How are you going to use it?