Author: Steven

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.

Say “Thank You” Like You Really Mean It

Steven  |  Thank

Note from Steven: This is a guest post from Lisa, an experienced Development Director who is on the Better Fundraising team.

Your receipt letters are arguably the most-opened, most-read piece of mail (or email) you’ll ever sent to your donors. Are you giving them the attention they deserve?

When I started as the Director of Development at a local non-profit, the first thing I looked at was the receipting process. Why? Because the receipt letter was the first ‘touch’ a donor would receive after sending in their gift.

What I found was an organization that loved their donors but didn’t know how to thank them. It was common practice to hold on to the receipts until there were enough to mail at a bulk rate. This meant some donors were being asked for another gift BEFORE they had been thanked for their first one.

The receipts letters were generic so they could be used year around. There was no acknowledgment of the donor’s actual gift amount, or what their gift was used for.

Put on your “donor hat” for a moment. How would you feel about receiving a generic receipt after you’ve been asked again?

I would probably look somewhere else to donate my charitable dollars. And I believe many of their donors did.

So simply saying “thank you” IS NOT enough.

Better Fundraising understands the importance of saying thank you and how to say it well. It is part of their “virtuous circle” and the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat system.

So what does it mean to thank donors well?

  • Let them know you received their gift in a timely fashion. Ideally, within 2-3 business days after you received their gift.
  • Be sincere and emotional in your thank letter. True gratitude shines through a well-written thank you.
  • Let them know what their gift was used for. For example, if you asked them to give a gift provide food and shelter, thank them for providing food and shelter.

And the thank yous don’t need to stop here! You can thank donors multiple times for their gift. By phone, text, online, at an event, a hand-written note. You can also develop a different thank you strategy for your mass, mids and major donors.

Thanking donors well should be part of your organization’s culture. If it’s not, start today!

To learn more about thanking donors (especially important this time of year!) watch Jim and Steven’s video on saying “Thank You.”

The False Assumption That Does Massive Damage

Steven  |  Repeat

There’s an assumption most nonprofits make that does massive damage to their fundraising, their beneficiaries, and their donors.

When a fundraising letter, email or event does really well, too many nonprofits assume that they cannot do that same thing again.

Yet I know from experience (and lots & lots of testing) that the opposite is true! If something works, it has a very high likelihood of working again. And there are no longterm negative effects.

But between you and me, just saying this to nonprofits doesn’t change their behavior. They don’t believe it. It goes so strongly against their “common sense” that sometimes I think they literally can’t even hear me say it.

So let’s pull apart the assumption and take it piece by piece.

Assumption #1: “All our donors heard about this”

Unfortunately, “all our donors” didn’t hear about it. Less than half of them did. Take a look:

  • If it was a successful email, and your email open rate is 30%, then 7 out of 10 donors never saw your message.
  • If it was a successful direct mail piece, your open rate is maybe 50%, so 5 out of 10 donors didn’t even hear about it.
  • If it was an event, maybe a couple hundred people on your donor file heard about it. So hundreds, maybe thousands of people don’t even know it happened.

So instead of making assumptions, let’s embrace Reality #1: a maximum of half your donors heard about it, and it’s probably lower than that. If those donors liked it so much, why not send it again to give your other donors a chance?

Assumption #2: “We can’t repeat something, our donors will stop paying attention.”

Let me tell you a story. Storytime With Steven! Earlier in my career, I used to spend a couple million dollars a year buying radio ads all across the country. Our goal was to get each listener to hear the same ad three times in one week. 3 times in a week! Because when that happened we saw sales increase. The maxim we lived by was this:

  1. The first time a listener hears an ad, they barely notice it.
  2. The second time they hear it, they start to pay attention.
  3. The third time they hear it, they pay attention if they are interested.

The same principle holds true in fundraising. Unfortunately, fundraisers are afraid that donors will stop paying attention. But in my 25 years of fundraising I have NEVER seen data that showed donors paid less attention. There’s a story from a single donor or three, of course. Last year we had a client use the same offer in two mailings in a row because the first mailing did so well. They came to me really worried about “all the complaints” they were receiving. But when we checked, it was only about 15 complaints, half of were donors saying that the problem must be bigger than they thought for the organization to ask two times in a row. And in addition to those 7 or 8 complaints they received over 700 gifts.

It’s not a fun truth, but it’s a truth nonetheless: our donors aren’t paying as close attention as we’d like to think. So instead of assuming, let’s embrace the Reality #2: repeating your message helps your donors notice it, remember it, and be more likely to take action. Commercial advertisers and marketers know that repetition is one of their most important tools. (It’s also one of the reasons that “Repeat” is in Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat.)

Assumption #3: “Repeating messages will alienate our core donors.”

This is the only assumption that has a grain of truth. There are some donors that this could happen to. But the trick is to figure out who they are and treat them separately!

  • If there are board members who won’t like seeing a similar mail or email two times in a row, take them off the mailing list for the second impact.
  • If you’re going to use the same powerful ask at an event for the 2nd year in a row and you’re worried about a major donor, call that donor, tell them your plan, and ask them if they’d like to come.
  • If a donor complains, take them off your list for some of your impacts.

The mistake most nonprofits make is to take the personal preferences of a very small handful of staff & donors and apply that to all their donors. That’s a big mistake.

Instead of making an assumption, let’s embrace Reality #3: all our donors are not the same, let’s not take the preferences of a few close-in donors and apply them to the rest of our donors. We’ll learn what most of our donors like through asking them and closely watching the results.

So . . . next time . . .

Next time you have a successful fundraising effort – be it in the mail, or email, or an event — look for how you can make the same offer to your donors again. Soon. Because if a lot of your donors responded the first time, it’s likely to work as well or better the next time.

Listen, this fundraising thing you’re doing is not a test. It’s possible lives are at stake. We don’t have time for false assumptions, and we have to be willing to take a couple complaints from board members in exchange for raising thousands of more dollars and bringing joy to so many more donors!

Guest-Post Bonanza!

Steven  |  Ask
Analytical Ones Logo

This month I was honored to write three guest blog posts for Analytical Ones, the leading nonprofit donor data analysis firm.

The three posts tell the story of how we came up with our Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat system – and how to use it to raise more money and build trust with your donors. Plus there’s a short section on using the simple system with Mass donors as opposed to Major donors.

Here are the links:

Part I: The story that successful fundraising organizations tell their donors

Part II: Simplicity Before Complexity

Part III: Building Trust

Enjoy!

What I Wish I Knew Then

Steven  |  Ask, Report, Thank

Note from Steven: This is a guest post from Lisa, an experienced Development Director who is on the Better Fundraising team.

When I was a new development director, there never seemed to be enough time, money or man power to get everything done. It was overwhelming. Sound familiar?

I knew I needed to prioritize . . . but even that was hard.

As you sit in your seat today, wondering how you can have the biggest impact possible, take this advice from a person who played every role in her development department. Here are three things I wish someone would have told me right at the beginning . . .

Make it clear what the donor’s gift will do

Specifically, make it clear enough so a donor could easily repeat it to their friends.

Your organization probably does a lot of great things, but you need to focus on just one powerful thing. It’s ok if what you ask donors to do is only part of what your organization does. I’ve noticed that most donors respond better to one simple thing than having to learn about all your organization does.

Always have a system to thank your donors promptly

Donors should be thanked and receipted 24-48 hours after you receive their donation. If they give online they will get a digital thank you right away, but follow that up with a thank you in the mail. For larger gifts, you may want to call and personally thank the donor.

As I built relationships with donors over the years I learned that you cannot thank a donor too quickly. But, thanking a donor to slowly is a surefire way to losing donors over time.

Show each donor the difference their gift made

People give because they want to make a difference. So let them know how their gift made a difference! For most of your donors, this can be done in your organization’s newsletter. Or an e-update, but in my experience e-updates aren’t nearly as good at engaging donors as a printed newsletter.

And for major donors, do whatever it takes to show them.

Take them on a site visit, prepare a special report just for them, whatever it takes to show them how their gift made a difference!

Do these three things and you WILL see improvements in your program. Better Fundraising gets this. Their Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat formula teaches and emphasizes the fundamentals of fundraising, helping you prioritize and work on the things that really matter!

3 ways to maximize your year-end fundraising letters

Steven  |  Ask

The most successful year-end fundraising campaigns all share some key features. They use tested, proven strategies that win year after year. And year after year, organizations just update the letters and send them out again.

That’s right.

They send the same message year after year. And get a fantastic response, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars!

You can get the same fantastic response by taking the three tips below to heart.

Tip 1: Ask boldly. Ask often.

Don’t wait until the end of your letter to ask the donor to give. Try asking in at least five or six places throughout. It helps to be specific and concrete when you ask a donor to give. Remind them that the people or cause you serve need help. Tell them what will happen if the money isn’t raised, and the specific impact their donation will have.

Tip 2: Talk about the people who need help, not your organization.

It’s a common mistake to make your organization the hero of your story. It’s also a big one. Your donor should be the hero of the story. Use your letter to explain how the donor can directly make an impact, not how they can help your organization make an impact.

Tip 3: Create urgency, include a deadline and a goal.

Year-end is a natural deadline to highlight in your letter, especially since December 31 is also the deadline for federal charitable tax deductions. Repeat the “midnight, December 31” deadline throughout your letter, on the OE, and the response device. Remember to always pair it with a clear monetary goal.

Get proven year-end fundraising letter samples

Would you like to see some real letters that used the principles above — and brought in more and bigger donations at year-end? And what if we said you could steal from these letters to create your own letter to your own donors?

You can get these samples — and see why they worked, as well as get in-depth instructions on how to use them to create your own successful year-end appeals — for just $129. That’s just $129 to raise thousands more!

We want you to raise more money for your great cause.

Better than a class

Buying these proven samples is better than a fundraising class or conference. With those, you spend anywhere from $150-$500, lose a day of work, and maybe learn something. Hopefully you’re a better fundraiser than you were before.

With these samples you’ll spend $129, upgrade your entire year-end fundraising, and raise thousands more dollars while spending less time doing it. This is a “the best money we’ve ever spent” kind of opportunity.

The “S” Word That Is Good, Not Naughty

Steven  |  Uncategorized
The letter "S" for "Segmentation"

The “S” word that I’m talking about is “Segmentation.”

It’s the art and science of not treating all of the people in your database the same. Instead, you want to break them into smaller “segments.”

Here’s why this is important: good segmentation will let you save money on what you’re currently doing while raising more money. Segmentation is a 2-for-1 improvement to your organization.

Here’s what I want to provide:

A super-simple guide to segmentation for smaller nonprofits.

And here’s why I want to do it: most of the small nonprofits I get to work with don’t do enough segmentation. They tend to treat every person in their database the same. They waste money and miss opportunities.

Here’s a simple summary. It’s not perfect for everyone, but it’s a good start:

  • Send your appeal letters to all donors who have given a gift in the last 18 months. (Don’t send them to non-donors, or to volunteers, or to in-kind donors, or to donors who last gave years ago – it’s not worth the money.)
  • Send your newsletters to all donors who have given a gift in the last 18 months. (Same as above — as a rule, you will spend more money on printing and postage than you will receive in gifts.)
  • However, send your Christmas/Holiday/Year-end letters to all donors who have given a gift in the last 36 months. This is the time to include your non-donors and your volunteers.
  • Send your e-appeals to everyone on your email list.
  • Send your e-newsletters or e-updates to everyone on your email list.

That’s it. There are about 15 ways that it quickly becomes complex. But the main thing to remember is that the people most likely to give you gifts are your donors. And organizations that really analyze their results quickly figure out that it’s not worth their money to send mail to people who haven’t donated in a while.

And here’s how you can use segmentation to raise more money . . .

Identify your “segment” of major donors and send them special versions of your direct mail.

Because your major donors can give you such large gifts, it is worth spending extra money on your mailings to them. Here’s what to spend your money on:

  1. Larger envelopes
  2. Nicer paper
  3. Customized proposals in the mailing

The purpose of spending the extra money is pretty simple: it’s to increase the chance that a major donor will OPEN your mailing. And if you do that with your major donors, you will raise more money!

For Major Donors, November > December

Steven  |  Major Donor Fundraising

“Most major donors make their giving decisions prior to December.”

That’s a powerful lesson that I learned the hard way. My background was mass donor fundraising; sending out millions of letters, and creating donor-acquition TV shows, and doing radio campaigns.

In that world, December is the most important month to focus on.

But when I started doing major donor fundraising I was taught two incredibly powerful things for major donor fundraising at this time of year:

  1. Know exactly which of your major donors have not given a gift yet during this year
  2. Ask those majors to give a gift no later than early November.

What I learned was that a large portion of major donors make their giving decisions before Thanksgiving. And there are lots of stories about major donor families meeting during Thanksgiving weekend to decide what organizations to support that year.

Not all majors are like this. But in my experience, enough of them are that soliciting your majors before Thanksgiving works better than after Thanksgiving.

For the majors that you are going to meet with and ask in person, aim for before thanksgiving. (Which means you should start setting up those meetings in October.) For the majors who you are sending a major donor proposal or mailing to, send it the first week of November.

Could you make a reminder call in December? Of course? If they haven’t given yet, should they still be included in your year-end direct mail and emails? Of course.

And remember:

For most organizations major donors provide between 80% and 90% of total revenue from individual donors.

This is important. This is worth your focus. It’s worth doing early.

tl;dr? For majors, November > December

And if you need help making a plan for your majors, check out our webinar. We created it expressly to help smaller organizations maximize their major donor revenue and relationships! It will walk you through the easy way to make a proven plan to get major gifts before the end of the year.

How to use photos in fundraising

Steven  |  Podcast
Fundraising is Beautiful Podcast

Take note of this:

A picture is worth a thousand words. So choose your pictures carefully!

We take a look at the ways photos can emotional depth and measurable pull-power to your fundraising … or undermine your message entirely!

A good fundraiser knows when to use “negative” images and when to use the positive ones we prefer. Find out in this episode the rhythm and balance of images that motivate donors to give. And to keep giving.

No Mystery, Just a Major Donor System That Works

Steven  |  Major Donor Fundraising

Hopefully you’ve heard that Jim is hosting a webinar expressly designed to help you get major gifts before December 31st.

This is your last chance to sign up for the live webinar, where you’ll be able to get Jim’s advice and your questions answered.

Listen, this thing is the real deal. It’s about giving you an easy-to-follow system to get major gifts AND deepen your relationships with major donors.

Because major donor fundraising shouldn’t feel like an unsolvable mystery. I’m in all the meetings, hearing questions like ‘How do I know who to talk to first?’ and ‘What do I do if I can’t get a meeting with them?’ and ‘That donor already gave last year, what do I ask them to give to this year? And how much?’

Jim has the answers.

Well, he doesn’t have all the answers. He has a system. And that system gives you your best shot at getting gifts. And the system is built to honor your donors and deepen your relationships with them. Because we believe the same thing our friends at the Veritus Group do: it’s not just about the money!

Take a look at this graphic from the webinar. Jim is teaching you his 4-step Identify, Rank, Move, Ask system. It’s easy. And after this page you’ll know who to focus your time, efforts and money on first. And second. And third.

We built you a spreadsheet that you’ll receive with your purchase. It’s built so that you can enter your donor data, rank and track your majors. For a small shop without a sophisticated donor software system, this alone is gold and worth the price of the webinar.

But I need to be clear; you’ll still have to do some work. This isn’t some magical unicorn of a webinar that solves all your major donor problems. There is no silver bullet.

Let’s just call it a shortcut. This webinar allows you to download the accumulated wisdom of the really smart fundraisers who have gone before you. They know that successful major donor fundraising is about having a system —> that generates a plan —> that tells you who to talk to next and what to say to them —> which gives you the best chance for major donor fundraising success.

Especially at this time of year.

Because there are no guarantees. But you CAN stack the odds in your favor.

Sign up for Jim’s webinar today. It’s October 12 at 10:00 am Pacific Time. If you can’t make it, we’ll record it for you so you can watch it as soon as you want to start raising more money.

It’s $179. It’s in the territory of “the best $179 you’ve ever spent.” With the seminar and a little work (which you were already going to do, but now it will be more focused) you’ll raise thousands (or tens of thousands) more. And you’ll have a system that you can use for ALL of next year to raise even more from your donors. Go sign up!