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.

“Remind, Don’t Persuade”

Steven Screen  |  Ask
A tree whose leaves have turned orange and red is in a field of golden grass

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:

  1. Remind donors of the problem that your organization exists to help solve
  2. 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!

A Mistake I Wish I Didn’t Make

Steven Screen  |  Repeat
A finger caught in a mousetrap

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

It was a typical nonprofit workday when my boss walked into my office. He had a direct mail piece in his hand. It was from a non-profit he supported. He gave it to me and said . . .

“I like this. I bet it brought in a lot of money. Don’t you think we should do something like this?”

Uh-oh.

Has this happened to you? Speaking as someone who’s been in your seat; if it hasn’t happened yet, it will soon!

The next day my boss came in again and shared an idea for a fundraising project. The idea had been brought to him by a board member. Like the direct mail piece, it was for a different kind of non-profit and audience. He said it raised a lot of money and asked me that same question, “Don’t you think we should do it?”

Feeling the pressure and wanting to please my boss, I caved in. Within a few weeks my team and I were neck deep into the new project. We didn’t have the time or the resources needed to execute it properly – but by then we were too far along to stop.

When we finished we were all exhausted. And as you may have guessed, it didn’t make any money. Plus in our efforts to see the project through, we weren’t able to get to our regular work. So we missed deadlines and lost revenue.

Here’s what I learned:

Know what works for your organization. Then do it again, again, and again

Or as we say here at Better Fundraising, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat. You’ve spent time and money in the past figuring out what your donors like and don’t like. For me, in every case I can remember, I’ve raised more money by doing another of what the donor’s responded to instead of trying something new.

Jim and Steven tell me they see this all the time – organizations who have successful tactics but replace them (or only use them once a year) because they think their donors will get tired of them. I can tell you from experience that so much time and money is wasted doing this!

How To Try New Tactics

Don’t get me wrong, I like trying new things but NOT at the expense of my staff and NOT if it puts ongoing successful fundraising projects in jeopardy.

So here’s how I ended up running things. If we wanted to try something new, we did our research, planned, and put it in the next year’s budget. In the meantime, we repeated what worked well for us in the past and we did it more than once. For example, we had a Thanksgiving letter that always worked great. So instead of trying something new, we sent two Thanksgiving letters the next year. It worked great.

The Two Big Lessons

  1. It’s very risky to replace a tried-and-true fundraising tactic with something new. Know how much revenue is at risk when you make the decision!
  2. If you did something that really worked with your donors, figure out how to use the same concept twice the following year. I should note that this doesn’t really go for events, but it has worked for me more times than I can count in the mail, email, and major donor proposals!

1/3 of Your Annual Donations Are at Stake This Year-End — Do You Have a Plan?

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Ask ?

When a third of your annual donations are at stake, you must make sure your donors receive the right message at the right time — and in the right way.

Come mid-November, you’ll find yourself in this exact situation.

So … do you have a great plan?

Introducing Your GREAT Year-End Fundraising Calendar

We’ve worked with and talked to hundreds of nonprofit leaders like you. Most of them don’t know exactly what to do and when to do it to make the most of their year-end. So, we developed a calendar.

Your Best-Ever Year-End Fundraising Calendar shows you the days, times and places you need to communicate with donors at year-end.  You’ll know exactly when to mail letters, send emails, update your website, and post on Facebook!

The guesswork is gone!

Vision House Raised 22% More Than They’d Ever Raised Before

Last year, we used the calendar with Vision House, a client that serves homeless families in the Seattle area. They needed to raise a significant amount of money last December. Together, we reviewed their planned list of November and December donor communications against our suggested calendar.

We discovered they were missing out on key opportunities:

  1. There was space in their calendar for another print appeal
  2. They needed to do more communication online

We added a timely print appeal and three emails to the end of December. And the results were powerful — a 22% lift over their previous best year-end!

How much more would you raise with a 22% increase in revenue?  Would spending $100 to achieve that be a good investment?

Raise More Money at Year-End — Just Like Vision House

You can run the most successful year-end campaign you’ve had yet – in half the time and with far less stress.

But you need to get started right away.

Get your Year-End Fundraising Calendar now!

[FREE RESOURCE] Storytelling for ACTION ebook

Steven Screen  |  Uncategorized

We made a free ebook to help you raise more money!

Here’s what Tom Ahern said about it: “Get it. Read it. Implement it. Make way more money.”

If that’s not enough, here’s a sample of what you’ll get. This is our “Story Type Matrix” — it’s 20 years of hard-won storytelling advice about what types of stories to tell and when to tell them, condensed into a single powerful page.

And that’s just page 13. There are 40 other pages.

I mentioned this is free, right?

Why would we give away this level of information? Two reasons:

  1. There’s a lot of un-tested information about storytelling out there. Just “being good at storytelling” or “telling stories well” isn’t the magical fundraising tool it’s made out to be. What stories you tell, and when you tell them, matters a TON.
  2. We’re sharing this because our goal at Better Fundraising is to radically improve the fundraising capacity of small to medium-sized nonprofits. That’s why we’re here. We’re constantly looking for ways, for free or at very low cost, that we can share what we’ve found (through vigorous testing) works best in fundraising.

Download your free ebook today!

Hidden Pitfalls: Not Following Up on a Pledge

Steven Screen  |  Ask, Major Donor Fundraising

Is your organization good at following up on pledges from donors?

In my experience, most organizations aren’t. And it’s especially apparent with major donor pledges.

The lack of follow-up usually comes from fears around ‘bothering’ or ‘badgering’ the donor. People fear they will ‘drive the donor away’ or ’cause a problem in the relationship’ — especially when the donor is a major donor or a board member.

And only one person needs to voice these fears and they spread like wildfire.

But these fears are mostly unfounded and do far more damage than you think.

When follow-up on a donor pledge is absent or insufficient, here’s what that communicates to the donor:

It says that the donor’s gift isn’t important.

Because if their gift was important – if it really mattered – the organization would be in touch with the donor early and often. It would be telling them how important that gift is. The organization would actively be trying to get the gift!

It says that the donor herself isn’t important.

Donors know that other people are giving to your organization. They imagine that you’re out having wonderful lunches with the big donors, happily giving and receiving, making the world a better place and enjoying it while you do. So when a donor isn’t followed up with, they feel like they must not be important enough to get the good treatment.

It says that your organization doesn’t have its act together.

The donor knows you have to pay bills, pay salaries, and use money to help the people who need help. When a donor makes a pledge and doesn’t hear enough about it, it feels to her like your organization must not track money very well. It makes her wonder what happened to the other donors who made pledges. And if you’re really raising as much money and helping as many people as you say you are.

The donor doesn’t feel like their gift makes a difference.

The most important one. If a donor doesn’t hear directly and often about her pledge, she wonders if her pledge was really going to make a difference. Because if it was really going to make a difference – if it was really needed – wouldn’t the organization have gotten in touch with her? Maybe her gifts don’t make that much of a difference after all . . .

Makes you want to do a good job following up with the pledges you receive, doesn’t it? Here’s a quick list for how to do that well:

  1. Always have a deadline. Deadlines are amazing at causing action to happen – both on your part and on your donor’s part!
  2. Communicate with your donor(s) early and often about their pledge. I recommend 3 times: once immediately after the pledge, once about halfway from the pledge to the deadline, and once a month before the deadline.
  3. In your communications, mention that their gift is important, that it matters, and that it will make a difference. You want your donor to know that her gift matters and that it is needed.
  4. Be sure to mention that you understand if circumstances change and they can’t give the amount they pledged or fulfill their pledge by the deadline. You want to give your donors an honorable way out.

Think of the whole thing as a ‘kind business process’ that’s honoring to your donors and honoring to your cause or beneficiaries. Don’t let fear get in the way of loving follow-ups! If you do, you’ll lose revenue and harm relationships with donors.

Does your fundraising subtext tell donors they matter, or that they don’t?

Steven Screen  |  Podcast
Fundraising is Beautiful Podcast

What’s the subtext of your donor-communications stream? That is, what’s the overarching message they’re getting, even though you might not be saying it out loud?

For many organizations, it’s:

  • We’ve got this.
  • We’re taking care of the problem.
  • You can partner with us if you like.

But for the really effective fundraisers, the subtext is more like this:

  • There’s a problem.
  • We’re looking for great people like you to help solve it.
  • Are are helping solve it!

This is the basis of donor love. The big message you communicate with them.

We’ll show you how to change your subtext into one that thrills and involves donors — and keeps them giving.

The 1 Thing to Know for Year-End Fundraising

Steven Screen  |  Uncategorized
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The reason your organization raises so much money at year-end has little to do with your organization.

But it has a LOT to do with your donors.

Please, let me tell you how you can use this information to help your donors give even more. This is a big idea.

People aren’t more generous in November and December because they suddenly wake up and want to help nonprofits. Your donors are more generous because this is time of year they celebrate thankfulness and generosity. This is when they celebrate the gifts they’ve been given (personally, financially, spiritually), and focus on the things that matter most to them.

A natural outcome of your donors’ celebrations — and of thinking more about what they care about — makes them more likely to give gifts. They put their money where their heart is.

Here’s why I’m telling you this . . .

Focus your message at year-end on what your donors care about and you’ll raise more money.

But most nonprofits don’t do this! Instead, they focus their messaging on the organization itself. They talk about what the organization did during the year. They talk about the programs of the organization.

Here’s a super-simple example of why focusing on what the donor cares about is so effective. Imagine you’re an arts organization. Here’s what your donors care about, in order of importance:

  1. The arts
  2. Promoting and/or preserving the arts
  3. Organizations that promote or preserve the arts

Remember, the organizations that raise the most money tend to focus on what donors care about most.

So, this arts organization would focus their messaging on the arts themselves, and how the donor’s gift will promote or preserve them.

But most organizations write about themselves. They are focusing their messaging on the least important of the three things their donor cares about! Their letter will be all about what their organization is doing to promote and preserve the arts. Then they’ll ask the donor to “support the organization” or to “help us continue this good work.”

Here’s what works far better: talking less about the organization, and asking the donor to ‘support the arts.’

In practice, this means making your year-end letters, emails and website features more about your cause and your beneficiaries than about your organization.

I know this works. Our clients usually see their biggest gains working with us at year-end, mostly because we help them communicate more about what their donors care more about! We even sell samples of year-end appeal letters that are proven to work – and if you look at the samples you’ll notice that they talk very little about the organization that sent the letter. They talk to the donor about the cause or the beneficiaries, and about how the donor can help.

So this year more than ever, make your donor communications about what your donors care about most!

5 tips for a successful year-end fundraising campaign – and the one tool to rule them all

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Ask ?

We know staring at December on the calendar can make your palms sweaty. It puts a lot of pressure on you.

We’ve been in your shoes many, many times. And…

You don’t have to do your planning alone

First, here are 5 tips for you to focus on. Then when you’re done here, go Get Your Best Ever Year-End Fundraising Calendar. Take advantage of years of experience and testing, and use the calendar to know what to do and when to do it.

Five tips to help you plan

Tip 1: Choose a goal
You want to know how much you need to raise so that you can build a plan to reach your goal.

Tip 2: Communicate to your donors multiple ways
Direct mail is still the number one way to raise money at year-end — but email, your website and social are raising more and more!

Tip 3: Think about all of your donor communications as a single combined campaign
Make sure you’re communicating the same message, modified to fit each channel, whether it’s a Facebook post or a letter in the mail.

Tip 4: Ask early & often
Some people give early, some give later, and some take multiple reminders before they give. Start early, and repetition is your friend!

Tip 5: Do a lot at the end of the year
There’s a HUGE surge in giving after Christmas. Be sure you’re in front of your donors multiple times between Christmas and New Years.

Next, get our Best Ever Year-End Fundraising Calendar (and our other year-end products) to help you rock your Year-End fundraising! You’ll exactly what to do, when to do it, and how to say it!

Get Your Best Ever Year-End Fundraising Calendar now

Four Tips for Analyzing Your Fundraising Effectiveness

Steven Screen  |  Measure
Three vertical blocks of increasing height depict a 3-D graph. An orange arrow follows along the top of the blocks to suggest upward or increased growth

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Analytical Ones, the leading nonprofit donor data analysis firm. Bill, the founder and a personal friend, is an expert at helping you know what to measure in order to raise more money!

Four Tips for Analyzing Your Fundraising Effectiveness

In fundraising, there are just three strategies to increase your revenue: Win, Lift & Keep.

Win is acquiring first time donors or reactivating lapsed donors back; Lift is about your donors raising more money than they did the previous year; and Keep refers to retaining your donors from one year to the next.

The critical question is, which strategy should you focus on that will increase the revenue from your fundraising activities with the least amount of work on your part?

  1. Commit to Measuring Your Donors’ Fundraising Performance

    Peter Drucker once said, “If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” If the goal is to raise money for your organization, then it is imperative that you spend the time to thoroughly measure the fundraising outcomes of your activities and compare it to previous years. If you don’t, then your fundraising won’t improve. It’s that simple.

  2. Study Your New or Reactivated Donors over the past 3 years

    Every fundraiser should be able to answer these WIN questions:

    1. How many brand-new donors did we attract this year? And how does it compare to previous years?
    2. How many lapsed donors did we reactivate this year? And how does it compare to previous years?
    3. What percent of new and reactivated donors from last year gave this year? And how does it compare to previous years?

  3. Analyze Donors Giving Trends over the past 3 years

    Focus on these LIFT questions for your organization:

    1. What percent of the participants gave more revenue this year than last? And how does it compare to previous years?
    2. What percent of your donors made 8+ gifts? (These are great sustainer and planned giving prospects). And how does it compare to previous years?
    3. How much of your total revenue is coming from donors giving $10,000 or more? How does this compare to previous years?

  4. Measure Donor Retention

    Make a plan to know these KEEP metrics:

    1. What percent of the donors who gave last year gave this year? And how does it compare to previous years?
    2. What are your donor retention rates by Lifecycle? Are they improving over last year?
    3. What are your donor retention rates by donor value? How does it compare to last year?

If you commit to measuring the effectiveness of your fundraising, these nine Win, Lift & Keep metrics, will help you improve your organization’s fundraising.

PS – If some of these terms or metrics are new to you, please download our free “Guide to Fundraising Metrics” from the bottom of our homepage at AnalyticalOnes.com.

Ed. Note: This week is the launch of 4 new products to help you raise more money at year-end than you ever have before. Visit our store to see how to Keep and Lift your donors before the end of the year.