Steven Screen

Here are 12 fundraising tips — most of them super-easy and ready to try immediately — that can boost your fundraising results, this holiday season or any other time of year.

The coming weeks are the probably the most important of the year for your fundraising. Here are practical tips for both direct mail and online fundraising that can make the most of the generosity your donors feel as the year comes to an end.

A donor writes a letter to the president of the organization. It’s an articulate critique of what the donor dislikes about their fundraising: It’s simplistic, repetitious, and emotional. What do you do? What do you say? We read an actual letter from a real donor and talk through the right — and wrong — response. There’s a disastrously bad response that many organizations make to letters like this. There’s also an affirming, correct, and revenue-enhancing response.

Storytelling that persuades donors to action isn’t magic. You just have to make sure your has these elements:

• It’s about the donor (not about your awesome organization)
• It leads to the donor taking action — entering the story
• It’s unfinished — you want to donor to create the satisfying end to the story.

Do you ever wonder if your donor communications are truly donor-focused? Check what you’re saying against this list:

1. Donors are the heroes of most of the stories you tell.
2. Donors get prompt, detailed, and frequent information about the impact of their giving.
3. Donors has control over how you communicate with them.
4. Design is appropriate for donors — not aimed at internal audiences.

Your nonprofit website does a lot of things. If you want it to be helpful to your fundraising, make sure it has these three elements:

1. Information that tells them than can trust you.
2. A clear statement of what you do.
3. Easy-to-use donation form(s).

That’s not a complete list of everything you should have — just three musts you’ shouldn’t let slip. These things will help you raise more money, both online and offline.

Are you getting too much fundraising revenue? Do you need fewer donors to support your work? Here’s how you can help solve that problem:

1. Write and design for your coworkers (or yourself).
2. Change the subject between your acquisition and cultivation messages.
3. Educate your donors.
4. Develop your website differently from your offline messages.
5. Have sloppy donor data.

Here’s an excerpt from the new book The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand: Motivating Donors to Give, Give Happily, and Keep on Giving.

Find out what branding can and should do for your fundraising, and why it often doesn’t. Learn how fundraisers are like forklift drivers, and what you can do to build a money-raising brand for your nonprofit.

The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand is available at:

• Amazon
• Amazon UK
• Wiley (best bet if you’re outside North America or Europe)