Category: Repeat

Two Questions Never to Ask About Fundraising

Jeff Brooks  |  Repeat

The following is a hand-picked guest post from Jeff Brooks. Enjoy, and you can read more about Jeff below.

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In fundraising, it’s smart to get more than one pair of eyes on anything you plan to send out.

But not everything you ask people will give you useful or accurate information.

Here are two questions fundraisers often ask others that often lead to fundraising failure:

  1. Do you like this? Fundraising isn’t meant to be liked. It’s meant to connect and persuade. Those are not at all the same thing. In fact, it’s common for the most effective fundraising to be disliked. And when nonprofit staff “like” the message, it is very likely to do poorly with donors. They are the wrong audience entirely. Good fundraising will often rub them the wrong way.

  2. Would you give to this? This might seem a more on-target question. But it’s not. Because rationally thinking through whether or not you’d respond is radically unlike encountering a message, paying attention to it, and following through with a donation. Those two situations are so different, there’s no correlation between the two. If there’s a correlation, it’s the strong negative correlation between insiders saying they’d give and donors actually giving.

If you’re hoping to improve your fundraising, don’t ask anyone either of these questions.

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Steven says, “Jeff Brooks is the brilliant author of Future Fundraising Now (which you should subscribe to).  I’ve been lucky enough to know Jeff since we both had hair that was longer and browner.  He’s the best, clearest voice on direct response fundraising that I know of.”

Should You Write at a Sixth Grade Level?

Tom Ahern  |  Repeat
Sixth grade reading.

The following is a hand-picked guest post from Tom Ahern. Enjoy, and you can read more about Tom below.

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Do low grade scores read as dumbing down?

If you write an appeal at the 6th-grade level, you’re not targeting kids. You’re helping busy adults “get” your ask as fast as possible.

[The subhead above was written at the 6th-grade level, as scored by Flesch-Kincaid. It has a reading ease score of 76 out of 100, far ABOVE the desired minimum of 55. Did you recoil? Did you instantly think: “Dammit, Tom. Stop talking down to me!”]

——

There it was… in my email in-box: the Bat signal … from a friend and colleague…

Hi Tom,

I have a work problem and need your help, please!

When I got to [insert charity name here; it’s in NYC], they were passing the foundation’s quarterly impact reports verbatim on to major donors.

My boss saw that I have the comms knack and let me take over editing these to make them “individual-donor friendly” – mainly choosing one impact story and highlighting a person receiving benefit from our programs, with photo, etc…

Now we have a new VP of Development. The guy who writes these foundation reports directly reports to her… and she is now letting him stick his nose into what we are doing. He has no training in fundraising.

While I was at a doctor appointment a few weeks ago, my junior colleague agreed to share the draft he and I had been working on with this guy, who proceeded to torture him for 45 minutes and tell him how stupid he was for using low Flesch-Kincaid grade scores as our benchmark. To summarize the marcomm rant: “Our donors are not stupid” etc.

You’ve heard it all before.

So I have a very small window in which to educate this ignoramus. I have a big folder of stuff I’ve accumulated over the years plus books.

Do you have any sort of executive summary of Tom’s laws that I can share? If not, I can provide the kit and kaboodle to my colleague, and he can distill it down.

Best,
[name deleted]

PS: I can’t believe this is happening.

——

My reply to [name deleted]…

Preach, sister. (And so sorry!)

Clearly, your marcomm guy doesn’t know what he doesn’t yet know. And weren’t we all in those shoes once upon a time?

It’s almost an unbelievable story, after all.

Who would guess that the Flesch-Kincaid readability scales are one of the best-kept trade secrets of the world’s most successful direct-mail copywriters?

Or who would guess that these same Flesch-Kincaid ease-of-reading scales dictate how the U.S. Navy writes its maintenance manuals? Keeping that sophisticated machinery humming are bright, recent high-school graduates. Hey, sailor: Got a problem? Here’s how to fix it quickly. Even though you’re not a nuclear scientist.

So, my friend, here’s an excerpt from a book I compiled from experts around the world: If Only You’d Known….

If you’re looking for the equivalent to “Tom’s laws,” this is as close as I have.

Chapter 15

What’s the preferred “grade level” of reading for a direct mail appeal?

[  ] 6th grade
[  ] 9th grade
[  ] 12th grade

Grade level and speed reading

[Answer to the quiz above] You’re not sure, right? Well, what if I told you that this particular direct mail appeal hoped to raise donations from alumni of a prestigious university?

In that case, you might assume “12th grade.” The thinking: write at the same grade level as a person’s educational attainment.

Otherwise you commit the insult of “writing down.”

Not exactly

“Grade level,” as measured by the standard Flesch-Kincaid readability scoring system,[1] has nothing to do with your intelligence or how far you went in school.

The system scores just one thing:
How quickly my brain can move through your prose.
Below, on the left, are the readability scores for a successful direct mail letter.

On the right are the readability scores for a university-written case for support. The one on the left will be a brisk read for everyone. The one on the right will be a slog for everyone, including the Ph.Ds.

You decide.

Your writing can bring me clarity and quick understanding. Or your writing can bring me labor. Which do you think is more “reader convenient”… or appreciated?

[1] Built into Microsoft Word and available for free on the internet

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Steven says, “Tom Ahern was described by the New York Times as “…one of the country’s most sought-after creators of fundraising messages.” Tom has what I’d call the industry-leading newsletter about fundraising. Being mentioned in it was a career highlight for me. You can (and should!) subscribe for free here.”

Three Stories that Move Donors to Give

Chris Davenport  |  Repeat
Stories for action.

The following is a hand-picked guest post from Chris Davenport.  Enjoy, and you can read more about Chris below.

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A simple (and kind of genius) framework to help your donor feel amazing — and keep giving

Donor communications can feel like a grind.

Whether you’re writing an appeal, a thank-you, or a report — you’re constantly trying to find the right words to keep people engaged, inspired, and giving.

And if you’ve ever thought:
“How many ways can I tell the same story?”
“What do I even say in this update?”
“Does any of this actually matter to the donor?”

You’re not alone. And you’re not doing it wrong.

The truth is:
You don’t need endless stories.
You don’t need a brand-new emotional angle every time.
You just need a simple rhythm your donor can feel—and respond to.

You don’t need a million stories.
You just need three.
And they follow a simple, powerful path.

And yes — it works whether you serve people, protect ecosystems, fund the arts, or fight for policy change.

Maybe your organization protects forests. Or fights for clean air. Or keeps art alive in schools.

You might not think of your cause as having a “beneficiary,” but you absolutely have something (or someone) at stake.

The key is to treat that thing — whether it’s a river, a painting, a policy, or a species — as a character in your story.

  • What does it need?
  • What threatens it?
  • What changes if the donor steps in?

If a wetland is about to be bulldozed…
If a coral reef is hanging by a thread…
If a mural is being erased from a neighborhood…

You have a story.
You just need to frame it like one. And once you do, these 3 stories become your new go-to.

And once you do, these 3 stories become your new go-to.

1. The Story That Asks

What your donor’s gift WILL do

This is where the donor steps into the story — not as a bystander, but as the person who can change everything.

You share a real, unresolved situation. The stakes are high. The outcome is not yet written.

And the donor? They’re the missing piece.

Example (Human story):
“Right now, Mia is 7 years old and skipping school — not because she doesn’t want to learn, but because hunger makes it impossible to focus.
With your $25 gift, you’ll place a hot meal in front of her tonight.”

Example (Environmental):
“Right now, ancient trees that house hundreds of species are days away from being cut down.
Your gift will help protect this forest from permanent destruction.”

This is the story where their gift WILL do something powerful.
It’s full of urgency, emotion, and possibility.

2. The Story That Thanks

What your donor’s gift IS doing

Now zoom in on the moment of impact.

This isn’t a receipt or a vague “thank you for supporting our mission.”
This is a snapshot. A sigh of relief. A small-but-holy moment the donor made possible.

Example (Human):
“Mia sat down in the lunchroom with a hot meal on her tray — just like you provided. She picked up her fork, looked up at her teacher, and whispered, ‘Tell them thank you for me.’”

Example (Environmental):
“Right now, your gift is fueling a team of rangers patrolling the forest line — keeping the chainsaws out and the wildlife safe. Because of you, protection is happening today.”

This is where your donor feels the impact of their gift IS in motion — right now.

3. The Story That Reports

What your donor’s gift DID

Now you complete the loop.

This is the victory lap — but it’s not just celebration. It’s an invitation. You show what their gift accomplished and what still needs to be done.

Example (Human):
“Because of you, Mia is back in school and smiling again. She hasn’t missed a day in weeks. But this morning, a new child walked in late… head down, stomach growling.
Will you give again so they don’t have to sit through class hungry?”

Example (Environmental):
“Your gift saved this forest. You kept the chainsaws out — and the birds, the trees, the life here?
They’re still thriving because of you.
But the destruction didn’t stop. Just down the road, another ancient grove is marked for clearing.
Will you step in again?”

This story reminds them: You gave. It helped. Want to do it again?

Why This Works (and why it feels so good)

These three stories follow a rhythm that donors love — whether they realize it or not:

  • The Ask Story shows what their gift WILL do
  • The Thank You Story shows what their gift IS doing
  • The Report Story shows what their gift DID

That framework — WILL, IS, DID — comes from Steven Screen at the Better Fundraising Company. And once you start using it, you’ll never go back.

Because when your donor sees their gift in motion, it builds trust.
When they feel what they made possible, it builds joy.
And when they’re invited to keep going, it builds momentum.

This isn’t just better storytelling.
It’s better fundraising.
And it feels better to send, too.

Bonus Tip: Want more stuff like this?

You’ll love the QuickApply Library. [https://nonprofitstorytellingconference.com/quickapply-library/]

It’s full of fast, practical mini-guides to help you raise more money with better stories. These aren’t the same old tips — most of what’s in there is new, or at least totally re-framed to be easier and more effective.

No fluff. Just storytelling tools that work.

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Steven says: “Chris Davenport is the founder of the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference – the most practical and impactful fundraising conference there is.  Chris has trained thousands of Fundraisers to use story-driven communication to raise more money and build deeper relationships with donors.  Check out his ‘QuickApply’ library if you’d like to know more, and I hope to see you at this year’s conference!”

Fundraising Strategy Session

Lisa Sargent  |  Repeat

The following is a hand-picked guest post from Lisa Sargent.  Enjoy, and you can read more about Lisa below.

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As a fundraising copywriter I get asked a lot about strategy.

“How often should we communicate with supporters?”
“Is mail really better – or email?”
“What if our nonprofit can’t do the thing you suggest?”

For all the advice around strategy, you still have foundational questions. And you’re hoping for actionable, achievable answers. Fear not! Today we’ll get real-world answers to my most asked questions – sized for every organization – to help you grow your donor fundraising and retention communications.

Let’s dig in.

Question 1: What should an effective donor communications calendar look like for my nonprofit?

Answer:

First, let me say: I get what you’re facing. Everywhere you look, it feels like someone is telling you that you’re mailing too much or not enough, or the wrong stuff. But no one is sharing what a working (and workable), effective, sustainable, real-life fundraising calendar looks like. It’s time we change that.

I call this basic strategy the “dead simple donor comms calendar.”

Yes, there are variations. (After the basic plan, below, you’ll find two alternatives.) Yes, you may need to adapt these plans depending on the maturity of your donor communications program, the timing of milestone dates/events in your nonprofit, and the capacity/skillset of your fundraising team.

But this entry strategy is a great goal to work towards and, for the record, one of the plans my clients often use.

Basic 3X3 Donor Comms Calendar: [3 newsletters/3 appeals + reminder]
Approx. size of organization working this plan: $3 million+; 2-3 person team (**see Note2) 

Jan/Feb: Donor newsletter
Apr/May: Appeal
June: Donor newsletter
Sept: Appeal
Oct: Donor newsletter
Nov: Holiday Appeal
Dec: Holiday Reminder
Extra Mailings (*see Note1)

My design partner Sandie (aka Designer Sandie) and I have used variations of this to help clients achieve successes such as:

  • an organization that grew its active donors from 2,000 to over 20,000 (increasing to a nearly 70% retention rate), 
  • a nonprofit that grew its direct marketing income six-fold,
  • another that routinely saw 10+ percent response rates to newsletters,
  • another that cross-purposes its comms to attract new supporters, encourage legacy gifts, and promote new services.

*Note1: You will have other pieces happening at the same time. You may be modifying your calendar to incorporate other, special appeals. Bespoke TYs – custom-crafted to each appeal and newsletter – are built into these plans. For today, you’ll see these “extra” pieces labeled as Satellite Mailings at the end of each calendar.

**Note2: When I talk about the team, I mean on the client side. In my case, the other part of the team is me and Designer Sandie, plus the printer of choice [or print management company, etc.] our clients work with.

Here’s a second donor comms plan, one of the variations I mentioned a moment ago, a slightly expanded calendar…

4X4 Donor Communications Calendar: [4 newsletters/4 appeals + reminder]
Approx size of organization working this plan: Approx $8mil organization; 3+ person fundraising team (+ temp helpers for holiday) 

Early Feb: Thank-You Newsletter
March: Special Services Appeal
April: Spring Newsletter
June: Summer Appeal
July: Newsletter [includes special gratitude premium]
September: Autumn Appeal
October: Autumn Newsletter
November: Holiday Appeal
December: Holiday Reminder
Extra Mailings (*see Note1 at basic plan above)

And here’s another for a larger organization, that incorporates multiple special mailings and replaces one of the newsletters with a stewardship mailing:

Expanded Donor Communications Calendar: [3 newsletters/Specialized packs and multiple appeals]
Approx size of organization working this plan: Approx $20mil+ organization; 6+ person fundraising team 

Jan: Winter Newsletter
Feb: Tax Mailing
Mar:  Special Appeal
Apr/May: Spring Newsletter
June: Summer Appeal
July: Supporter Survey Pack and Survey Follow-Ups
August: Summer Newsletter
September: Autumn Appeal
October: Special Stewardship Mailing
October: Tax Reminders
November: Holiday Appeal
December: Holiday Reminder

Extra Mailings (*see Note1 at basic plan above)

Hopefully this glimpse into real-life communications plans shines a light for you on how to chart your own donor communications strategy – and feel confident doing so! 

Question 2: Which is better – email or mail? (The answer everyone wants to know!)

Fast answer: tl;dr – The answer is both, whenever you can.

Full answer [with side story and statistics]:

Not long ago in response to my LinkedIn post about print and older eyes, a nonprofit consultant who is over age 50 – they said so, fyi – wanted me to know “older givers” are tech savvy too. So why was I STILL talking about print? They wanted me to know they immediately throw away everything that comes from nonprofits in the mail!

The answer I gave became a feature article called How to Write for Older Donors, in my newsletter. And, so you know, I also use tech and am over age 50… and I advocate for print (direct mail) because results prove me right.

For today I want to share an excerpt from Chapter 4 of my book Thankology,which looks at why the answer to the email vs. mail question is always “Do both, whenever you can.” (fyi: all nonprofits described in the previous section on donor comms calendars do digital and direct mail, even the smaller nonprofits).

>> Statistic 1:  The effect of adding a communications channel***

Read as: What can happen when you add mail to an email-only program; or add email to a mail-only program:

A study of 2,000 nonprofits that ran from 2016 to 2019 and published in the Network for Good whitepaper, Our Digital Dilemma, found “a strong relationship between donor retention and consistent multi-channel engagement,” including:

“Nonprofits that increased the number of channels used to engage donors [from one channel to 2+] retained 11.89% donors year-over-year.”

>> Statistic 2: The effect of removing a communications channel***

Read as: What can happen when, for example, a decision is made that “no one wants print” and nonprofit moves from a mail/email combo program to only email:

“Conversely, nonprofits who were using a multi-channel framework but reverted to single-channel saw their median year-over-year retention drop by 31.32%. (A join Virtuous/NextAfter study of 119 nonprofits showed mult-channel donors give 3X more, too.)”

***Note for Statistics 1 and 2:
Network for Good is now Bonterra. I’ve searched for a new link to the Digital Dilemma whitepaper and can’t locate one. If I find it, I’ll update everyone in a future Loyalty Letter. You can, however, get the 2021 Virtuous/Next After study on free sign-up, here: https://www.multichannelnonprofit.com. The study also found that for “donors who give both offline and online…their first-year donor retention rate is two times higher.” 

To sum up?

Based on the research, and results we’ve seen over the years, the best answer is that if you want to keep your donors connected and giving, you’ll do both: digital and mail.

Question 3: For email vs. mail, what about thank-you letters? Do I send both? (What I told L.)

Below is the full text of the question that L. – a reader from a small nonprofit in the UK – wrote me about what to do if she can’t afford to mail everyone thank-yous, and needs to use email-only for some:

L. wrote:

As a small charity, with no real advice to hand, I am really focussing, at the moment, on creating and writing top notch Thank You letters to our donors. The one thing that perplexes me most is whether to email or write a letter and at what level of giving a letter is more appropriate or whether it is entirely acceptable to just send emails (bearing in mind the cost of postage in the UK is absurd).

Here’s my answer to L.:

If donors come to you via online donations, remember you need some kind of disclaimer that mentions you’ll communicate with them by post. (You want the option to do this.)

Gift acknowledgment may fall into the ‘administrative communications’ gray zone for charity regulations, but I’d check those rules first if you haven’t. It’s super easy to add a notice to your donation page, by including a variation of this wording below your opt-in boxes online (again run past your legal team or check charity regs first):

We’ll also keep you updated by post. You can update your communication preferences any time at [link to full email of donor care for your org here]. And for more information you can see our privacy statement here.

Then, for each appeal and newsletter, you can craft one version of a thank-you (TY) for post (mail), and one for email. All of my nonprofit clients send post and email TYs to every supporter who gives (and has given permission to contact). The reason for this is gratitude and acknowledgment firstly, and secondly because we know when donors give by more than one channel (online/post e.g.) they give longer and stronger (see data in Question 2).

With that said, knowing your charity is still small and growing, you could tier who receives both post and email TYs, and who receives email-only.

You’ll know your donors best. But for example, you might consider:

  • all new donors get both,
  • all monthly givers get both when they sign up
  • repeat givers (so, second gift especially which is huge in importance, and beyond if you can)
  • donors who give over a certain threshold/and loyal givers
  • tax-efficient givers
  • in memoriam/tribute givers, in-mems especially who we know have a connection to legacy.

Have a think on thanking these donors with an eye towards stewardship and retention, then as your organization grows, you can consider bringing more people into the double-thank-you strategy.

I went on to refer L. to my thank-you clinic on SOFII, free, no sign-up needed, gateway article here: https://sofii.org/article/how-to-write-a-better-thank-you-letter-and-why-it-matters   

Question 4: My head is spinning. Can you leave me with one suggestion to act on for today?

Answer: Yes! Spool up on – and start drip feeding across your communications – the opportunity to give through legacy donations.

By this I mean:  Help show donors how they can leave a gift to your organization in their will.

You’ll find tips on overcoming common bequest giving barriers – plus super easy ways you can start to incorporate legacy giving in your messaging, right here in my blog post, Legacy Logjams and How to Free Them.

The simplest of all? Get a legacy checkbox on your reply form (donation slip, reply device, etc.) It has not, for us, suppressed response to appeals, just so you know.

You can keep it simple:
[   ] Please send me details on how I can remember the work of [your charity’s name here] in my Will.

OR add emotion:
[   ]   I’d like to leave a legacy of love – please post free details to me on how I can leave a gift in my Will to [remember homeless pets, advance breast cancer research, etc].

One of our clients saw their first legacy donation about 18 months after we added these. We can’t prove this made the difference, but they had never mentioned legacy giving to their donors before that. 

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© Lisa Sargent and Lisa Sargent Communications, used with permission. If you adapt or repurpose this content in any format, please be a guardian of good karma and get your proper permissions. And, of course, remember that this information is provided for informational purposes only, and should not be considered as legal advice on any subject matter.

Steven says: “Lisa Sargent is a fundraising expert and the author of Thankology, the best book on thanking donors that I’ve ever read.  You can (and should!) subscribe to her newsletter here.”

Lisa says: “If this mini-strategy session helped you, you can:

Subscribe to my Loyalty Letter newsletter for fundraisers
Connect/follow/say hello on LinkedIn
Check out Thankology (on Amazon or Bookshop)
Find free fundraising resources at lisasargent.com

“Thank you for reading today, and big thanks to Steven, Jim, and The Better Fundraising Co. for sharing a place on their blog.“

Test First Class Postage This Fall

Bill Jacobs  |  Repeat
First class mail.

The following is a hand-picked guest post from Bill Jacobs.  Enjoy, and you can read more about Bill below.

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One of the disturbing USPS trends – other than raising the cost of postage every year – is the bulk delivery of appeal letters with nonprofit postage.

Over the past year, when I’ve checked my mailbox for the appeal letters I’m seeded on, I’ve noticed that I receive all my nonprofit appeal letters on the same day. ALL OF THEM.

Now, I know that the official drop dates of these appeals are not the same. They could be weeks apart. Yet, time and time again, all the appeals land in my mailbox the same day.

And that is a disaster.

Not only are your appeals competing with other organizations, but you are also competing with your own appeals that dropped weeks before.

One of the keys to direct mail appeal response is getting the envelope opened. And it creates immense competition when a dozen appeals arrive on the same day in a donors’ mailbox.

It’s no wonder response rates to direct mail appeals are plummeting.

So it’s imperative this fall that you test using more expensive first-class postage to give your appeal a chance to be opened.

Otherwise, anything you mail with nonprofit postage can expect very low response rates.

* * *

Steven says: “Bill Jacobs is a fundraising analyst and founder of AnalyticalOnes.  I’ve learned more from Bill about analyzing fundraising data and knowing what to do next than from anyone else in my entire career.  You should subscribe to Bill’s blog, Data Stories!”

This post was originally published on May 6, 2024.

Answers to 5 Key Questions About Monthly Giving

Erica Waasdorp  |  Repeat
5 key questions and answers.

The following is a hand-picked guest post from Erica Waasdorp. Enjoy, and you can read more about Erica below.

* * *

As I’m sure you can imagine, fundraisers ask me questions about monthly giving all of the time. That’s why I wanted to answer a few of those key questions.

1. What’s the Best Time of Year to Ask for Monthly Gifts?

There is no bad time to ask for monthly gifts, but if you want to plan for prime times, they’re September/October and February/March.

I love calling September “sustainer month.” It’s an ideal time to focus on monthly giving. The kids are back in school. People have returned from vacations. You’re not yet in the heavy giving season. What is a better way to engage donors than by asking them to consider a monthly gift right now? Consider a small sustainer drive, integrating all your messaging, aimed at monthly gifts.

Then do the same in February/March. You may have recent one-time donors you can invite to consider converting to give monthly.

Having said this, if you want to grow your monthly donor program, you must ask your small donors as often as possible. It’s so easy to build in extra monthly-giving buttons, so you’re constantly planting the seeds about recurring giving. Just look at your annual communications plan and add some monthly giving campaigns and then make sure you do them. What do you have to lose?

2. What’s the Next Big Trend When It Comes to Monthly Giving?

Instead of worrying about the next big trend, I think it’s more important that each nonprofit looks at giving more opportunities for donors to consider a monthly gift. The good news is that I’m starting to see more of that.

  • Electronic bank transfer. Nonprofits are offering an electronic bank transfer, aka automated clearinghouse (ACH), which is good news as that will help prevent expiring and declining credit cards. Some organizations have also started preselecting the ACH on their forms.
  • Texting. More nonprofits can add texting to the mix and that’s a great way to support a campaign.
  • Connected TV (CTV). The larger nonprofits are successful in using CTV. It’s much more expensive than mail, email and phone though.

The more important trend, though, is what you are seeing in your own nonprofit. What have you done to generate new monthly donors? Then consider adding a few more emails and seeing where you can add monthly gifts to your direct mail pieces.

Oh, by the way, remember to repurpose your content. If you had an email that worked well for one-time gifts two years ago, can you use it again to ask for a monthly gift this time?

3. Can Donors Give Monthly from their Donor-Advised Fund (DAF)?

Yes, donors can use their DAF to make recurring grants. They typically have $50 a month minimum. Donors can choose other frequencies, and unfortunately, they can set an end date. It’s important to always follow directions on how the donor wants to be recognized, but other than that, you can steward them like you would other monthly donors.

If you can, code them in your donor database as recurring DAF donors.

Just like with online banking donors who set up recurring gifts without telling you, you may be able to find these recurring donors by looking at trends in your donor database.

4. Are Workplace Giving Donors Recurring Donors as Well?

Just like with DAF monthly donors, these recurring donors come in through a different “system,” if you will, so it’s not feeding into the same bucket. You’ll need to tally them differently. I’m going to assume that you’re able to code them as such to pull separate reports. You may need to give them a separate attribute or group so you can segment them as needed.

For example, you can most likely pull a report from your donor database for your monthly donors and see how many there are, as well as their monthly and annualized value. Then run a report for your DAF recurring donors and your workplace givers and calculate the same. That will be your total of recurring donors for overall trend purposes.

The key question though with these types of monthly donors is how do you steward them. If someone makes a gift from their paycheck, absolutely consider them a monthly donor and let them know how special they are. If someone makes a recurring gift from their DAF, absolutely, recognize them as special. This leads to the next question.

5. Is There a Difference in Stewarding One-Time versus Monthly Donors?

In the old days, we tried to leave monthly donors alone. Now, not so much. The minute someone starts making that first monthly gift, code them in your donor database and email program so that you can do something special.

Take some time and map out what you’re sending to one-time donors during the year. Look at what other departments, like major gifts, are doing?

What can you borrow or implement? What can you customize for monthly donors with just a short intro message change? What can you add that makes the donor feel special? Perhaps a phone call, a text message or a handwritten thank-you card. What would make your nonprofit stand out? What would make the donor feel most engaged?

For example, if you have a print newsletter, send it. If you have email news updates, send them. All of those are totally great.

If your donors are used to receiving mail, and they haven’t told you to stop sending mail, send them your key appeals. Add in a short message of gratitude and make it clear you’re asking for an extra gift. But remove any reference to a monthly-gift ask from those appeals because they’re already giving monthly.

Automate what you can. Then use opportunities that come up to do things that are surprising but are of interest to monthly donors who are invested and interested in what goes on. If you can send a text message, great. Do that. If you can send a video from the field, great. Do that.

Just remember that donors want to know their gifts matter. That’s the key driver for all of your stewardship messaging. Make your monthly donors feel special.

* * *

Steven says: This is a guest post from Erica Waasdorp, the renown (and wonderful!) author of Monthly Giving Made Easy. If you want to start a monthly giving program, or make yours better, start with Erica. Sign up for her newsletter (plus free resources) here.

This post was originally published by NonProfitPRO on September 20, 2023.

Maintain Wonder While Being Skeptical

Steven Screen  |  Repeat
Sense of wonder.

There’s a great quote from Carl Sagan that, while not ostensibly about fundraising, is absolutely about fundraising:

“At the heart of science is a balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes – an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive, and the most ruthlessly skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new.  This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense.”

I post that quote today for multiple fun reasons…

I laughed when I read it because there’s a lot of “deep nonsense” in the fundraising world. 

The phrase “deep nonsense” is exceptional writing.  It’s catchy, contradictory, and true all at the same time.

I’ve always admired Carl Sagan.  He and Neil DeGrasse Tyson are mentors of a sort to me.

And speaking of mentors, the next few blog posts are going to be from some of my “fundraising mentors.”

There will be some names you recognize, and hopefully some names that you don’t.  Each post coming your way is great (I’ve vetted every single one).  Hopefully you’ll be introduced to some new people who will become part of your tribe of fundraising mentors.

As a reader of this blog, I’m betting you have some of that “wonder” at this amazing thing called Fundraising that we get to do.  And you have some of the skepticism that “winnows the deep truths from the deep nonsense.”

I hope the next posts will help you identify some new ideas and mentors to help you do even more good than you’re already doing!

Your Brand

Steven Screen  |  Repeat
Brand.

For your individual donors, your nonprofit’s brand is far more than your visual identity and voice.

Your brand is also:

  • Whether your fundraising is accessible, or takes thought and education to understand
  • Whether it’s easy to give you a gift online, or not
  • Whether you “report back” to donors that their gift made a difference, or you brag about how big a difference your organization makes (“We helped 4,317 people last year!”)
  • Whether you thank donors promptly, or not

For individual donors, your brand is the total experience a donor has while donating to your nonprofit.

For most small nonprofits, the “next step” to strengthening your brand with individual donors has nothing to do with your visual identity, and everything to do with your donors’ experience.

It Can Be Hard to Change Your Ideas about Fundraising

Steven Screen  |  Repeat
Self-reflection.

I wrote a couple days ago about how smaller nonprofits must often create fundraising messages that they don’t prefer for their fundraising to be more successful.

Today, I want to take a moment to acknowledge that changing your ideas about fundraising can be emotionally difficult. 

For a Founder, or for someone who is passionate about their fundraising, it can be a very real struggle to try a fundraising message or strategy that doesn’t personally resonate. 

Let me share my own experience with this, in hopes that it’s helpful. 

Here’s the thing to know about me: I strongly prefer not to make mistakes.  In fact, I hate mistakes.  I fear being wrong.  I fear being judged.

My fear around avoidable mistakes has positive consequences – for instance, it made me a fantastic student.

But it also has negative consequences.  For instance, I’m occasionally a pain in the neck to work with.

So it was challenging for me when I learned that the easiest way for smaller nonprofits to raise more money is to send out more fundraising.

Wait, I thought, wouldn’t the best way be to make each piece of fundraising more perfect?  We’ll eliminate all the mistakes, get everything up to best-practices… wouldn’t that bring all the money in?

Nope.  I saw again and again that the nonprofits that grew their individual donor fundraising the fastest were seeing that “showing up regularly in donors’ lives” is more important than “showing up perfectly in donors’ lives.”

It didn’t seem possible that “sending more fundraising” could work.  It didn’t seem possible that the occasional typo or “wrong thing showing through the envelope window” could work.

But if I’m honest, the real conflict was with my personal preferences and fears.  I was thinking, If we have to move faster we’re going to make mistakes.  I don’t want to focus on the total number of pieces, I want each piece to be an un-critique-able jewel box of fundraising brilliance.  <<pounds podium>>  I’m a copywriter and a storyteller, dammit, not some cheap content machine! 

I’m poking fun at myself here, but my feelings of discomfort were real.

And you’ll smile at why my thinking on this issue eventually changed; I saw the strategy of “showing up regularly is more important than showing up perfectly” succeed so many times for so many organizations that eventually I realized I would be making a mistake if I didn’t change my thinking.  And you know I don’t like to make mistakes.  Sheesh.

Anyway.  I still don’t prefer the “showing up regularly is more important than showing up perfectly” approach to mass donor fundraising.  But I embrace it because it so obviously helps small nonprofits raise more money and increase donor retention rates.  And because making the world a better place is more important than my own personal preferences and fears.

So… acknowledging that we all have preferences and fears… and acknowledging that doing things in a non-preferred way can be difficult… is there anything about your organization’s fundraising that should be changed in order to raise more money and fund more work, even if you don’t prefer the change?