Category: Report

The Harmful Big Assumption

Steven  |  Report
complain

When a nonprofit is discussing a complaint that’s come in, someone invariably says…

“…and if this person complained, there must be a lot of other donors who feel the same way but didn’t send anything in.”

This is a big assumption. And it’s made out of fear.

It’s a completely understandable assumption. It’s the same assumption I made at the beginning of my career.

I think people naturally assume that a complainer speaks for more people than themselves because fundraising can be awkward. Fundraising makes us feel vulnerable. Many people just plain don’t like it.

But if we’re going to make the assumption that every complaint indicates that there must be a lot of other donors who feel the same way but didn’t send anything in, I counsel organizations to make another similar assumption: that every gift indicates that there must be a lot of other donors who feel the same way but didn’t send anything in.

After all, it’s hard to argue that only one of those assumptions is true, no?

Put it this way: if you argue that each complainer speaks for other people, you also have to argue that each giver speaks for other people.

Say a complainer “speaks for” 5 people who didn’t send a complaint in. And a giver “speaks for” 5 people who didn’t send in a gift.

If you received 2 complaints, that’s 10 people who had a complaint but didn’t send it in. If you received 50 gifts, that’s 250 people who considered making a gift but didn’t send one in.

So, what’s best for the organization: making changes to the fundraising so that the 10 donors avoid thinking about making a complaint, or making changes to the fundraising so that the 250 people who were thinking about making a gift go ahead and make a gift?

Seems obvious, right?

What’s more, there are multiple proven tactics to help people who are looking at your fundraising to go ahead and make the gift:

  • Custom reply devices on each mailing and custom landing pages for each email
  • Custom gift ask amounts for each donor
  • Ensuring your online content echoes and reinforces your offline content, so that more donors will see the same message multiple times, which increases the likelihood of them giving a gift.

Now we’re in the realm of proven tactics instead of worry.

Big Picture

Complaints are going to happen to any growing organization that’s reliant on individual donors.

When a complaint comes in, don’t let a reasonable-but-fear-based assumption harm your fundraising efforts. Don’t focus on the negative.

Instead, choose to have an abundance mindset. Move from worry to making proven improvements.

The whole goal of this series of blog posts on complaints has been to help organizations get used to complaints, because complaints are a natural part of growth, and set up a system to handle complaints with the appropriate amount of energy.

When you do this, you’ll spend less time and energy on complaints. And you can spend that time doing concrete things that will help your organization raise more money in the future.

If you’re going to make an assumption about donor behavior, also look to see if the opposite assumption is true.

Read the series:

  1. Getting Used to Complaints
  2. Outline for How to Respond to a Complaint
  3. Not All Complaints are Equal
  4. Natural, But Not Productive
  5. The Two Times Smaller Orgs Get More Complaints
  6. So. Many. Reasons. To. Complain.
  7. The Harmful Big Assumption (this post)
  8. Turning Complaints into Gifts
  9. “Friendly Fire” — Complaints from Internal Audiences
  10. Our Final Thoughts on Complaints

Outline for How to Respond to a Complaint

Steven  |  Report
Receive complaint.

Here’s a handy outline for how to handle a complaint in person or on the phone.

You’re welcome to modify the outline as needed for your organization – there isn’t any magic in any one particular step. But there is magic in the overall approach, which I’ll describe below.

This approach assumes that the person complaining is reacting to the content or strategy of your fundraising, as opposed to an error the organization made, like mailing a donor who has asked not to be mailed, or calling a donor by the wrong name, etc.

Here’s the outline:

  • Thank the person for getting in touch.
  • Ask them to tell you what’s bothering them.
  • When they are finished, ask, “Is there anything else?”
  • Thank them for reading and responding to your fundraising.
  • Tell them that you appreciate them because most people a) don’t pay as close attention as they do, and b) don’t get in touch when they have a problem.
  • Tell them that you’re sorry they don’t like the [INSERT REASON FOR COMPLAINT], but that your organization a) does this because it causes the most engagement with donors, which b) causes the most gifts to come in, so that c) your organization can help your beneficiaries or cause as much as possible.
  • Tell them that your organization realizes that not every donor is going to like every piece of fundraising, that you wish that weren’t the case, but “the occasional staff or donor not liking the occasional piece of fundraising” is a small price to pay in order to help more beneficiaries.
    • NOTE: you can even say, “I don’t really care for [INSERT REASON FOR COMPLAINT] either, but I know it works great and because of it we’re having more of an impact than ever.”
  • Ask the person if they would like to be communicated with differently (e.g., “removed from appeal letters,” or “receive fewer communications”).
    • Repeat their preferences back to them, and ensure your organization has a system in place to execute their preferences.
  • Thank them again for getting in touch, and for giving you the chance to tell them why your organization does fundraising the way it does. Then tell them that you so appreciate the person getting in touch so you can communicate with them in the way they want to be communicated with.

The Big Idea

The “magic” of this approach is the belief (and attitude) that your organization has done nothing wrong.

Most organizations respond to complaints and complainers out of fear. The whole conversation with a complainer is filled with fear-based worries like, “Are we going to lose this donor?” and “So many other donors must feel this way.”

And after a conversation with a Complainer, there’s often an immediate push to change an organization’s fundraising approach – regardless of whether the approach is successfully raising money.

Don’t use that fear-based response. Instead, believe that your organization has done nothing wrong and confidently follow this outline.

Because complaints are going to happen to any organization that’s raising more and acquiring more individual donors. The trick is to learn to accept complaints as a “cost of doing business” instead of managing the organization to remain small enough so that you rarely get them.

Read the series:

  1. Getting Used to Complaints
  2. Outline for How to Respond to a Complaint (this post)
  3. Not All Complaints are Equal
  4. Natural, But Not Productive
  5. The Two Times Smaller Orgs Get More Complaints
  6. So. Many. Reasons. To. Complain.
  7. The Harmful Big Assumption
  8. Turning Complaints into Gifts
  9. “Friendly Fire” — Complaints from Internal Audiences
  10. Our Final Thoughts on Complaints

Use your Social Posts to Build Better Donor Relationships

Jonathan Steck  |  Report
social

Fundraising is as much about building relationships with your donors as it is about raising money for your cause.

This is especially true for your mass donors, who because of their sheer numbers often don’t receive the face-to-face attention that your mid-level and major donors would. And it’s because of this, that frequent communication to your mass donors becomes more important.

Think about it this way…

Every appeal letter, newsletter, email, phone call, and social post from your organization is building an important relationship with your donor.

And one of the easiest, and most cost-effective ways to build that relationship is through social media. It may not yield the same number of gifts as your appeal letters, but social media can be an engaging way to interact, often in real-time, with your donors… if it’s done right.

There are lots of social media tips and tactics for fundraisers out there, but sometimes it’s worthwhile to remember the simple things.

1. Keep the post focused on one idea

Try not to muddy the waters by including multiple messages in your social post. Many organizations make this mistake and lose the donor’s interest in the process. Tell a story, promote an event, ask for help, but try not to do everything all at once. Remember, you only have a few precious seconds to grab and keep your donor’s attention, so keep focused on idea.

2. Make sure the image or video you use is relevant

It might sound obvious, but if you’re planning on including an image or a video in your social post, make sure it’s relevant to your headline and content. If you’re talking about Thanksgiving, for example, consider using images that best illustrate this holiday.

3. Make sure your landing page links work

Every clicked on a URL only to be directed to a random page? Or none at all? Before scheduling your social post, be sure to check the URL you’re using and that the content in your post matches the content on the landing page.

4. Keep your message donor-focused

Your social posts can absolutely be an extension of your fundraising, so just as we recommend doing with your appeal letters and newsletters, write your social posts with your donor in mind. Talk about the impact of their gift, how they helped solve a problem, or the difference they can make.

These four reminders are basic, and may be second nature, but if you’re tentatively dipping your toes in the social media water, and need some lane ropes, then we hope these suggestions help you build better relationships with your donors.

Your Organization and Printed Newsletters

Steven  |  Report
newsletter

As you think about doing you printed newsletter differently than you’ve done it in the past – or maybe doing a print newsletter for the very first time – you’re going to find out that your organization has an opinion about print newsletters.

Perhaps even a STRONG opinion.

It’s important to surface and name your organization’s underlying assumptions:

  • Maybe your organization believes that printed newsletters are obsolete. (They aren’t.)
  • Maybe your organization believes that printed newsletters shouldn’t or can’t raise money. (Neither are true.)
  • Maybe your organization believes the way you’ve always done your newsletter is the only way your organization can do a newsletter. (Not true.)
  • Maybe your organization fears that if you change your newsletter in any way, your donors will leave. (Also not true.)
  • Maybe your organization believes you could do a newsletter like the one taught here, but you could never do an Ask along with it because it would offend donors. (You guessed it, not true!)

I’ve run into all of these beliefs before. And it doesn’t matter what you believe – what matters is that you identify the beliefs that result in your current approach. Compare your current approach with the approach outlined in this series. Then decide which approach to take.

Because great newsletters don’t raise money by accident. Content is included for a purpose, and content is excluded for a purpose. Each of those things can cause conflict, and change can be hard for nonprofits.

Your printed newsletter should be raising a lot of money

It should be raising as much as your appeals and, in some cases, even more.

The goal of this series has been to give you a tested, proven approach to creating a donor-delighting, money-raising printed newsletter.

And here’s why we’re so confident about these recommendations:

  • Direct mail experts ran a series of head-to-head tests of different types of printed newsletters. The approach detailed here beat all the other approaches.
  • We’ve used this approach since 2004 to reliably (and sometimes incredibly) increase the money nonprofits raise from their newsletters.
  • We’ve taught this model at conferences, seminars and webinars. We’ve received hundreds of pieces of feedback about how the approach increased newsletter revenue. You do not need to be an expert to follow this model and raise more money!

So take it this approach and apply it to your organization. Test it against your current approach, or any other approach.

Follow the simple rules above and you’ll be on your way to raising more money and retaining more of your donors.

Good luck!

This post was originally published on August 11, 2020. Get a free downloadable “e-book” of this whole series here.

Print Newsletter Design: Readable and Scannable Above All Else

Steven  |  Report
Newsletter design.

For the smaller nonprofits out there, who don’t have super-pro Designers creating their newsletters, do not worry.

Your newsletter does not need to have fancy or complicated design to be successful.

In fact, fancy and complicated design usually lowers readability – which lowers the effectiveness of your newsletter.

What you’re going for is “clean and easy to read.”

Here are a bunch of examples – kept purposefully small. You will be able to tell at a glance which ones are readable… and which aren’t. 

This, Not That

This cover…

Not this cover…

That second cover has too much going on. I think there are six elements in the header alone. Too much copy. Seven different type treatments.

This interior page…

Not this interior page…

That second interior page has far too much copy. The one photo is too small. 

This back page…

Not this back page…

The second back page has waaay too much “reverse text” (white text on a dark background) which is very hard to read for older donors. Plus it’s a self-mailer, which raises less money than newsletters that follow the format taught in these blog posts.

The lesson here: look at your newsletter from a few feet away. Does it look friendly?  Easy to read?  Or does it look thick with information and visually cluttered?

That’s Fine, But What Do I Do?

Here are the general newsletter rules we live by:

  • Not too much text
  • 13 point typeface or larger
  • Headlines, subheads and picture captions should always be in a high-contrast color (preferably black)
  • Use reverse text only when it’s a couple/few words in larger type
  • Black text on a white background is always the most readable
  • Don’t put your text in colors that are low contrast (they are harder to read for older donors). 
  • 2 or 3 text columns max

Know What’s Most Important

The trick is to know what’s most important.

If you’re judging your newsletter by asking, “Does it look nice and use our brand colors?” you’re asking the wrong question.

The first, most important question is, “Is it easy to read and convey our main message in a couple seconds?”

Nail that. Then add graphic elements and flourishes but keep the text readable. 

Because remember, it’s all about readability. If fewer people read your fundraising, fewer people give to your fundraising. So make your fundraising newsletter easy to read!

This post was originally published on July 23, 2020. Get a free downloadable “e-book” of this whole series here.

The Back Page: How to Turn Those Good Feelings into Donations

Steven  |  Report
pages

The back page of your print newsletter is where your donor’s good feelings can turn into another gift… or not.

What’s Happened So Far

If you’ve followed the newsletter approach I laid out starting here, your donor has scanned three pages of your newsletter. Those pages have been full of stories that show and tell the donor how she and her gift made a difference.

You’ve proven to her that her gift to your organization was a good decision.

Unlike other organizations who have sent your donor chest-thumping puff pieces about how busy and heroic their organization is, you have made your newsletter about the donor who is reading it.

She’s thinking, “Finally, an organization that gets me and what I’m trying to do.”

And she feels great!

Let’s Turn Those Feelings into Action

Here’s how to get a regular percentage of those donors to make a gift right then and there:

  • Feature one story on the top of back page.
  • That story should be a “story of need” (this is different than the “stories of success” mentioned in this post in this series)
  • The need should be a need that your beneficiaries or organization are currently facing, or are going to face in the next two months.
  • Describe how the donor’s gift today will perfectly meet the need. This is your Offer, and you can download this free eBook if you’d like to know more about how Offers work and how to create a great one.
  • The bottom of the back page should be what we call a “faux reply card.”
    • The faux reply card is not meant to be cut off and sent back. The separate reply card you include with your newsletter is what will be sent back. The faux reply card is added because in head-to-head testing it increased the number of people who sent in a gift by 15%.

A successful back page tends to look like this…

Or this…

Want to Get Even More Donors to Take Action?

Pro-level newsletters select their stories to set up the offer that’s used on the back page.

In other words, if the back page is going to tell a story of need about feeding children, the stories in the rest of the newsletter will all be about children who the donor helped feed. Or if the back page is going to share a need to do advocacy work on an issue, the stories in the rest of the newsletter will all be about how the donor has helped fund successful advocacy work.

Put slightly differently: each newsletter has a theme, and the theme is directly related to the offer. The greater the percentage of content that is not on-theme, the lower the amount of money the newsletter will raise.

Your newsletters do not need to be perfectly themed to succeed. But in our experience it increases the chances you will raise more money.

Feelings

It may feel weird to have a story of need and a reply card on the back of your newsletter.

Your newsletter is a Report, after all.

But it works great. This approach raises more money than any other approach that was tested.

And there are no negative consequences to doing your newsletter this way. People do not complain about it. You do not lose donors because of it.

You simply start raising more money with your newsletters. And retaining more of your donors.

Because remember, your donors love to give. All you’ve done with this method is proven to your donor that her previous gift made a difference, then given her a reason to give another gift today.

This post was originally published on August 6, 2020. Get a free downloadable “e-book” of this whole series here.

Newsletter Picture Captions that Help, not Hurt

Steven  |  Report
Newsletter captions.

People read picture captions.

So make sure your picture captions do a great job delivering your newsletter’s main message.

Thankful there’s an easy way to do this…

One Simple Rule

Here’s how we think about every newsletter picture caption.

The caption should not be about what’s happening in the photo.

The caption should be about the donor’s role in what’s happening in the photo.

Which means every single picture caption should mention the donor.

Example Time

Here are a bunch of examples from real, money-raising, donor-retaining newsletters…

Thanks to you, Linh and her baby are both getting the food, basic necessities and long-term support they need!

Because of your generosity, doctors were able to repair Jun Jun’s cleft lip.  Jun Jun will join his adoptive family soon!

Your generosity helped Maria re-discover the courage and strength she had lost while she was homeless.

Devi was able to begin her freshman year (making her dreams come true!) with everything she needed for her dorm room at Georgia Tech thanks to you.

Your gift helped women in Uganda receive the physical and emotional healing they desperately needed.

This year’s graduating class celebrates – thanks in part to your generous giving!

Your generosity has trained more than 500 police officers and first responders to stop and prevent child abuse.

Answer the Question Your Donor is Asking

One of the questions running through a donor’s mind as she looks at your newsletter is this: “did my gift make a difference?”

Photo captions that follow this model show and tell her, again and again, how her gift made a difference.

They answer her main question.

And remember: when your donor knows that her gift made a difference, she trusts your organization more.

When she trusts your organization more, she’s more likely to respond to the next appeal you send her.

So, because newsletter photo captions are one of the most widely read parts of your newsletter, they are wildly important for you to use correctly to let your donor know that she and her gift made a difference.

Follow the simple rule above and you’ll be on your way to raising more money and retaining more of your donors!

This post was originally published on March 12, 2020. Get a free downloadable “e-book” of this whole series here.

Newsletter Headlines That Work

Steven  |  Report
Newsletter headline.

The previous post gave you a simple outline for how to easily write newsletter stories.

Today is about newsletter headlines; a massively important part of your newsletter’s success, but a part that most organizations spend very little time on.

Remember our belief that about 80% of the people who open your newsletter will read only your headlines and picture captions?

Doesn’t that make your headlines important? Maybe even more important than the story the headline is for?

We think so. So here’s how to write successful headlines…

Headlines Have One of Two Jobs

We try to do one of two things with newsletter headlines.

  • Be so dramatic and interesting that the reader wants to read the article. Think of this this way; the headline is the ad for the story. And/or…
  • Share the outcome of the story and involve the donor. Think of it this way: your reader should know, just from reading the headline, that their gift did something powerful.

Example Time

Here are a handful of examples of ineffective headlines – taken from real newsletters in our files – that do not accomplish either of the objectives above:

  • IFI Training Day Expands
  • Elizabeth’s experience encourages others to get their annual mammogram
  • Committed to change lives
  • Together We Rise
  • 5th Annual Zip 5k + Fun Run Breaks Record For Participation
  • Board Of Directors Highlights/News
  • What is Extreme Poverty?
  • Upcoming Fundraisers
  • Camp and Retreat Centers as Holy Ground
  • Staff Updates
  • Pathways Supported Employment program fills in the missing pieces for people recovering from homelessness

And here are examples of effective headlines:

  • You’re helping find “Desperately needed” new treatments
  • “I wanted to Die”
  • The power of One Meal
  • “There is no more disease!”
  • Blind from a Chemical explosion, today he can see!
  • You did this!
  • You’re a hero!
  • Food delivered!
  • He used to eat garbage, you gave him dumplings!
  • “We never expected this to happen”
  • Cancer Patient Living On French Fries And Soda Pop
  • From Abuse to Prison to Redemption
  • “Your baby has cancer”
  • 100 Happy Children
  • You helped save Darryl’s life
  • The Joy of Clean Water – Thanks to You!

Take a look at those effective headlines again.

Don’t you want to read the stories for those more than you want to read the stories after the boring headlines?

And don’t you know – just from scanning the good headlines — that your gift made a meaningful difference?

In other words, you didn’t even have to read the story and you knew your gift made a difference. Which made you trust the organization a little bit more. Which made you more likely to give them a gift the next time they asked you. Which made the organization raise more money and retain more of its donors.

All that from a good headline.

You are in a BATTLE for your donor’s attention

Always remember: nobody has to read your fundraising.

You’re competing with people’s phones, with the internet, with making dinner, and with all of the other mailings from nonprofits that your donor received that very same day.

Strong dramatic and/or donor-focused headlines are one of the most powerful tools you have to convey your main message and get donors to read your stories! They are an integral part of whether your newsletter is going to raise money… or not.

So go look at your headlines – for both your printed newsletter and your e-newsletter. If they aren’t doing either of the two jobs above, it’s time to fire them and get some headlines that will do their jobs. There’s too much at stake to have your headlines causing fewer people to read your newsletter!

This post was originally published on March 5, 2020. Get a free downloadable “e-book” of this whole series here.

Outline for Newsletter Stories

Steven  |  Report
newsletter.

Here’s the outline we follow for newsletter stories.

It’s remarkably simple and it does two powerful things:

  1. It makes your newsletter easier and faster to write because you have a model to follow
  2. It makes sure each story helps you achieve the purpose of your newsletter

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Simple Newsletter Outline

PARAGRAPHS 1-2

  • Summarize the situation the beneficiary was in
  • Tell the donor the situation changed because of them
  • Summarize the positive situation the beneficiary is in today

PARAGRAPHS 3-5

  • Tell the beneficiary’s “story” as above, but go into more depth

FINAL PARAGRAPH

  • Thank the donor for making the transformation (from “before” to “after”) possible
  • Thank the donor for caring about the beneficiary enough to take action to help

The Power of This Approach

When you use this approach, your donor does not have to read more than the first paragraph to get your newsletter’s main message; that the donor’s gift made a meaningful difference in the life of one person or for your cause.

At Better Fundraising, we assume that 80% of the people who open your newsletter will only read the headlines, picture captions, and a paragraph or two. For those people (4 out of 5!) you want to do everything you can to ensure they still get your main message.

Other nonprofits will make their donors wade through tons of words to find out whether donors’ gifts made a difference. Sometimes the donor will never find out. I’ve seen newsletters where the donor is never even be mentioned.

But by following this model, you and your organization will communicate your main message to almost every person who opens your newsletter. That’s a huge win!

Repeat This Formula in Every Story

When a donor opens your newsletter you don’t know which story (or stories) they are going to read. So you want to use this formula for every story so – whatever they read – they get message that their gift made a difference.

This approach will feel repetitive to you – who sees every story. But vast majority of your donors won’t read every story.

It will feel repetitive to your staff and core stakeholders like your board because are far more likely than most donors to open every newsletter and read every story.

But Remember …

Your newsletter is not for you, your staff, or for your core stakeholders. It’s a communication vehicle to show the remaining 95% of your donors that their gift made a meaningful difference.

Why is showing donors that they made a meaningful difference so important?

So that they trust that giving a gift to your organization makes a real difference.

So that they are more likely to give you a gift the next time you ask.

So that they are more likely to keep giving to you year after year.

So that they are more likely to become a major donor.

So that they are more likely to leave you a gift in their will.

So … no pressure … but make sure your newsletter shows each donor that their gift made a meaningful difference. And one of the most powerful ways to do that is to write the stories following this outline.

This post was originally published on March 3, 2020. Get a free downloadable “e-book” of this whole series here.