Category: Uncategorized

When a someone makes a donation to your organization it is your number one job to thank him or her promptly and emotionally.  I try to thank my donors 5-times for every gift they make.  This includes the receipt letter, a hand-written comment on the receipt letter, a separate hand-written note, a phone call, email, gift, etc.

You goal this week is to find creative ways to say thank you  for making the world a better place.  To achieve this goal look for new ways to thank your donors promptly and emotionally.  Tell them what is going to happen in the world because they gave a gift.  Remind the donor whom they gave a gift to.  Don’t thank them for giving to your organization or to your programs. Honor the donor by telling them what is going to happen in the lives of the people you serve or cause you represent because they gave a gift.

Saying thank you is the best way to build genuine, mission-driven relationships with your donors.

Your newsletter is where your donors find out if giving your organization a gift was a good idea – or not.  Remember, your donors gave you their money but don’t know what happened to it once you received it. But they need to know if you ever want them to give another gift, so your newsletter’s one job is to show donors the impact of their gift. So here’s what you need to do if you want to keep your donors year after year.

• Tell real-life stories. Use stories, not statistics, to show donors the impact their gift made.
• Make your newsletter scannable. 80% of people won’t read it they will just scan it and look at the headlines and picture captions.
• Make your headlines and picture captions tell your donors about their impact. Use arrows to point to picture captions and headlines.
• Make it responsive. Send your newsletter in an envelope with a reply card and reply envelope because LOTS of donors give gifts in response to great newsletters.
• Use large photos of beneficiaries.
• Make it readable. Most donors are older, so don’t use tiny type. Use an arrow to nice, large, easy-to-read type.

There is so much more to teach you, so we created this short video.  Watch it here.

When most donors give a gift they have no idea what their gift did or if it was appreciated and used as they intended. It is your job to tell them. This line of thinking can revolutionize your fundraising results and donor retention. You can blow your past fundraising performance out of the water! In simple terms, reporting is telling your donor what happened because they gave a gift. It’s not telling them what you’ve been busying doing with their money. It’s not telling them all about your programs. It is telling them about the lives that were changed or how your cause was furthered because their gift was given. Talk to them about outcomes not the processes that produced the outcomes. If the donor feels like they made a positive impact in the world than you will build great donor relationships.

Watch this short video to learn more about reporting.  We even included a sample newsletter to show you how it’s done!

The Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat donor rhythm turns fundraising on its ear by moving the focus from the organization to the donor.  When you ask a donor to make a gift you are really asking her to make a positive difference in the lives of your beneficiaries.

The big takeaway here is that you are not asking them to give your organization a gift. You are not asking them to fund your programs.  You are asking them to contribute to your beneficiaries in a really specific way.  Directly asking donors to help someone today, by taking action right now, is the best way to raise money.

If you’d like to learn more about the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat donor-focused rhythm, watch this video.

The only way you can love your donors is to know who they are. Look back over 2014 and identify who gave a gift to your organization. Once you have identified them, thank them. Thank them right now! Pick up the phone, write them a note, stop by their office, and shake their hand. Do whatever it takes to let them know they made a difference in the word by making a donation to your cause.

Valentines day is almost here. This is a perfect time of year to tell your donors that you love them. Send them a Valentine’s card or email. This is a FREE opportunity to connect with your donors and build a deeper mission-driven relationship. As you apply the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat rhythm you are looking for simple ways to connect with your donors without asking them for money. The Love Your Donors concept during the Valentine season is one of those ways.

To learn more about Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat watch this video.

At the heart of Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat you will find a donor focused communication rhythm.  This rhythm is what makes your donors feel great and motivates them to make future gifts.

As you enter in the new calendar year it is time to create and implement your 2015 fundraising plan.  Best fundraisers know that this means analyzing what worked in 2014, getting ride of what didn’t work and doing more of what did. This is the Repeat part of the ATRR rhythm.

To learn more about the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat donor communication rhythm we created this short video for you.  Watch it here.

Now is the time to look back over your donor data and identify donors who gave you a gift in 2013 but DID NOT give your organization a gift in 2014. This group of people accounts for your lapsed donors.

Send you lapsed donors a note today to let them know you missed them. Thank them for making a difference in the world in 2013, that you missed them in 2014 and that you’d like to invite them to join the work again in 2015.  Ask them to make a donation today.

A proven way to increase your active donor file is to reactive these lapsed donors. They once believed in your work enough to send you a gift. They made a financial investment. It is your job to remind them of this investment and to encourage them to give again.

Winning, keeping and lifting your donors through the Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat rhythm is your key to raising more money!

Here is a short video we made last fall.  It has to do with asking and asking well.  Watch it and then apply what is taught to your lapsed donor strategy.

There are 3 proven steps to building a fundraising plan and calendar that works. Here they are.

1. Write down everything you did for fundraising in 2014. Write it on one sheet of paper. List your fundraising activities in chronological order. If it fits on one sheet you didn’t do enough fundraising last year.
2. Go through your sheet and grade each fundraising activity. Was it a fundraising success or not? Did it produce the net revenue you needed? Develop a matrix for how you will measure success. How many people attended your special event, how many people responded to your mailings, how many in person donor visits did you make? How much money did you raise from each activity? This becomes your fundraising success dashboard!
3. Based on what you see from your grading and success evaluation, you can easily see what you should do more of in 2015 and what you should do less of or remove from your fundraising plan. You are looking at your 2015 fundraising plan!

To help you build your 2015 fundraising plan, we created a 10-minute video that outlines this process and much more! Watch it here.

You hear me talk about Ask, Thank, Report, Repeat all the time.  It is a simple, donor development rhythm that will raise your organization a ton of money.  January is the month you should take the time to create your 2015 fundraising plan.  This means you should look at what you did in 2014 and repeat what worked in 2015.

To help you understand this process and thinking I made this short video with Steven Screen.   Watch it.  Learn from it.  Apply it.  You will raise more money in 2015!