Tag: appeals

Email and Snail Mail: in the way or on the way?

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Snail mail.

As a follow up to my recent post about why organizations are still using email and snail mail to raise money, there’s one other idea I want to address.

This is for the people and organizations who are annoyed that they have to do fundraising in email and the mail.

This is like getting annoyed at having to go through Oregon when driving from Washington to California.

Oregon isn’t in the way, it’s on the way — if you want the fastest route.

Can you drive around Oregon and get to California?  Sure, but it’ll take longer and be more expensive.

Can you get lucky and have someone give you a ticket on McKenzie Scott Airlines so you can fly to California?  Sure, but the chances are pretty slim.

Fundraising in email and the mail isn’t “in the way” of a nonprofit raising more and having more donors; they are “on the way” to raising more and having more donors.

Why Use Email and Snail Mail?

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Mail.

There’s a conversation we’re having more and more as young people enter the fundraising profession and older people on Boards are replaced with the next generation.

The conversation always starts with a question that goes something like this…

“Why should a nonprofit like ours get good at raising money via email and the mail, both of which seem like ‘legacy’ communication methods?” 

We could talk about this for hours, but if this is coming up for your organization, let me give you a couple of quick reasons these tools are still so useful to so many nonprofits.

  1. Email and the mail help small organizations scale.  There are only so many people you can personally know, and only so many people who will go to your event.  So the ability to communicate effectively with thousands of people at once is necessary in order to scale (particularly to break the “raising $1m annually from individual donors” threshold.)
  2. Email and the mail make your organization more resilient and less fragile.  Two ways.  First, you want to have the skill of fundraising and being in relationship with donors even when you can’t meet with them.  (We all saw what happened to event-driven organizations during the pandemic.  Ouch.)  Second, having a good mail and email program spreads your revenue across the entire year, so you’re not so dependent on the world running smoothly (no wars being started, no natural disasters) the month of your event.
  3. The mail and email help you identify new mid- and major-donors.  You watch giving patterns, you identify prospects, and you raise up your next generation of majors.  (A friend of mine used to run the individual donor program for a national organization with hundreds of thousands of donors.  He said, “Yes, we raise a lot of money with the mail and email, but our real job is to identify major donor prospects.”)

And that’s just three reasons.  There are all sorts of other reasons, like “lots of majors still give via the mail” and “mail & email keep you in touch with Majors who don’t answer your attempts to get in touch” and “you aren’t dependent on the whims of the social media algorithm because you own the relationship.”

The mail and email are proven and effective; that’s why they’re still in use!

They Didn’t Believe It

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Yes you can.

I’ve written many times about how an organization’s beliefs about fundraising play a major role in how much money they can raise. 

Case in point:

“The ‘stories an organization tells itself’ about fundraising have a greater effect on how much money they raise than the stories they tell their donors.”

Well, I have a new one for you.

I just returned from the fantastic Elevate conference, which is focused on helping nonprofits use their events to raise more money and cause more connections. 

While at the conference, I had a conversation with a group of nonprofits who were extremely skeptical that they could raise money using the mail and email.  It was clear that these smaller, event-driven organizations did not believe that it was possible to communicate powerfully enough in a letter or email to inspire a person to give.

Here was my advice to them.  Don’t worry about the power of a letter or email to communicate your work.  Instead, believe in the power of how much a donor cares about what your organization is trying to accomplish. 

The donor’s desire to do something to help is so strong that a letter or email is all many donors need to send in a gift.

In the mail and email, you don’t need to convince donors.  You need to believe that they already care, then give them a timely invitation to help fund compelling work that’s happening soon.

Are You Preaching to the Choir, or Sending Out Invitations?

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Preach to the choir.

What is an appeal letter for?  What’s the reason appeal letters exist?

(I ask this because if you know more about what a tool actually is, you’re more likely to be successful using it.)

An appeal letter is not for the donor to “learn more about the nonprofit.”  All the donors receiving the appeal already gave to the organization.  They already know enough to have donated.  They don’t need to know more.  Don’t preach to choir.

Here’s my take, based on the appeals that are working the best for Better Fundraising’s clients: the job of an appeal letter is to let donors know about compelling work the nonprofit plans to in the next couple of months, and to invite the donor to get involved in that work by giving a gift today. 

“Knowing more about your organization” is not stopping any of the donors receiving your mail from giving another gift.

What’s stopping them is the lack of a timely invitation to get involved in compelling work that’s happening soon.

Writing for TV and Writing for Fundraising

Connor Owen  |  Repeat
Editing.

Working in television would likely be a writer’s dream… and probably a nightmare. Tight deadlines.  Limited budgets.  Constant revisions.  Wait – that sounds like life in a nonprofit, too! 

Maybe you have more in common with a writer in Hollywood than you realized.  You’re both up against a deadline.  You’re both dealing with executives speaking into your copy.  So, what else could we learn from our fellow writers in Southern California?

For some television shows, after their first few episodes, there is a quick realization that they are focusing on the wrong characters.

Let me tell you two quick stories where this happened.  

First, let’s look at The West Wing.  This show was originally intended to focus on the staff who worked inside the West Wing, not the President.  Main characters were set to be the Chief of Staff, Communications Director, Press Secretary, and everyone who makes the White House work.  They did not plan to have the President as a prominent character with lots of storylines.

But something happened after the first episode.  At the tail-end of the Pilot, Martin Sheen stepped in front of the camera as the President of the United States and delivered a handful of lines.  Soon after, his role in the show grew! 

Why? 

Because the writers and producers of the show were smart enough to realize that when the President showed up, viewers loved it!  So, story lines for the supporting cast were decreased, and the President’s story lines increased.

The same is true of the show Family Ties.  Michael J. Fox’s character was supposed to be a supporting actor to the lead actors who played his parents.  But after a few episodes, executives realized that Fox was why people tuned into watch.

So they made a shift, and Family Ties became centered around Fox’s character.

Now, how does this relate to your fundraising?

Think of your programming like characters in a television show.  You likely have one or two programs you focus on (these are your lead actors).  And then you have a few other programs (or supporting actors) you feature here and there.

As you write about different programming in your fundraising, your audience responds differently.  The really smart orgs that are growing are listening to that data, just like successful television executives, writers, and producers.  They might even shift what was once a supporting actor into a lead actor role because of how well it performs!

So, as you send your appeals and newsletters, be sure you’re tracking your data to see which programs your audience loves responding to.  And if the data says you need to feature one more than another – do it!  You’ll love the results. 

PS: If a show like Family Ties missed the fact that they had a star in Michael J. Fox who needed more story lines, maybe you have a program out there that needs featured in more of your appeals and newsletters!  Follow the data, and watch your fundraising results increase!

PPS: Not tracking your data?  You could start now.  Download our proforma so that you can know exactly how every fundraising communication you send is performing, helping you raise even more money.

How to Make a Moment

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Special moment.

One of the most reliable reasons a letter, email or event resonates with donors is when it contains a moment that engages their emotions.

So I wondered, in the successful fundraising that Better Fundraising has created, what are the “ingredients” in the most powerful moments?

After reviewing a ton of top-performing fundraising, here are the ingredients that I noticed again and again…

Primarily about one “unit” of the nonprofit’s work.  In other words, it was primarily about a child, not “the children.”  It was about one acre, not entire ecosystems.  It was about what needed to be done next month, not “the future of the community.”

There was real conflict.  A person was in a brutal situation because they were unable to afford legal representation.  The library had 50 children’s books, but 200 kids who need to learn how to read.  The young man was struggling in college, but had aged out of the foster care system and didn’t have a trusted adult to help them. 

There was real, obvious emotion.  The piece of fundraising either highlights emotions of the people or situation, or brings emotion into the storytelling. 

The stakes were meaningful.  If the middle schooler didn’t catch up in math, their prospects for a good job were in real trouble.  If the Missionary Kid doesn’t make friendships, they are likely to leave the church. 

The donor can make a difference.  It’s made clear to the donor that their gift will make a meaningful difference, and that difference was clearly described.

The gift needed isn’t large.  The “cost to help one unit” was small, usually under $100.  (If you read this and think that your organization doesn’t have anything meaningful that costs less than $100, you need to narrow your focus and “zoom in” a little further.)

The donor is asked to help.  The letter or email doesn’t say things like “we value your partnership” or “please consider making a gift.”  The donor is clearly asked to make a gift with language like, “Please, will you send in a gift today?”

There is a hopeful future.  The letter talks about the change that will take place if the donor gives a gift.  The donor knows and feels how the world will be better if they send in a gift today. 

These ingredients, all used at the same time, create fundraising that causes donors to take action. 

When combined, these ingredients create fundraising that’s full of emotion.  And all that emotion can feel scary, which is why many nonprofits hide their emotion behind numbers, statistics, and qualifications.

But when creating your fundraising for individual donors, moments and emotions are more important than numbers.  Why?  Because information leads to conclusions, but emotions lead to action.

***

PS — If you’re not sure how to do this for your organization, or not sure you have the right team in place to do it, get in touch!

‘Front Load’ Key Words

Steven Screen  |  Ask
First things first!

When you think about how to capture donor attention when there are so many things competing for your donors’ attention, here’s a tactic for you: “front-load” the most important ideas for your readers or listeners.

Sketchplanations recently published the following graphic that does a brilliant job describing what “front-loading” is and how to do it.  The author is talking about writing for the web, but it’s 100% applicable to any fundraising writing that’s going to individual donors, from a direct response email to a major donor proposal…

Our donors are moving quickly, and this is a great way to get your point across more quickly.  Because it’s a non-starter to make people wade through a bunch of content to figure out what you’re talking about if you want to grow.

Front-loading applies to sentences, but it also applies to your fundraising in general.  For example, front-load the ask in your appeals in the first few paragaphs.  If you’re meeting with a major donor to thank them for their gift and report back to them, front-load the idea that you are not going to ask them for a gift today.

You’ll see the same idea expressed in my posts Three Editing Principles and Put The Most Important Information First, but it’s great to have the official name for this tactic.

Now, the next time someone asks you why you’re writing in this slightly strange way, you can tell them that you’re front-loading, that you’re placing the words with the most signal right at the start – instead of buried in the middle or at the end.

What Should Your P.S. Do?

Steven Screen  |  Ask
PS.

A thoughtful reader recently wrote in with a question.  I’ve edited it lightly for brevity:

“Talk to me about the use of postscripts in asks. We currently use the P.S. as an extension of the core ask – for example, in our next appeal the P.S. asks donors to consider becoming a monthly donor. One of your podcasts suggested the P.S. should be a reiteration of the core ask. I would love to hear more about this.”

This is a great question, and one that vexes many nonprofits. 

At one level, our answer is really simple: we recommend that the P.S. repeat/reiterate the core ask because that is the approach that, according to all the head-to-head testing that I’ve done or seen, is most likely to increase the chance the reader sends in a gift.  *

So the question becomes, “Well, why does the ‘reiterate approach’ tend to out-raise other approaches?”

Here are the core ideas that are helpful to know:

  • According to eye-tracking studies, when most people first look at a direct mail letter, they do not read it.  They scan the whole thing first.
  • Often, after they finish their scan at the end of the letter, the P.S. is the first part of the letter they actually read.  When I started doing direct mail in 1993, I was taught that for the majority of readers, the P.S. is the first part of the letter that’s read.
  • So if the P.S. is about one idea, and the person goes back to the top and starts reading the letter and finds that the letter is about a different idea, we’ve immediately caused confusion in the reader’s mind.
    • In the example where the P.S. is about becoming a monthly donor, and the rest of the letter is about whatever the need is for a single gift, then the donor might think, “Wait, I thought this was about becoming a monthly donor, but that’s not what this letter is about at all.”  Confusion increases abandonment, abandonment reduces readership, reduced readership = lower giving.
  • Finally, a good P.S. taps into the power of repetition.  Brain science shows us that when something is repeated often, we become more familiar with it and we’re more likely to believe that it’s true.  This is why the best-performing direct response fundraising is often a little repetitive – and why you want to use the P.S. to repeat the core ask that’s in the letter.

In a nutshell, you never want to give your reader a second thing to consider doing before they have fully committed to doing the first thing. 

So, keep the whole letter about whatever the letter is focused on.  Keep the headline of the reply device about whatever the letter is focused on.  Keep the action copy on the reply device about whatever the letter is focused on.  Keep the descriptions behind each giving amount about whatever the letter is focused on.

Then, only after the reader has decided to give a gift and has ticked the check box next to the amount they are going to donate, then you can give them an option to do something additional – like make their gift monthly, or send in a prayer request, or contact you about an estate gift.

To borrow from the Dos Equis advertising campaign, Stay focused, my friend.

***

* I have both written and seen P.S.’s that take other approaches, and suspect that some of them have worked great.  That’s because there are contextually dependent times when a different type of P.S. is called for.  But those times are few and far between.  The model is the model for a good reason.

Script for Getting Matching Funds

Steven Screen  |  Ask
Matching funds.

After a month of big-picture, more thought-provoking posts, let’s get tactical.

If you’ve ever had to ask major donors to provide matching or challenge funds, I have something for you today that I think you’ll like.

Here’s the brief “case” to make to your major donors.  After you ask them if they’ll provide a gift to be used as challenge funds, tell them the following:

  • It’s well–documented that challenge funds increase how much a fundraising campaign will raise, so by doing this your gift will have a greater impact than it normally does.
  • Here’s how that happens.  When a fundraising campaign has challenge funds, more people give to the campaign than if the campaign didn’t have them.  So your gift will cause more people to give.
  • Additionally, when a fundraising campaign has challenge funds, people give larger gifts than they do when campaigns don’t have them.  So your gift will cause people to give more.
  • So by making a leadership gift and allowing us to use it as challenge funds to inspire other donors to give, you’ll have more of an impact, and you’re helping our organization and beneficiaries more than you normally do.
  • And, if you give your gift now and allow us to use it as challenge funds, you also get to enjoy watching the campaign unfold while knowing that your generosity is inspiring more giving to happen than would have happened without you!

Combine the “script” above with the info in this post (one of our most popular posts ever) and you’re on your way to having multiple campaigns with matching or challenge funds this year!