Tag: impact

Trust

Steven  |  Repeat
Trust

Organizations become trusted by donors when organizations show up, again and again, with communications that are relevant to the donor.

Those donors have lots of interactions with you.  Those interactions over time, repeated and reinforced, lead to trust.

You cannot earn trust very quickly when you have one event and two pieces of fundraising a year. 

And remember, the primary things that a donor cares about are:

  • What’s happening directly to the beneficiary group or cause that she cares about
  • How her gift can make a difference
  • How her past made a difference

That’s what she cares about most. That’s what your fundraising should be about to be most relevant to her.

If your communications are mostly about your organization, you’re not talking about what she’s passionate about.

In 2021, resolve to talk more about what she’s passionate about.  Tell her about the negative things that are going on with the people you serve for the cause you work on, and tell her what her gift will do to help.  That’s asking.  Then be sure to report.  Tell her the positive news about how her gift made a difference.

Don’t stay silent for long periods of time.  Don’t go dark.  Earn her trust.

Not very many organizations have it in them to build a habit of regularly contacting their donors with relevant messages.  It’s hard work.

That means there’s an incredible opportunity for you and your organization.

What would you rather?

Steven  |  Ask
choice

I want you to remove your fundraiser hat for a moment, and put on your donor hat.

Okay. Now, I want to ask you a question. Would you rather:

  • Give to help an organization continue its work?

  • OR

  • Give to solve a compelling, immediate problem?

This question sits at the heart of why some organizations raise more money than others.

You see, organizations that regularly see poor fundraising results tend to make the same mistakes when speaking to their donors. They tell fundraising stories of people who have already been helped, and/or ask they donors to help the organization do more good work.

This kind of messaging in your appeals will consistently raise you less money because your donor isn’t solving an immediate problem – and the donor isn’t the hero of the story.

Conversely, organizations that consistently tell fundraising stories of acute, current needs will raise more money.

If you ask a donor to meet an urgent need, she is more likely to stop what she’s doing and make a gift.

Here are two quick examples. With your donor hat still on, would you rather give to this:

  • “Emma was hungry and alone when she arrived at our homeless shelter. We gave her a warm meal, and a bed, and she is now feeling better and getting back on her feet. Will you help us support more people like Emma?”

See how Emma’s problem is already solved? See how the donor doesn’t have a role to play other than helping the organization do more work?

Or, would you rather give to this:

  • “I have an urgent need to share with you. Emma just arrived at our homeless shelter. She is hungry, and she’s been sleeping on the streets. Please send a gift of $35 and give a woman like Emma a warm meal and a safe place to stay.”

See how there is a clear need to be met? And how there’s a specific way the donor’s gift will help?

In your appeals and e-appeals, make sure to give your donors an important, impactful role to play. When a donor gives, she’ll feel like a hero.

And when you make her feel like a hero, she’s more likely to give to you again in the future.

Now you’ve got the Holy Grail of fundraising: donors who love giving to you now (so you raise more money now) and donors who are more likely to continue giving to you in the future (so you raise even more money over time)!

To Get a Donor to Give, Remember WHY They Give…

Steven  |  Ask
Ask ?

Short post today with an important tip.

Which sentence do you think would raise more?

“Right now, our Uplifting Kids program needs your support.”

Or…

“Right now, a local child needs your help.”

I can basically guarantee that asking a donor to “help a local child” will raise more than asking a donor to “support a program that works with local children.”

Why?

What I’m trying to illustrate here is “asking for support of a program” versus “asking for help for a beneficiary or cause.”

This is important because most of your donors likely got involved with your organization because they cared about the beneficiaries your organization helps, or the cause your organization is working on.

They did not likely get involved with your organization because of your programs.

The Lesson

When you’re Asking donors (and non-donors) to give a gift, you need to remember why they give.

As a rule, most donors give first and foremost because they care about your beneficiaries or your cause, not because they care about your organization or your programs.

Are there exceptions to this rule? Of course. There’s always a major donor or a board member who loves your program. Or a Foundation that gave you a grant because of something specific about your programs.

To those segments of your audience, talk about the program itself.

But when you are talking to “everybody” – in your appeals, e-appeals, at events, on your website – talk about a beneficiary or your cause.

For Example…

The most helpful example I share of this is an appeal letter that said,

“Right now, programs like Uplifting Kids need your support!”

That is a perfect example of “asking for support of a program.” Just think about how much less power that has than something like, “Right now, a local child needs your help!”

The organization that wrote the “…programs like Uplifting Kids need your support” has been a client of ours for four years. We basically never talk about their programs any more. And their appeals and events raise between 2x and 8x of what they used to.

So focus your donor communications on why your donors gave in the first place, not on your programs!

“They are not your donors, you are one of their charities”

Steven  |  Ask
One of their charities.

While at the AFP International conference in New Orleans last month, I heard a quote from Mark Phillips of Bluefrog that stopped me in my tracks.

“They are not your donors; you are one of their charities.”

I wish more organizations would hear this and take it to heart. Because if they were to do this, their fundraising would get better immediately. Here’s how…

You realize that your nonprofit is in a constant battle with other nonprofits for the attention of your donor.

I find that most nonprofits act as if they are the only organization soliciting their particular donors. They assume they don’t need to attract each donor’s attention. They assume the donor will read everything they write. None of those assumptions are good ones.

Nonprofits need to realize that they are constantly competing for the attention (and dollars) of their donors. They need to work harder to get donors’ attention.

For example, this is why organizations that send out 8 appeals and 4 donor-focused newsletters are more likely to raise more than organizations who send out 4 appeals and 12 e-newsletters: the organization that communicates more relevant information more often is likely to get more attention and more donations from their donors.

So, are you communicating relevant information to your donors often enough? Are your email subject lines good? Is the envelope for your appeal mysterious? Is your writing interesting and clear? Are you actively trying to earn their attention … or just sending stuff out?

You realize you have to earn repeat donations from your donors

Your donor is hearing from a LOT of nonprofits she loves, about causes she loves. What are you saying to her to earn her next donation?

First of all, have you told her powerful stories about the impact she’s made, so that she knows her previous gift made a difference? Do you have a newsletter that regularly shares those stories?

And when you Ask, are you making a weak appeal for her to “partner” with your organization or to “become a supporter”? Or are you asking powerfully for a current need and positioning her (not your organization) as the hero?

You relentlessly focus on donor retention

Now that you know your donors “like to give around,” you become focused on keeping as many of them and their donations as you can.

So you measure donor retention to figure out what percentage of your donors you keep each year – and then you try to keep more the next year.

Why? Because “donor retention” is pretty much the same thing as “donor satisfaction.” And satisfied donors are more likely to give to your organization next year, and give more the following year, and put you in their will, etc.

Are you measuring donor retention? And are you trying to improve it?

Now it’s Your Turn

What can you do, today, that will help you keep your donors?

Is there a major donor you can call? Is there a newsletter you can start? Is there an appeal you can make stronger?

I promise you that if you work like crazy to get the attention of your donors, if you earn their repeat donations, and if you measure and focus on how many of your donors you keep, you’ll be raising more money in no time. And for a long time!

Do your fundraising materials have a donor-shaped hole?

Steven  |  Ask
Donor shaped hole.

Let me share an idea that’s been helpful for a number of fundraisers recently:

All of your donor communications should have a donor-shaped hole in them.

Why? So your donor can see a role for herself in what your organization is doing. So she can see a place where she can step in and do something meaningful.

If you get really good at doing this, really good at creating fundraising that makes donors say, “I see that, I can do that,” you’re going to raise a LOT of money.

The idea of a “donor-shaped hole” is an attempt to explain why a set of fundraising tactics is so effective at engaging donors. I’ll list some of the tactics below. You’ll see how each one creates a donor-shaped hole in appeals, e-appeals, events, and newsletters.

Talk To Her about What She Can Do

As you write your fundraising, write it as if you’re talking to one donor. And talk to her about what she and her gift will accomplish.

That approach is significantly different than talking about your organization, your programs, and the people you’ve already helped.

That’s a lot different than asking your donor to “become a supporter” or “please partner with us.”

Instead, write directly to her. Not to everyone, just to her. Use the word “you” a lot. Tell her that great people like her are needed. Give her an example of what her gift will do.

When you’re done, you’ll have a letter (or email, or event) that feels like a 1-to-1 communication to her and about what she can do. That’s a letter that a donor is far more likely to read and respond to than a letter (or an organization) that just keeps talking about itself!

Highlight a Small, Specific Thing Her Gift Does

What you want to do here is pick one powerful thing (or part of a thing) that your organization does. The trick is that it needs to be easy to understand, and inexpensive enough that everyone can afford one of them.

Say you’re an Education organization. You have lots of different programs, most of them long-term. You should look for part of one of those programs. For instance, if you provide math tutoring to middle school students, you can figure out the average cost to provide one day’s worth of tutoring for one student.

Most likely the cost to do that is low enough so that every donor could afford it. Congratulations, you’ve created a donor-shaped hole!

A $50 donor can provide one incredible day of tutoring for a child. A $1,500 donor can provide one incredible month of tutoring for a child.

Pro Level: Ask for the Amount She’s Most Likely to Give

Sophisticated organizations create a donor-shaped hole by asking for an amount that is the right size for the donor.

They do it using customized gift ask amounts based on each donor’s previous gift. Here’s what they do, in a nutshell:

  • When they export the mailing list, they also export the amount of each donor’s previous donation. This is often called “Most Recent Gift” or MRG.
  • That amount is used to calculate three gift ask amounts for each donor. Those amounts are usually 1 x MRG, 1.5 x MRG, and 2 x MRG.
  • When printing the reply card for each donor, the donor’s name, address, and customized gift amounts are merge printed onto the reply card.

This is a proven way to increase response and giving. Why does it work? Because it asks your donor to give about the same amount they gave last time. This makes a donor feel like you know them. It creates a donor-shaped hole that is exactly their size.

Thank, and Report

Organizations that Thank well (promptly, emotionally, donor-centrically) make donors feel great. Great Thank You’s show the donor that she is needed and that she is appreciated.

Great organizations tell each donor, “Thank you, a great person just like you was needed, and you did exactly what was needed!” That tells the donor that there was an important role for her to play in your cause or organization, and she played it.

Take off your “Fundraiser” hat for a moment and put on your donor hat. As a donor, wouldn’t you like to hear that there was an important role for you to play, and that you played it perfectly?

After Thanking, great organizations Report back to donors on what her gift made possible.

Richard Perry is the founder of Veritus Group and one of the best fundraising strategists in North America. (He’s also my old boss!) He says, “The greatest cause of donor attrition is that the donor did not know she made a difference.”

If a donor doesn’t know that she and her gift made a difference, why would she give another gift to your organization?

Again, take off your Fundraiser hat and put on your donor hat. If your donation was needed, wouldn’t the organization Report back and let you know? If you and your gift are important, wouldn’t the organization Report back to you and show you how?

If you mattered to the organization, wouldn’t they Report back to you?

If you mattered, they would. So if your donors matter to you, Report back to them and show them how they made a difference. For each donor, show her the ‘hole’ she helped fill!

Your Next Steps

Use these tactics to create donor-shaped holes in all of your fundraising communications. If you do, your donors will start engaging with your organization more because they’ll see that they are needed, that they have a powerful role to play, and that they matter!

And if you’d like fun, experienced coaches to help your organization do this, get in touch! We can review your fundraising and help you make it stronger, or we can even create your appeals, newsletters and e-appeals for you. For less than the cost of an employee, we can improve your fundraising materials, raise you more money, and free up internal resources!

The Magic of a Matching Gift!

Jim Shapiro  |  Major Donor Fundraising

Note from Steven: this month Jim’s been posting helpful blogs about your major donor fundraising. This post is about matching gifts. Speaking from personal experience: follow Jim’s advice and you’ll raise a lot more money!

Everyone likes a good deal – even your donors! Think about any store that sells things you love. When they have a sale, are you more likely to pay attention and make a purchase? You bet. Getting a ‘deal’ makes all of us more likely to take action now.

It’s the same thing with nonprofit fundraising.

In fundraising, matching funds are often the ‘deal’ that makes donors take action. After all, what donor wouldn’t want to double their money & impact when they make a donation?! Matching funds are fundraising magic.

Matching funds are the easiest way to improve fundraising results – and at the same time make your donors feel great about their giving. And your easiest source of matching funds are your major donors.

Let me make the further case for why matching funds matter, and then I will tell you how to secure them from your major donors.

Matching Funds make a BIG Difference

Here are just a few reasons why securing matching funds helps you raise more money:

  • A 51% increase in the average donation amount (and that’s prior to receiving matching gift funds).*
  • Mentioning matching gifts in fundraising appeals results in a 71% increase in the response rate.**
  • 84% of survey participants revealed they’re more likely to donate if a match was offered.‡
  • When a match is offered, one in three donors indicates they gave a larger gift because matching was applied to their donation.‡‡
  • Match-funding is the most likely factor to make donors give more. Match-funding even scored higher than emergency appeals.***

That’s fundraising magic right there! Donors are more engaged, more likely to give, and you’ll raise more money.

Note from Steven: you can use matches several times a year. Donors do not get tired of them. Do you get tired of your favorite things going on sale?

Now go secure those funds!

By now you are probably asking yourself, “How do I get a major donor to give matching funds?” As I mentioned earlier, the easiest source of matching funds are your major donors.

Here’s how I go about securing matching funds from major donors:

  1. You must first know who your major donors are. Earlier this month I wrote a blog post where I outlined the process for identifying, ranking and working with your major donors. If you don’t know exactly who your major donors are, then I’d suggest you first read that blog post.
  2. Review your major donor list to find a donor who either hasn’t given a major gift this year or you think has the capacity to give another large gift.
  3. Contact the donor to ask them if they’d like the chance to multiply their gift and in turn increase the impact of their gift.
  4. If you need to, share a couple of the stats above with the donor. Most major donors know that matching funds increase fundraising results – but they don’t have any idea how much. Be sure to tell them how big an impact their gift of matching funds will have!
  5. When asking for matching funds (or any gift for that matter), give them a deadline to respond to you by. If your donor seems interested but doesn’t commit to giving you a matching gift, then give them a deadline that’s reasonably soon.

Follow those steps. You won’t have success every time – but you’ll have more success than you expect!

Having matching funds really is fundraising magic. It is the easiest way to increase your fundraising results, and it’s a great way to engage your major donors in your fundraising efforts.

And a more engaged major donor is a great thing for your organization!

Footnotes:
*Source: Tech Soup: Which Fundraising Strategies Work?
**Source: Tech Soup: Which Fundraising Strategies Work?
‡Source: The Big-Give Research Initiative
‡‡Source: The Big-Give Research Initiative
***Source: The Big-Give Research Initiative