Once upon a time… a (fun!) direct mail fundraising fable

small

Once upon a time…

There was a small organization in a town near you.

The staff sat in a room one day and asked, “How can we show our donors that we know what we’re doing and that we should be taken seriously?  How can we make our fundraising more professional?”

So they hired a graphic designer, who made their next mailing look like a shiny brochure. They began to print out mailing labels instead of handwriting donor addresses on envelopes. And they stopped calling their donors because nobody uses the phone anymore.

The staff was excited because these improvements would also free up their time to get more done!

Meanwhile, in that same town… there was a large organization.

Their leadership team sat in their conference room and asked, “How can we let our donors know they matter and that we care about them? How can we be more personal with our donors?”

They decided to make their next mailing feel like a personal letter from the executive director to the donor. They decided to handwrite some of the addresses on the next mailing, and even put a real stamp on the envelope. And they started to call some of their donors three days a week.

They knew these efforts would add time to their work. But they also knew these personal touches would help their donors feel more connected to the organization.

***

Okay, I get it. This… little fable could only EVER be interesting to fundraisers.

But hear me on this. If you are a small organization you have a superpower that large organizations are trying their best to imitate. You are personal.

Please DON’T give up that superpower!

Your donors want to know there are living, breathing humans behind the letter they are reading.

So embrace the gift of being a small organization!

Be real. Be quirky. Be creative. Be… YOU!

Sarah

PS — Click here for Steven Screen’s amazing tips for HOW to provide the human touch to your direct mail fundraising – whether you are a small organization or a large organization.

BONUS: A Simple Strategy to Build Major Donor Relationships Immediately

relationships

A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: BONUS Simple Strategy to Build Relationships Immediately

I’ve been sharing some of my tips and tricks for getting started with major donor fundraising.

Today, I’m going to share a strategy a client and fundraising friend of mine came up with that is so simple (and easy to remember!) that I can’t keep it to myself.

It’s called 3 – 4 – 5.

3 days a week, call 4 major donors to say thank you or report back, at 5pm.

That’s it. That’s the strategy.

Even if you can’t start a full-blown major donor program, see if you can try THIS.

Make this part of your week (every week!) and you will start building stronger relationships with your major donors immediately!

It’s as simple as 3 – 4 – 5!

Next time: how to ask for a major gift from the donors in your portfolio.

Read the series:

  1. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #1, Build Your Portfolio
  2. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #2, The Plan to Build Meaningful Relationships
  3. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: BONUS Simple Strategy to Build Relationships Immediately (This post)
  4. A Beginner’s Guide to Major Donor Fundraising Success: Step #3, How to Ask for a Major Gift

The Fundraising IS the Relationship

Fundraising relationship.

When it comes down to it, fundraising is not that hard.

You treat donors and potential donors with kindness and respect. You try to build relationship with them.

We all “get” the relationship aspect.

But every organization has some donors that you are never going to be in relationship with. These are donors who don’t go to events. They are $25 donors and major donors who you’ve never met and won’t return your calls. They aren’t known by anybody on your staff or board.

But you still want a relationship with them. And believe it or not, it’s possible to have a GREAT relationship with them.

Here’s the secret…

Your Fundraising IS Your Relationship

You’re already in a relationship with them.

The way you communicate with them is you send them fundraising. The way they communicate with you is by giving a gift… or not.

So for your side of the relationship – the fundraising that you send them – the question becomes; “How are you going to show up?”

Take a look at a bunch of standard practices is mass donor fundraising, and think about all of these in the context of relationship:

  • Fundraising that talks mostly about the organization itself, and very little about the donor
  • Only sending out a couple pieces of fundraising a year, and going dark (ghosting) for weeks and months
  • Fundraising that, when sharing success stories made possible by the donor and the organization, focuses almost exclusively on the organization’s role
  • Fundraising that’s written to the organization’s level of expertise, instead of written to the donor’s level of expertise

You’d never put up with those behaviors from another human, would you?

It’s almost like we ignored the basic principles of relationship when we created mass donor fundraising plans and materials, don’t you think?

So is it any surprise those approaches don’t make for effective fundraising?

Your Side of the Relationship

Here’s how to hold up your side of the relationship, how to show up in your donor’s life and be the type of organization that she’d like to be in relationship with:

  • Fundraising that’s mostly about what she cares about (your beneficiaries and what she can do or has done to help), and less about your organization
  • Fundraising that regularly shows up in your donor’s life
  • Fundraising that focuses more on the donor’s role and less on the organization’s role
  • Fundraising that’s written to make it easy for a donor to understand

Follow those principles and you’ll build GREAT relationships with donors you’ve never talked to.

And over time, many of your donors will “upgrade” their relationship with you through attending an event, giving you a major gift, including you in their will, etc.

And it will have happened because you made the generous choice to show up in their lives.

You held up your end of the relationship in a way that made them want to get to know you better.

This post was originally published on October 21, 2021.

The Fundraising IS the Relationship

Fundraising relationship.

When it comes down to it, fundraising is not that hard.

You treat donors and potential donors with kindness and respect. You try to build relationship with them.

We all “get” the relationship aspect.

But every organization has some donors that you are never going to be in relationship with. These are donors who don’t go to events. They are $25 donors and major donors who you’ve never met and won’t return your calls. They aren’t known by anybody on your staff or board.

But you still want a relationship with them. And believe it or not, it’s possible to have a GREAT relationship with them.

Here’s the secret…

Your Fundraising IS Your Relationship

You’re already in a relationship with them.

The way you communicate with them is you send them fundraising. The way they communicate with you is by giving a gift… or not.

So for your side of the relationship – the fundraising that you send them – the question becomes; “How are you going to show up?”

Take a look at a bunch of standard practices is mass donor fundraising, and think about all of these in the context of relationship:

  • Fundraising that talks mostly about the organization itself, and very little about the donor
  • Only sending out a couple pieces of fundraising a year, and going dark (ghosting) for weeks and months
  • Fundraising that, when sharing success stories made possible by the donor and the organization, focuses almost exclusively on the organization’s role
  • Fundraising that’s written to the organization’s level of expertise, instead of written to the donor’s level of expertise

You’d never put up with those behaviors from another human, would you?

It’s almost like we ignored the basic principles of relationship when we created mass donor fundraising plans and materials, don’t you think?

So is it any surprise those approaches don’t make for effective fundraising?

Your Side of the Relationship

Here’s how to hold up your side of the relationship, how to show up in your donor’s life and be the type of organization that she’d like to be in relationship with:

  • Fundraising that’s mostly about what she cares about (your beneficiaries and what she can do or has done to help), and less about your organization
  • Fundraising that regularly shows up in your donor’s life
  • Fundraising that focuses more on the donor’s role and less on the organization’s role
  • Fundraising that’s written to make it easy for a donor to understand

Follow those principles and you’ll build GREAT relationships with donors you’ve never talked to.

And over time, many of your donors will “upgrade” their relationship with you through attending an event, giving you a major gift, including you in their will, etc.

And it will have happened because you made the generous choice to show up in their lives.

You held up your end of the relationship in a way that made them want to get to know you better.