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There's one key truth worth remembering in every step you take fundraising for your nonprofit.
If you remember nothing else from your studies, collaborations, or reading of this blog (just celebrated our 200th post), remember this:
Nonprofit organizations do not need money. You read right.
Nonprofit organizations need friends who are willing to learn more and potentially invest in saving and changing lives.
People don't give because organizations need money. People give because living beings need help, organizations have solutions. Donor investments are the link between those in need and solutions.
Take this key truth. Incorporate into every fundraising action you take: board meeting discussions, thank you's, fundraising campaigns, committee meetings and more. Make sure this key truth is the framework for all of your efforts to move your fundraising forward.
What has your experience been with this key truth? What would you like it to be moving forward?
Best wishes connecting your solutions with donor investments to save and change lives!
Photo credit above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crazyneighborlady/
Like many of you reading this blog, it's sometimes hard to keep up on the number of business and organizations who regularly send me email.
What stands out in my experience? What lessons from that stand out might be applied to more effective fundraising?
I utilize www.TripAdvisor.com frequently when traveling to gain insight on local restaurants and more. I try to give back to the insight I gain from the sight by sharing my own experiences. By a wide margin, they stand out as sending me careful, relevant donor communications.Why?
1. TripAdvisor.com let me know that I am among the top 5% of their contributors. This makes me feel like I have achieved my goal of giving back to other users.
What can you communicate to make your donors feel special and valued? Maybe let them know how many people your organization has served during the time they've been contributing to your organization? Let them know when they pass a giving milestone, or how close they might be to one?
2. TripAdvisor.com promptly thanks me for each review I contribute. They immediately acknowledge my submission and let me know when it's posted.
How about a quick call to let your donor know you received their donation, followed by a prompt, personal, hand-written thank-you note?
3. TripAdvisor.com sent positive, thank you filled emails that helped motivate me to make enough contributions to get to their highest contributor level.
What message could you bring to your current donors, appreciating them while encourage them to stretch to the next level of giving?
4. TripAdvisor.com regularly communicates with me based around my contributions, with occasional supporting messages like the Top 5% mentioned above. I've lost track of how many unsubscribes I've submitted for weekly or more frequent messages from other organizations.
How can you strike a balance between staying in regular contact with your donors without being perceived as a pest? What do your donors have to say about this?
What do you think? What communication stands out to you?
Photo link above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sierragoddess/
Recently, I received a thank you letter for a donation I made via regular mail that stood out from the crowd. It was from Caring Bridge, a highly-rated national nonprofit that provides free update and support sites for those facing a health crisis.
The reasons this letter stood out from the crowd included its general promptness, as well as its warm and friendly tone. Most significantly, this donor thank you stood out because of the unique way it used numbers to forge a connection opportunity with me and every donor who got the same message.
The letter let me know that on the day my gift arrived at Caring Bridge offices, 229 people created a Caring Bridge site. I feel close to six people who have used Caring Bridge extensively to keep loved ones up to date on their progress. Those six people helped inspire my gift. Thirty eight times the people I know well who have used the site needed to create one in just one day!
This number-driven donor connection communicated several key points:
1. There is a significant and ongoing need for Caring Bridge sites. A lot of people are going through a lot medically.
2. Caring Bridge has dedicated thoughtful time and effort to making a meaningful connection with their donors through use of this stat.
What numbers could your favorite nonprofit use to make a meaningful connection with your donors?
Photo credit above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/woodlouse/
Are you struggling with where to start with your fundraising? Try this exercise:
1. Make a list of all the people your organizations are naturally connected to. This could be current and former volunteers, current and former volunteers, service recipients, "fans" who have made their appreciation known to you and more. Involve a few people who have been regularly involved with your organization to make sure this list is as comprehensive as possible.
2. Add all available current contact information for the people on this list. Track this contact information in one central location.
3. Set a realistic yet challenging goal. Could you visit four of these people in one month? Maybe ten? If you have full time availability, could you visit an average of one person per day.
4. Visit the people on your list in accordance with the contact goal you've set for yourself. Start out by saying thank you for their time and past support Ask open ended questions that may be taken from the list below.
- Tell me more about how you first became involved in our organization.
- What adjectives would you use when describing our organization to someone else?
- What one thing do you like best about our work?
- What one thing would you most like to see improved?
- Do you know of others who feel connected to us who we should have this conversation with?
5. Ask for nothing in this first meeting other than your connection's time and input. Follow up with a thank you for their time via note, phone or email. After that meeting, make note of the feedback in a central location. Once your meetings are done, share the results with your board for planning and improvement.
6. For each individual contact, determine whether you think the interest is strong enough to maintain that name on your active fundraising list. Then create your Development Plan and start the process!
Photo credit above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drachmann/
Today's update links you to a number of resources from Simone Joyaux, ACFRE, (pronounced See-mun ZhaWHY-oh) of Joyaux Associates and Tom Ahern of Ahern Donor Communications. Together, these two make a compelling team of communications to help you place and keep your focus on your donors, where it should be.
Simone is one of approximately 100 people worldwide who have successfully completed a rigorous process of career productivity, major projects, exams, continuing education and service to achieve her Advanced Certified Fundraising Executive (ACFRE) credential.
Online resources include:
1. The Joyaux Associates Free Download Library on topics like Board Development, Fund Development and more.
2. Simone Uncensored is a weekly blog on important donor topics on her home page available here. While therel, you can sign up your email to receiver her "newsy letters"
3. Ahearn Donor Communications also shares a wonderful regular email newsletter with thought provoking examples of putting -- and not putting donors first in written communication. You may sign up here.
For a more in-depth study, consider their available books on the topic:
1. Keep Your Donors: The Guide to Better Communications and Stronger Relationships by Tom and Simone.
2. Seeing Through a Donor's Eyes: How to Make a Persuasive Case for Everything from Your Annual Drive to your Planned Giving Program to your Capital Campaign by Tom. The link in the previous sentence also includes details on additional books of Tom's that may be a fit for your current fundraising efforts.
3. Strategic Fund Development: Building Profitable Relationships that Last, now in its third edition by Simone.
Your donors are the starting point and continual enablers of the good work that you do. What action are you going to take today to stay in touch with them and make sure they know that>
Photo credit above: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rogersg/
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