Hands-On Fundraising ⋆ Advice and insights for you

7 simple things you can do now to energize your year-end appeal

Stressed about fundraising right now? Here are a few ways to energize your year-end appeal.

1. Eliminate the kitchen sink

Chances are, no single donor can give your organization everything you need. And that’s good! Strong organizations are built with strong communities of people who all want to help a shared mission.

So don’t ask for everything you need. Donors aren’t Santa. They’re not magic. And they don’t have to spend their carefully shepherded attention trying to figure out how you want them to help.

So make it easy on them. Focus on one need. Then use your story to illustrate it. Desperate to include more? You could add an additional piece to the mailing that highlights another need.

2. Identify the problem you need help to solve

The more specific you can be, the better. “Give to our annual appeal” is so much less effective than “your neighbors are hungry. You can help with a gift today”. Here’s where that one, small, important detail can be your best friend.

Once you’ve identified the problem, find a story to illustrate it. This is the difference between “show” and “tell”. And think about it… We get “told” things all day long, through multiple channels. It’s exhausting!

But “show” us something and we’re interested, brought closer, allowed to feel the real need.

3. Don’t make it about you

But it is about “you”.

Let me explain. Your copy should be conversational – one person to one person. That’s the same whether you’re mailing to 10 people or 10,000. So Tom Ahern’s simple “you test” can help you ensure you’re doing that.

Write your appeal. Then go through and highlight every instance of the word “you” – like “your” “you’re” etc. You can even just use the “find” function in Word. What you should find is lots and lots of “you”. And not so much you – as in the organization.

You want your organization to be the mediator. The nice person who introduces someone with a problem and someone who likes to help solve problems. That’s your job. You don’t need to brag. Establish that you have the expertise. Then get out of the way.

You know that joke about a self-involved person who says, “Well, enough about me. What do YOU think of me?”

Don’t be that person – or organization.

4. Think about a package, not a letter for your year-end appeal

This may not be simple, but it could help a lot of organizations’ appeals. Think beyond a letter. Definitely think beyond a letter with a buck slip attached!

Most of the appeal packs I create have a letter – usually 4 pages – a full-page reply form (front and back), a return envelope, and an outer envelope.

Will it add a bit to your printing costs? Yes. Will it likely also add to what you raise? Yes. Of course, testing is the only way to know – your organization is unique. But give it a try. And at special times – like year-end – think about adding even more. A special insert (a “lift” because it usually lifts response) can really help!

5. Don’t be afraid to let photos do the heavy lifting

If you’re lucky enough to have great photos (and boy, is that a smart fundraising investment!) use them.

It really is true that photos communicate faster and better than words do. Our eyes have been part of the human package far longer than words have.

Put a pair of eyes, looking into the camera, in front of someone – even on a page – and they will look at it. It’s primal.

So if you have those photos, let them sing.

6. Simplify it!

When you’ve written your appeal package, put it aside for a bit. Then go back through it and cut anything that isn’t absolutely necessary.

I’m not talking about cutting for word count here. Don’t even worry about that. (And please, don’t let anyone bully you into a one-page letter!)

I’m talking about clarity and focus here. Remember that one need? Does everything you write focus on it? Or are there tangents?

Ask a friend who doesn’t know a lot about your work to read it. Are explanations required? Then you need to be more clear.

Don’t be afraid to cut wildly. Go ahead and save your original if you like. (I do!) But be ruthless. Your readers will thank you by actually, maybe, reading!

7. Want to really energize your year-end appeal? Add more love.

I see you out there, rolling your eyes. But I’m standing firm on this one.

Fundraising is emotional. Feelings are messy, and sometimes scary, sure. But feelings are why people give. We see someone else hurting and when we know we can help, we want to help!

So review your appeal. Does it make you feel just a little uncomfortable? Like when you meet someone you really click with, then wonder if maybe you said too much?

Did you just splash your heart all over the page on behalf of the people who need help?

If you did, you’re showing donors how to react to your appeal. You’re clearing the path for them to feel ok – even good – about making a somewhat irrational choice to part with their own money to help a stranger.

And that’s an act of love.

Photo by Thomas Kelley on Unsplash

The why and how of fundraising

If you’re writing that year-end appeal or anything that goes to your donors, you’ll be more successful if you understand the “why” and “how” of fundraising.

At first, you’d say it’s pretty easy, right? How is the way to do something, why is the reason you do something.

“Why” and “how” matter to your fundraising

When you’re fundraising, it’s really important to understand the difference. Here’s what I mean. Many fundraisers are rightly proud of their organization’s work. And they’re especially proud of what sets their organization apart from others. Often, that’s exactly “how” they approach their mission.

They have a special way to fight community hunger. Or a new way to improve education. Or a unique artistic vision.

And that’s cool! Successfully fulfilling your mission is important.

But most of your donors – and potential donors – don’t care as much about your methods. They care about your results. And more… they care most about your results’ impact on actual people. Not numbers, but lives touched.

“How” is more concrete.

Your special method of tackling an important problem is easy to describe.

You can outline, step by step, how you expect to solve a problem.

So often, that’s what we try to explain to donors. The problem? Donors aren’t nearly as interested as we are. Some will become interested as they become insiders. They’re your board members, major donors, and some other people who have a chance to look inside.

But for most, your methods aren’t as important as your results. “How” has its place. But don’t make it the star.

“Why” is emotional. And that can make it scary.

The “why” of your organization’s mission is full of feelings. The person or people who began your organization felt strongly enough about a problem that they launched a nonprofit.

And now, you need to communicate that passion to people who might want to help.

The passion – to feed or house or heal people – is what brings your donors to your mission.

Donors want to know what the problem is. Who is affected? And most of all: why is my help needed?

So think about answering the “why” when you communicate with your donors:

Why should I care about this?

Why does that person need my help?

Why is that child crying?

Why should I be worried about dying fish in our river?

Why aren’t those smart students able to go to college?

You answer “why” best with a story

When you’re ready to dive into the “why”, think about communicating it with a story. Would you prefer to read a grant proposal or a novel?

Humans are made to interact. Even the quietest introvert needs that connection. And when you focus on “why” rather than “how” when you write to your donors, you give them that connection. You give them a chance to feel connected by giving.

Giving is human. Giving makes us feel whole, and loved. And that’s the “why” of it all.

Photo by Cassie Matias on Unsplash

How to Engage with Supporters on Social Media: 4 Tips

Wondering how to engage your supporters?

You don’t need us to tell you that donors are what keep the lights on at your organization! That’s why one of the biggest pain points in the nonprofit world is dealing with lapsed donors. Constantly replacing churned donors with new ones isn’t a sustainable strategy. Instead, you should be focusing on the best way to maintain and organically grow your donor base: retention.

Donor retention involves building strong relationships with your existing donors. Then they’ll want to keep donating and spreading the word about your organization. The only way to bolster your retention rate is to connect with your donors at a deeper level.

They should be hearing from you on a regular basis, and not just through the email newsletter or other marketing communications. Social media can play an integral role in keeping your mission on supporters’ minds at the day-to-day level, making you an engaging part of their lives. You don’t want to be just a periodic appeal that pops up a couple of times a year.

If you don’t know how to communicate on social media outside of liking cat videos, you’re not alone. Here are some tips for using social media to enrich your donors’ experience, boost retention, and make your organization stand out from the crowd.

1. Engage your supporters on the same sites they use

One of the beautiful things about the digital era is that there’s a platform or app for everything. However, this blessing can also be a curse for new social media outreach coordinators. The last thing you want to do is spend hours making profiles and developing content for sites that your target audience doesn’t use. So, take some time to plan which platforms you’ll use to reach your donors beforehand.

A surefire way to figure out where your donors post is by asking them directly. Consider sending out a short survey or include a link in your newsletter. Then your donors can tell you where they spend their time online. You can collect this data during campaigns and store it in your fundraising software. You can even ask which content they’d like to see in your posts, such as long-form videos, photos, and infographics.

If you already have organized donor records on hand, great! You can do some research and make initial inferences. Donor demographics, particularly age, can be helpful indicators of the social media platforms that your supporters frequent. For instance, Facebook today attracts an older audience while many Millennials stick to Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.

You want to know where donors spend their time online (and where you should too).

Once your social media profiles are up and running, your real work begins: posting and interacting with your followers. Social media allows you to be a part of your donors’ everyday lives and bring heart to your fundraising. Here are some ways you can bring your social media presence to life:

Encourage followers to interact with your posts

Have you ever wondered how the most successful nonprofit influencers get so many likes, comments, and shares? According to NXUnite, it’s because they treat social media like a two-sided conversation. They prompt their followers to communicate through their posts, such as asking them a question to answer in the comments. This is important because social media algorithms will prioritize showing and spreading content that followers are authentically engaging with. Including a direct call-to-action will predispose them to follow through and boost your engagement!

Pay attention to feedback

Besides fun photos and educational content, social media can open a new channel for questions and comments. Take every opportunity to address questions and remarks from your followers in direct messages and in the comments section. It’s up to you to make sure they have their questions answered as soon as possible.

And don’t just visit your social media apps to make posts! A lot can happen in between your normal posting times. Stay alert to how your supporters are reacting to your content and engage with them whenever possible.

3. Engage your supporters by hosting virtual events and campaigns

There is, indeed, an app for that! The pandemic has proven the usefulness of technology to broaden your event offerings and connect with your supporters. Here are some digital fundraisers that you can host through your social media profiles.

Text-to-give

If you’ve dabbled in virtual fundraising, it’s likely that you’ve heard of this method. Text-to-give campaigns are self-explanatory: your donors can send gifts to your organization right from their native texting app. You can easily advertise your campaign by posting your code to your profiles. Then create shareable content that includes your text-to-give number. Your donors won’t even have to put their phones away to participate!

Platform-native fundraising tools

Many social media platforms have adapted to the influx of charitable activity on their sites by developing built-in fundraising tools. Facebook has an integrated fundraising feature that allows your friends to give directly to your campaign through a donation button on your account. It’s easy to encourage your supporters to use this method. But then you lose a lot of control/options that you’d otherwise have over the campaign.

Crowdfunding campaign

Spread the word about your cause far and wide! Crowdfunding campaigns are meant to reach a large audience. Ask for smaller donations over a short period of time. They’re easy to implement through a crowdfunding platform like GoFundMe. Don’t forget to include different tiers so that more people can participate. To further incentivize a donation, you can offer prizes, like branded merchandise. To maximize control and customization of your campaign, try creating a dedicated campaign donation page on your website. Include a fundraising thermometer, then share it far and wide on social media.

Collaborate with a nonprofit influencer

One of the broad appeals of social media is the ability to collaborate with other users to access their networks. If you have connections in the nonprofit world, especially those with a social media following, leverage them for guest appearances on your profile. You can even host your own panel to discuss your mission and trends in the nonprofit sector by using the platform’s live stream feature.

Host a virtual auction

This timeless fundraising technique has come to social media! Especially in the wake of the pandemic, virtual auctions have gained popularity due to their accessibility and simplicity. According to Snowball, social media can be a valuable platform to host a highly-visible virtual auction. Use your feed to advertise items up for auction. Then link to your auction page in your bio so your donors know exactly where to go.

With social media, the sky’s the limit. You know your donors better than anyone else. So work with your team to brainstorm ideas that your donors would love to participate in. If you have an idea, there’s likely a platform out there that can help you make it happen!

4. Engage your supporters with an invitation to be a part of the story

All nonprofits start with a good story. It’s likely your donors support your organization because they sympathized with your “why” and wanted to help you achieve your mission. Showing your potential donors why people like them decided to give is a great way to convert casual viewers into supporters. Social media provides ample opportunities to do so!

Include loyal donors by inviting them to appear as a guest on your account. This can come in many forms, such as a guest-authored post or an interview with constituents or donors. Be sure to tag your featured supporter so that they can share it with their own network. Soon, you’ll have loyal followers lining up to be a spokesperson for your nonprofit!

To say social media has revolutionized our communication channels is an understatement. Create a social media presence to keep up with your competitors in the space. Showcase your organization’s personality and show a little extra love to your loyal donors. Once you see your donor retention and acquisition numbers increase, you’ll be glad you did!

Guest author: John Killoran

John Killoran is an inventor, entrepreneur, and the Chairman of Clover Leaf Solutions, a national lab services company. He currently leads Clover Leaf’s investment in Snowball Fundraising, an online fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations.

Snowball was one of John’s first public innovations; it’s a fundraising platform that offers text-to-give, online giving, events, and peer-to-peer fundraising tools for nonprofits. By making giving simple, Snowball increases the donations that these organizations can raise online. The Snowball effect is real! John founded Snowball in 2011. Now, it serves over 7,000 nonprofits and is the #1 nonprofit fundraising platform.

Here’s why you need to invest in fundraising to raise more money

Is your fundraising program lagging?

Right now, employers are searching for great fundraising professionals. The current market means people looking for work are in a greater position of power.

If your organization is looking, here are a few things to consider.

Fundraising that succeeds requires investment

I’ll wait here while that sinks in.

You have to spend money to raise money.

(Or you have to have marvelously talented volunteers and staff who will spend far more time than you can imagine… that sometimes works.

Mostly, it doesn’t.)

Like anything worthwhile, it takes money to raise money. It takes talent and drive and time, too.

So let’s look at a few areas that many organizations try to skimp on… and probably pay for that shortcut.

Invest in fundraising staff

This is the most important investment any organization can make. And I know we have a well-deserved reputation in the sector for paying poorly and still getting by.

But what if you didn’t just get by? What if… you succeed, year on year? What if you kept more talented employees. And what if you then benefited from the relationships they developed with donors and funders, with board members and other volunteers?

Invest money in hiring and in staff pay. And give them enough time off – and mean it. (No calls. No work. They’re away.)

Invest in your programs

I don’t mean your service programs here. I mean your fundraising program.

That means you spend more money to reach your donors where they are. If you don’t have a talented fundraising writer on staff, you hire one… and have a promising staff member learn.

It also means you plan a whole year of fundraising communications. (No, one annual appeal doesn’t work.)

Do direct mail appeals and newsletters cost money? Yes. Done well, they’re raise more money. Lots more money. So track your results. You should be raising more money with increased appeals and donor stewardship communications.

Invest in fundraising learning

Your staff can be both more satisfied with the work and better at it if you include learning opportunities in their job. That means the organization pays for them. And time learning is counted as work time.

Everything they bring back will help the organization. Why should they have to foot that bill?

Afraid you’ll help train someone who will then leave for a better job? Ask yourself why that job is better at attracting good fundraisers. Use what you learn to invest in your critical fundraising staff.

Benefits that don’t cost money

There are also ways you can improve your fundraising and your staff satisfaction that don’t cost much money – or none at all.

Resist the urge to dictate fundraising decisions to the fundraisers. That’s their job. And feeling in control of your work and trusted matters a lot.

Don’t police your staff. Look at their work, not whether they’re at their desks. Fundraising makes that easy… are your fundraisers, as a team, raising more money?

Ensure your fundraisers have what they need to succeed. Access to the organization’s email and social channels? Yes. A voice when organizational decisions are made that will impact fundraising? Yes.

Fundraising starts with people. Take care of your people.

Photo: Greg Rosenke

6 ways to put more heart into your fundraising today

Fundraising is about using your heart as well as your head.

And maybe fundraising isn’t really about money at all. In the long-run, successful fundraising focuses on relationships. And good fundraisers use their hearts as much as their heads.

Does that mean every one of your donors needs to be someone you know personally? Not at all! Relationships differ. You probably have some people in your life who are in that first, tight circle. Family, probably. A partner or spouse. A best friend.

But it radiates out from that inner circle. And even the most casual relationships are still, in their way, relationships.

You probably also have relationships of differing importance with nonprofit organizations. There are the ones you love. And the ones you like. And the ones you ignore.

What moves you from “ignore” to like… and maybe love? Here are some of the “little” things to consider.

Sincere thanks

I can’t tell you how I cringe when I read most thank you letters I receive. Cold. Business-like. Boring. All about the organization and not at all about me.

It doesn’t have to be that way!

Here’s what may make people shrink from writing good thank you letters: it’s really hard to do it without opening yourself to the emotions involved. And getting emotional can feel weird at work.

Or maybe you’re willing but unsure about where to start? Read Lisa Sargent’s wonderful explainer. I wait for the day I can write one that comes close to hers. It’s a worthy goal!

My correct name means you like me

Keeping good data is another one of those things we often hand off to the newest person in the office. But it’s really important.

If someone you cared about kept calling you a name that wasn’t yours, how would you feel? Definitely unimportant to them. Probably annoyed. Or maybe hurt.

Do you really want to hurt me?

If you’re not sure, you can always ask. I used to include a recognition name in the body of a thank you letter. Something along the lines of “Our records show that you’d like to be listed as Mary Cahalane. If that’s incorrect, would you let me know?” Make sure you include your email address. Easy!

One of many donors might not seem worth the effort. But each donor is a “one”. And to them, that “one” matters a lot.

Friendly language

You don’t talk to your best friend as if you’re in a formal business meeting, do you? I mean, unless you’re really in a business meeting…

More likely, your conversations are casual, comfortable. You know which friends you can drop a casual F-bomb with and which you’d best not. If you’ve known each other a long time, you skip over bits… because you have a shared language.

Using personal, friendly language signals that someone is close to you. That you trust them. You’re not holding them at arm’s length.

And that’s where your donors think they are. So don’t push them away with stiff, formal language. Stay away from jargon. Instead, be warm. Be casual. Write as you talk. And talk as you would with someone you really like.

(But… general advice here: you probably don’t have too many donors you should drop an F-bomb with.)

Honesty is respect

You may have run into a situation where your organization is facing something negative. Something you want to be careful about communicating. A much larger than expected deficit. Something that went from advocacy to controversy. Maybe even an unlawful act by a trusted staffer.

You absolutely should take a little time to handle this carefully. But crossing your fingers, putting on a happy face, and changing the subject may only work so long. You can be honest and wise at the same time.

Honesty will pay off in the long term. Because dishonesty breaks trust. And people who want to trust your organization with their donations and their passion? They won’t do well if they feel cheated.

Communicating with a full heart

It’s an odd truth, and we often shy away from it. But people give from the heart, not the head.

That’s why all your best, most logical explanations don’t lead to gifts the way encouraging a donor’s passion does. We all make emotional donation decisions. Lots of us rationalize the decisions afterward. Just so we feel smart.

But now you know. Giving is emotional. So if you approach asking like Mr. Spock you’ll be missing the donor entirely.

Feel the feels. Go ahead, let yourself do it. Hopefully, you believe in your organization’s mission, right? What makes you feel good about it? Why do you think it’s worth supporting?

That’s a good place to start before you communicate with other people. Lead with your heart. It won’t let you – or your donors – down.

Worrying less about the dollars and more about the donors

You have a budget. And you have goals to meet. Where’s the heart in that?

Maybe your job even depends on those goals being met. (Short-term thinking if you ask me, but you didn’t ask me, did you?)

And yes, you have to take care of the money. You need to track everything, so you understand where you are. And what works.

But don’t let the money get in front of the people. Because if you focus on engaging people – collecting them if you will – you’ll raise more money. If donors or potential donors feel appreciated they’ll respond. If they see the dollar signs in your eyes… they won’t. Or not for long.

The good news about all of this is you don’t need super master skills. You just need to let yourself be human.