donor relations

How You Can Create a Thank You Plan

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, donor-centered, planning, thank you letters, writing , , , , , ,

Thanking your donors is just as important, if not more important than fundraising. Yet many organizations spend a lot of time putting together a fundraising campaign and treat thanking their donors as an afterthought.

We’re still in a time of uncertainty. While some people have been generous over the last two years, we don’t know how long that will continue.

Prioritizing gratitude and donor relations will help. If you don’t do a good job of thanking your donors, as well as building relationships throughout the year, you’ll have a hard time getting people to people to donate again, which is one of the keys to your success.

This is why having a thank you plan is crucial. It’s not only important when you’re running a fundraising campaign, but also during the “between times.”

Many organizations just thank their donors after they receive a gift and then disappear until the next fundraising appeal. Your donors deserve better than that. 

Thanking your donors is something you need to do throughout the year – at least once a month, if you can. A thank you plan will help you stay focused on gratitude all year round.  

Here’s what you need to include in your thank you plan.

Plan to make a good first impression with your thank you landing page

Your landing page is your first chance to say thank you and it shouldn’t resemble Amazon checkout. It should make a person feel good about giving a donation.

Open with Thank you, Susan! or You’re amazing! Include an engaging photo or video and a short, easy-to-understand description of how the donation will help your clients/community right now. Put all the tax-deductible information after your message or in the automatically generated thank you email.

If you use a third-party giving site, you might be able to customize the landing page. If not, follow up with a personal thank you email message within 48 hours.

Plan to write a warm and personal automatic thank you email

Set up an automatic thank you email to go out after someone donates online. This email thank you is more of a reassurance to let your donor know you received her donation. You still need to thank her by mail or phone.

Just because your thank you email is automatically generated, doesn’t mean it needs to sound like it was written by a robot. Write something warm and personal.

Give some thought to the email subject line, too. At the very least make sure it says Thank You or You did something great today and not anything boring like Your Donation Receipt or Donation Received. And please stop using words like transaction and processed. A donation is not a transaction. It’s the start or continuation of a relationship.

Plan to thank your donors by mail or phone

I’m a firm believer that every donor, no matter how much she’s given or whether she donated online, gets a thank you card or letter mailed to her or receives a phone call.

Try to thank your donors within 48 hours or within a week at the latest. It might be hard to do that right now, but it will be easier if you plan to carve out some time to thank your donors each day you get a donation. Remember, thanking your donors should be a priority. If you wait too long, you’re not making a good impression.

Instead of sending the usual generic thank you letter, mail a handwritten card or call your donors. Making thank you calls or writing thank you notes is something your board can do. 

Find board members, staff, and volunteers to make phone calls or write thank you notes. Come up with sample scripts. You may want to conduct a short training. Make sure to get your team together well before your next fundraising campaign so you’re ready to go when the donations come in. 

Here’s a sample phone script, which you can modify for a thank you note/letter/email. 

Hi Ben, this is Laura Kramer and I’m a board member at the Riverside Community Food Bank. I’m calling to thank you for your generous donation of $50. Thanks to you, we can continue to provide neighborhood families with healthy food. This is great. We’re seeing more people come in right now because of rising food costs, so we really appreciate your support.

You’ll stand out if you can send a handwritten thank you card. I get a few of these a year and they tend to come from the same organizations, which shows you what they prioritize! 

If you can’t send handwritten cards or call all your donors, send them a personal and heartfelt letter. If you’ve been using the same letter template for a while, take time to freshen it up. Don’t start your letter with On behalf of X organization, we thank you for your donation of…. 

Open your letter with You’re incredible or Because of you, the Sanders family can finally move into their own home. Create separate letters for new donors, renewing donors, and monthly donors.

Add a personal handwritten note to the letter, preferably something that pertains to that particular donor. For example, if the donor has given before, mention that. Hand sign the letters, if you can.

Let your donors know how much you appreciate them and highlight what your organization is doing with their donations.

In addition, write your thank you letter at the same time you write your appeal letter. Make sure they’re ready to go as soon as the donations come in. Don’t wait three weeks.

Plan to keep thanking your donors all year round

This is where having a thank you plan makes a difference because as I mentioned before – thanking your donors is something you must do all year round.

You can use your communications calendar to incorporate ways to thank your donors, but why not go one step further and create a specific thank you calendar?

Remember to try to say thank you at least once a month. Here are some ways to do that. 

  • Send cards or email messages at Thanksgiving, during the holidays, on Valentine’s Day, or mix it up a little and send a note of gratitude in June or September when your donors may not be expecting it. Try to send at least one or two gratitude messages a year by mail, since your donors will be more likely to see those. And you don’t need a holiday or special occasion to thank your donors. Thank them just because….
  • Invite your donors to connect with you via email and social media. Keep them updated with accomplishments and success stories, as well as how the current situations are impacting your work. Making all your communications donor-centered will help convey an attitude of gratitude. Be sure to keep thanking your donors in your newsletter and other updates. Emphasize that you wouldn’t be able to do the work you do without your donors’ support.
  • Create a thank you video and share it on your thank you landing page, by email, and on social media. Go one step further and personalize it. 
  • Send a warm-up letter or email about a month before your next campaign (no ask). This is a great way to show appreciation BEFORE you send your appeals.
  • COVID makes it tricky to plan an open house or tours right now, but you could do something virtual to let your donors see your nonprofit up close and personal. Also, a virtual gathering or tour may be easier to pull off. 
  • Keep thinking of other ways to thank your donors. You can repeat some of the ones listed above over the year.

The tactics that work best are going to differ for each organization. I would definitely send something by mail a few times a year. Email and social media may not be as successful, especially if your donors don’t use electronic communication very much. You could survey them to find out their communication preferences, as well as their interests. This will help with your engagement.

Creating a thank you plan will make it easier to keep showing appreciation to your donors all year round. You need your donors right now, so don’t hold back on that always-important gratitude.

How to Build Relationships With Your Monthly Donors

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, monthly donors, writing , , , ,

Over the summer I’ve written about the importance of building relationships and having a strong monthly giving program. This post combines both of these topics.

Specifically, I want to focus on building relationships with your current monthly donors. 

Don’t take these donors for granted. Monthly donors stepped up during the height of the pandemic and you should be able to rely on them during any economic uncertainty.

This doesn’t magically happen. You need to devote time to connecting with these valuable donors. 

Make a plan

First, create a plan for your monthly donor communication. Although I’m emphasizing summer, you need to communicate with your monthly donors (and all donors) throughout the year. I like to say because these donors support you every month, you should reciprocate by communicating with them at least once a month.

You can incorporate this into your communications calendar. Fill it with ways to show gratitude and share updates. You can use a variety of channels. Here are some ideas to get started.

Send something by mail

How often do you get something personal in the mail? Not often, right? And when you do, it stands out.

How about sending a handwritten note to your monthly donors? Another option is to create a postcard thank you and/or update. Your donors will really appreciate this nice gesture.

Create a video

Videos are a great way to connect and they’re not that hard to create. If you can personalize it, all the better. Otherwise, you can create a general one that thanks your monthly donors.

You can also create a video that gives a behind-the-scenes look at your organization or a virtual tour. 

Spruce up those automatic thank you emails

Those automatic thank you emails you may have set up don’t count as part of your monthly donor connection plan. It’s fine to create these, but you don’t have to. While these monthly acknowledgments offer donors reassurance that the organization received their gift, they’re often uninspiring. Many of these acknowledgments are just receipts and a receipt is not a thank you.

Spruce them up a little and change the content every few months. Use this as an opportunity to share some updates.

Here’s a timely example from Planned Parenthood.

Ann,

Thank you for supporting Planned Parenthood! Your tax-deductible monthly gift of ___has been processed.

The recent Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. JWHO is horrifying and dangerous. But all of us at Planned Parenthood remain committed to working to ensure that every patient who needs high-quality, affordable health care can access it.

In this crisis for abortion access, independent providers, abortion funds, and Planned Parenthood health centers will do everything they can to connect anyone who wants an abortion with the care they need.

Your monthly gift to Planned Parenthood fuels our efforts to expand access to abortion and protect affordable sexual and reproductive health care.

With our gratitude for your support, we also want to uplift our partners — abortion funds and independent providers — who are also doing the necessary work to make sure people who need care can access it.

We know you’re invested in our movement because of your generous monthly gift, and, if you’re so inclined, we encourage you to take a few minutes in the next few days to find your local abortion fund or independent provider and connect with them to see how you can help.

On behalf of all of the individuals that your support has allowed us to help, thank you for standing with us.

If you need to change your credit card or billing information, please visit the Self-Service Portal, or contact our Donor Services team by submitting a question online or calling 1-800-430-4907.

Thank you again for your support.

With the exception of using the word processed, I think this is a good acknowledgment. They also include information on how to change your credit card by accessing a self-service portal. This can also give people the opportunity to easily upgrade their gifts.

Get noticed with an enticing subject line

Most likely you’ll communicate by email, which has its pros and cons. It’s easier and less expensive than a postal mailing, but since people get an enormous amount of email, they might miss your message.

One way to get noticed is to use an enticing subject line. Here’s one I like from Pet Partners – Your monthly gift in action 

It goes on to tell a story about a therapy dog who visits a school and interacts with kids who have been diagnosed with ADHD, who have been placed in foster care, and who are dealing with other difficult situations.

Keep your donors engaged with good content

Congratulations, your donor opened your email message. You want to keep them engaged. Here’s the full message from Pet Partners, along with a picture of a thank you note from the kids and the therapy dog Dusty Rose.

Dear Ann,

Your monthly commitment to Pet Partners allows for stability within our organization that directly affects our volunteer experience and the visits they make. Without your support of the human-animal bond, the beautiful impact that our therapy animal teams make wouldn’t be felt. Thank you.

Many handlers partner with other local therapy animal teams to create local community-based groups, as is the case with Santa Clarita Pet Partners Therapy Dogs. Handler Sharon reflects on her time working with this group alongside her therapy dog Dusty Rose as they finish up their visits for the school year at the local elementary school:

“We visit at the school once a week during the school year with children who have been diagnosed with ADHD, who have been placed in foster care, and who are dealing with other difficult situations. They always look forward to our dogs. Typically we have three dogs visiting at a time, each assigned to a student by the school therapist. The students will sit on the floor with the therapy dogs to pet them, do tricks, talk, and relax together.

“Dogs create a nonjudgmental environment for these children. Many times during our visits they will share private information and feelings that they have never told anyone else. They might share that someone is being mean to them, or that when they were gone their parents gave away their dog. Life is difficult for many of these students, but they light up at the sight of their furry friends and the unconditional love the dogs offer.”

During one of the latest visits, the children showed their appreciation through a beautiful thank you note. Though this note is written directly to the therapy animal teams, it is because of your support that the children get to experience the heartwarming impact of therapy animal visits.

Make it personal

Be sure to address your donors by name, just like what you see in the examples above. I would also recommend separate communication for new donors and longer-term donors. 

Welcome new monthly donors. You can go a step further with different messages for brand new donors and single gift donors who have upgraded to monthly. Be sure to give special attention to longer-term donors. The average donor retention rate for monthly donors is 90% and you don’t want that to go down.

You can give shout outs in your newsletter and social media, but those won’t be as personal. Some organizations include a cover letter or note for their monthly donors in their newsletters. You could also create separate newsletters for monthly donors.

The key is to stay in touch and keep making connections. Remember to thank these donors every month. 

Don’t ignore your valuable monthly donors. Keep building those important relationships

The 5 C’s of Good Nonprofit Communication

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, fundraising, writing , , , ,

I’d like to revisit a topic I’ve written about in the past and that’s the 5 C’s of good nonprofit communication. You can think of this as a summer rerun. Some of you will remember the time networks (and even longer ago there were just a few of them) didn’t release new TV shows in the summer and we just watched reruns. But I digress….  

It’s important to keep these 5 C’s in mind when you’re writing a fundraising appeal, thank you letter, update, or any type of donor communication.  

Is it Clear?

What is your intention? What message are you sending to your donors? Are you asking for a donation, thanking them, or sharing an update? 

Whatever it is, make sure your message is clear. If you have a call to action, that needs to be clear as well. You also want to stick to one call to action. If you ask your donors to make a donation, volunteer, and contact their legislators in the same message, you run the risk of them not doing any of those.

You want your message to produce results. Plain and simple, your fundraising appeal should entice someone to donate. Your thank you letter should thank your donors (no bragging or explaining what your organization does) and make them feel good about donating.

Use language your donors will understand (no jargon). Keep out terms like food insecurity and underserved communities. Just because something is clear to you, doesn’t mean it will be clear to others. 

Is it Concise?

Can you say more with less? Eliminate any unnecessary adverbs, adjectives, and filler. Make your point right away. Concise writing doesn’t mean you need to be terse or all your print communication has to be one page. Sometimes it will need to be longer, but the same rules apply. 

Nonprofit organizations like to pack a lot of information into their monthly/quarterly newsletters and annual reports, but many donors won’t read something if it looks like it will be too long. 

Shorter, more frequent communication is better. This applies to the example I gave above about not putting more than one call to action in a message. You’ll have better results if you send separate messages for each call to action.

Also, most people skim, so use short paragraphs and lots of white space, especially for electronic communication.

Make all your words count.

Is it Conversational?

Write as if you’re having a conversation with a friend and be personable. Use the second person – where you refer to your donors as you and your organization as we. Remember to use you much more than we. 

Avoid using jargon, cliches, multi-syllable words, and the passive voice. Is that the way you talk to your friends? I hope not.

You may think you’re impressing your donors by using jargon and big words, but most likely you’re confusing them or even worse, alienating them. Connect with your donors by using language they’ll understand.

Is it Compelling?

Is whatever you’re writing going to capture someone’s attention right away and keep them interested? The average human attention span is eight seconds, so the odds are stacked against you.

Start with a good opening sentence. Leading with a question is often good. Stories are also great. 

Put a human face on your stories and keep statistics to a minimum. Start a fundraising appeal with a story that leads to a call to action.

Are you establishing a connection?

Donors are drawn to your organization because they feel a connection to your cause. You also need to establish a connection with them. You can start by segmenting your donors by different types, such as new donors, current donors, and monthly donors. 

Get to know your donors better and give them content you know they’ll be interested in. Hint – it’s not bragging about your organization. They want to know how they’re helping you make a difference for your clients/community. They also want to feel appreciated. Focus on building and sustaining relationships.

Keep these 5 C’s in mind to help ensure good communication with your donors.

Don’t Take a Vacation From Your Donor Communication

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, donor-centered, planning, thank you letters , , , , ,

Summer is here, although once again, we’re not having a normal summer. More people are traveling despite rising gas prices, airport delays, a tough economy, and the ongoing pandemic. Nevertheless, we all deserve some kind of a vacation. I hope you’ll get a chance to take one. I know you’ve been through a lot. 

This may be a quieter time for your nonprofit, but you don’t want to be too quiet and ignore your donors. Something the pandemic taught us is we should communicate more during tough times. This would be a great time to do some relationship building.

You should be communicating with your donors at least once a month and that includes the summer months. Don’t make the mistake of taking a vacation from your donor communication. Continuing to stay in touch with your donors will help you when you launch your fall fundraising campaign. 

Here are a few ways you can connect with your donors this summer, as well as throughout the year, and build those important relationships. 

Say thank you

Nonprofit organizations don’t thank their donors enough. You don’t need a reason to thank your donors. Just do it and do it often. You’ll stand out if you do.

This is a good time to do something personal, such as sending a handwritten thank you card. I have a subscription to a local theatre. Every year during the last show of the season, they put a thank you card, along with a piece of chocolate (!), on our seats. Usually, it’s a pre-printed card, but this year they gave out handwritten cards. I was touched. This theatre, like many others, didn’t put on live performances for a year and a half. They weathered some tough times, but got through them thanks to their donors. 

You can do something similar. Pour on the gratitude and let your donors know how you much you’ve appreciated their support over the last few years. Again, try to make it personal. If handwritten cards sound like too much, you could send a postcard, make a video, or connect through email.

You don’t need anything fancy and make it easy for yourself by keeping it simple. There are so many ways to thank your donors. It’s okay to have a little fun and get creative.

Send an update

If you haven’t communicated with your donors much since your last appeal, send them an update sharing your success and challenges. You could combine an update with a thank you, if you’d like.

Try to send something by mail if you can. Your donors are more likely to see your messages if you send them by mail. You could consider an infographic postcard.

I know mail is expensive, but a postcard shouldn’t cost too much. It’s also a quick way to share an update with busy donors. Also, consider that this investment could pay off if your postcard (or handwritten card) entices a donor to give again and possibly upgrade.

If it’s impossible to send something by mail right now, you can use email.

Tie in current situations

I don’t need to tell you there’s a lot going in the world right now. Will certain policies or budget cuts affect your organization? Many states are working on their budget for the next fiscal year.

Share ways your donors can help – perhaps by contacting their legislators, volunteering, or making a donation.

Advocacy alerts can be a great way for people to engage with your organization. Be sure to thank participants and keep them updated on any outcomes.

When all levels of government make funding cuts or policy changes, the need in the community grows, which puts more burden on nonprofit organizations.

Make room for improvement and plan ahead

The summer can be a good time to make improvements in your existing communication. Spend time finding some engaging stories and photos for your newsletters and other updates.

Start working on your appeal and thank you letters for your next campaign. Make sure they focus on building relationships and are donor-centered. Segment your donors by different types – new, renewing, monthly, etc.  

If you’re feeling pinched financially, you may want to start your fall campaign earlier – September/October instead of November/December. I’ll write more about this in future posts, but a few ways to raise additional revenue are to invite current donors to join your family of monthly donors and reach out to your lapsed donors.

For now, keep relationship building front and center. Keep communicating with your donors. They want to hear from you. Don’t take a vacation from your donor communication.

What to Include on Your Crowdfunding Page: 7 Best Practices

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, fundraising , , ,

An online fundraising page is crucial for a crowdfunding campaign’s success. Follow these seven best practices to attract donors and deepen engagement. 

By Missy Singh

One of the crucial elements of building any crowdfunding campaign for a nonprofit is setting up a crowdfunding page online. A well-designed crowdfunding page allows your campaign to stand out and reach an audience far beyond your immediate supporters.

While your cause may be unique, every crowdfunding page should contain certain consistent elements. In this guide, we’ll look at the following features to include on your crowdfunding page:

  • High-Quality Images and Videos
  • Regular, Specific Text Updates
  • Clear Goals and Deadlines
  • Robust Social Sharing Features
  • Consistent Branding
  • Secure Donation Submission Form
  • Additional Ways to Get Involved

In addition to these features, your crowdfunding page should be mobile-friendly, have fast page load times, and meet web accessibility guidelines. Taking these steps will make your crowdfunding site accessible to as many visitors as possible, and users can make donations on the go. If supporters can’t access your page, there’s a 0% chance they’ll end up donating.

1. High-Quality Images and Videos

What’s the first thing visitors will notice when they arrive on your crowdfunding page? Most likely, the images and videos.  

Visual components can make your campaign feel more personal and human, and increase donations and social sharing among supporters. However, if your images are outdated, generic, or poor-quality, you set the wrong tone for your campaign.   

According to crowdfunding best practices, the images and videos you post on your page should be:

  • Visible, clear, and adjustable depending on screen size. 
  • Related to the cause, project, or event you’re raising money for.
  • Regularly updated throughout the campaign.
  • Uploaded chronologically to show the progress you’re making in your campaign.

If your fundraiser involves in-person events or activities, also include a place on your page where participants can share their own photos to supplement the ones you post. Supporters will appreciate the opportunity to play an active role in showcasing your work. 

2. Regular, Specific Text Updates

Donors want to stay apprised of your campaign. Posting on your crowdfunding page is an effective way to keep them informed. Moreover, regular updates directly correspond to fundraiser success. According to Fundly’s fundraising statistics, campaigns that update supporters every five days raise three times more than those that don’t. 

Your updates don’t need to be extensive. Focus on providing interesting or useful information while avoiding jargon and generic text. When you include text on your page, you should:

  • Include the most relevant, up-to-date information. 
  • Share specific, relatable stories about the community you serve and the problems they face. 
  • Make a call to action that details the impact a donation will have.
  • Break it up with images, lists, examples, and bullet points.

However, don’t go overboard or make your posts too self-promotional. Your supporters don’t want to be pressured into donating. Instead, develop a communication schedule that dictates what and when you’ll post updates to your crowdfunding page.

3. Deadline and Goals

Because you’ll likely tie your updates to the fundraising goals and deadlines you’ve set, these should be clearly communicated on your page. 

To use your goals and deadlines to encourage supporters, make sure they are realistic. For example, it’s pretty unlikely a small nonprofit could raise millions of dollars over the course of a single day. Unrealistic goals can ultimately discourage staff and supporters alike and lead to decreased donations. If there’s no chance of meeting the goal in time, why should they even donate?

On the other hand, a realistic goal and timeline can be a good challenge for your supporters to meet. Add a countdown clock and fundraising thermometer to your crowdfunding page, showing how much time is left in the campaign and how much you have left to raise. These features will help visitors visualize the campaign’s success so far and how much more support you need. 

4. Social Sharing Features

Crowdfunding campaigns rely on social sharing. So, if it’s not easy for supporters to share your page, you’re hurting your campaign. Include buttons that facilitate sharing via email as well as to major social media platforms, including:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • TikTok

Sometimes, crowdfunding campaigns will start with significant social media engagement from supporters, but sharing then quickly dies off. You can try to avoid this decline and encourage continued sharing throughout the campaign by regularly adding new, shareable content to your crowdfunding platform. 

You can also encourage social sharing by reposting these updates on your social media profiles. When posting on social media, remember to ask questions and respond to comments to promote engagement.

5. Consistent Branding

Customize your crowdfunding page to align with your nonprofit’s existing brand. It should match your website, social media pages, and physical outreach. These should all include the same: 

  • Logo
  • Colors
  • Fonts
  • Mission
  • Language
  • Tone

Creating a consistent brand builds trust in the site and ensures visitors don’t leave mid-donation thinking it’s a scam. For the most consistent features, we recommend that you follow a style guide that clearly defines your brand’s language and visual expectations.

6. Secure Donation Form

What’s the most important part of your crowdfunding page? Probably, the donation form itself. To build trust with your supporters your donation form should be secure. Choose a platform that uses a PCI-compliant payment processor to keep donor data secure. Additionally, your form should include:

  • Custom information fields. Include fields that ask for important information, such as donors’ names and contact information. You might also ask for their demographic information and history with your organization. However, because crowdfunding donors generally want to make their donations quickly, limit your request to only the most necessary information.
  • Suggested donation buttons. Donors aren’t always sure how much they should give. When you include suggested donation buttons, you take the guesswork out of donating. Assess your existing donor data and median donation amounts to determine appropriate amounts to suggest.

To make donating as easy as possible, decrease the number of clicks site visitors need to make and embed your donation form directly onto your crowdfunding page.

7. Additional Ways to Get Involved

Your donor involvement shouldn’t stop at their donation. Use your crowdfunding page as a jumping-off point for deepening relationships with your donors as well as supporters who aren’t in a position to support your campaign financially. Consider including information on the following opportunities:

  • Volunteer Opportunities. Do you need help reaching out to donors, hosting events, or supporting regular programming? If you don’t ask, site visitors won’t know that you need this kind of support.
  • Matching Gifts. According to Double the Donation’s matching gift statistics, one in three donors would give a larger gift if their employer matched their donation. Advertise the opportunity for matching gifts on your crowdfunding page. Then, use a matching gift integration tool to automatically inform donors of the specific steps they’ll need to take to request a matching gift from their employers.
  • Events. Are there in-person or virtual events associated with your campaign? Use your crowdfunding page as an opportunity to remind supporters to register and attend.

That said, don’t overwhelm site visitors with too much information. On your main page, the primary focus should be on getting donations. Highlight just one or two additional ways to get involved and place further details on a post-donation thank-you landing page.

Throughout your fundraiser, keep track of your data, including donor information, donation amounts, communication click-through, open, and conversion rates, and other trends. Then, leverage this information to assess areas for growth and implement new fundraising ideas and strategies. 

For example, if you find that an unusual number of users are abandoning the page before donating, you might try incorporating a more direct call to action at the top of the page. Not every iteration will be a great success. That’s OK! By going through this process of refining your page and making adjustments, you’re setting your campaign up for success.

Missy Singh is the Director of Operations, Client Services & Sales at Fundly. She has been working there since 2011 when she started as a Customer Experience and Implementation Manager. As an integrated platform for social impact, Fundly serves as an industry leader in crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising. In 2015 Fundly combined with NonProfitEasy to offer enterprise-level technology that addresses nonprofit needs with features such as a CRM, volunteer management, membership management, and event registration.

Are You Missing Out by Not Making Good Investments?

Ann Green Communications, database, donor engagement, donor relations, monthly donors , , ,

Your nonprofit organization may have cut back on some expenses over the past two years. When times are tough, some organizations, especially small ones with limited resources, veer towards trimming and often say “we can’t afford this.” This is known as the scarcity mindset.

Be careful before you nix something you think you can’t afford. It may be something you should be investing in.

This doesn’t mean going wild with your budget. You need to make good investments. Here are a few areas you should be investing more money in. The good news is if you do it right, these investments can help you raise more money.

Invest in a good CRM/database

Plain and simple, a good CRM (customer relationship management)/database can help you raise more money. You can segment your donors by amount and politely ask them to give a little more in your next appeal – $35 or $50 instead of $25. Many organizations don’t ask their donors to upgrade their gifts and you’re leaving money on the table when you neglect to do this.

A good database can help you with retention, which will save you money since it costs less to keep donors than to acquire new ones. You can personalize your letters and email messages. Make sure to invest in a good email service provider, too.

Personalized letters and messages mean you can address your donors by name and not Dear Friend. You can welcome new donors and thank current donors for their previous support. You can send targeted mailings to lapsed donors to try to woo them back. You can send special mailings to your monthly donors. You can record any personal information, such as conversations you had with a donor and their areas of interest.

In short, you can do a lot with a good CRM/database. Invest in the best one you can afford, and Excel is not a database.

Worried about spending $50 to $100 a month on a CRM/database? You may be able to make it back if you can ask for an upgrade and personalize your communication.

Nonprofit CRM Software

Invest in direct mail

You may not use direct mail that much, especially over the last two years. Some organizations were never or rarely using it before the pandemic.

If that’s the case for you, you’re missing out on an effective and more personal way to communicate with your donors. Think of the enormous amount of email and social media posts you receive as opposed to postal mail. Your donors will be more likely to see your messages if you send them by mail.

Yes, direct mail is more expensive, but you don’t have to mail that often. Quality is more important than quantity but aim for three or four times a year.

Give a little thought to what you send. Some ideas, besides appeal letters, include thank you letters/cards; Thanksgiving, holiday, or Valentine’s Day cards; infographic postcards; two to four-page newsletters; and annual/progress reports. You could put a donation envelope in your newsletter to raise some additional revenue, but do not put one in a thank you or holiday card.

Shorter is better. Lengthy communication will cost more and your donors are less likely to read it. 

A few ways you can use direct mail without breaking your budget are to clean up your mailing lists to avoid costly duplicate mailings, spread thank you mailings throughout the year – perhaps sending something to a small number of donors each month, and look into special nonprofit mailing rates. You may also be able to get print materials done pro bono or do them in-house, as long as they look professional.

Of course, you can use email and social media, but your primary reason for communicating that way shouldn’t be because it’s cheaper. It should be because that’s what your donors use. If your donors prefer you to communicate by mail, then that’s what you should do.

Direct Mail vs. Email Marketing for Nonprofits

Invest in monthly giving

If you don’t have a robust monthly giving program, you’re missing out on a great way to raise more money. Monthly giving is good for all nonprofit organizations, but it’s especially useful for small nonprofits.

All it takes is for someone to start giving $5.00 or $10.00 a month (hopefully more). These small gifts add up. The retention rate for monthly donors is an impressive 90%. Plus, they’re more likely to become major and legacy donors.

Why Monthly Giving is Important for Your Nonprofit Organization

Invest in donor communications

By donor communications I mean thank you letters/notes, newsletters, and other updates. Some organizations don’t prioritize these and want to spend their time “raising money.” They don’t seem to realize they can raise more money with better donor communications. Remember this cycle – ask, thank, report, repeat.

Don’t skimp on your communications budget. Creating thank you cards and infographic postcards is a good investment and a necessity, not a luxury. Thank you cards are a much better investment than mailing labels and other useless swag.

Maybe you need to reallocate your budget to cover some of these expenses. You could also look into additional sources of unrestricted funding. 

Remember, you can also use email and social media to communicate with donors. This reiterates the need for a good email service provider with professional looking templates for your e-newsletter and other updates.

Donor Communication for Nonprofits: Essentials & Best Practices

Invest in infrastrucure

We need to stop treating overhead or infrastructure as something bad. Some funders want us to spend our budget on programs, but how can we successfully run our programs if we don’t have enough staff and can barely afford to pay the people we do have? A rotating door of development staff makes it hard to maintain those important relationships. Even though some people may be working from home, we still have rent and other expenses.

Until these funders stop worrying so much about overhead, you may want to invest some time in finding unrestricted funding sources – often individual gifts, such as monthly donations and major gifts.

Why The Nonprofit Sector Can No Longer Dance Around Infrastructure Challenges

Don’t limit yourself by saying you can’t afford certain expenses. If you make the right investments, you should be able to raise more money.

Photo via www.hilltopfinance.co.uk/

How You Can Make Your Messages Stand Out

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, fundraising, multichannel, writing , , , ,

Do you feel as if information overload is getting worse every year? There’s so much going on right now. Getting your messages out is never easy, but like everything else, it’s gotten a whole lot harder over the past two years.

Your nonprofit organization needs to continue communicating regularly with your donors and you need to do it well. With everything that’s going on, it’s possible they’ll miss your messages. 

Here are a few ways you can make your messages stand out. 

What’s your intention?

What’s the purpose of your message? What do you want your reader to do? Are you asking for a donation? Maybe you’re thanking your donor or sharing an update.

Think from your reader’s perspective. What would she be interested in or what would make him take action?

Don’t muddle your messages with too much information. Keep it simple and stick to one call to action or type of message. 

Choose the right channels

Most likely you’ll use more than one channel to communicate. Pay attention to the channels your donors are using and focus your efforts there.

Email may be the primary way you’re communicating right now and there’s a reason for that. It’s fast, easy, relatively inexpensive, and almost everyone has an email address. You can quickly get a message out to a lot of people. Also, unlike social media, it’s something you can control. You don’t have to rely on a social media algorithm to hope your message ends up in your donor’s feed.

The downside is people get a huge amount of email from a variety of different sources. Plus, the average open rate is around 20%. I don’t know what’s going on in the conservative world, but some liberal political groups send way too much email, which I pretty much ignore. And, social media is often just a lot of of a lot.  

It’s easy for your electronic messages to get lost in the shuffle. Your donors may just tune things out, even if you have something engaging to share. 

While you’ll likely use electronic communication pretty regularly, don’t discount direct mail. Your donors are more likely to see these messages. We get far less postal mail than electronic communication. Also, someone can put a piece of mail aside and look at it later. Don’t count on that happening with any type of electronic communication. You can also communicate by phone. This is a great way to thank your donors.

Going multichannel is usually your best bet. This is very common for fundraising campaigns and inviting people to events, as well as including a link to your e-newsletter on your social media platforms. This way if people miss your initial message on one platform, they may see it on a different one. You’ll also want to send regular reminders for fundraising appeals and event invitations.

Get noticed right away

Remember, your donors have a lot going on and you need to capture their attention right away.

Your fundraising letters and anything else you send by mail needs to look appealing enough to open. You could put a tagline on the envelope. That doesn’t mean something like It’s Our Annual Appeal. Try something like – How you can help families put food on the table. Your envelope should look personal and not resemble a bill or junk mail.

“Dale’s” mail

Once your donor opens your fundraising appeal, lead with a story followed by a clear, prominent ask. When they open your thank you letter, they should be greeted with gratitude.

A good subject line is the key to getting someone to open your email message. Keep in mind that your donor’s inbox is bursting with messages. Don’t use something boring like April e-newsletter or Donation Received. Entice them with Find out how you helped families put food on the table or You just did something amazing today!  

Keep them engaged once they open your message.

Keep it short

In many cases, a shorter message is best. You want a good balance between saying too much and saying too little. All your words should count, so be careful about adding too much filler. That often includes bragging about your organization and explaining what you do.

Keep in mind the average human attention span is a mere eight seconds.

What’s in My Inbox | Shorter attention spans means you need to deliver with your enews

Your goal is to get your donors to read your messages. If it looks long and boring, they probably won’t bother.

Make it easy to read and scan

Besides sending a short message, use short paragraphs and lots of white space, too. Your messages need to be easy to read and scan in an instant. Most people aren’t going to read something word for word. Be sure they can quickly get the gist of what you want to say. Don’t use microscopic font either – use 12 point or higher.

Be personal and conversational

Write directly to your reader using clear, conversational language – no jargon. Don’t confuse your donors with generic messages.

Don’t cast a wide net

It’s important that you send your messages to the right audience and your audience isn’t everyone.

You’ll have more luck with a fundraising appeal when you send it to past donors or people who have a connection to your cause. The same is true for event invitations or recruiting volunteers.

You may want to reach out to as many people as possible, but that won’t guarantee you’ll get more donations or event attendees. Segmenting and engaging with the right audience will bring you better results.

Be a welcome visitor

If you communicate regularly and do it well, your donors should recognize you as a reputable source and are more likely to read your messages. If all you do is send them generic fundraising appeals, then it’s time for a change.

When you send email, make sure people know it’s coming from your organization. In the from field, put DoGood Nonprofit or Brenda Davis, DoGood Nonprofit. If you just put a person’s name or info@dogoodnonprofit.org, people may not know who it’s from and ignore your message.

Only send email to people who have opted into your list. Otherwise, you’re spamming them. Some people will choose not to receive email from you and that’s okay. The ones who do are interested in hearing from you. Give people the option to unsubscribe, too.

Even though people only get a few pieces of mail a day, most of it’s junk mail. You never want any of your letters, newsletters, or postcards to be perceived as junk mail (see above).

By putting in a little time and effort, you can help ensure that your messages stand out.

3 Strategies for Nonprofit Messages that Stand Out in Donors’ Mailboxes

How to Write Awesome Emails Your Donors Want to Read

A Fundraiser’s Guide to Measuring Donor Engagement

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, fundraising , , ,

By Ally Smith

Donor engagement is vital to nonprofit success. By donating, volunteering, and spreading the word about your organization, donors fuel your nonprofit mission. 

As a fundraiser, you need to increase donor engagement, and the only way to do that is by tracking engagement metrics and monitoring your success. This article will show you four metrics for measuring donor engagement and tell you why they’re important for your fundraising team. 

Why is Measuring Donor Engagement Important?

Every phone call, donation, and click on your website is a part of your nonprofit’s donor engagement strategy. 

Effective donor engagement increases donor retention. Retaining donors is one of the best ways to increase fundraising efficiency because it’s much cheaper than acquiring new donors. In fact, acquiring a new donor costs about ten times more than retaining a donor.

Additionally, nonprofits retain about 52% of their engaged repeat donors. Increasing donor engagement can motivate a donor to give a second gift and keep them donating. 

However, before you improve your donor retention, you need to track metrics that tell you the effectiveness of your engagement strategies. These metrics will help you understand how engaged your donor base is and help you identify areas for improvement. 

Four Key Donor Engagement Metrics 

  1. RFM Analysis

The RFM analysis model is a method of measuring engagement levels by scoring donor contributions across three dimensions: recency, frequency, and monetary value. 

Recency of Donations 

The “recency” dimension is the amount of time that’s transpired since a donor’s last gift. First, you’ll need to determine what “recent” is for your organization. Many organizations assign their highest scores to donors who have given within the last six months. 

Having too short of a “recent” period would pressure fundraisers to solicit donations too frequently, which would result in lower donation amounts and higher donor turnover.

Frequency of Donations 

How often does a donor give? The more often a donor gives is a great indicator of how engaged they are. For example, someone who gives monthly would likely be more engaged than someone who gives sporadically every few years. The highest frequency scores are assigned to your most consistently active donors. 

Monetary Value of Donations 

How much money is a donor giving? The more a donor contributes to your nonprofit, the higher the monetary score they’ll receive. Similar to how every nonprofit has a different definition of a major gift, every organization will have a different threshold for its monetary scores.

Once you have scored your donors’ contributions across each dimension, you need to combine their scores and consider the results. 

For example, if you only look at monetary value, you may think that someone who donates $500 is more engaged than someone giving $20. However, if that person gives $20 every month for a few years, they are likely more engaged. RFM analysis helps you develop a holistic understanding of donor engagement.

To help you create your own, here’s an example of what an RFM analysis scorecard should look like: 

Once you’ve developed a scorecard that’s right for your organization, you can score each donor. For example, a donor that’s given in the last six months, given four gifts in a year, and given an average of $150, would receive a score of 5-4-4. 

Then, you can group donors with similar scores to create donor segments. This will allow you to tailor your engagement efforts to specific donor groups. For example, you can send more frequent appeals to the donor group’s frequency score that you want to increase. 

Additionally, you can observe how the distribution of your segments changes over time to determine if your engagement strategies are working. 

  1. Fundraising Participation Rate 

There are many ways to measure donor engagement beyond just tracking donation activity. 

For example, donors can participate in campaigns by becoming a fundraiser themselves. This engagement is important to measure because peer-to-peer fundraising is becoming more popular. Facebook fundraising grew by 14% in 2021! 

Fundraiser Participation Rate tells you the percentage of donors who fundraised on your behalf by doing things such as being sponsored in a charity run, soliciting door-to-door, or accepting donations as birthday presents. 

You can measure this metric using the following equation: 

(# of P2P Fundraisers ÷ # of Donors) x 100 = Fundraiser Participation Rate

The higher you can make this percentage, the better. A high fundraising participation rate tells you that your donors are highly engaged because they are willing to take time out of their busy days to grow support for your cause. 

  1. Social Media Metrics 

Social media engagement does not always mean donor engagement, just look at Unicef Sweden’s ad calling out “slacktivism”. Very bold!

But, if you are tracking the right social media metrics, they can help you measure donor engagement. We recommend focusing on conversion rates that tell you when social media engagement actually leads to donations. 

A great place to start is by tracking how many donations come directly from social media. Luckily, most social media platforms will be able to tell you your conversion rate.

However, you’ll also want to know how many people get to your website’s donation page from a social media post. You can track this using Google Analytics. 

To get started, there are lots of helpful Google Analytics resources for monitoring traffic that comes from social media. For example, check out Whole Whale’s video, which gives a great overview of Google Analytics for nonprofits. 

  1. Major Donor Contact Frequency

Measuring contact frequency tracks your touchpoints with a major donor or major donor prospect. Many interactions need to occur between meeting a potential donor and receiving a donation. These donor interactions are a part of donor relationship building and should be tracked to help you understand your progress towards a gift. 

You can track this as a metric by determining how many touchpoints you have with a donor in a given time period, such as a year or six months. Then, in your donor database or spreadsheet, track every communication you have with your major donor prospects, whether it’s a phone call or an email blast with a donation form attached. 

Not all contact efforts are created equal, so you may want to score communications differently. For example, if you have lunch with a donor, it may be worth five touchpoints, compared to an e-blast worth one. 

You can measure this metric using the following equation: 

(# of Touchpoints ÷ # of Months) = Major Donor Contact Frequency

While there’s no clear benchmark for Major Donor Contact Frequency, use your most engaged major donors’ scores as targets for success. And as always, don’t forget to use your fundraising common sense; if a donor doesn’t want to be contacted a lot, don’t contact them. 

—– 

As a fundraiser, you understand the value of building a deep and meaningful relationship with each donor. However, you can only tell how strong a relationship you’ve built is by tracking engagement indicators. Hopefully, these four metrics give you a good place to start!

Author Bio

Ally Smith | Content Writer at KIT

With a passion for nonprofit innovation, Ally has spent her career helping build community capacity and supporting social innovation as a customer success manager turned, youth worker, turned social researcher.

After leaving the tech start-up landscape, she pursued a Master’s in Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership and has since supported nonprofits to innovate and grow. A Canadian ex-pat and social entrepreneur based in Edinburgh, she enjoys hiking, baking bread in a panic, and pursuing the full Scottish experience- rain and rugby included!

What Casablanca Can Teach Us About Nonprofit Organizations

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, donor retention, donor-centered , , ,

Casablanca is one of my favorite movies. I’ve seen it many, many times and I always discover something new in that wonderful script. This year it turns 80 and with a few exceptions, it’s still very relevant now.

Over the past several years, the story of refugees fleeing Europe mirrored what was going on in other parts of the world. Now we have a new set of refugees and the storyline of the Germans invading France parallels what’s going on in Ukraine.

If you haven’t seen the movie, and I highly recommend it, here’s a synopsis. Warning – does contain spoilers. Even if you haven’t seen it, you’re probably familiar with many of the quotes.

Here are a few Casablanca quotes that can apply to nonprofit organizations.

“Here’s looking at you, kid.”

One of the most important words in nonprofit communication is you. When you write to donors and other supporters, you need to write directly to them. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen as often as it should.

I just received an annual report from an organization that was quite liberal with its use of the word you. Hats off to them because most annual reports go heavy on organization-centered language. 

Here are a few examples.

You’re feeding kids today.

You gave more students access to school nutrition.

On the front line, you helped the helpers.

As fundraising expert Tom Ahern says, “You is glue.” Writing directly to your readers, using you much more than we, helps establish important connections. No one wants to hear you brag about yourself.

Do Your Donor Communications Pass the “You” Test?

“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.”

There are a plethora of nonprofit organizations out there that your donors can choose from, but they chose yours. Once they have, your goal should be to keep them for a long time. 

Unfortunately, many organizations spend a good deal of time on getting donors, but not on keeping them.

“Louis, this looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

One key to keeping your donors is establishing a relationship with them. Building relationships is just as important as raising money.

Work on keeping your new donors and getting that ever-important second gift, also known as the golden donation. Once you get that second gift, your donors are more likely to keep giving.

Keep that beautiful friendship going!

Fundraising Should be About Building Relationships, Not Making a Transaction

Besides quotes, here are a few scenes and themes from Casablanca that are relevant to nonprofits.

The passion of La Marseilles

My favorite part of Casablanca is the La Marseilles scene. The Germans are singing “Die Wacht am Rhein,” a patriotic German song, when Victor orders the band to start playing “La Marseilles,” the French equivalent. The bar is filled with refugees trying to escape to freedom. They all start singing with such a passion, which moves me every time I see it. 

Nonprofits also have a passion for their work. It would be hard to succeed if you didn’t. Plus, many of your donors are passionate about your cause.

Bring some of this passion into your fundraising letters and other donor communication instead of the usual same old, same old.

On the front lines

Before Rick came to Casablanca, he ran guns to Ethiopia in 1935 and fought in the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Even though these countries had their own armies, Rick saw a need and headed to the front lines to help make a difference.

Nonprofit organizations are also out on the front lines. We’re seeing countless nonprofits working with refugees who are fleeing from Ukraine. We’ve seen nonprofits stepping up during the pandemic and also working to combat racism, economic crises, and climate disasters. They’re often going above and beyond what the government and other institutions provide. 

A story of resilience

Throughout the movie, there is an underlying story of resilience. After the two years we’ve been through, resiliency is a common theme. Not that it’s easy, but going through difficult times can make us more resilient.

How to Build Nonprofit Resilience: Three Strategies to Strengthen Organizations

Casablanca has its serious parts, but there’s also romance, intrigue, and a surprising amount of humor. It deserved its Oscar for best screenplay, as well as best picture. You might find it a nice escape from everything that’s going on in the world.

Fundraising in an Ever-Changing World

Ann Green Communications, donor relations, fundraising, monthly donors , , , ,

We’ve been through so much over the last two years – the pandemic, an economic downturn, supply chain issues, inflation, a racial reckoning, political turmoil, and climate disasters. Now we can add the war in Ukraine. 

Your nonprofit organization has gone through a lot and is continuing to navigate this ever-changing world. It’s important to not give up and keep persevering.

Don’t stop fundraising

Whatever is going on in the world, please don’t stop fundraising! I know the crisis in Ukraine is on all of our minds right now. Your donors may be supporting organizations that are helping Ukrainians, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop giving to your organization. Let them decide.

Fundraising in Times of Crisis: What Helps Ukraine Most Right Now?

Fundraising in a time of war: what should you do?

You don’t need to be in crisis!

Donors will give if they can. If you’re short on revenue, here are a few ways to raise more money.

Maybe you have a fundraising campaign planned for the spring. If not, you could run an emergency campaign. These were successful at the height of the pandemic. I’m sure you have pressing needs and a lot of people are still struggling now.

Organizations with a strong monthly giving program have done well. Monthly giving makes sense on so many levels. Nonprofits receive a steady stream of revenue throughout the year, monthly giving makes it easier for donors to spread out their gifts, and the monthly donor retention rate is 90%. Monthly donors are also more likely to become major donors and legacy donors. Having a strong monthly giving program will help during times of uncertainty.

Why Monthly Giving is Important for Your Nonprofit Organization

Another option is to reach out to your lapsed donors. Donors stop giving for a variety of reasons. Maybe things have been tough for them financially or they were just too overwhelmed to donate. 

Circumstances change. Reach out to donors who have given in the past, but who haven’t donated in the last year or two. Send them personalized appeals. If you find out a donor can’t afford to give right now, respect that, but keep sending messages of gratitude and updates, unless they opt out. I’ll go into that more below.

The right way to win back lapsed donors

Nonprofit organizations are essential

Never forget that nonprofit organizations are essential. Kudos to you for continuing to provide essential services as best you could.

It doesn’t matter what type of work you do, whether you work with refugees, in human services, protect the environment, or are an arts/culture organization, just to name a few. Your work is important!  

Don’t go silent

One reason donors stop giving is because they rarely hear from you or when they do, your messages are uninspiring. This is something you can control.

Imagine this scenario – Jane Donor has been supporting ten nonprofit organizations. She’s feeling pinched financially right now and has decided to only support seven this year. Which ones will she choose? The ones that regularly send personal messages of gratitude and engaging updates or the ones that rarely or never communicate unless they’re asking for donations?

It’s important to keep up with your donor engagement. An underlying theme of many of my posts is better communication will help you raise more money. 

Even if it’s hard, you can’t ignore your donors. You don’t need to take on too much. Aim for short, high-quality messages once or twice a month. Just don’t go silent.

You can’t ignore current situations

When I see communication that doesn’t reference the pandemic or other current situations, it makes me wonder if the organization is using a template that needs to be revised. It’s a good idea to refresh your messages at least once a year, but in this ever-changing world, you’ll need to do it more often. I elaborated on this in my last post. 

Steer Clear of Generic Communication

The good news is that over the last two years, most donor communication is more personal and less generic. Some specifically reference situations such as the pandemic, economic uncertainty, and systemic racism, while others mention a challenging two years. You also have specific needs and an urgency. Organizations that made this clear raised more money.

Your organization has faced challenges, everyone has, and you need to acknowledge that.

What the future holds

It would be nice to think the worst of COVID is behind us, but we don’t know that. Another crisis may also be looming out there. All this uncertainty makes it harder to plan. Plus, it’s stressful.

Many of the practices we implemented at the start of the pandemic may need to stay. We may be looking at a hybrid of in-person and virtual gatherings for a while. That includes events, donor meetings, and the workplace. If you’ve found some of these have worked better for your nonprofit, you could keep them for the time being.

Donors are going to expect honest communication about your need and want to hear about your success and challenges. No going back to generic messages. If you’ve communicated more with your donors over the last two years, keep that up. If you’ve been holding back, you need to do more. Don’t be afraid to ask for donations. Keep up the better communication. 

Keep up your essential work!

Fundraising in Inflation and Under Threat of Nuclear War. 7 Survival Tips for 2022

Don’t Be Tone Deaf on Ukraine