Do Annual Reports Still Make Sense?

The answer is, it depends.  They are often not done very well, but they can be useful.  An annual report is a good way to show accomplishments to funders and potential funders.
Here are a few things to consider when deciding whether it makes sense for your organization to produce an annual report.
What do your donors want?
Your annual report is for your donors and it should reflect what they want –  not what your board wants.  Just because you have always done an annual report, doesn’t mean you should.
Send a short survey to your individual donors and get their opinion.  Do they even read your annual report?  Grant and corporate funders will probably be more interested in the nitty gritty, while individual donors will want something short and visual.
It gets old quickly
An annual report can end up being a static document.  One huge problem is that for some organizations,it’s the only time they share accomplishments with their donors. Dear Fundraisers: The Annual Report Is Yesterday’s News 
Ideally, you should be sharing accomplishments regularly – at least once a month.
If you wait until the beginning of the next calendar year to start on your annual report, and then spend a lot of time gathering all the materials, writing, and editing it, your 2013 annual report ends up going out sometime in the middle of 2014. 
It’s putting me to sleep
The traditional annual report was often a 10-20 page document filled with long-winded text. It listed activities rather than accomplishments and focused on the organization and not how the organization was making a difference for the people they served. Fortunately, this seems to be changing,
In short, annual reports tend to be boring.  It’s not just length.  I’ve seen four-page reports that weren’t very engaging either.
It takes a lot of resources
Annual reports can take a lot of time to put together and then you have to factor in printing and mailing, if you choose to go that route.  It may not make sense for a small organization.
We want to produce an annual report.

Okay, you’ve thought it over and decided that an annual report does make sense for your organization.  Here are a few suggestions to help you create a good one.
Who are your donors?
Remember that annual reports are for your donors and different donors have different needs.  You may want to produce different types of annual reports for your grant funders and individual donors, or only produce one for your grant funders.  One size doesn’t fit all.
Start working on it this summer
You want your 2013 annual report done by the beginning of next year.  A lot of it can be done ahead of time. 
Take time this summer to collect stories, testimonials, quotes, accomplishments, and photos.  You could even do a video.  RETHINKING THE ANNUAL REPORT FOR VIDEO 
Everything you include should emphasize how your donors are helping you make a difference for the people you serve. 
Create a plan
Think carefully about what you want to produce for different donor groups.  I’m not trying to create extra work for you by suggesting you make more than one type of annual report.  Once you have the stories, accomplishments, photos, etc, it should be pretty straightforward.   
Do what’s best for your donors.
This link gives you more suggestions about creating annual reports.
I’ll write another post in the fall exploring this a little more and help you make your annual report engaging.
  

Time To Thank Your Donors

Do you remember the commercial from years back where the Dunkin Donuts baker would rise each morning and declare?  “Time to make the donuts.”  Time to make the Donuts  Well, it’s time for you to thank your donors.
Of course, it’s always time to thank your donors, and you should be showing gratitude on a regular basis, not just after you have received a gift.  But take it up a notch and do something really special this month.
You may be thinking, why now?  It’s not Thanksgiving, the holidays, or Valentine’s Day.  Precisely.  Your donors probably won’t be expecting anything and should be pleasantly surprised. Send something early in the summer before your donors start to go on vacation.
Keep in mind that if your donors don’t feel appreciated, they may not donate again.
Here are a few things to help get you started and some different ways to thank your donors.
Create a good photo
The first thing you should do is find or take some great photos.  Maybe one where you get people together to hold a thank you sign.  Here are a few examples.  The first one is actually a video, but you can do the same thing with a photo.

You could also show your work in action.  Whatever you decide, be sure it’s engaging.  
Make a list of accomplishments
Choose a few accomplishments you have achieved so far this year and share those with your donors.  Remember to focus on how your donor is helping you make a difference for the people you serve.
Send a thank you card
Take that great photo and use it to create a note card or postcard.  It’s a good idea to invest in one of these, so you can have them on hand to send to volunteers and board members, as well as donors.  If cost is an issue, you could get a print shop to do it pro bono or find a corporate sponsor.  You could also just buy some thank you cards, but something that references your organization would be better.
Thank you cards are small, so you only need a few sentences.  Get a group together to write them – staff, board members, volunteers, even clients (if feasible).  Here’s a great suggestion of throwing a card shower. MANY, MANY, MANY THANKS 
Think about investing in note cards or a postcard.  Handwritten notes make a difference.
Email works, too
In addition to thank you notes, you can send out an email thank you.  You may also choose email if mailing cards is too hard to pull off.
Just because you are sending email,doesn’t mean you should skimp on quality.  Use an engaging photo and share some of those accomplishments.  Write a really heartfelt message and make it look nice.
Create a video
It’s so much easier to make videos now.  Think about creating a special thank you video.  The example I included above features different people connected with the organization saying thank you. This link includes a few more examples.  Our Favorite Nonprofit Thank You Videos 

Your video doesn’t need to be long, either.  A minute or less is perfect. 
You can use this video in an email message, in social media, and on your website.
These are just a few suggestions of ways to thank your donors right now.  Keep thanking them all year round, too.  Thank Your Donors All Year Round 

How are you thanking your donors?

Conquering Your Communication Challenges – Getting People To Respond To Your Messages

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been writing about different ways to conquer some of your communication challenges.  Another challenge that nonprofit organizations face is that people aren’t responding to their messages.
 
There can be a number of reasons for this.  Perhaps it is one of the following.
 
Your content isn’t strong enough
In my last post I wrote about creating engaging content, which is most often success stories where you show your donor how they are helping you make a difference.
 
Let’s use a fundraising letter as an example.  Some of the key components should include a story, an ask, thanking donors for their past gift, how their money will be spent, what you have accomplished, and what you plan to do in the future.
 
When creating content, remember the four C’s – clear, concise, conversational, and compelling. The 4 Cs of Writing Good Content
 
Besides being well written, your messages need to be easy to read and navigate.  Use short paragraphs with lots of white space and at least a 12-point font.  If your email message or web page is a cluttered mess with tiny type, your supporters are less likely to read it.
 
Here is more on creating good content.
 
You are reaching out to the wrong audience
Maybe not the “wrong” audience, but a weaker one.  Your current donors are more likely to give to your annual appeal than other supporters, such as email list subscribers.  You also probably won’t have as much success with event attendees or mailing to a cold list.
 
If you are holding an event, you should get a better response if you post an announcement on your Facebook page as opposed to the events calendar in your local paper.  Get social on social media and take it a step further.  Ask your followers to spread the word about your event, as well as help you recruit volunteers and even raise money.
 
You may also be using the wrong channels.  Perhaps your donors don’t use Twitter very often.
 
This is why you need to know your audience.  If you have limited resources, which is the case for many nonprofits, don’t spend a lot of time and energy reaching out to a weak audience.
 
Once is not enough
Maybe you do have strong messages and you are reaching out to a good audience, but your supporters still aren’t responding.  Well, these folks are busy and are barraged with messages from a variety of sources.  That’s why you need to send your message again (and again).
 
You should never send out one fundraising letter and sit around and wait for the money to flow in, because it will come in as a trickle.  Remind your donors via email, social media, your website, phone, and maybe even another letter.  The same goes for promoting events.
 
Keep track of your response rate, because if it’s not as strong as you would like it to be, you can often fix it.
 
Here are some other reasons why your messages may not be getting a response.  You should be able to avoid the first one if you reach out to the right audience.

 

How do you get people to respond to your messages?

Conquering Your Communication Challenges – Dealing with Limited Resources

This is the second post in my series about how to conquer some of your communication challenges.  Many nonprofit organizations have limited resources, and one thing to remember is that planning and prioritizing can help.

Have you ever found yourself saying the following?

We feel like we have no time to get anything done
If you have plans and strategies in place, you probably won’t feel as strapped for time.  I covered that in my last post.  Conquering Your Communication Challenges – Planning, Strategy, and Measurement

Find ways to help you get organized. For example, use an editorial calendar to plan your content  How to Create an Editorial Calendar and a style guide to help keep your messages and look consistent. Create a Style Guide for Your Organization
Figure out what is most important and do the best you can with the resources you have.  Fundraisng is always a priority.  So is making your supporters happy.  That includes current donors and potential donors (email subscribers, website visitors, etc.). Thank your donors, keep your supporters engaged with newsletters and other updates, and be sure your website is up-to-date.

Look at how you are spending your time.  Are you doing work that may not be that important?  Meetings can be a huge time sink.  Evaluate whether you need to have so many meetings, and make the ones you have efficient.  Use measurement to make sure you are taking on initiatives that are beneficial to your organization.  

You may feel so overwhelmed that you think you need to chain yourself to your desk in order to get your work done.  Not true.  In fact getting away from your desk and out of the office can make you more productive.

Our budget is tiny
If you have a small budget, again figure out what’s most important. Printing and mailing are two of the biggest expenses.  Perhaps you will forgo a printed newsletter and send out a high-quality electronic one instead.

You don’t need fancy materials, but you do need to look professional.  You can often get printed materials such as an event invitation or annual report donated.  Ask a print shop to do it pro bono or find a foundation to sponsor it. 

Speaking of funding, reach out to granting agencies that will cover general operating support.

Spend wisely.  You should mail out an annual appeal letter, but you don’t need to mail out an annual report to ALL your donors.  

We have don’t have enough staff
Many nonprofits are understaffed, and some organizations turn to interns and volunteers to fill in the gaps.  This can be a mixed bag.  Interns and volunteers may not be that experienced and often don’t stay around very long.   If you do take them on, make sure they are well-trained and supported. If you can find good people, it might work in your favor.  How To Ensure Effective and Engaged Volunteers 

It’s not uncommon for board members to be more involved at a small nonprofit.  This doesn’t mean they should be running the day-to-day operations, but they can share their expertise in an advisory role. Your board should have a fundraising committee, and preferably a marketing committee.  Find board members who are willing and able to give you a little boost as you try to grow.

Having limited resources, whether it’s time, budget, staff, or a combination of the three, is a challenge.  Planning and prioritizing can help you conquer these challenges. 

How do you deal with limited resources? 

Conquering Your Communication Challenges – Planning, Strategy, and Measurement

Over the next few weeks, I’m going to write about how to conquer some of your communication challenges.  Do these sound familiar to you?

We don’t have a plan or strategy
This is where you need to begin.  You need to have fundraising and marketing plans.  Not having a plan is like starting a journey without a map (or these days programming your GPS).  You need to know where you are headed and how you will get there.

Not only do you need to have overall plans, but each campaign or communication tool (website, newsletter, etc.) needs a strategy. Make it as detailed as possible.  Figure out each step of your annual appeal or event.  Create a timeline.

Set goals. These include the obvious such as how much money you need to raise and how many volunteers you want to recruit, as well as what you want your newsletter to achieve.  In this case it could be to engage, educate, entertain, or a combination of the three.

Here is some more detailed information about putting together a campaign. Campaign, champagne – what’s that thing called again?

Creating plans and strategies will take some time upfront, but it will save you time in the end. And it is time well spent.

We know we should be measuring our progress, but it’s so overwhelming
It’s not as overwhelming as you might think.  Now that you have plans and strategies, use those as your basis to figure out what you need to measure.   I wrote an entire post about measuring your progress a few weeks ago, so I won’t go into a huge amount of detail.

For your annual plans, measure your progress at least once a quarter.  For engagement (newsletter, social media, website), try to look at analytics once a month.  In addition, use a more personal approach and ask questions through social media and conduct short surveys in your newsletter and website.  You can also do a longer, but not too long, survey once or twice a year.

Once you have completed a campaign or event, figure out what worked and what didn’t.  Then make changes for the future. 

If you don’t measure your progress, how will you know if you are successful?   Perhaps you’ve had an annual event for years that’s really more trouble than it’s worth.  Or, you are trying to engage with your donors on Twitter, and not many of them use it. 

Don’t get too discouraged if you encounter a setback. Think of it as a learning experience.


You don’t need to be a data geek to do measurement. You can do a lot of it on a spreadsheet.  Here are a few examples you might find helpful.

Creating plans and strategies and coming up with a system for measurement is your first step towards conquering your communication challenges.  In my next post, I’ll write about dealing with limited resources – time, budget, and staff.

What are some of your communication challenges?

The Communication Journey

Marketing expert Seth Godin recently blogged Communication is a path, not an event 

In short, it’s not a one-time thing.  While he focuses more on sales, this also applies to all your nonprofit fundraising and marketing.  You don’t just send a fundraising letter or even a thank you letter and not communicate again for awhile.  It’s an ongoing process. 

Here are few ways to ensure a successful communication journey.

Lots of drops will help your garden grow
Godin ends his post by saying “Drip, drip, drip.”  Drip marketing is a strategy where you send a series of messages to prospects.  An example would be sending welcoming messages to prospective donors before making an ask.  The term’s origin is thought to have come from a gardening technique in which small amounts of water are fed to plants over a long period of time. 

This is a helpful analogy to consider when you communicate with your donors and other supporters.  Read on for more information about drip campaigns. How to Create an Email Drip Campaign for Your Nonprofit 

Consistency is key
Be consistent in your fundraising and marketing.  This means your messages and look must be consistent, as well as how often you send out your messages.  If you send out a monthly newsletter, make sure it goes out around the same time each month.  Don’t skip a month. 

Don’t start your journey without a map
Creating a strategy and putting together an editorial calendar can serve as a road map for your communication journey.  Here’s more information, as well as an editorial calendar link. 
The LightBox Collaborative 2013 Editorial Calendar
Communication is a two way street
Listen to your audience.  Ask questions on social media, respond to comments, and send out surveys or polls.

Take your supporters’ feedback into account and give them information they want.

Communication takes different paths
Most of us communicate through more than one channel – email, social media, direct mail, phone. Different modes work for different audiences, but often you use a combination of channels.

This is very helpful during fundraising campaigns. A multi-channel approach gives you more than one opportunity to reach your audience, in case they miss your first message.

Be known but don’t be annoying
Communicate often enough so your supporters will remember you, but not too much so that you are bothering them.  Most organizations don’t communicate enough.  Remember to be consistent.  Don’t send three email messages in one day and not communicate again for three weeks.

As a general rule, send email once a week and post on social media once a day.

In your quest not to annoy your supporters, share content where you show gratitude and demonstrate how you are making a difference for the people you serve.  Keep your supporters engaged.

One of the benefits of communicating weekly is that your messages can be short.  Shorter more frequent communication usually works better for getting your message across.

Don’t get derailed
It may seem daunting to keep up this ongoing communication journey, but good relationships, like gardens, need lots of attention.  It’s not as difficult as you might think.  Having an editorial calendar and strategy will help.  And your messages don’t need to be long.  Also, it can be fun to thank donors and share success.   

Make it a worthwhile journey for your supporters.

How Are You Making a Difference?

When nonprofit organizations reach out to donors and other supporters to share accomplishments, I often see something like the examples below.  (All names are fictitious).

We started a community garden in the Westside neighborhood.

Youth First just opened a new activity center for our afterschool program.

We received a $50,000 grant from the Jones Foundation.

A Place to Call Home found affordable housing for over 100 families last year.

These are okay on one level, but they are more focused on activities than accomplishments.  They don’t answer the question – How are you making a difference for the people you serve?

Focus on why rather than what
When you are communicating with donors, think about why your accomplishments are important.

Instead of just reporting that you have started a community garden, emphasize how that will make a difference.  Now neighborhood residents have access to fresh fruit and vegetables, which are often not available at nearby stores or are too expensive.

Instead of just noting that your afterschool program has a brand new activity center, demonstrate that you are providing a safe place for young people to interact and learn new skills.

Of course, publically acknowledging your major funders is important, but what will that $50,000 grant be used for?  How will it help people?

What does it mean for the families who you helped find affordable housing?  Show how a family that was living in a shelter or with relatives now has a place they can call home.

Be conversational and personal
Draw in your reader with something personal.  Use stories, quotes, and testimonials, as well as photos and videos.  Go easy on the statistics and avoid using jargon.  

When you tell a story, choose a protagonist – an individual or family- and give them a name. You can change their names to protect their privacy.

This post by Katya Andreson is about mission statements, but can apply to all your communications. How do I make my mission sound more exciting?  She recommends giving your messages a heartbeat, which I think is great advice.  She also says, Always answer the question, at the end of the day, whose life is better for what we do?” 

Many people donate because they have a personal connection to your cause.  Don’t bore them with a lot of long-winded facts.

They want to see how you are making a difference. 

Work with program staff to find stories
Often development and marketing staff don’t have firsthand knowledge of how your organization is making a difference.  This is why you need to work with program staff to create compelling stories and testimonials.  

Come up with a system that won’t make anyone feel overburdened.  Let’s Work Together – The Importance of a Good Relationship with the Program Department 

Show your donors how they are helping you make a difference
Finally, don’t forget to thank your donors and let them know that they are a key to your success.  After all, you wouldn’t be able to make a difference for the people you serve without their support.

How is your organization making a difference?

Time to Measure Your Progress

We are already three months into 2013.  This is a good time to measure your progress so far.  Take out your fundraising and marketing plans (You do have written plans, don’t you?), and let’s see how you are doing. Here are a few things you should measure.

Fundraising
Are you on target with your fundraising goals?  If not, how far off are you?  You may need to give it a little more time or do something differently. Perhaps the foundations you are approaching aren’t a good match for your organization.

If you have had any events or campaigns recently, assess what worked and what didn’t.  Hopefully, you have already measured results from your year-end appeal, so you can apply what worked to this year’s campaign.

Donor relations
Besides raising revenue, your fundraising plan should include a donor relations component.  Are you thanking your donors and keeping them engaged on a regular basis?  One way to track engagement is to measure the response rates of your email messages.  Another way is to get feedback by sending out a short survey or asking questions on social media.

Volunteer recruitment
If your organization relies on volunteers, are you meeting your recruitment goals?   Keep track of which groups are more likely to volunteer.  Do you tend to get more seniors or students?  Are corporations or faith-based communities a better place to find volunteers?

Marketing/communications
This is closely related to your donor relations.  Are you sending out a newsletter and other updates?  Measure the response rates of your messages and website.

If your messages don’t seem to resonate with your supporters, figure out why.  Maybe you need better email subject lines or more compelling content.  Are your messages filled with gratitude and success stories about how you are making a difference thanks to your donors, or are you sending out something long, boring, and focused on the organization?

Looking at your number of email subscribers and social media followers is just one part of the equation.  Make sure you are keeping them engaged with good content.

Another reason your response rate might be low is that you are sending messages to people who aren’t strong supporters.
You may also want to measure media coverage.  It’s not easy to get media coverage.  You are competing with many other organizations, as well as current news stories.  Make sure you are targeting the right publications (smaller and local is often better) with the right stories.

What else does your organization need to measure?
This post by the Veritus Group offers some more suggestions. 1st Quarter Check Up!  One point they make is that it’s still early in the year.  If something’s not working, you have plenty of time to fix it and still meet your year-end goals.

Here is a great tool to help you with your measurement. Library of Sample Dashboard Indicators
Look it over. You may find some other things you need to measure.

Take some time to measure your progress. Then make a point to do it again at least once between now and the beginning of July.

Navigating the Multi-Channel Communication Stream

We live in a multi-channel communication world. We send and receive messages via direct mail, email, websites, social media, and our phones. Chances are your nonprofit organization is using all these channels to communicate with donors and other supporters. All of these channels can work, and they can work better if you use them together. 


How do you decide which channel works best for you and integrate all channels in your fundraising and marketing campaigns? Here are a few suggestions.

Which channels do your supporters prefer? 

Just because you have people subscribed to your email list or following you on social media, doesn’t mean they are always using those channels.

How do you know which channels your supporters like? You ask them. Conducting surveys a couple of times a year can be very helpful. You might find out your supporters prefer print newsletters or they are glued to their mobile devices. What works best will be different for every organization, and it will often be a combination of channels.

Once is never enough 
If you only mail out a fundraising appeal, your success rate will be much lower than if you also send out appeals through email and social media. According to a study by Convio (now part of Blackbaud), dual channel donors give an average of $123.29 annually, which is 46% more value to a nonprofit than direct mail only donors.

In addition, we are all very busy and have to contend with messages from a variety of sources. We might miss a fundraising appeal when it comes through the mail or email, but have our aha moment when we get a reminder on Facebook. On the other hand, some people never use social media or email and respond better to direct mail.

Quality vs. quantity 
How often you send out messages depends on the channel. Because of the cost, smaller organizations may only send out direct mail pieces a few times a year. Generally organizations send out email once a week and post on social media a couple of times a day.

But make sure you have something good to say. Don’t just put something on Facebook because it’s been a few days since you posted anything. Make your messages clear, concise, conversational, and compelling. The 4 Cs of Writing Good Content  

I recommend using an editorial calendar to help you plan your multi-channel communication strategy. LightBox Collaborative’s 2013 Editorial Calendar

Keep track 

For every campaign, keep track of how many donors come through each channel. Do the same when you recruit volunteers or hold an event. Figure out what works and what doesn’t. You may not have that many people responding through Twitter because your supporters don’t use it, you haven’t built up a following yet, or you have a lot of followers, but aren’t using Twitter effectively.


Stay consistent 
When you are communicating across channels, make sure your messages and look are consistent. If a donor goes to your website after receiving a fundraising letter, your donation page should have the same message, along with your logo. It’s okay to use exactly the same messages. Just alter them for each channel – e.g. your social media posts will be shorter. Everything you send out needs to look like it’s coming from the same organization. 

All paths lead to your website 
Often when you send out a letter, an email, or a social media post, you are directing people back to your website. Use this checklist to ensure that whatever web page you are sending someone to is effective and engaging. A Website Checklist  

These are a few examples of ways to help you navigate the 

multi-channel communication stream. How do you use multi-channel communication?

Time For Some Spring Cleaning

Spring is here, yea!  Spring is a time for new beginnings.  It’s a time to clean up what’s old and make room for something new.

Many of you may take on spring cleaning projects in your home.  Here are a few spring cleaning projects you can do that will benefit your nonprofit organization.

Clean up your mailing lists
Did you have an influx of address changes, returned mail, and bounced emails after you sent out your annual appeal?  Now is a good time to clean up and update both your print and email mailing lists.

You should be emailing your supporters regularly, so you need to keep your list up-to-date.  Remember never to add people to your list without their permission.

You may not mail as often, but why wait until right before your next big mailing to clean up your list.   

Update your donor database
Most likely your print mailing list is part of your donor database.  Besides updating that, make any other additions, changes, and deletions you need to make in your database.  For example, if you had a conversation with a donor, include that. Your donor database is an important tool and you need it to be up-to-date and filled with accurate information about your donors.

Spring Cleaning Your Database

Check in with lapsed donors
As you are cleaning up your mailing lists and database, you may come across some lapsed donors.  These folks can be an untapped source of revenue, so don’t let them get away. Find your best prospects and give them a call.  This is something your board can help you with. 

There are many reasons these donors haven’t given recently – they were too busy to donate last fall, they can’t afford to give right now, or they may not be interested in your organization anymore.  If it’s the last one, hopefully it’s not because you aren’t engaging with them regularly.  Whatever the reason, it’s always good to get feedback.


Update your website
Your website is often one of the first places a newcomer will visit.  Your current supporters may also visit regularly.  It’s very important that you keep it up-to-date, that it looks good, and it’s easy to navigate. 

Use this checklist to help ensure that you have an effective and engaging website. 


Come up with fresh content
In the spring we can open the windows and let in some fresh air.  Have you been using the same stories and photos for awhile?  Start coming up with fresh stories, quotes, testimonials, and photos to use in all your materials.  It’s fine to use the same stories and photos in different materials, but it’s also a good idea to come up with some new ones.

Take advantage of this time to make any updates and changes you need to make. What spring cleaning projects do you have in mind for your organization?