Connect With Your Donors by Sending Them a Postcard

Ann Green Communications, direct mail, donor engagement, donor relations, donor-centered, gratitude, impact report , , , , , ,

Some of you may remember when people sent postcards when they went on vacation, especially back in the days before email and social media. Now people are more likely to post pictures on social media, sometimes posting more than you want to see. 

We don’t use postal mail as much anymore and many nonprofits are a part of that group. This is a mistake. Direct mail is more personal and your donors are more likely to see something they receive in the mail, as opposed to any type of electronic message you send. Plus, people never get nearly as much mail as they do email and social media messages. Electronic communication is good, but communicating by mail is better.

I’m a big fan of communicating by mail and believe nonprofits should communicate by mail more often than they do. Now you might say – “But mail is too expensive. So is printing something. We have a small staff and barely have time to get anything done.” I understand all that. I know direct mail can be expensive and putting together a mailing takes more time, but it’s an investment that can help you raise more money.

One way to mail that shouldn’t cost too much is to use postcards. First, you can probably do them in house. Also, if you do it well, it’s a quick, easy way to capture your donor’s attention right away. Creating a postcard will be less expensive than something like a four-page newsletter or impact report. Donors have a lot going on and don’t want to be bombarded with too much information. 

Direct mail is a proven way to communicate and engage. I encourage you to give postcards a try. Landscaping companies, realtors, and political candidates all use postcards, and so should you. With summer coming up (yea!), it’s a great way to stay in touch, and maybe even brighten your donor’s day. Here are a few ways you can engage with your donors by using postcards.

Say thank you

Never miss an opportunity to thank your donors and a quick, easy way to show gratitude is with a postcard.

Create a postcard with a thank you photo, image, or word cloud. The best option is to create a card with enough space so you can include a handwritten note. If that’s not possible, then create one with a pre-printed message.

Let your donors know how their gifts are helping you make a difference for your clients/community and that you can’t do your work without them. 

Send a thank you postcard between one of your fundraising campaigns, so your donors know you’re thinking about them. Another idea is to send one as a warm-up before a campaign.

Ideally, you should be thanking your donors at least once a month. Many organizations don’t mail any type of thank you card, so you’ll stand out if you do.

Share an update

A postcard can be a good way to share an update with your donors. You could make an infographic to give them a quick glance at some of your progress. Some organizations use oversized postcards for their impact/annual report. 

Some infographics just show a bunch of numbers, and numbers don’t mean that much without knowing why something is important. For example, instead of just listing the number of people visiting your food pantry, let your donors know you’re seeing higher numbers because families are having trouble making ends meet since groceries are so expensive.

Other ways to use postcards

You could send a postcard wishing your donors a Happy Thanksgiving or Happy Holidays. Another option is a donor’s anniversary or their birthday, if you keep track of that.

You can also use a postcard for fundraising. While not as effective as a direct mail package (letter, reply envelope, etc.), it can be used as a heads-up for a campaign or a reminder. You could include a QR code and a website link so your donors can easily make a gift or get more information.

Postcards are good for a Save the Date for an event. You could also use one for an informal event.

What to keep in mind

Your postcard needs to capture your donor’s attention right away. It needs to be visual and not include a lot of text (but not just numbers). The text you do include needs to be engaging, conversational, and donor-centered. Examples could include Thank You, Because of you, or Look what you helped us do. Don’t be afraid to get a little creative by using shaped printing. 

Yes, communicating by mail costs more, but it can pay off if you create something more personal that your donors will see. Whether you’re saying thank you, sharing an update, or a combination of both, connect with your donors by sending them a postcard.

How to Use Your Website to Promote Your Nonprofit Online

Ann Green donor engagement, donor retention, marketing, planning, website , , , ,

Whether you’re setting up your website or improving an existing one, explore best practices for promoting your nonprofit online effectively in this guide.

By Carl Diesing

Your website is an essential tool in your online marketing kit. It serves as the foundation of your digital strategy by providing a place for any individual to find the information they seek about your nonprofit, whether that’s your mission statement, impact on beneficiaries, how to donate, or volunteer sign-up forms.

As a small nonprofit, you may have created a website but not had the bandwidth to flesh it out and optimize it fully. Or, you may not have dedicated marketing professionals on your staff, leading to confusion over how best to handle your website marketing efforts.

Whether you’re just setting up your website or wanting to improve your existing one, here are four best practices to implement on your website to effectively promote your nonprofit online.

1. Create all the important pages you need.

If you’re just starting your website, you might feel overwhelmed with how many pages you need to set up. However, it all boils down to the essential information that web visitors might want when they land on your website.

To meet those needs, start with these key pages:

  • About
  • Mission/Values
  • Donate
  • Volunteer

If you’ve already created these pages, start your website refresh with some spring cleaning. Look through your existing website and check that all your pages are updated and accurate. As nonprofits grow and change, their missions and audiences evolve, requiring adjustments to marketing materials like your website to ensure you deliver a consistent message to your supporters.

Later on, when your nonprofit has the time and resources, you can expand your website by adding other important pages like the ones below:

  • History
  • Our Team
  • Financials
  • Events/Calendar
  • Resources/Blog
  • Online Shop

Your cause may also impact the additional pages you should add or build. For example, a food bank might create a dedicated in-kind donation page listing all the specific food items they’re running low on and what they would like donated. Or, a nonprofit aquarium might have a page highlighting its standout exhibits and animals.

2. Make navigation simple and intuitive.

It’s not enough to simply create the pages web visitors are looking for—you must make it easy for supporters to explore those pages. To do that, prioritize simple and intuitive navigation that boosts the user experience. You can achieve that with the following strategies:

  • Keep menu structure simple: Limit the items in your navigation menu by only adding essential pages. Make sure that each page is labeled in an easy-to-understand and concise way.
  • Organize information logically: If your navigation menu has many items in it, you may benefit from grouping pages into subcategories to minimize the number of clicks needed to find information. For example, you might create a “Support” category for your donation, volunteer, and events pages.
  • Implement a sticky navigation bar: Ideally, web visitors should be able to access your menu on every page through a navigation header or footer. Take that principle a step further by adding a sticky navigation bar, which keeps your menu visible as users scroll down your pages.
  • Incorporate clear calls-to-action (CTAs): Encourage visitors to take the desired next action by adding clear CTAs in strategic areas of your site. Nonprofits usually add a large button-style CTA to their navigation bar leading to their donation page, but you can also add buttons to other pages in other relevant areas.
  • Add a search feature: At times, visitors may be looking for a page or piece of content that’s not readily available through your navigation headers. In those cases, having a dedicated search feature is extremely helpful and enhances the overall user experience.

Generally, the first few versions of any website, nonprofit or not, leave much to be desired. That’s completely normal—after all, when you first launch your website, you’re also busy with plenty of other responsibilities associated with starting a nonprofit.

Once your organization has achieved some stability and is ready to reinvent its website to supercharge its marketing potential, implement an accessible design and incorporate your nonprofit’s branding for better user experience and brand visibility.

3. Implement SEO best practices.

Part of what makes a website such a useful tool for nonprofit marketing is its ability to be discovered organically through search engines. However, you can’t rely on people Googling your nonprofit’s name to discover your website. Ideally, it should be discoverable through other relevant keywords.

That’s where search engine optimization (SEO) comes in. To ensure your nonprofit gets noticed online, leverage the following SEO best practices:

  • Use clean URLs: Short and concise URLs help search engine crawlers index your page and easily understand what it’s about, resulting in better search engine results.
  • Incorporate keywords naturally in content: Gone are the days of adding SEO keywords to web content as many times as possible. Now, search engines prioritize authoritative, comprehensive content. Create high-quality content with natural keyword incorporation to provide value to readers and signal to search engines what your content is about.
  • Add alt text to visual elements: Not only is this a great accessibility practice, but this also helps search engines understand what your visuals are about. Since search engines have dedicated image and video search sections, adding alt text enables your images and videos to show up for related queries.

Use analytics from Google Search Console and other SEO tools to assess whether your new practices are working. Taking a data-driven approach ensures that you know which changes are most impactful for your nonprofit’s visibility, allowing you to refine your SEO strategy for the future.

4. Create engaging content.

To maximize your nonprofit’s chances of leading web visitors to a desired action, you want visitors to stay on your site for as long as possible. Once your nonprofit can dedicate the time to do so, create a resource hub and blog and populate these pages with engaging content that captivates your audiences and keeps them on your site.

Here are a few tips for boosting engagement with content:

  • Create content regularly: When your community knows they can expect content from your organization regularly, they’ll be more likely to visit your site and see what new resources or insights you’ve posted. Increased interaction with your site may lead them to make a donation, sign up to volunteer, or register to attend one of your events.
  • Add visual elements: Visual elements help visitors digest your content by breaking up large blocks of text. Plus, they can be used to summarize key information. For example, if you publish a quick summary of your nonprofit’s annual impact report, you might also create an image that summarizes your key accomplishments.
  • Incorporate interactive content: Interactive content is generally more engaging to web visitors than content that they simply read or watch. Polls, quizzes, slideshows, social media feeds, and other elements can draw visitors’ attention and keep them on your website.

To ensure your content is truly engaging, ask yourself one core question: what would your audience be interested in? For instance, if you run a community church and you want to attract new congregants, you might highlight ministry games played at Sunday School, reflections on scripture, and practical guidance on how faith relates to daily life.

Depending on your audience, you can get creative or playful with your content. For example, the Atlanta Humane Society, an animal shelter that helps homeless animals find loving homes, posted a fun blog post from the perspective of a cat holding the website hostage.

Getting your nonprofit noticed through your website is only the first step to a robust marketing strategy. Afterward, focus on how your website delivers an experience that leads visitors to interact further with your mission and get involved in the long term. Then, consider how your marketing channels support donor retention to nurture relationships and build a base of loyal supporters who are passionate about your cause.

Carl Diesing is the Managing Director of DNL OmniMedia, which he co-founded in 2006, and has grown the team to accommodate clients with ongoing web development projects. Together, DNL OmniMedia has worked with over 100 organizations to assist them with accomplishing their online goals. As Managing Director of DNL OmniMedia, Carl works with nonprofits and their technology to foster fundraising, create awareness, cure disease, and solve social issues. Carl lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife Sarah and their two children, Charlie and Evelyn.


Why Your Nonprofit Needs to Make the Right Investments

Ann Green Communications, direct mail, donation page, donor engagement, donor retention, monthly donors, planning , , , , ,

With all the economic uncertainty right now, you may be worried about your nonprofit’s finances.

Maybe your giving has gone down and you’ve cut back on some expenses. While that’s understandable on one level, you need to be careful before you nix something you think you can’t afford. It may be something you should be investing in.

Instead of going on autopilot and saying “We can’t afford this,” think about how you can make the right investments. Stay away from the scarcity mindset. It’s often not helpful.

Here are a few areas you should invest more money in, even in a down economy. The good news is that if you do it well, 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 giving 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 don’t 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. Donor retention continues to be a huge problem. Having a good database also helps with donor engagement.

Many CRMs have built-in payment processors. If not, invest in a good one. 

Your CRM will let you 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.

If you’re worried about spending $50 to $100 a month on a CRM/database, you may be able to recoup that expense if you can ask for an upgrade and personalize your communication.

Invest in direct mail

You may not use direct mail that much. 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 at least three or four times a year, and don’t just send fundraising appeals.

Give some thought to what you send. Some ideas, besides appeal letters, include thank you letters/cards; Thanksgiving, holiday, and/or Valentine’s Day cards; infographic postcards; two-to-four-page newsletters; and impact 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. I wouldn’t recommend putting one in an impact report either, especially if you only do one a year.

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, but your primary reason for communicating that way shouldn’t be because it’s cheaper. Both direct mail and email have their place, but in many cases, direct mail is more effective. They also work well when you use them together.

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 one of the few types of fundraising that has increased over the last few years. It’s good for all nonprofit organizations, but it’s especially beneficial for small nonprofits.

Monthly giving will provide you with a steady stream of revenue throughout the year. This is important during this time of economic uncertainty and funding cuts. It can also be a more feasible option for donors if they can spread out their gifts over the year.

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

This is why having a good CRM is so important. It will help you find potential monthly donors and segment your current monthly donors so you can send them specialized donor communications. 

Don’t wait any longer to invest in this proven way to raise more money. If you already have a strong monthly giving program (kudos to you), take the next step and invest in mid-level donors and so on.

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 formula – 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. 

Of course, 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 email newsletter and other updates.

Invest in infrastrucure

We need to stop treating overhead or infrastructure as something negative. Most individual donors don’t care about overhead, anyway. However, 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. We also have to pay rent and other expenses (including a CRM, direct mail communication, etc.).

Until these funders stop worrying so much about overhead, you may want to invest some time in finding unrestricted funding sources – often those important individual gifts, such as monthly donations and mid-level/major gifts. Plus, weaning yourself off grant funding isn’t a bad idea.

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.

4 Tips to Optimize Your Donor Database to Boost Engagement

Ann Green database, donor engagement, donor relations, fundraising , ,

Your donor database is an effective tool for boosting engagement at your nonprofit—if you optimize and leverage it strategically. Learn more in this guide.

By Sarah Tedesco

It’s no secret that effective donor engagement is vital to your nonprofit’s success. Individual donations make up a large portion of most nonprofits’ funding, and those donors generally want to feel connected to and appreciated by the organizations they support. So, you need to build strong donor relationships to secure the necessary resources to further your organization’s mission (and simply to keep the lights on!).

A robust donor database or constituent relationship management (CRM) system is one of the best tools you have at your disposal to boost engagement at your nonprofit. However, this solution can only serve your organization to its fullest potential if you maintain it carefully and leverage it strategically.

In this guide, we’ll discuss four ways to optimize your nonprofit’s donor database so it’s as useful as possible for increasing engagement. Let’s dive in!

1. Create Thorough Donor Profiles

Donor profiles are essential relationship-building tools that are built into nearly every nonprofit CRM. These resources track all of the important information you’ve learned about current and potential supporters of your organization—one profile per donor.

While your database may come with some pre-built fields, you’ll likely have to customize your profiles to account for all of the data you need to track. DonorSearch’s guide to donor profiles recommends including the following sections in each one you create:

[alt text: A checklist of elements to include in supporter profiles to optimize your donor database, which are explained below.]

  • Donor overview: Displays the donor’s name, giving status (prospect, one-time donor, repeat donor, etc.), and the date of their last interaction with your nonprofit for quick reference.
  • Basic details: Tracks contact information and other general personal data (full and preferred name, pronouns, birthday, preferred communication method, etc.).
  • Personal history: Includes a donor’s education level, wealth information, and interests so you know why they support your nonprofit and how much they could give.
  • Familial information: Makes your interactions with donors more personal and allows you to involve their spouse, children, and other family members in your mission.
  • Professional affiliations: Helps you dive deeper into donors’ financial situations, networking connections, and ability to participate in workplace giving.
  • Organizational connections: Compiles donors’ giving history and involvement in other activities at your nonprofit to help you choose the right next steps for engaging them.
  • Philanthropic ties: Lets you know if donors have contributed to other similar nonprofits, so you can more accurately gauge their affinity for your mission.

Treat your donor profiles as living documents. Every time a supporter engages with your organization, update their profile with the new data (either manually or automatically) so you can stay on top of their involvement and more effectively strategize ways to deepen your relationship with them.

2. Segment Your Supporters

Once you’ve created profiles for individual donors, segmentation allows you to keep your database organized and communicate more personally with large numbers of supporters. To segment your donors, group them according to shared characteristics found in their profiles, such as:

  • Demographics: Age, location, education, marital and family status, wealth
  • Psychographics: Hobbies, interests, values, connections to your mission, preferred communication channels
  • Giving history: Average donation amount, frequency and recency of giving, lifetime value to your nonprofit
  • Non-donation engagement: Event attendance, volunteer hours, board service, in-kind contributions, advocacy campaign participation

From here, you can more easily choose which segments to prioritize during particular fundraising initiatives and send targeted appeals using their preferred channels. For example, a segment of older, wealthy donors might be the best group for direct mail outreach promoting your annual fund. However, a segment of younger supporters who tend to make smaller donations but are passionate about advocacy may be the most likely to see, contribute to, and share a crowdfunding campaign on social media.

3. Integrate Your Database With Other Nonprofit Software

Integrations allow data to transfer automatically from your nonprofit’s other fundraising and management platforms to its CRM, saving your team time and reducing the risk of errors that come with manual entry. 

Depending on your current technology stack, consider integrating the following tools with your database:

  • Online donation processors to update supporters’ giving history in real time and track their status as recurring or sporadic donors.
  • Event management solutions to log donors’ registrations, merchandise and auction item purchases, and peer-to-peer fundraising participation for a-thon style events.
  • Corporate giving tools to track which donors are eligible for and have requested matching gifts or volunteer grants, as well as connections to businesses that might partner with you to sponsor events or host team volunteer days.
  • Accounting software to ensure your giving data matches your financial records for accurate reporting and compliance.
  • Volunteer management systems to link supporters’ volunteer involvement with their giving, which can help you encourage volunteers to become donors and vice versa.
  • Communication platforms to more easily send targeted messages to specific segments and monitor donors’ engagement with emails, text messages, social media posts, and other digital marketing content.
  • Prospect research databases to dig deeper into supporters’ wealth and philanthropic details so you can find potential major and planned giving donors who already have a relationship with your organization, which makes cultivation easier.

Some of these tools (particularly corporate giving and prospect research solutions) are usually sold separately from donor databases, while others might be built into or available as add-ons for more robust CRM systems. Before you invest in a new platform, ensure there isn’t a comparable tool available in your CRM already, so you can avoid paying for duplicate software subscriptions. If not, check whether the solutions you’re considering integrate with your existing donor database so your whole tech stack can work together once you make your final decision.

4. Practice Good Data Hygiene

Your donor database will be most useful to your nonprofit if you consistently maintain the data within it to ensure accuracy and relevance. To set up a solid management system, Double the Donation’s guide to data hygiene best practices explains that you should:

  • Audit your CRM—i.e., review your entire database to identify and remove any inaccurate, inconsistent, or duplicate data and migrate in any information stored in other locations.
  • Assign data responsibilities so your staff knows who is in charge of managing specific categories of information or performing certain ongoing maintenance tasks.
  • Evaluate your data collection strategy to ensure you’re prioritizing the right segments and storing data that will help you achieve your nonprofit’s current goals.
  • Develop standards for when to enter new data, how to solve common CRM problems, and how to format certain types of information (e.g., abbreviations for streets and state names as seen in donors’ mailing addresses) to ensure consistency.
  • Continuously update and validate information, leveraging your prospect research tools or investing in data appending as needed.

Hold training sessions to introduce these best practices to your team, and compile them in a handbook for easy reference going forward. Remember to also cover your organization’s rules for ensuring data security and ethical collection methods in this training to help you maintain donors’ trust and avoid legal issues related to your database.

The tips above should give you a solid foundation for leveraging your nonprofit’s CRM to boost donor engagement. Remember to adapt your strategy to align with your organization’s goals and the capabilities of your specific database and complementary solutions. Happy fundraising!

Sarah Tedesco is the Chief Operating Officer and Part Owner of DonorSearch, a prospect research company that focuses on proven philanthropy. Sarah is responsible for managing the production and customer support department, which focuses on client contract fulfillment, retention, and satisfaction. She also collaborates with other team members in various areas like sales, marketing, and product development. Sarah holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and worked as a foundation prospect researcher before joining DonorSearch, providing her with industry experience that she applies to her responsibilities day-to-day.


How to Make Your Nonprofit Messages Stand Out In a World Filled With Information

Ann Green Communications, direct mail, donor engagement, donor-centered, email, planning, writing , , , , ,

Our world is chock full of information. When I was growing up, we just had a few TV channels to choose from. Now there are countless streaming options. We also have email, the internet, and social media, just to name a few. It’s not only the volume of options, it’s also the content. And in our current climate of crisis and uncertainty, it’s information overload on steroids.

How does your nonprofit organization compete with all this? You need to communicate regularly with your donors and you need to do it well. But in this deluge of information, they might miss your messages. 

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

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. If you ask someone to make a donation, volunteer, and contact their legislators in the same message, they may not do any of that.

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 your primary mode of communication 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 an enormous amount of email from a variety of different sources. Political organizations and candidates here in the U.S. send a ton of email messages, especially now, and it won’t let up anytime soon. Some of the PACs send emails that are so obnoxious they give fundraising a bad name. I tend to ignore a lot of those messages and then end up missing something important. Plan a strategy to help you break through the noise. 

Plus, the average email open rate is around 20%. And, social media is often just a lot of a lot.  

You can see how easy it is 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 email 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

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 need 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 move into their own homes. or THANK YOU!

Your envelope should look personal and not resemble a bill or junk mail. A few ways to make your mail stand out are to use something other than the usual white business envelope, hand address your envelope, and use stamps.

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 Learn how you helped Jason learn to read or You just did something amazing today! Putting someone’s first name in the subject line can also help with open rates.

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 about eight seconds.

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 to 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 you’ll be disappointed.

When you send email, make sure people know it’s coming from your organization. In the from field, put DoGood Nonprofit or Susan (Davis), DoGood Nonprofit. If you just put a person’s name, people may not know who it’s from and ignore your message, unless that person is well known to your readers. Also, don’t use info@dogoodnonprofit or even worse, no-reply@dogoodnonprofit. That just screams impersonal.

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. Measuring your email metrics will help you communicate more effectively. 

When you send email, it’s important to strike a balance between being known and being annoying. Unlike the political organizations I mentioned above, many nonprofits don’t communicate enough. Be sure to reach out anywhere between once a week and once a month. 

Don’t let this current climate of uncertainty stop you from fundraising and engaging with your donors. They want to hear from you. With all the negativity and depressing news, be a friendly factor.

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 in a world filled with information.

It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Boring Nonprofit Newsletters

Ann Green Communications, direct mail, donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, donor-centered, email, newsletter, writing , , , , , , ,

In an ideal world, a newsletter can be a great way to engage with your donors. In the real world, that doesn’t often happen because most donor newsletters can be used as a cure for insomnia. They’re too long and filled with boring articles that brag about how wonderful the organization is.

A newsletter is a vital part of the ask, thank report, repeat formula and you can’t just go on autopilot. The good news is that it’s possible to create a better, engaging newsletter your donors will want to read and won’t put them to sleep. Here’s what you need to do.

Think about what your donors want

You need to include content that will interest your donors. Do you think your donors would rather read an article about your CEO receiving an award or one about Tina, a single mother who is having trouble making ends meet but is grateful because, thanks to your generous donors, she can get healthy food for her family at the Westside Community food pantry? 

The answer should be obvious. Your donors want to hear about how they’re helping you make a difference for your clients/community. Before choosing content, think carefully about whether or not your donors would be interested in it. 

If you’re a larger organization, you could create different newsletters for different programs or one specifically for monthly donors.

You need a print newsletter

You may opt not to do a print newsletter because it’s more expensive and takes too much time, but you’re making a mistake if many of your donors prefer print.

I think you’ll have more success if you can do both print and email newsletters. I recommend a short email newsletter once or twice a month and one to four print newsletters a year.

Donors are more likely to see any communication that comes in the mail, as opposed to the enormous volume of email most of us get.

Follow the Domain Formula, which was developed by the Domain fundraising group. A couple of things they recommend are sending your print newsletter only to donors and putting it in an envelope, not sending it as a self-mailer.

They also recommend putting a donation envelope in your print newsletter. This is a proven way to raise additional revenue and you may be able to recoup your expenses. Print newsletters are a great way to boost your retention rate, too.

You can also save money by creating a shorter print newsletter (maybe two pages instead of four) or only mailing it once or twice a year. You can print them in-house, as long as it looks professional.

Be sure you have a clean mailing list. If you can get rid of duplicate and undeliverable addresses, that’s another way to save a little money.

Remember, donors are more likely to read a print newsletter. But ask them what they like, and listen to what they say. If a majority of them prefer print, then you need to find a way to accommodate them.

Give some thought to your email newsletter

Your print and email newsletters are separate entities. Therefore, you shouldn’t email people a PDF of your print newsletter. Use an email service provider and a newsletter template to create the best experience for your readers.

Send your email newsletter to anyone who signed up for it and only to people who signed up to receive it. This can be both donors and non-donors. It could be a good cultivation tool for future donors. Give people ample opportunities to sign up for your e-newsletter, but understand that not everyone will want to receive it.

Use an engaging subject line (something like Learn how you’re helping families find a home of their own and not April newsletter) so you can stand out in your donor’s inbox. And be sure people can read it on a mobile device. Get a little creative with your e-newsletter by including a short poll or quiz.

Share your stories

Stories are the most important part of a nonprofit newsletter (print and email). Each newsletter needs to begin with a compelling story. If you’re making a difference, you have stories to tell.

Client stories are best, but you could also do profiles of volunteers, board members, and donors. Focus on what drew them to your mission (more on that below).

Create a story bank that includes at least four client stories to use every year.

Don’t stray from your mission

A common article I see in many nonprofit newsletters is one about a foundation or major donor giving a large gift. This may be accompanied by a picture of someone holding a giant check. Of course, you should recognize these donors (and all donors), but why is this gift important? How will it help your clients/community?

For example – This generous $50,000 grant from the Westside Community Foundation will help us serve more students in our tutoring program. Many students fell behind during remote learning and are still struggling to catch up.

Something else I see a lot is a profile of a new board member. Instead of focusing so much on their professional background, let your donors know what drew them to your organization. We welcome Kathy Stevens, Vice President of First National Bank, to our board. Kathy has a brother with autism and is very passionate about finding ways for people with autism to live independent lives. 

Write to your donors

Write your newsletter in the second person, emphasizing you much more than we. Be personal and conversational. Say – You helped Tina feed her family or Because of donors like you, X number of families have been able to get healthy food every week. This is important because so many families are struggling to make ends meet right now.

Leave out jargon and other language your donors won’t understand. Write as if you’re having a conversation with a friend.

I’m not a fan of the letter from the CEO because those tend to be organization-centered instead of donor-centered. If you feel you must include one of these, be sure to thank your donors. And if you’re mailing your newsletter in an envelope (recommended), do a separate letter and don’t make it part of your newsletter. 

Pour on the appreciation

Never miss an opportunity to thank your donors. You couldn’t do your work without them. Every one of your newsletters needs to show gratitude and emphasize how much you appreciate your donors.

Make it easy to read (and scan)

Most of your donors aren’t going to read your newsletter word for word, especially your e-newsletter. Include enticing headlines and email subject lines (if you don’t, your donors may not read it at all), at least a 12-point font, and lots of white space so your donors can easily scan your newsletter.

Stick to black type on a white background as much as possible. Colors are pretty, but not if they’re hindering your donor’s ability to read your newsletter. Photos can be a great way to add some color, as well as tell a story in an instant.

Use the inverted pyramid and put the most important story first (client story or profile), keeping in mind that your donors may not get to all the articles.

Short and sweet

Your print newsletter should be no more than four pages. Limit your monthly email newsletter to three articles. Some organizations send an e-newsletter twice a month. Those should be even shorter – maybe just two articles. There’s a lot going on right now and people don’t want to be bombarded with too much information.

Shorter, more frequent updates are often better.

Other ways to update your donors

For some of you, putting together a newsletter may be too much to take on. You don’t have to do an actual newsletter, but you do need to keep your donors updated.

Do what you can, but be sure to update your donors at least once a month. You may find you have more success with shorter, more frequent email updates and postcards with an infographic a few times a year. You could also send a Donor Care Letter. 

Take time to create a great newsletter that will engage your donors and not bore them.

Why Ask Why?

Ann Green appeal letters, Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, impact report, newsletter, thank you letters, writing , , , , , ,

As you work on your nonprofit messages, remember the word why. Why, you ask? Because a lot of nonprofit communication doesn’t focus on why something is important. There’s usually a lot of what and how, but not much why.

The typical fundraising letter and newsletter article rambles on about accomplishments without explaining why something matters. Some organizations also like to pour on the statistics. These numbers don’t mean much without more information.

You need to dig deep into why something is important. Imagine you’re a four-year-old who keeps asking, “But why?” over and over again.

Why is what you do important?

Here’s something you might see in a newsletter or impact report.

We expanded our tutoring program to four more high schools.

Okay, but why is that important?

To serve more students.

That’s good, but why is that important?

After six months of weekly tutoring sessions, 85% of the students in our program have improved their math skills, as well as their grades. Many of these students fell behind during remote learning and are still struggling to catch up.

There you go. Tell your donors about the impact you’re making. This is especially important during this time of economic uncertainty. You want to emphasize the importance of your work.

Why should someone donate to your organization?

Do your appeals focus on why it’s important to donate to your organization? Instead of saying something generic like please donate to our year-end appeal, tell a story emphasizing why someone should donate to your nonprofit.

Jason, a 10th grader at Porter High School, can’t stand algebra. It just doesn’t make sense to him. He’s always had trouble with math and fell behind during remote learning. He was still struggling to catch up and afraid he’d have to take that horrible class again. 

Then Jason started weekly tutoring sessions with Brian, a volunteer tutor. It was difficult at first, but thanks to Brian’s patience and guidance, Jason got a B on his last test. 

Many other students fell behind during remote learning and could use a tutor. After six months of weekly tutoring sessions, 85% of the students in our program have improved their math skills. With your help, we can expand our program to serve more students in more schools.

Again, focus on why.

Why is your donor’s gift valuable?

When you thank your donors, do you tell them why their gift is valuable? Give a specific example.

Thank you so much for your generous gift of $50. This will help cover the expenses of our one-to-one weekly tutoring sessions. After six months of these tutoring sessions, 85% of the students in our program have improved their math skills. This is crucial since many of these students fell behind during remote learning and are still struggling to catch up.

It’s all about the why.

Why are you sharing this information?

When you write a newsletter article or something for an impact report, why are you including that information? Will this be something of interest to your donors? If it’s focused too much on your organization and sounds like you’re bragging, then probably not. 

Your donors want information that lets them know how they’re helping you make a difference and why that’s important. Sharing stories is a great way to do that.

Why do you appreciate your donors?

Finally, do your donors know why you appreciate them? You need to tell them this again and again.

Thank you so much for doing your part in helping high school students boost their math skills. We couldn’t do this without you.

Always remember to focus on why.

Does Your Nonprofit Need to Do a Little Spring Cleaning?

Ann Green appeal letters, Communications, database, direct mail, email, planning, thank you letters, writing , , , , , , ,

It’s spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s about time after a frigid winter here in the Boston area, although I can’t say it’s been that warm right now. 

A lot of people use this time of the year to do some spring cleaning. I envy the people who do that because I’m usually not one of them. 

I know I should do more. As much as I dislike cleaning and organizing, I’m happy once it gets done. Often getting started is the hardest part.

Your nonprofit organization may be putting off some version of your own spring cleaning and decluttering. It’s important to make some time to tackle these so-called cumbersome tasks. Just think how happy you’ll be when you’re done. You’ll also make some much-needed improvements to your infrastructure and donor communication.

Here are a few suggestions to help you get started.

Clean up your mailing lists and CRM/database

Has it been a while since you updated your mailing lists? Did you have an influx of address changes, returned mail, and bounced emails after you sent your year-end appeal? This is a good time to clean up and update both your direct mail and email mailing lists.

Don’t wait until right before your next mailing or campaign to clean up your donor data. If it’s been a while since you’ve done this, then you need to do what’s known as data hygiene.

Even though it’s tedious, have someone who’s familiar with your donors (your development director?) go through your mailing lists and CRM/database to see if you need to make any additions, changes, and deletions.

Be meticulous. No donor wants to see her name misspelled, be addressed as Mrs. when she prefers Ms., or receive three mailings because you have duplicate records.

Your CRM/donor database is an essential tool, and it needs to be up-to-date and filled with accurate information about your donors.

Run your donor list through the National Change of Address database. It may cost some money to do this, but it’s worth it if you come out with squeaky-clean data. Do it at least once a year.

Also, if you haven’t already done this, segment your donors into different groups – new donors, returning donors, monthly donors, etc. You may need to make some changes. For example, if a single gift donor starts giving monthly.

You might also want to move some lapsed donors who haven’t donated for several years into an inactive file. Don’t do this until you’ve sent targeted, personalized appeals asking them to donate again. And if you’ve never gotten in touch with any lapsed donors from 2024, you could reach out to them now.

Do the same thing with your email list. It doesn’t make sense to send emails to people who don’t respond to them. Give these people a chance to re-engage, and if they’re not even opening your emails, move them to an inactive file. Don’t worry if people unsubscribe. You’re better off with an email list of engaged subscribers.

Also, if you find you keep saying, “Our database doesn’t let us do that.”, maybe it’s time for an upgrade.

While you’re at it, you could give your donation page a spring cleaning.

Freshen up your messages

Spring is a time to open up the windows and let some fresh air replace the stale air that’s been accumulating in your house over the last several months.

You know what else might be stale – your messages. Take some time to freshen them up, if you haven’t done that for a while. Ideally, you should do this at least once a year. I mentioned this in a recent post, emphasizing that your donor communication needs to be clear, conversational, and specific. Stay away from generic language and jargon. 

There’s a good chance your thank you letters need a refresh. Your thank you letters need to actually thank your donors, not brag about your organization. Also, make sure your automatically generated thank you emails and landing pages don’t look like boring receipts. Create separate templates for new donors, current donors, and monthly donors. 

Thank you messages are one of the most important components of donor communication. Make yours sparkle.

Weed and grow 

People who have gardens spend a lot of time getting rid of weeds to ensure a beautiful garden. I’m not a gardener. I live in a townhouse and don’t have a yard, but even I know I need to cut off the dead leaves on my houseplants to help them grow.

What are your weeds? Perhaps it’s events or grants. These can take a lot of time and don’t always bring in that much money. Plus, if you’ve relied on federal funding here in the U.S., you’ll need to branch out and look into other revenue sources.

A better option is to grow your individual giving program. Start with monthly giving. You can think of this as a houseplant approach, relatively easy to take on and maintain. Then move on to mid-level, major, and legacy giving. These will take more time, just like a seedling that with care and attention will grow into a tree.

As you work on your weeding, this article on simplicity might be helpful. It suggests you do an audit of various aspects of your life and ask –  Is it necessary and is it creating energy? If you answer Yes to both, keep it. If you answer No to both, remove it. If you answer Yes to one, think about it. 

For your nonprofit, the energy question can be turned around and you can ask if something is depleting your energy. You could also ask, is it producing results?

It can be hard to let go. Maybe you’ve held a particular event for years. But like weeds in a garden, it might be prohibiting your growth. Let go of this event (or whatever doesn’t serve you) and find ways to raise money that will help you grow.

Don’t wait too long

I know you’re busy, but you need to take on these initiatives sooner rather than later. Just like the clutter and dust in your home, along with the weeds in your garden, they won’t disappear on their own. The longer you ignore it, the worse it gets. 

Get started on these spring cleaning projects as soon as you can. You’ll be happy once they’re done. Your donors will be happy if they don’t get duplicate mailings and a fundraising letter laced with jargon, but do receive a personalized appeal and a stellar thank you letter. Your organization will also benefit by taking on initiatives and making investments that will help you grow.

Photo by Ryan Harvey

Is Your Donor Engagement Actually Engaging?

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

You may think you’re practicing donor engagement by sending thank you letters and newsletters, but is the content actually engaging? It’s often formulaic and just downright dull.

Many nonprofits send all their donors the same appeal and thank you letters. In these letters, they never thank a donor for their past support or acknowledge they’re a monthly donor.

If that’s not bad enough, many of these letters use vague and impersonal language and even worse, jargon.

It sounds obvious, but your donor engagement should be engaging. If it’s not, it’s time to move away from generic and impersonal communication. Your donors deserve better. Here are a few suggestions to help you improve your donor communication to make it more engaging.

Segment your donors

Your donors aren’t the same, so they shouldn’t all get the same letter or other types of communication. Segment your donors into different groups as much as you can. At the very least, create different letters for new donors, repeat donors, and monthly donors. You can also personalize letters to lapsed donors, event attendees, volunteers, etc.

I emphasize segmenting your donors a lot in my posts because it’s so important. Both because it allows you to send your messages to the right audience and you can personalize those messages. Donors like it if you recognize their past giving or anything that shows them this is more than a generic, one-size-fits-all message. 

Also, please stop sending Dear Friend letters. You’re not being a good friend if you don’t even use your donors’ names.

I know this will take more time, but it’s worth the investment. So is a good CRM/database to help you with this. Your donors will feel appreciated and are more likely to give again, possibly at a higher level.

Use language your donors will understand

If you use vague, generic language and jargon, you’re going to instantly bore and/or confuse your donors. Most of your donors don’t have a medical or social services background. They don’t use terms like food insecurity, at-risk populations, and underserved communities – and neither should you. Stay away from insider language. 

Connect with your donors by using language they’ll understand. Instead of writing about food insecurity, give an example of a single mother choosing between buying groceries and paying the heating bill.

What do you mean by at-risk or underserved? Are high school students less likely to graduate on time? Do residents of a certain community not have good health care nearby? Is housing too expensive? Get specific, but at the same time, keep it simple. Also, terms like at-risk and underserved undermine your clients/community. Remember, these are human beings you’re writing about.

A great way to break free from generic language and jargon is to tell stories. Most people respond better to a human-interest story than a bunch of boring statistics.

Make time for improvement

You may be between fundraising campaigns right now and have a little more time (or maybe not). If so, work on segmenting the donors in your database, if you haven’t already done that. Segment your donors on an ongoing basis. For example, some of your single-gift donors may have upgraded to monthly. If you can do this after every campaign, you should have fairly up-to-date information on your donors.

In addition, dust off those templates and freshen up your appeal letters and thank you letters. Situations in the U.S. and throughout the world keep changing and your communication needs to be relevant. How is what’s going on now affecting your clients/community? Create letter templates for different donor groups and replace your vague, generic language with something clear, conversational, and specific.

You can also use this time to add new stories to your story bank or start putting one together, if you don’t already have one.

Have someone outside of your organization, a friend or family member, look at your messages. Something that’s clear to you may confuse others.

Create communication that shows your donors how much you appreciate them by recognizing who they are and giving them engaging content they can relate to.

Why It’s Important to Pay Attention to Your Donor Retention Right Now

Ann Green Communications, database, donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, gratitude, planning , , , , , ,

Donor retention is a perennial problem for nonprofit organizations. Many organizations spend a lot of time and energy on acquiring donors, concentrating more on volume, and don’t seem concerned that they’re churning through different donors year after year.

Another perennial problem is uncertainty and disruption in our world. Right now we’re dealing with cuts in federal funding, tariffs, a plunging stock market, etc, which are creating constant chaos for us. Both your nonprofit and your donors may be feeling financially strained.

Acquiring new donors is more expensive than keeping the ones you already have, so it’s important for you to keep track of your retention rate. You don’t want to lose your donors right now. Granted some may not be able to give at the moment, but just as we saw during the pandemic, many will step up and continue to support you.

There are also reasons donors don’t give again that aren’t financial. Many of these you can control. Maybe you’re losing donors because you’re either not communicating enough or communicating poorly. Fortunately, this is something you can fix, but you need to give it your full attention.

Pay attention to your donor relationships

One of the most important components of fundraising is building relationships with your donors. 

Donor relations should be easier than raising money and it can be fun, too. Make it a priority, as well as something you do throughout the year.

Follow the ask, thank, report, repeat formula and give more attention to thanking and reporting. Your donors are not ATMs. They were drawn to your organization because they felt a connection to your work. They want to feel appreciated and hear how they’re helping you make a difference for your clients/community.

If you don’t pay attention to building relationships, your donors are less likely to give again.

Pay attention to your first-time donors

The retention rate for first-time donors is around 20%. Obviously, we can do better.

If you can get your first-time donors to give again, it’s much more likely they’ll keep giving. That second donation is known as the golden donation. This is why it’s important to engage with your new donors and I hope you’ve done that with your most recent new year-end donors. 

Create a welcome plan that includes a series of messages for new donors. Recruit board members to make thank you phone calls. This is a proven strategy that results in donors giving again.

Let these donors know how much you appreciate this new relationship. If you don’t, it’s likely to be a short relationship. 

But don’t stop there, you also want to acknowledge your longer-term donors and make them feel special.

Pay attention to your lapsed donors

A lapsed donor is someone who hasn’t donated for at least a year. Make a plan to reach out to some of these donors and invite them to give again. Also, ask why they haven’t given. Maybe they forgot. Maybe they can’t afford to give right now. Maybe they were never thanked.

If a donor can’t afford to give right now, stay engaged with them. Hopefully, they’ll give again in the future. Also, some donors may choose to cut back on their giving. Don’t let them choose between an organization that does a great job of thanking them and sending engaging updates and the one that just sends a bunch of boring, generic appeals.

Donor engagement is so important. According to fundraising expert Penelope Burk, 93% of donors are more likely to give again when they feel appreciated and the organization lets them know the impact of their gifts.

Pay attention to growing your monthly giving program

I’m a big fan of monthly giving. Monthly donors have a much higher retention rate – around 90%. Getting more monthly donors is one way to raise your overall retention rate. It’s a great option for donors who are feeling financially strained, because it allows them to spread out their gifts over the year. Monthly donors are also more likely to give an additional donation.

Reach out to your single gift donors who have given at least twice and ask them to join your family of monthly donors. You can also invite donors to give monthly in your welcome package.

Pay attention to your donor communication 

Do you barrage donors with appeals and then go silent for a while? 

Ideally, you want to reach out somewhere between once a week and once a month. And not just with appeals. You need to thank donors and share updates. Remember the ask, thank, report, repeat formula. This is crucial for good donor retention. 

Try to reach out by mail at least a few times a year. It’s more personal and your donors are more likely to see your messages. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate. A handwritten thank you card or a postcard infographic can be a quick, but effective, way to engage. 

Put together a communications calendar to help you with this. 

You also want to focus on quality. Just because you send thank you letters and newsletters, doesn’t mean you’re actually engaging with your donors. Write a heartfelt, personal thank you and create a newsletter and other updates with content they’ll be interested in.

I know a lot is going on right now, but your donors want to hear about your success and challenges.

Pay attention to your donor data

Something else that will help you with donor retention is to invest in a good CRM/database. This will let you segment donors and personalize their communication. Then you can send targeted communication to new donors, long-time donors, lapsed donors, potential donors, etc. Invest in the best database you can afford. It should pay off.

You may think that paying attention to your donor retention sounds like a lot of work. Well, so is finding new donors. In this current climate of uncertainty, it’s important to pay attention to your donor retention so you don’t lose the donors you already have.