planning

Why It’s Important to Welcome Your New Donors

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, donor-centered, gratitude, planning , , , , , ,

Year-end fundraising is well underway. I hope your campaign is going well so far. Perhaps you also participated in Giving Tuesday. The latter often brings in new donors, which you never want to take for granted. 

These donors saw a need and found a connection to your cause. Or maybe they were drawn into whatever Giving Tuesday promotion you initiated, but I like to think they wanted to help you make a difference. 

You may have or will see an increase in donations because of funding cuts and the recent U.S. government shutdown, especially if you work with populations that have been impacted by this. Times are tough and many people are struggling. Even so, donors see the need and have been stepping up to help. If that’s the case for you, these are donors who feel passionate about your cause and you don’t want to lose them.

Unfortunately, many of your new donors won’t stick with you. The retention rate for first-time donors is around 20%. We can and must do better.

This is why it’s so important to get a second donation, also known as a golden donation. Once you get that golden donation, you’re more likely to have long-time donors who will keep giving. One way to ensure this is to make your new donors feel welcome.

Start with a special thank you

According to fundraising expert, Dr. Adrian Sargeant, “The thank you is the single most important piece of communication that your donors get. They have a higher recall of it than the appeal that generated the gift.”

Keep that in mind, especially for your new donors.

If someone donates online, it’s hard to tailor the thank you email specifically to new donors. But you can do that with a phone call, handwritten note, or thank you letter.

Try to call your new donors or send a handwritten note. This will make a great impression on them. Get together a group of board members, other volunteers, and staff to help you. If that’s not possible, create a thank you letter specifically for your new donors.

*Make sure these are brand new donors. A good CRM/database will help you avoid any missteps.*

Create a welcome plan

A week or two after the initial thank you, send a welcome package. You can do this by mail, email, or a combination of both. Try to send at least one welcome message by mail. Mail is always more personal and your donors will be more likely to see it.

Welcome your new donors. Thank them again and show them other ways they can connect with you. Invite them to subscribe to your newsletter, join you on social media, and volunteer.

Your welcome package should include a warm introductory message and a few facts about your organization, but don’t brag too much. Keep it donor-centered and be personable. You could also direct people to your website for more information about your nonprofit.

Be careful about how much information you send. Donors want to feel welcome, not overwhelmed.

I don’t recommend sending unsolicited swag. Personally, I don’t like it, but some donors might. You could offer your new donors a gift and they can let you know if they want to receive it, but it’s not necessary. Most of your donors already have plenty of stuff. What donors really want from you is to know how they’re helping you make a difference.

Create a series of messages, also known as a drip campaign. Set a timeline. The first sequence of messages can be sent about once a week. After that, you should continue to communicate regularly (at least once a month) and follow the ask, thank, update, repeat formula. In a few months, you could invite your new donors to give monthly. Monthly donors are committed donors.

Welcome emails have high open rates. Impress your new donors right away, so they’ll be more likely to donate again.

Who are your new donors?

They could be event attendees, volunteers, or newsletter subscribers. If you know, refer to that in your thank you note, letter, or phone call. If not, send a short survey with your welcome package and ask, “How did you hear about us?” or “What drew you to our organization?” 

Another question to ask is whether your donors prefer print or electronic communication. Short surveys are also a good way to connect throughout the year. The more you know about your donors the easier it will be to communicate with them.

Make your current donors feel special, too

While I’ve been focusing on new donors in this post, retention rates for current donors aren’t anything to celebrate. The overall donor retention rate is around 45%, so we have some work to do.

Remember the golden donation, but don’t stop there. You want a third (would that be platinum?) and a fourth, etc. donation.  

If you’re not acknowledging a donor’s past support, you’re making a huge mistake. Imagine how you would feel if you gave to an organization for over five years and they never thank you for your long-time support.  Unfortunately, this happens way too often.

These valuable, long-time donors could leave at any time, so ignore them at your own peril. Make sure they also get a special thank you from you.

Keep it up throughout the year

It’s so important to communicate with your donors regularly. Plan on special mailings or emails specifically targeted to new donors. Remember to try to send something by mail if you can. A better use of your print and mailing budget is to send thank you notes instead of swag.

Think of other ways to do something special for your new donors too, such as an open house or a tour of your facility, either in person or virtual.

Of course, don’t ignore your other donors. You could do something special when you get that all-important second gift. Keep reaching out – at least once or twice a month. 

Show appreciation and share updates. A huge factor in donor retention is a good donor relations plan that you’ll carry out regularly as long as your donors support you, which hopefully will be for many years.

Toolkit: Build a Content Calendar for Nonprofit Campaigns

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, fundraising, multichannel, planning, stories, website , , , , , ,

Use this toolkit to create a content calendar for your nonprofit’s campaign season, fostering stronger donor connections and enhancing your fundraising efforts.

By Anne Stefanyk

Alt Text: Concept image of a calendar, with a pin on the 30th of the month

When building a nonprofit campaign, planning your fundraising strategies is only half the battle. You also need a clear plan for getting the word out about your fundraising efforts, and that begins with a content calendar.

A strategic content calendar is the single best tool for shifting your pre-campaign planning efforts from chaos to control. Research indicates that 69% of the most successful marketers have a documented content strategy, compared to just 16% of the least successful marketers. A calendar unifies your communication into a consistent, powerful message that helps engage and retain your audience members.

This toolkit provides a practical, step-by-step framework for building a content calendar. We will focus on anchoring your strategy to your website, integrating all your channels, and using targeted storytelling to inspire action.

Step 1: Map out your campaign phases.

Before you plan any specific content, you must map out the emotional and tactical journey you want your supporters to take. To ensure your team is aligned, use a shared tool for collaboration. A spreadsheet, a simple document, or a project management tool like Asana works perfectly.

Begin by outlining the key phases of your campaign. Most fundraising campaigns have four distinct stages. Let’s use a hypothetical “Giving Day” campaign for a wildlife sanctuary raising funds for its veterinary hospital as our example.

  1. The Priming Phase (Building Awareness). This is your educational warm-up. The goal is to set the stage and demonstrate your funding need without making a hard ask just yet. For example, two weeks before the Giving Day, you could publish a “Day in the Life of Our Sanctuary Vet” blog post. This article should include compelling photos and storytelling to illustrate the complexity and cost of daily animal care, subtly highlighting why a fully funded wildlife hospital is so crucial.
  2. The Launch Phase (The Big Push). This is the official kick-off. Your content shifts from education to a clear, direct, and exciting call to action. All your channels should activate at once with a unified message. For example, at 8 a.m. on the Giving Day, you can send an “It’s Live!” email blast. Simultaneously, your website’s homepage changes to a Giving Day “hub” with a live-tracker, and your first social media posts announce the start of the 24-hour campaign.
  3. The Momentum Phase (Maintaining Energy). This is the long middle of the campaign, where you need to fight a dip in attention. Demonstrate progress made to donors and use social proof to encourage others to join in. For instance, at 3 p.m., you could post a short, celebratory video saying, “We just passed the 50% mark! Your gifts have already funded the purchase of a new X-ray sensor. Thank you! Can we get to 75% by dinner time?” This type of message shows real-time impact and creates a new mini goal.
  4. The Final Call Phase (Creating Urgency). This is your final, high-energy push to close the gap. Your messaging must be clear, direct, and time-sensitive to motivate supporters who have been waiting to make a donation. For example, at 9 p.m., you may send a “Final 3-Hour Countdown” email that clearly states: “We are $5,000 away from our goal. If you haven’t given yet, now is the time. Don’t wait—your gift before midnight will be a lifeline for our animals.”

Defining these core stages will give you the overarching structure you need to pepper in specific content types and messages throughout your campaign.

Step 2: Layer in content streams.

Your strategic content calendar should help you visualize how you can repurpose one piece of content across your entire ecosystem. This is the key to a robust multichannel strategy that reaches donors where they are.

Focus on your website content first. Your website is the one digital platform you own completely. It is the central hub where all action, donation, and deep engagement should happen.

Place your “pillar” pieces, like blog posts, video uploads, and testimonial drops, on the calendar. Then, build your email and social content around them.

Think of your website as the “hub” and your other channels as the “spokes.” For example, one long-form testimonial published on your blog (the hub) becomes the source material for many other pieces. It can become a quote graphic for Instagram, a “story of the week” feature in your email newsletter, and the emotional hook for a targeted social media ad.

For each phase, define the content needed for each channel. Create columns in your calendar for:

  • The date when the content should be published
  • The content topic or headline
  • The primary channel (e.g., blog, email, Facebook)
  • The task owner

For instance, during your momentum phase, you might have one team member post a “progress update” blog post by 2:45 p.m. Then, another staffer will have the green light to share that blog post’s key message, like a new animal photo or quote, across Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, at 3 p.m. sharp.

This step is where a comprehensive project management system will be your best friend. You can use it to automatically send email or text notifications when it’s time for each team member to complete their tasks, ensuring seamless communication throughout the campaign.

Step 3: Populate with your stories and segments.

Stories make your campaign feel more urgent, personal, and real to donors, especially when you personalize them to each individual’s interests. Review your donor segments and assign specific stories or messages to different email segments.

For example, in the Momentum phase, you might send Email A (featuring an impact story) to your list of brand-new donors, but Email B (featuring a financial breakdown of impact) to your major donor segment. Major donors will appreciate greater transparency into the inner workings of your campaign and its anticipated outcomes, while new supporters will benefit from learning more about the purpose of your fundraising.

Bloomerang Fundraising’s donor segmentation guide also recommends using donor segments to send donors messages on their favorite communication channels. For example, a supporter who prefers text messages is more likely to respond to a campaign text than an email. Your calendar helps you plan for this, sending the right story to the right person on the platform they choose.

Step 4: Review for gaps and accessibility.

Evaluate your calendar from a higher level to ensure you haven’t overlooked any key necessities. Ask yourself questions like: Are you posting too much on one channel and neglecting another? Is there a week with no website content? Are your calls to action clear?

This is also the final check to ensure all planned materials, especially website assets, are accessible. Accessibility is crucial to creating an inclusive nonprofit campaign that enables everyone to participate. Your mission is for everyone, and your campaign content should be, too.

Key accessibility elements to check for include:

  • Readable fonts
  • Alternative text for images
  • Video captions or transcripts
  • Clear website navigation
  • Hierarchical web page design
  • Keyboard navigability

Kanopi Studios’ nonprofit website design guide recommends using both automated and manual checks to ensure you don’t miss any accessibility issues. Automated tests use tools like Lighthouse or Axe to help identify accessibility issues. Manual testing involves someone engaging in user testing, often with the help of assistive technology like a keyboard or screen reader tool, to evaluate your site’s usability.

Step 5: Measure, adapt, and improve.

Your content calendar should be a living document, not a rigid set of rules. The launch of your campaign marks the beginning of your next discovery process, involving constant testing and iteration.

Use a combination of tools such as Google Analytics and your website builder to track key campaign metrics such as:

  • Website traffic
  • The time visitors spend on core web pages
  • Landing page conversion rates
  • Email click-through rates
  • Social media engagement (likes, comments, shares)

If one type of content clearly resonates with your audience, adjust your calendar to capitalize on that success. For instance, if your “Meet the Animals” testimonial series is leading to major donation conversions, center your social media and website content around that to maximize your outreach efforts.

This continuous improvement model ensures that your strategy gets smarter with every campaign you run. Additionally, you can apply this approach to major, multi-year campaigns, such as a capital campaign. These longer fundraising initiatives offer an incredible opportunity to test your messaging and organization efforts, taking you from a novice planner to an expert communicator over the course of the campaign.

Build on what works, and discard what doesn’t—that’s the key to long-term fundraising communications success.

A well-planned content calendar does more than just organize your posts. It frees your team from the daily panic of “what do we post?” and empowers you to focus on what truly matters: building connections.

With this mindset, you can transform your nonprofit website from a simple digital front door into a dynamic hub for promoting both your current campaigns and your mission as a whole.

Anne Stefanyk is the Founder and CEO of Kanopi Studios, a leading digital agency that designs and builds websites for mission-driven organizations. With deep expertise in strategy, user experience, and open-source technologies, Anne has guided Kanopi to become a trusted partner to nonprofits, higher education, and healthcare institutions.

Since launching Kanopi in 2010, Anne has fostered a people-first culture and a strong commitment to accessible, sustainable web practices. Her team creates inclusive digital experiences that help organizations make meaningful impact.

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Don’t Turn Giving Tuesday Into a Money Grab

Ann Green donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, email, fundraising, gratitude, planning , , , , , ,

Your email inbox can look like a hot mess. Even though we only had a few elections in U.S. this fall, I received a multitude of email messages requesting donations. Pretty soon we’ll be bombarded with Cyber Monday and Black Friday ads. And then there’s Giving Tuesday. All of this can be too much, too much, and many of these messages look like spam.

In an ideal world Giving Tuesday wouldn’t be associated with political emails and Cyber Monday ads. According to the Giving Tuesday website, “Giving Tuesday is a global generosity movement unleashing the power of radical generosity.” In theory, that sounds nice, but in reality, it’s a day when nonprofit organizations unleash an onslaught of transactional fundraising appeals by email, text, and social media. It feels like a money grab.

No one likes being barraged with transactional messages. Those of us in the U.S. are feeling overwhelmed because of the government shutdown and the chaos and uncertainty it brought. Your donors deserve better. Focus on generosity and building relationships. 

Beginning in 2012, Giving Tuesday has taken place the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. This year it will be on December 2.

I’m not going to tell you whether or not you should participate in Giving Tuesday. Perhaps you’ve participated in the past and it’s been successful (one way to measure if it was successful is if those donors give again), or maybe it wasn’t. Perhaps you’re planning to participate for the first time. Maybe you’re on the fence. 

Whether you participate or not, Giving Tuesday is part of the nonprofit landscape and if you’re doing a year-end appeal, you’ll need to factor it into your campaign. If you do participate, you want to make it a better experience for your donors instead of the usual barrage of generic, transactional appeals. And, you don’t want your messages to resemble spam.

Here are a few things to keep in mind as Giving Tuesday approaches.

Lead with your need – Just because it’s Giving Tuesday isn’t a compelling reason to give

I see so many messages that say donate because it’s Giving Tuesday. Many donors don’t care if it’s Giving Tuesday or if it’s your “annual appeal.” That’s often not why they donate. They give because they care about your cause and want to help make a difference. 

I give a lot of monthly donations. Around Giving Tuesday, I’ll give additional donations to food pantries and other service organizations. This year I’ve already given some of those donations because people weren’t receiving their food stamps due to the government shutdown. If your clients/community are among those affected by the shutdown and funding cuts, it makes more sense to request donations now instead of waiting until Giving Tuesday.  

Your work is important. Focus on your need and the impact of your donor’s gift. Let them know that with their help, Tina can feed her family or Bobby doesn’t have to sleep on the street tonight.

People and communities are struggling, and it’s going to continue for a while. You need to acknowledge this in your appeals.

It’s not just about the money

A successful Giving Tuesday campaign is about more than just raising a lot of money. You also want to build relationships and make your donors feel good about supporting your organization. This is where it often falls short.

I’m not a huge fan of Giving Tuesday or any giving days, for that matter, because they focus too much on getting donations. Many of these donors are first-time donors who don’t give again. The end result is you’ve just spent a lot of time and effort on getting one-time gifts. That’s not what you want. You need donors who will support you for many years.

Make it personal and segment your donors

Don’t just blast a bunch of generic, transactional appeals that resemble Cyber Monday ads or those relentless requests for political donations. I receive so many political emails, which are just “noise” that I end up ignoring. You don’t want that. You want to attract your donors’ attention in a good way. A more relationship-oriented subject line can help.

You also don’t want to send all your donors the same appeal. If someone donated last year on Giving Tuesday, this is the perfect opportunity to thank them for that gift and ask them to donate again this year. If they donated two weeks ago, maybe they shouldn’t get an appeal right now.

Segment your donors. Acknowledge past donors and make a connection with potential donors. 

Focus on building relationships with your donors instead of just begging for donations.

Also, if you’re sending an appeal to your monthly donors, recognize them as monthly donors and ask them to give an additional gift (many of them will). They get their own thank you, too. Monthly donors are one of your most loyal types of donors. Be sure to make them feel special.

If you’re one of the few organizations that sends more personalized appeals, then kudos to you because that’s what everyone needs to do.

Use Giving Tuesday as a way to follow up with your donors

If you don’t want to launch a full Giving Tuesday campaign (understandable), it can be a great opportunity to follow up with people who haven’t donated to your year-end appeal. You should be sending regular reminders anyway.

Send email, text, and social media messages before and on Giving Tuesday, encouraging people to donate. You can use the Giving Tuesday logos, etc., if you’d like. Obviously, you’ll want to keep following up with anyone who didn’t donate on Giving Tuesday.

Remember, your donors will be barraged with messages on Giving Tuesday. Make yours stand out and be prepared to keep following up.

Put gratitude front and center

Let your donors know how much you appreciate their generosity.

Make sure you have an engaging thank you landing page and thank you email for your online donors. You could even create ones especially for Giving Tuesday. Then you need to follow that with a phone call, handwritten note, or thank you letter.

Do something special for your new donors, but don’t ignore any repeat donors. 

Go the extra mile and do a good job of thanking these donors – both right after they’ve made their donation and throughout the year.

You could skip Giving Tuesday 

Maybe you’ll decide to skip Giving Tuesday altogether. If that’s the case, you may want to hold off on sending email on Giving Tuesday. You may also want to avoid sending email on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Remember, other organizations will be participating and any messages you send will be competing with the onslaught of Giving Tuesday appeals. 

Before and after Giving Tuesday, use this opportunity to stand out by keeping your fundraising campaign focused on gratitude and relationship building. Year-end is a good time to ramp up your donor communication (examples include thank you messages, holiday greetings, and updates) so people don’t think you’re only asking them for money.

Give back to your donors

I think you’ll find your Giving Tuesday campaign, or any fundraising campaign, will be more successful if you focus on more than just the giving part. And a big part of a successful campaign is getting repeat donations. This means giving back to your donors, as well.

Always focus on generosity and building relationships, and don’t turn your fundraising campaign into a money grab.

Why Consistency in Communication is Key to Donor Retention

Ann Green brand identity, Communications, database, donor engagement, donor retention, gratitude, planning , , , , , ,

Retaining donors requires a diligent effort to engage and build relationships with them. Explore why consistent communications are key to donor retention.

By Diana Otero

Let’s imagine you donate to an environmental conservation nonprofit for the first time. You’re excited about this cause and how you can make a difference.

After receiving a generic thank-you email, you don’t hear from the organization for a while. You’re a bit disappointed, as you had been looking forward to learning more about the nonprofit and its mission-driven work.

A few months pass, and you finally hear from them again, with an email titled “Give to our organization today!” By this point, you feel that the organization just wants to solicit donations and has no interest in building relationships with supporters or educating them about their cause. You ignore the email and decide not to give to this nonprofit again.

This scenario illustrates the importance of sending consistent, engaging communications that stand out to donors and make them excited to continue supporting your organization. In this guide, we’ll explore reasons why consistent communications empower donor retention and how to adjust your strategy accordingly.

5 Ways Consistent Communications Enable Donor Retention

A steady communication cadence inspires donors to continue contributing to your nonprofit and its community because it:

  • Builds trust and credibility. Predictable communications like monthly newsletters, timely thank-you emails, and event recaps prove your organization’s reliability. When donors receive regular updates about your nonprofit, they can see how it’s actively pursuing its mission and using funds responsibly to execute the programs and initiatives discussed in these messages.
  • Demonstrates transparency. When you communicate with supporters regularly, you’re more likely to update them through both positive and negative circumstances, giving donors a more realistic, honest view of your operations. For example, an organization that sends event recaps may mention that it didn’t reach its fundraising goal and how it plans to rectify this issue next time, whereas a nonprofit without a consistent communication cadence may neglect to share this information.
  • Reinforces impact. The more you communicate with donors, the more opportunities you have to show them how you’ve created better outcomes for your beneficiaries. Regularly sharing stories, impact data, and testimonials helps donors understand that their support is crucial and encourages them to continue giving.
  • Keeps your organization top-of-mind. If you only reach out to donors to solicit contributions, they may feel exploited by your organization and forget about what drew them to your cause in the first place. Sending informational and educational messages reminds donors of your nonprofit’s important work and the engagement opportunities available to them.
  • Fosters deeper relationships. One of the five C’s of communication is connection. When donors hear from your nonprofit regularly, they’re more likely to feel connected to your organization. Over time, you can steward small and mid-level donors to become major donors if you consistently strengthen your supporter relationships through outreach.

When your communications are consistent, everyone wins. Donors feel more informed and connected to your organization, your organization can better retain their support, and, as a result, your beneficiaries will receive the help they need.

5 Tips for Creating More Consistent Communications

1. Establish brand guidelines.

Whether you’re communicating with donors via email, text message, direct mail, social media, your website, or another channel, supporters should clearly recognize that these messages came from your organization. By creating brand guidelines, you ensure that communications across channels and team members are consistent and reflective of your nonprofit.

Your brand guidelines should clarify your:

  • Mission and vision: What is your organization’s purpose?
  • Core values: What are your nonprofit’s guiding principles?
  • Writing style and tone: How should your organization’s copy sound?
  • Positioning: What makes your nonprofit unique?
  • Key messaging: What talking points should staff members hit when creating communications?
  • Logo usage: How should team members place and size your logo on visuals?
  • Color palette: What colors should communications feature to reflect your brand?
  • Typography: What fonts should team members use in messaging?
  • Imagery style: What should images look like?

Remember to update your brand guidelines after a rebrand or major strategy adjustment so your communications align with your nonprofit’s new perspective. Distribute this guide across your team so everyone knows exactly how to construct their content.

2. Create a content calendar.

As Bloomerang’s email marketing for nonprofits guide explains, “Too many emails can overwhelm supporters, causing them to tune out or unsubscribe. At the same time, too few emails can cause your organization to fall off supporters’ radars.”

That’s why creating a content calendar based on your supporters’ communication preferences is the best route for consistent yet welcome messages. Analyze metrics like open and click-through rates, and survey donors to collect data on their ideal message frequency.

Using this information, develop a content calendar that appeals to your donors, stewards relationships with them, and highlights key campaigns, events, and holidays. By scheduling communications ahead of time, donors will know when to expect to hear from you and appreciate this reliability.

3. Personalize messages.

In addition to featuring the same branding and following a regular cadence, consistent communications also acknowledge donors’ past interactions with your nonprofit and reflect their unique relationships with your organization. Receiving relevant messages that align with their interests and engagement history shows donors that your nonprofit cares about them as individuals and makes them more likely to stick around.

Segment your supporters into relevant groups, such as:

  • First-time donors
  • Recurring donors
  • Mid-level donors
  • Major donors
  • Planned giving donors
  • Lapsed donors

Then, personalize messages to donors’ needs to ensure they resonate with them. For example, if you’re trying to solicit a second gift from a first-time donor, instead of sending a generic donation request, you could send them a text that says:

“We were so happy to welcome you to our community five months ago. Since then, we’ve developed a new mentoring program that pairs young children with older children to help them grow as students and people. Would you be interested in lending your generosity again to support children in need?”

4. Leverage automation.

Automating routine communications frees up staff time and promotes consistency. By setting up messages to trigger after certain actions, you can be confident knowing you’ll follow up with donors without even having to lift a finger. Common uses for marketing and fundraising automation include:

  • Thank-you emails that are sent immediately after donors give
  • Welcome email series that triggers after a donor gives for the first time
  • Birthday or giving anniversary messages that automatically send based on stored donor data
  • Educational messages that automatically send after a donor downloads a related resource or reads a blog post
  • Follow-up messages that automatically send when a donor abandons your donation page
  • Surveys that trigger after a donor attends an event or volunteer opportunity

Tweak your automations over time based on donor behavior. For example, you may find that new donors are more likely to engage when you send your welcome email series a day after their first contribution rather than immediately after giving.

5. Implement proper data hygiene.

Outdated, incorrect, or incomplete donor data can prevent you from reaching donors, as well as break up your communication cadence and risk your supporter relationships. Practicing data hygiene allows you to clean up your nonprofit CRM and ensure your messages consistently reach donors.

A complete data hygiene routine may include:

  • Auditing your database
  • Developing data entry standards
  • Validating your data
  • Appending missing information
  • Regularly updating your CRM

Developing data hygiene standards and sharing them across your team ensures your database stays accurate and empowers deliverable communications that help you stay in touch with your supporter base.

Throughout the process of making your communications more consistent, don’t forget to consult your donors. Every nonprofit’s supporters have different needs and preferences. Collect their feedback to determine the ideal communication frequency, messaging, and channels to keep your strategy consistent and aligned with your unique donor base.

As Senior Product Marketing Manager at Bloomerang, Diana Otero leverages her expertise in nonprofit CRM to help organizations strengthen donor relationships. She is passionate about showcasing solutions that empower For Purpose organizations to move beyond data tracking and foster genuine connections. With over a decade at Bloomerang, Diana excels at translating product capabilities into strategies that save time, fuel growth, and allow nonprofits to focus on what matters most: their mission. Her work is informed by her experience as a former nonprofit board member and ongoing volunteer work with various organizations, giving her unique insight into the challenges nonprofits face. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

How To Plan a Mulitchannel Fundraising Campaign

Ann Green appeal letters, fundraising, multichannel, planning, year-end appeal , , ,

Year-end fundraising season is here. I’m already seeing appeal letters in my mailbox and this is just the beginning.

Speaking of appeal letters, you should send one by mail. I know email is easier and less expensive, but people respond better to mail and it’s well worth the investment. 

However, if you just send one fundraising letter and wait for the donations to come in, prepare to be disappointed. Your donors have a lot going on and may put your letter aside to handle later, and then never get to it.

Of course, you can also send email appeals, but you’ll need to send more than one appeal due to the enormous volume of email people receive. Some donors will respond to the first appeal, but most are going to need a few reminders.

Your fundraising campaign will be more successful if you use a combination of mail, email, social media, texts, and phone calls. Some donors may respond to your direct mail piece but will donate online. This is what I usually do. Others will see your email message but prefer to send a check. You could also include a text to give option and send reminders by text.

You’ll have a lot of competition since you’re not the only organization seeking year-end donations. Most nonprofits rely on year-end for the bulk of their fundraising.

This is why you need a multichannel fundraising campaign with a series of asks.

BEFORE YOU START

Clean up your mailing lists/database

If you haven’t already done this, clean up and organize your mailing lists/database. Do you have both postal and email addresses for all your donors? Be sure to segment your donors into different groups (current, monthly, etc), as well. Having good donor data is essential.

Make it easy to donate online

You need to have a donation page that’s engaging and easy to use on all platforms, including mobile. Test all links in email messages, texts, and social media posts. The last thing you want is a donor contacting you about a broken link or needing to hunt around on your website for a link to your donation page. You also run the risk of someone not donating at all.

When you’re ready to launch your campaign, include a blurb on your homepage that says your year-end campaign is underway. Make sure you have a prominent Donate button.

Which channels do your donors use?

Don’t spend a lot of time on channels your donors aren’t using. Figure out in advance where you want to focus your efforts.

SAMPLE SCHEDULE AND STRATEGY

Come up with a schedule of when the appeals will go out. I’ve created a sample schedule below. Of course, you can adjust the time frame as needed and use this for campaigns at other times of the year. 

I recommend starting your year-end campaign sooner rather than later to get ahead of your competition. If you’re still working on your appeal and thank you letters, be sure to get those done soon.

Finally, if you haven’t already done this, you could send your donors a warm-up letter or email before you launch your campaign. I highly recommend that.

October 29

Give your supporters a heads-up by email and social media. Let them know your year-end campaign is about to launch and they should receive a letter from you soon, provided you have their mailing address. Encourage them to donate online right now. This means your donation page needs to be in great shape.

Keep in mind that the fact your year-end campaign is going on will matter to some donors and not to others. Use an enticing subject line such as  – How you can help local families put food on the table.  

Make sure it’s obvious your message is coming from your organization so you have a better chance of getting it opened. 

Week of November 3

Mail your appeal letters.

Week of November 10

Send an appeal by email. You could also reach out by text and social media if your donors are receptive to those. Use the same messaging as you did in your appeal letter.

And, here’s a friendly reminder to thank your donors as soon as the donations come in.

Week of November 17

Start sending follow-up reminders via email, text, and social media. Weekly or regular reminders are a proven way to help you raise more money. If possible, don’t send reminders to people who have already donated. Otherwise, be sure to thank your recent donors. You can even phrase your reminders as more of a thank you or an update.

Thank you so much to all of you who donated to our year-end appeal. We’re well on our way to serving more families at the Eastside Community Food Pantry. This is crucial. We’re seeing more people coming in because they’re having trouble affording groceries, and we expect this to continue for a while.

If you haven’t donated yet, please help us out today by visiting our website (include a link to your donation page) or sending us a check (provide address).

Week of November 24

November 27 is Thanksgiving in the U.S. I would recommend pausing your fundraising this week and focusing 100% on gratitude. Send your donors a Happy Thanksgiving message, preferably by mail, but an electronic message is fine. Your donors are going to be busy getting ready for turkey day and may not have time to donate that week, but would appreciate a heartfelt thank you from you.

For those of you outside of the U.S., this can also be an opportunity to show some donor appreciation. Even though you’re focused on year-end fundraising, you also need to communicate in other ways right now. 

And, if you’ve been holding off on sending those thank you letters, now would be a good time to get caught up.

Week of December 1

December 2 is GivingTuesday so you could tie that into a reminder message. You may already have a campaign planned.

Love it, hate it, or somewhere in between, your donors’ inboxes will be bursting at the seams on GivingTuesday and your messages can easily get lost in the chaos. Make your messages stand out and remember to show some gratitude, too. If you’re not participating in GivingTuesday, you’ll want to send a reminder on a different day.

Also, not all of your donors will care that it’s GivingTuesday. Focus on how they can help you make a difference.

Make sure your reminders, as well as any GivingTuesday messages, don’t look like spam. And, keep it positive. Don’t make your donors feel bad because they haven’t donated yet.

Week of December 8

Start making reminder calls, along with sending electronic messages. If time is an issue, you could just call people who have donated before. That’s probably most effective. Leaving a voice mail message is fine. 

Sending a text message as well as an email can improve your chance of getting a donation.

It’s a busy time of the year and your donors may need a gentle prompt.

The rest of December and beyond

Keep sending reminders throughout December. It’s tricky because you want to get your messages across without being annoying. This is another reason why you should only send reminders to people who haven’t donated yet.

Be sure to keep up with your donor communication (newsletter and other updates). Remember, you don’t want the only messages your donors receive to be fundraising appeals. December is also a great time to show some appreciation and send holiday greetings.

The end of December is the busiest time of this already busy fundraising season. Send a reminder email on December 29th, 30th, and 31st. This is also proven to be an effective strategy. It’s especially relevant if your fiscal year ends on December 31 or your donor wants to give before the end of the calendar year. According to NextAfter, more people donate on December 31 than on GivingTuesday.

Even though you’re trying to raise money, don’t forget about building relationships, too. That’s just as important.

Look to see who hasn’t contributed yet. Concentrate on people who are most likely to donate, such as past donors. You may need to send another letter or a reminder postcard to donors who don’t use electronic communication. The more you can personalize it, the better.

You can continue following up in the New Year when your donors aren’t as busy.

Once is not enough. Your fundraising campaign will be more successful with multiple asks and by using multiple channels. Good luck!

Go All Out When You Thank Your Year-End Donors

Ann Green direct mail, donor engagement, donor retention, donor-centered, gratitude, planning, thank you letters, writing , , , , , ,

I imagine many of you are working on your year-end fundraising campaign. You may have started working on your appeal letter, which is great, but how much time have you spent thinking about how you’ll thank your donors? Maybe not that much. If that’s the case, you’re making a mistake because it’s just as important, if not more important, to plan how you’ll thank your donors. 

I highly recommend creating a thank you plan, which will help you show gratitude before, during, and after a campaign. 

Your donors deserve an amazing thank you. The problem is most thank yous don’t come anywhere close to being amazing. Many organizations treat thanking their donors as an afterthought and it shows. You can’t do that. It will hurt your chances of getting future donations. If you’ve been having trouble keeping your donors, doing a better job of thanking them should help. Also, if your revenue is down right now, you don’t want to risk alienating your donors.

There are many ways to thank your donors after an appeal – by mail, phone, email, on your website, or a combination of those. The more you can do, the better.

Thanking your donors is something you need to do well. Don’t shortchange your donors with a half-hearted, generic thank you.

Go all out when you thank your donors. Make it a priority. Here are a few ways to do this. 

Start planning now

Don’t wait until the day after your appeal goes out. Give yourself plenty of time to plan. Write your thank you letter at the same time you write your appeal, maybe even before you write the appeal. 

Figure out what you’ll be able to do. I highly recommend a handwritten note or phone call. Can you do that for all your donors? If not, maybe you’ll break it down by new donors, long-time donors, or donors who have given a certain amount.

It’s important to thank your donors as soon as possible. I understand that handwritten notes and phone calls take more time, especially during the busy year-end season. If that’s the case, you can and should do those at other times of the year instead.  At the very least, your donors should get a letter, even if they’ve donated online. Thank you emails tend to resemble receipts, but we can change that. Whatever you decide, remember to get started on the content now. 

In the past, the standard was to send thank you letters within 48 hours. If that’s too hard, don’t wait much longer than a week. Make sure you’re ready to go when the donations come in. 

Make your donor’s day with a handwritten thank you note

I love it when a nonprofit sends a handwritten thank you note. This is a rare occurrence, so if you do it, your thank you note will stand out in your donor’s mailbox.

Handwritten notes are great in many ways, but one advantage is you don’t have to write that much. In fact, you can do one in just a few minutes.

You could make thank you cards with an engaging photo or buy some nice thank you cards. Get together a team of board members, staff, and volunteers right after your appeal goes out to help you with this.

Think about how much your donors will appreciate this nice gesture. Here’s a sample note.

Dear Gina,

Thank you so much for upgrading your gift to $75. We’re still seeing more people coming into the Eastside Community Food Pantry. It’s difficult for many families in the community to afford groceries right now, and that could continue for a while. Your generous gift will help a lot. We’re so happy you’ve been a donor for the past five years.

Phone calls are another personal way to show appreciation

Calling first-time donors is known to improve retention rates. But you could also call long-time donors to make them feel special.

Again, you want to get a team together to help. This is a great thing for your board to do. Here’s a sample phone script.

Hi David, this is Stacy Parks and I’m a board member at the Eastside Community Food Pantry. Thank you so much for your generous donation of $50 and welcome to our donor family. Your gift will help feed more local families right now. Many of them are struggling to make ends meet because of rising food costs and cuts in benefits.

Write that amazing thank you letter

If it’s impossible to send handwritten notes or make phone calls, you can still impress your donors with an amazing thank you letter. As I mentioned before, many thank you letters aren’t amazing at all and are mediocre at best. You’ll have an advantage if you take some time to create a great, donor-centered letter.

The purpose of a thank you letter is to thank your donors. Keep that in mind at all times.  

Don’t start your letter with On behalf of X organization…. If you’re sending it on your letterhead, it should be obvious it’s coming from your organization. Instead, start your letter with – Thank you, You’re incredible, or You did something great today!

You also don’t need to explain what your organization does. This often comes across as bragging by saying something like – As you know, X organization has been doing great work in the community for 20 years…. Someone who’s donated to your organization should already be familiar with what you do. 

And, don’t ask for another gift in your thank you letter. You did that in your appeal letter. This is known as a thask and you want to avoid that at all costs. You can ask again another time. Always keep gratitude front and center.

Write separate thank you letters for different types of donors. Welcome new donors and welcome back your current donors. Monthly donors should also get special recognition.

Your thank you letter needs to make your donors feel good about giving to your organization. Let them know how their gift is helping you make a difference. Include a brief story or example, such as the sample handwritten note or phone script I included above.

As with all writing, make your letter personal and conversational. Write to your donor using you much more than we and leave out jargon and any other language your donors won’t understand. Also, you must address your donors by name – not Dear Friend. Personalization is crucial when thanking your donors.

Your envelope also makes a difference. Don’t use a boring, white #10 envelope. Make your letter stand out by using a colored or textured envelope. You could include a teaser that says Thank You and use a nice stamp (I recommend buying thank you stamps). Hand address the envelopes if you can and include a handwritten note inside that will help make it more personal. You could also include an engaging photo in the letter.

Yes, you do need to include the tax-deductible information, but do that at the end, after you impress your donors with your letter, or include it on a separate page. It’s easiest to include this with your thank you letter or email. Then you don’t have to send it again unless your donor requests it.

Create a more personal online thank you

The thank you plan I reference above gives you advice on how to create better thank you landing pages and email acknowledgments. These often come across as transactional. You need to think of the donations you receive as the start or continuation of a relationship, not a transaction.

Remember, even though your online donors will get an electronic acknowledgment, they should still get thanked by mail or phone. I like to think of the landing page, email, and what comes in the mail or by phone as the thank you journey. Don’t forget this is an ongoing journey.

I do want to emphasize the importance of a good email subject line. Stand out in your donor’s inbox and use language that conveys gratitude, such as Thank You, Gina! or You just did something great! Steer clear of anything like Donation Receipt or Your Receipt from X Organization. It’s not that hard to do this and you’ll make a good impression.

Remember to go all out when you thank your donors, both now and throughout the year. You should be more successful if you do.

Why You Need to Share Stories With Your Donors

Ann Green Communications, donor engagement, photos, planning, stories, video, writing , , , , , ,

Stories come in many forms. You can tell a story with words, pictures, and videos. I like written stories (preferably on paper), but others are drawn to videos. Some people might not have the time or energy to look at anything but a photo or infographic.

Your nonprofit organization needs to share stories using all these forms. Sharing stories will help you connect with your donors and improve your engagement.

Donors want to hear your stories

I bet you’re not using stories as much as you should. That’s a mistake because people respond better to stories than a bunch of facts and statistics. Stories bring the work you do to life by using everyday language to create a scene.

You may be reluctant to use stories because it’s more work for your organization, but that shouldn’t stop you. Make time to come up with some engaging stories.

Your stories need to be relevant

Update your stories at least once a year. They need to take into account the everchanging current situations. There’s a lot going on. How is that impacting your clients/community? Many people are struggling right now.

Create a culture of storytelling

If you create a storytelling culture in your organization, you can make storytelling the norm instead of the exception.

Work with your program staff to create stories that will help you connect with your donors. Everyone needs to understand how important this is. Share stories at staff meetings and/or set up regular meetings with program staff to gather stories. 

When you put together a story, ask.

  • Why is this important?
  • Who is affected?
  • Why would your donors be interested in this story?
  • Are you using clear, everyday language (no jargon) to make sure your donors understand your story?
  • How are your donors helping you make a difference or How can your donors help you make a difference?
  • Client or program recipient stories are best. Remember, donors want to hear how they’re helping you make a difference for your clients/community.

Another way to find stories is to put a Share Your Story form on your website. This could be a good way to get some current, relevant stories.

Your stories aren’t about your organization

Keep in mind that your stories aren’t about your organization. Your story is about a need or problem that affects the people/community you work with, and how your donors can/did help with that.

Make your stories personal 

Tell a story of one (person or family). Use people’s names to make your stories more personal. I realize you might run into confidentiality issues, but you can change names to protect someone’s privacy. You could also do a composite story, but don’t make up anything.

Always be respectful to your subject(s). You may want to set up some ethical guidelines. 

Use different stories for different types of communication

Create a story bank to help you organize all your stories. You want to use stories as much as possible. Use them in your appeals, thank you letters, newsletters, updates, impact reports, website, blog, and other types of social media. You can also create a story calendar to help you consistently share stories throughout the year.

While you can come up with some core stories, they’ll be slightly different depending on the type of communication. 

In a fundraising appeal (all appeals should start with a story), you want to highlight a problem or need. Let’s say you run a food pantry. Here you can tell a story about Melanie, a working single mother with three kids who’s having trouble feeding her family because of rising food costs and cuts in benefits. Sometimes she has to choose between buying groceries and paying the heating bill. 

In your thank you letter, you can let your donor know that because of their generous gift, Melanie can get healthy food for her family at the Eastside Community Food Pantry.

Then, in your newsletter, impact report, or update, you can tell a success story that because of your generous donors, Melanie doesn’t have to worry so much about how she’ll be able to feed her family.

Tell a story in an instant with an engaging photo

You’ve probably heard the phrase a picture is worth a 1000 words. Cliche, yes, but it’s true.

You can capture your donors’ attention in an instant with an engaging photo. That doesn’t mean one of your executive director receiving an award. Use photos of your programs in action or something else that’s engaging.

Print newsletters and impact reports tend to be dominated by long-winded text. Most of your donors won’t want to read the whole thing. But if you share some engaging photos, they can get a quick glance at the impact of their gift without having to plow through a bunch of tedious text. You can share a little more information with a good photo caption.

Photos can enhance your print communication by breaking up the narrative. You can also complement your written stories with photos. If you’re worried about mailing costs, postcards and other short pieces with photos are the way to go. You could even do a Postcard Impact Report. 

If you use social media, you need to communicate several times a week. As your donors scroll through an endless number of posts, an engaging photo can stand out and get their attention.

Use photos everywhere – fundraising appeals, thank you letters/cards, newsletters, impact reports, updates, your website, and social media. Create a photo bank to help you with this.

It’s fine to use the same photos in different channels. It can help with your brand identity. Be sure to use high-quality pictures. Also, make sure your photos match your messages. If you’re writing a fundraising appeal about children who aren’t getting enough to eat every day, don’t use a picture of happy kids.

Work with your program staff to get photos and videos (more on videos below). Confidentiality issues may come up and you’ll need to get permission from your subjects or their guardians.

Highlight your work with a video

Videos are a popular way to connect. They can be used to show your programs in action, share an interview, give a behind-the-scenes look at your organization, or my favorite – thanking your donors. 

I would definitely recommend creating a personalized thank you video. If that’s not possible, you can make a general one.

Make your videos short and high quality. Short is key. If your video is more than a couple of minutes, your donors may not bother to watch it. 

You can use videos on your website, in an email message, on social media, and at an event.

Spiff up your statistics by using infographics

A typical impact report is loaded with statistics. You want to share these, along with your accomplishments, but you don’t want to overwhelm your donors with a lot of text.

Why not use an infographic in your impact report instead of including the usual laundry list of statistics and accomplishments? 

Infographics are also great in other types of communication, such as newsletters and updates. Good visuals will enhance both your print and electronic communication.

Connect with your donors and keep them engaged by using all types of stories.

Put Gratitude Front and Center by Creating a Thank You Plan

Ann Green direct mail, donor engagement, donor relations, donor retention, gratitude, planning, thank you letters, writing , , , , , ,

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

Donor retention continues to be a problem. One of the many reasons is because people don’t feel appreciated. Prioritizing gratitude and donor relations will help. If you don’t do a good job of thanking your donors, as well as building relationships throughout the year, you’ll have a hard time getting people to donate again.

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

Many organizations just thank their donors after they receive a gift and then disappear until the next fundraising appeal. Plus, when they do thank their donors, they do a poor job of it. Your donors deserve better than that. 

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

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

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

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

Open with Thank you, Brenda! or You’re amazing! Using a person’s name is always good. Include an engaging photo or video and a short, easy-to-understand description of how the donation will help your clients/community.

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

Plan to write a warm and personal automatic thank you email

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

Even before AI came into the mix, many thank you emails sounded downright robotic. Make sure you sound like a human and write something warm and personal. Remember to address your donor by name.

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

I could write a whole post on subject lines, but right now I do want to emphasize how important it is to write a good one. I’ll share one more – This is why I’m grateful for you. This was sent from an organization that shared a success story and thanked me for helping to make that happen. 

Put all the tax-deductible information at the end of your email, after you pour on the appreciation.

One way to increase your personalization is to blind copy someone on the development staff each time the initial email acknowledgment goes out. Then send an additional email with a more personal note, acknowledging whether that person is a new donor, repeat donor, etc. You should still send something by mail or make a phone call (more on that below), since donors often miss email messages, especially if there’s not an enticing reason to open them.

Plan to thank your donors by mail or phone

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

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

Instead of sending the usual generic thank you letter, mail a handwritten card or call your donors. Find board members, staff, and volunteers to help you with this. Make sure to get your team together well before your next fundraising campaign so you’re ready to roll when the donations come in. 

I’m a big fan of handwritten thank you cards and you’ll stand out if you can send one. I get a few of them a year and they tend to come from the same organizations, which shows you what they prioritize! These may be more feasible than making phone calls. Not everyone likes to get phone calls, but some people do. This is why it’s important to know your donors’ communication preferences (more on that below).

Here’s a sample thank you note that could also be used as a phone script.

Dear Scott,

You’re amazing! Thanks to your generous donation of $50, we can continue to provide neighborhood families with healthy food. This is great. We’re seeing more people come in right now because of rising food costs and cuts in benefits.

We really appreciate your support over the last five years.

Sincerely,

Andrea Kramer

Board Member, Eastside Community Food Pantry

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

Open your letter with You’re incredible or Because of you, the Baker family can finally move into their own home. Create separate letters for new donors (new donors should also get a welcome package), renewing donors, and monthly donors. Be sure it’s personalized and include at least one photo.

It doesn’t need to look like a form letter. You could use a different format, such as a postcard. For a thank you right after a gift, I would put a postcard in an envelope. You can send stand-alone postcards at other times of the year.

Your thank you letter should be all about thanking the donor – no bragging, no explaining what you do, no asking – just thanking.

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

Just like with fundraising appeals, your envelope matters. Use something besides a white #10 envelope. Maybe a colored or oversized envelope. It shouldn’t look like a bill or junk mail. Go all out to make it personal. Hand address the envelopes if possible or print directly on them. Use stamps, if you can. I recommend investing in Thank You stamps.

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

Plan to keep thanking your donors all year round

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

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

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

  • Send cards or email messages at Thanksgiving, during the holidays, on Valentine’s Day, or mix it up a little and send a note of gratitude in June or September when your donors may not be expecting it. Try to send at least one or two gratitude messages a year by mail, since your donors will be more likely to see those. And you don’t need a holiday or special occasion to thank your donors. Thank them just because….
  • Invite your donors to connect with you via email and social media. Keep them updated on your success and challenges. Making all your communications donor-centered will help convey an attitude of gratitude. Be sure to keep thanking your donors in your newsletter and other updates. Emphasize that you wouldn’t be able to do the work you do without their generous support.
  • Create a thank you video and share it on your thank you landing page, by email, and on social media. Go one step further and personalize it. 
  • Reach out to your donors on the anniversary of their giving (not your organization’s anniversary). Don’t overlook your dedicated, long-time donors.
  • Send a warm-up letter or email about a month before your next campaign (no ask). This is a great way to show appreciation BEFORE you send your appeals.
  • Hold an open house or offer tours. You could also create a virtual tour or a behind-the-scenes look at your organization.
  • Keep thinking of other ways to thank your donors. You can repeat some of the ones listed above over the year.

The tactics that work best are going to differ for each organization. I would definitely send something by mail a few times a year. Email and social media may not be as successful, especially if your donors don’t use electronic communication very much. Plus, people get an enormous amount of email and social media messages, sometimes too much.

I recommend surveying your donors to find out their communication preferences. What do they like – mail, email, phone, text, social media, video, or a combination of those?  Find out their interests, too. This will help with your engagement.

Creating a thank you plan will make it easier to keep showing appreciation to your donors all year round. You need your donors, so remember to put gratitude front and center.

Why You Need to Start Planning Your Year-End Fundraising Campaign Now

Ann Green database, direct mail, donation page, fundraising, gratitude, planning, year-end appeal , , , , , ,

Wow, it’s already August. And it won’t be too long until September rolls around. I know it’s hard to think about fall when it’s been sweltering for most of the summer. Even so, September will be here before you know it, and we’ll be seeing all things pumpkin spice.

If you’re doing a year-end fundraising campaign, you’ll want to start planning it now, hopefully in an air-conditioned space. You don’t want to wait too long, especially if you’re behind in your revenue goals.

I’ve put together a checklist to help you get started. You can also use this for fundraising campaigns at other times of the year.

How much money do you need to raise?

You may have already set a goal for your year-end campaign in your 2025 fundraising plan (at least I hope you did), and maybe that has changed. 

You must determine how much money you need to raise before you start your campaign and raising as much as we can is not a goal.

Do you have a campaign plan?

Put together a plan or brief for your campaign that includes a timeline, a task list that includes who will do what, and the different channels you’ll use. Make it as detailed as possible.

I strongly encourage you to mail an appeal letter. Direct mail appeals are more successful. You can also send an email appeal and follow up with email, as well. 

When do you want to launch your appeal? If you’ve experienced funding cuts and are behind in your fundraising goals, you might want to start your campaign earlier – maybe in October. Make sure your goal is to have the letters done at least a week before that, because things always take longer than you think they will. Work backwards to figure out how you can get to your proposed send date.

Keep in mind you’ll be competing with many other organizations that are doing appeals. Think about how you can make yours stand out.

Also, how are you mailing your appeal? Do you use a mail house or get staff and volunteers together to stuff envelopes? Either way, plan ahead, so you’re not scrambling at the last minute.

Do you have a good story and photo to share?

If you’ve been using the same boring, generic appeal letter template for the last few years, it’s time for a refresh. It’s a good idea to revise your templates at least once a year. Situations keep changing and usually not for the better, so you need to take that into account.

A good way to start is to create an engaging story for your appeal. What challenges are your clients/community facing? Many people are struggling right now. Focus on them, not your organization. Each year is different and this is why you need new stories.  

You’ll want some good photos for your letter and donation page, too. Quotes and testimonials from clients will also enhance your appeal.

How can your donors help you make a difference?

Your appeal letter should focus on a need and let your donors know how they can help you make a difference. You might want to start by creating an outline.

You may be seeing more people at your food pantry because of rising food costs and cuts in benefits. Maybe your clients are struggling to find affordable housing.

You can also highlight some of the accomplishments you’ve made recently and state what you would like to do in the coming year, although these are usually more appropriate for a newsletter or impact report. 

One way to frame it is to describe a situation such as this. You run a tutoring program in your community and work with students who are falling behind in school. You can describe how thanks to your generous donors, your one-to-one tutoring program has helped students get better grades and are now less likely to be held back a year. You want to keep that going and serve more students.

Remember to focus on your clients/community and don’t brag about your organization.

Are your mailing lists in good shape?

Make sure your mailing lists are up to date. Check for duplicate addresses and typos. Your donors don’t want to receive three letters at the same time or have their names misspelled. Take a little time to do some data hygiene. Give your email list some attention, too.

Also, now is a good time to segment your mailing lists – current donors, monthly donors, lapsed donors, event attendees, etc. This is so important. Your current donors are your best source of donations. You should have more success if you can personalize your appeal letters. Acknowledge if someone has donated in the past or is a monthly donor. Donors like it when you recognize them for who they are, so don’t send everyone the same appeal.

Do you have enough letterhead, envelopes, and stamps?

Don’t wait until September or October to check your supply of letterhead and envelopes. Make sure you have enough. 

Speaking of envelopes, something besides the standard white business envelope can improve your response rate. Think about using an oversized, colored, or embellished envelope. If that’s not possible, don’t use a window envelope because it resembles a bill. A general rule is that you don’t want any of your direct mail pieces to look like a bill or junk mail.

Even though many people donate online, you want to make it easy for donors who prefer to mail a check. Include a pledge envelope or a return envelope and a preprinted form with the donor’s contact information and the amount of their last gift.

Stamps are more personal, so you could find some nice ones to use. 

Is it easy to donate online?

Be sure your donation page is user-friendly and consistent with your other fundraising materials. Using a branded donation page and not a third-party site is best. Highlight your year-end appeal on your homepage and include a prominent Donate Now button.

One way to ensure a good experience is to have someone on your staff or, even better, someone outside of your organization make a donation on your website. If they want to run out of the room kicking and screaming, then you have some work to do.

Do you offer a monthly or recurring giving option?

I’m a huge fan of monthly giving. It’s a win-win for your organization. You can raise more money, boost your retention rate, receive a steady stream of revenue, and allow your donors to spread out their gifts.

If you don’t have a monthly giving program or have a small one, don’t wait any longer to start one or grow the one you have. Be sure to highlight it as a giving option.

Do you want to find a major funder who will give a matching gift?

Another good way to raise additional revenue is to find a major funder to match a portion or all of what you raise in your year-end appeal. If you want to go down this route, now would be a good time to reach out to these potential funders. 

How will you thank your donors?

Be sure to spend as much time on your thank you letter/note as you do on your appeal letter and write them at the same time. And if it’s been a while since you’ve freshened up your thank you templates, I think you know what you need to do. It’s so important to thank your donors and thank them well as soon as you receive their gifts, so have a thank you letter/note ready to go. Don’t treat thanking your donors as an afterthought.

Handwritten notes and phone calls are much better than a preprinted letter. Create or buy some thank you cards and start recruiting board members and volunteers to make thank you calls or write notes. 

You’ll want to put together a welcome plan for your new donors and that also needs to be ready to roll after the donations come in.

How will you keep up with your donor communication?

Even though you’ll be busy with your fundraising campaign, you want to ramp up your donor communication this fall. Keep engaging your donors and other supporters (who may become donors) by sharing updates and gratitude. Pour on the appreciation! 

Send at least one warm-up letter or email. I’m a big fan of postcards. You could create a thank you video or a video that gives a behind-the-scenes look at your organization. Maybe you could hold an open house or offer tours. Just don’t disappear until appeal time. 

Yes, we’re in a period of economic uncertainty. Some donors may not give as much or at all, but others will give more. They won’t give anything if you don’t ask.

There’s still plenty of time to go to the beach and get ice cream this summer, but right now find that air-conditioned space and start planning your year-end campaign.

Best of luck!

Photo by creditscoregeek.com/

6 Unique Volunteer Opportunities to Offer Supporters

Ann Green fundraising, in-kind donations, planning, volunteers , , ,

Volunteer opportunities come in all shapes and sizes, and unique positions can keep your supporter community engaged. Discover these six unique volunteer roles.

By Kyle Payton

Volunteers make the nonprofit world go round. From helping out on mission-related projects to participating in fundraisers and making sure events run smoothly, volunteers lend their time and energy to see a wide range of tasks to completion. 

While many volunteers are happy to lend a hand to important but run-of-the-mill opportunities, others might be intrigued by more unique offerings. While volunteer roles vary from nonprofit to nonprofit — after all, a thrift store, healthcare organization, and animal shelter likely all have very different offerings — there may be opportunities to provide new and interesting roles at your organization. 

To keep your nonprofit’s volunteer program lively and accessible to all supporters, consider whether you can offer unique volunteer opportunities like these:

1. Remote positions. 

Double the Donation’s volunteer statistics report found that 49% of individuals feel that work obligations are their biggest obstacle to volunteering. For potential volunteers with a typical 9-5 schedule, heading to your volunteer site after a long day at work is the last thing on their minds. 

Fortunately, you can engage these would-be volunteers by enabling them to volunteer remotely. This way, they can volunteer whenever it’s most convenient for them from the comfort of their own homes. Plus, by taking volunteering online, your nonprofit can provide a range of unique virtual opportunities. 

For example, environmental and research-based nonprofits engage thousands of volunteers through initiatives like Zooniverse, where online volunteers are encouraged to catalogue as many photographs and audio samples as they desire. If your nonprofit has vast data sets that can’t easily be analyzed by automated tools, consider setting up a similar online volunteer offering for your supporters. 

Additionally, volunteers can help out online in a variety of more typical but still useful ways. For instance, they might help clean up your database and mailing lists by identifying duplicate and outdated information or chip in to help your marketing campaign by creating copy and images remotely, then sharing the finished assets with your team.

2. Translation. 

The more audiences your nonprofit can reach, the more donors you can engage and constituents you can serve. Volunteers with translation skills can lend their talents by translating a range of your nonprofit’s key documents into other languages. For instance, you might ask volunteers to translate:

  • Your website, focusing specifically on core pages like your homepage, contact information, and services pages
  • Program information documents that explain what services you offer and how individuals can seek help or enroll in programs
  • Outreach materials, ranging from your email newsletter to social media posts to video transcripts

While some nonprofits rely on automatic or machine translations, these often have errors or lack the nuances that a human translator will pick up on, making these volunteers invaluable. If your nonprofit serves multilingual communities, a translator can help connect with new constituents and supporters in a way they can understand, helping build trust. 

3. Donation organizer and cataloguer.

In-kind donations keep many types of nonprofits going, from homeless shelters to thrift stores. However, after you collect donations, you’ll need someone to sort through what you received and catalogue it. 

Volunteers managing in-kind donations need to:

  • Catalogue all items by writing a detailed description that explains what the item is and what condition it’s in.
  • Enter items into your database — this will likely be an inventory management system where your nonprofit keeps track of supplies.
  • Communicate with donors, such as confirming their donation was received, thanking them for their donation, informing them when their donation receipt will be available, and answering any questions they may have.

When it comes to accepting in-kind donations, some steps in this process might require unique skills. For instance, to properly issue donation receipts, you’ll need to calculate the fair market value of the items donated. Nonprofits that run thrift stores might receive rare, unique, and high-value items that only a specialist can properly appraise.

4. Peer-to-peer fundraiser. 

Hosting fundraisers that cut through the noise of daily life can be a challenge. However, while it’s easy to overlook a fundraising request from a nonprofit you’ve never heard of, you’re far more likely to open a message from a friend discussing a cause they feel passionate about. 

Peer-to-peer volunteers fundraise on your nonprofit’s behalf. All your nonprofit needs to do is set them up with an individual fundraising page. Then, the volunteer reaches out to their friends, family, and followers to facilitate donations from individuals your nonprofit might not have otherwise ever contacted. 

5. Greeter or tour guide. 

Volunteers do a lot of work behind the scenes, but they can play an important role in presenting your nonprofit to the general public. Sociable, energetic volunteers can be the face of your nonprofit by serving as greeters and tour guides. 

To get the volunteers up to speed and ensure they present your nonprofit in the right light, be sure to:

  • Recruit individuals with people skills. All volunteer roles require their own unique skill sets, and any position that involves interacting with the public requires friendliness and patience in addition to listening, conflict de-escalation, and leadership skills. 
  • Conduct training. Greeters and tour guides are expected to be knowledgeable about the ins and outs of your nonprofit. While you can’t train for every possible situation, conduct onboarding so volunteers know what their responsibilities include and have a strong understanding of your nonprofit and its mission. 
  • Provide expectation guidelines. As they are the faces of your nonprofit, implement guidelines for how these volunteers are expected to behave and represent your organization. For example, you might have a dress code for greeters and a uniform for tour guides. 

Greeters, tour guides, and other public-facing roles are tasked with creating a positive supporter experience for your audience. Ensure they have the tools to help your organization make a good impression, build connections, and encourage future engagement. 

6. Donation drive coordinator.

Some of your experienced volunteers might be looking for a bit more responsibility, and you can provide it by giving them the tools and support they need to run donation drives on your behalf. In-kind donation drives are often mass collaborations between your nonprofit and a range of organizations, so having individuals step up to build those connections can be invaluable. 

Donation drive coordinators will do everything from reaching out to businesses and other organizations in your community to marketing your drive to overseeing and retrieving items from your donation drop-off sites. 

ThriftCart’s guide to inventory management advises nonprofits to use collection bins, which can be branded to your organization, so supporters know exactly who they’re donating to. Your volunteers will then need to frequently check these bins to collect donations and ensure the bins and their surrounding areas remain clean and organized.

Volunteers can accomplish a wide range of odd jobs around your nonprofit that are vital for your organization’s continued success. Promote unique roles and recruit more volunteers by listing interesting opportunities on your website and letting your base of recurring volunteers know whenever any out-of-the-ordinary positions come up. 

Kyle Payton is the general manager of ThriftCart, an all-in-one point-of-sale product assisting nonprofits and small businesses in navigating the complexities of retail.