Trying to Raise Money Through the Mail? Learn from the Master

If you want to raise more money with your fundraising letters, set aside Noon-1:00 p.m. Eastern (9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Pacific) on Thursday to learn how to do it right. That’s when Mal Warwick will be presenting in our Nonprofit Marketing Guide webinar series.

Mal is the author of the best-selling How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters and also published Fundraising When Money Is Tight: A Strategic and Practical Guide to Surviving Tough Times and Thriving in the Future earlier this year. His fundraising company is celebrating 30 years of helping good causes raise lots of money through the mail.

I took a look at his presentation today, and it’s packed with great tips. Mal will share the basic components of a direct mail appeal (it’s much more than a letter) and his eight steps to creating successful fundraising appeals. Writing the body of the letter is actually the last step, so if that’s where you are starting, you should join us on Thursday and see why Mal says that’s the last (and easiest) part of the package. He will also share his eight cardinal rules of great fundraising letters (and when you can break them).

Join us on Thursday and I guarantee you’ll get some great tips, no matter how long you’ve been working in the nonprofit world!

As always, the webinar is $35 for everyone in your office who can fit around one computer and it’s also included in the All-Access Pass.

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How to Share Your Results with Donors

Penelope Burk of Donor-Centered Fundraising fame spoke at the Planned Giving Days conference in DC that I also spoke at yesterday, and one of her main themes was that donors really, really want to hear about what you did with their money in specific, measurable, and meaningful ways before they will give you another gift. (I tweeted highlights from her talk - she’s full of great info, if you aren’t familiar with her research.)

The problem, of course, is that providing solid results is a lot easier said than done. Many of the issues that we work on in the nonprofit world will never be “solved” and those baby steps we are taking toward those big solutions sometimes don’t feel all that significant. Much of what nonprofits do simply can’t be measured effectively in numbers. Much of our success also comes from partnerships or helping other people who are really doing the hard work in their own lives. Taking credit for those results can be tricky too.

One of the better solutions to this results dilemma is to use storytelling to give donors examples of the good work you are doing — examples that are really emblematic of your larger accomplishments, especially when those larger results are hard to quantify or explain.

I’m teaching a webinar on Tuesday, May 19 called Boasting without Bravado: How to Share Your Success Stories.  During the one-hour webinar, you’ll learn how to

• separate your real accomplishments out from all of your activities
• emphasize the parts of your success stories that excite your supporters the most
• take credit by giving credit to others
• build a choir that sings your praises
• use stories to make complicated or esoteric accomplishments easier to grasp
• capitalize on your current successes to build support for future work

We’ll review not only how you write up success stories, but also where and how you can use them to encourage your existing supporters to stay with you and to connect with new supporters too. I hope you’ll join us on Tuesday!

P.S. Get the All-Access Pass now and you can attend the Success Stories webinar, Mal Warwick’s webinar on writing successful fundraising letters (Thursday, May 21) and everything else we host for the next 12 weeks, all for $97.

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When Trying to Fundraise from Friends of Friends is a Complete Waste of Time

When we talk about fundraising through social media (and we had many of these conversations at 09NTC this week), the discussion always turns to how we should go about converting into long-term donors those friends of friends  -  people who gave to the cause because a friend of theirs and an existing supporter of ours (let’s call her the “Original Fan”) asked them to.

The standard advice is to come up with a cultivation campaign that introduces these new people to the organization over time and encourages them to become involved as a volunteer or donor on their own, directly with the nonprofit.

The problem is that this treats the Original Fan, whom we sometimes call the evangelist or über-friend, like some kind of inconvenient or spent middle man. For many nonprofits, the Original Fan is anything but a middle man; instead he or she is more like a gatekeeper or nightclub bouncer. It’s only through the Original Fan that the nonprofit will have access to those people and their wallets.

Most national organizations with widely understood or broadly supported missions should probably go ahead and try to establish direct relationships with all of those friends of friends. But nonprofits with specific geographic limitations or niche missions (e.g., diseases that affect relatively few people) should move forward much more carefully and deliberately, checking to see just how likely it is that the friends of friends will actually convert into long-term, direct donors.

For example, I recently donated to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey,  because my friend Nancy Schwartz asked me to as part of her birthday celebration.  While I certainly support the mission of food banks in general, I live in North Carolina. Nancy is the sole reason that I donated to this food bank in New Jersey. No matter how many newsletters or appeal letters the Community Food Bank of New Jersey might send me in the future, it is extremely unlikely that I will ever give them another dime.

Unless, of course, Nancy - the Original Fan - asks me to.

That’s why when the executive director of Positive Wellness Alliance (PWA)- the beneficiary of my own birthday fundraiser and also a very locally based organization - asked whether she should add the names of my donating friends to her prospect database, I told her no. (I serve on the board, so that’s why I was asked. I doubt few Original Fans are consulted at all - which may be part of the problem.)

Instead, I asked her to send a thank-you note directly to my donating friends and invite them to sign-up for PWA’s e-newsletter, should they want to.  I’ve asked her not to message these people again otherwise. Why?

Because as the Original Fan, I know these people are giving because of me, and because I asked, not really because of the cause. While I’m sure that everyone who donated to PWA supports the mission, just as I support food banks, nearly all of the people who donated lived outside the geographic service area, and I believe it’s extremely unlikely that they would give again on their own.

Unless, of course, I - the Original Fan - asked them to.

I hope it is clear by now where I am going with this. While your nonprofit should definitely spend some time coming up with cultivation strategies for friends of friends, it is equally important (and more important for local or niche organizations) to develop strategies to keep your Original Fans fully engaged and willing to fundraise again and again for you.

The food bank and PWA don’t need strategies to reach Nancy’s friends and my friends; they need strategies to keep Nancy and me and all of the Original Fans happy with the organization and excited about its work so that we will continue to tap our networks on their behalf. It’s just not worth twisting ourselves in all different directions trying to convert these people into direct donors when it’s both easier and more productive to more fully engage the Original Fan.

Does your org have strategies of either kind — for friends of friends or for the Original Fans? Where do you think nonprofits should put the most priority? Leave a comment and let’s talk about it.

Tags: 09NTC
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Super Online Fundraising, Step 6

This week is online fundraising week at Nonprofit Marketing Guide. I’m teaching a webinar on the basics on Tuesday, followed by the advanced session on Thursday by Alia McKee of Sea Change Strategies. Alia will share her eight steps to online fundraising success. Want a taste? Alia has written a guest post about #6, which is listening to your supporters. Really listening. Read on, and join us this week for the  basic online fundraising and/or advance online fundraising webinars. (Want to do both? Get the All-Access Pass.)

Guest Post by Alia McKee, Sea Change Strategies

One of my favorite cartoons shows a lady stretched out on the couch at her shrink’s office. The caption reads, “Maybe I’m depressed because I have to pay someone to listen to me.”

The cartoon says it clearly. People want to be heard. We want to think our feelings, thoughts, and opinions matter to the people in our lives – and very importantly to the people behind the causes we choose to support.

Too many nonprofits drop the ball when it comes to listening to donors. A survey once a year just doesn’t cut it. You might think, “Well since most nonprofits aren’t doing a good job of listening, I’m safe, right?  There’s no competition.”

But there is expectation – and believe me it is increasing with each new generation.

Enter in the opportunity! You have a chance to set the bar – to distinguish yourselves from other organizations with their head in the sand. You, on the other hand, will have your finger on the pulse.

So what should you do? This list is by no means comprehensive, but it will get you started thinking about simple and creative ways you can listen to your donors.

The Basics

– Answer your general email. If a donor or activist responds to your general mailbox – they should receive a timely and thoughtful (no form letter) response.
– Surveys – surveys are great tools for soliciting feedback – but do so with a purpose. Use the survey to inform a donor reactivation campaign strategy, benchmark your organizations net promoter score, or find out how the economy might affect your donors’ giving plans this year. A survey just for a survey’s sake is a waste of or your time (and your donors).
– Report back what you learned – this is critical – donors want to know that you’ve heard them.
– Charity Navigator and Guidestar both allow donor user reviews - think Yelp for the nonprofit set. Your donors may be talking about you there. Read those reviews and respond as appropriate.

Social Networks

– There are a lot of social networks out there. The key for a small nonprofit is to focus your resources. Maybe you can’t tackle Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Gather, Ning, and an organizational blog all at once. But choose one or two and do them really well. You can always ask your donors where they spend their virtual time and go from there.
– When I say do them really well – this is where the listening part comes in. Social networks are all about two-way (five-way, hundred-way, maybe even thousand-way conversation). Don’t think of them as just another push channel. You’ve got to respond to what people are saying if you want a real community.

Advanced

– Online discussion panels – think of this as a virtual focus group for particular subsets of your donors. It’s cheaper than a focus group and creates intense cultivation value among participants.
– Passion Panels for high value donors. This is an intensive, invite-only online community that aims to increase giving engagement by providing a high-touch relationship with the organization. Panels can also can provide ready advice on messages and programs and track longer term trends in donor thinking and attitudes.

OK – so with that said, now it’s my turn to listen. Please respond to this post and tell me other ways that your organization is listening to your donors. Share a case study of something that worked – or maybe something that didn’t. I’m all ears!

Join Alia on Thursday to get your advanced online fundraising questions answered.

Tags: listening
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Fundraising Online: Radio Show Friday, Webinars Next Week

Not raising money online yet? Or not raising enough? (How’s that for a stupid question?)

Next week we are hosting a two-webinar boot camp specifically on online fundraising. This is your chance to learn both the basics and the advanced techniques for turning your website and email list into a real, sustainable fundraising force for your cause.

Magic Keys Radio on E-Newsletters

But first, on Friday, Claire Meyerhoff and I are back with another edition Magic Keys Radio, our live Internet radio show and podcast and we’ll be talking e-mail newsletters and how you can use them for fundraising. How to do them, why to do them - whatever you want to know about nonprofit email newsletters - we’ll do our best to answer.  Join us on Friday, April 17 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific) for the half-hour show where you listen live over the Internet through your computer speakers. You can call in your questions over the phone or chat them in on the Blog Talk Radio site. The podcast is available right after.

Online Fundraising Basics: Jumpstart Online Giving to Your Good Cause

Then on Tuesday, April 21, I’ll be teaching the “Basic” online fundraising course, where I’ll talk about the different elements you need to have in place, including the system that actually processes your donations securely. But online fundraising is about much more than just processing credit cards and big “Donate Now” buttons. We’ll talk about what you need to have on your website (and where) and what you need to send out in email to be successful. We’ll talk about creating the kind of content for your website and email newsletters that inspires donors to give more, and to give again. We’ll also touch on growing and managing your email list and tracking your success. Get the details.

Advanced Online Fundraising: Getting to WOW! in 8 Steps

On Thursday, April 23, I’ll turn it over to Alia McKee of Sea Change Strategies for the “Advanced” course. Alia will show you how to go beyond the basics and, in eight steps, take your online fundraising to an entirely new level. She’ll give you the how-tos and some great examples that show you how it all works. I took a peek at her slides today, and if you feel like you have a solid foundation in place (decent processing, decent website, decent email) and are ready for the next step, you will love this webinar. Get the details.

As usual, individual webinars are an affordable $35. You can take both of these for $70. Or you can do the really smart thing and get the All-Access Pass for $97, and take these two webinars, plus everything else we offer for the next 12 weeks. Your Pass gets you access to both the live and recorded versions of the webinars, plus access to the Webinar Archive of recordings from the past year. Take a 3-Minute Tour of the All-Access Pass.

I hope to see you and your great questions Friday, Tuesday, and/or Thursday!

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April Webinars: Online Fundraising, Writing for the Web

April showers bring . . . online writing and fundraising webinars!

Here’s the line-up for the rest of this month.

This Thursday, April 16: Online Writing: Do’s and Don’ts of Writing for the Web and Email

Ideal for anyone who contributes to a nonprofit website, blog, or email newsletter. Online writing needs to be personal, quick, and relevant to the reader. In this encore of one of our most popular webinars, I’ll share how you can transform your online writing so your web and email content work for you and your supporters.

Tuesday, April 21: Basic Online Fundraising: Jumpstart Online Giving to Your Good Cause

Are you ready to start fundraising online, but not exactly sure what you need to do to make it work? Hint: A “Donate” button isn’t enough! During this webinar, you’ll learn about all of the key components of a solid online fundraising program.

Thursday, April 23: Advanced Online Fundraising: Getting to WOW! in 8 Steps - Featuring Alia McKee

Ready to kick your online fundraising up a few notches? Alia McKee of Sea Change Strategies is our special guest speaker. Alia will show you how to go beyond the basics of donor-friendly websites and engaging email copy by creating a program that wows your donors into giving again and again.

What’s Coming Up in May and June

I also just opened registration for several webinars in May and June, with a few more to come soon.

May 6: Successful Nonprofit Websites: Making Your Site Work for You

May 12: Getting Your Nonprofit Started with Social Media

May 19:  Boasting Without Bravado: How to Share Your Success Stories

May 21: How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters (Featuring Mal Warwick)

June 4: Nonprofit Writing Stinks! How to Bring Your Writing Back to Life

You can attend all of the webinars we host in a 12-week period for just $97 with your All-Access Pass. Otherwise, a la carte registration is $35 per webinar. That includes everyone in your office who can fit around one computer.

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

When Talking about Cash Gifts is Tough, Talk Planned Gifts Instead

I was at a board meeting this week, where everyone was looking around the table at each other wondering what we could do to raise more money for the organization. I couldn’t help but think about the webinar we are hosting here at Nonprofit Marketing Guide on Monday on starting a planned giving program — where you ask your supporters to include your cause in their retirement and estate plans, creating a much more stable, long-term source of revenue.

The down economy is actually a great time to start having these conversations, if you aren’t already. Right now, many donors are very wary of parting with cash, but they still believe in your cause - maybe more now than ever. Planned gifts are seen as the “painless” way to help. Put it this way, is Donna Donor more likely to write a check for $5,000 or to consider making your organization the beneficiary of the IRA that’s lost half of its value in the last year? This is the perfect time to think about ways to communicate with your loyal donors about planned gifts.

The key word is “loyal.”

That’s the beauty of doing some planned giving marketing right now. You don’t have to reach everyone, just your most loyal (and usually friendliest!) supporters. We know that most loyal donors don’t make a planned gift simply because they are never asked. Another benefit is that anyone, regardless of income level, can make a planned gift. Wealth and demographics alone are not the best predictors of a planned gift. Loyalty to your cause and your organization are. For example,over 40% of bequests are made by people 55 and younger.

Within the next 15 years, over $6 trillion dollars will be passed from one generation to the next. If you leave planned giving out of your fundraising communications, you will be leaving gifts on the table - or forfeiting them to another charity. And continuing to have those same board meetings month after month, year after year, where everyone wonders who is going to come up with the next idea to raise a few thousand dollars. Get a planned giving program rolling now and, in the long-run, it’s likely to produce some of the largest contributions your organization will ever receive.

If your interest is piqued, join Claire Meyerhoff and me as we get some great tips from Viken Mikaelian, one of the brightest names in the Planned Giving universe on how even small nonprofits can start a planned giving program.  Viken is the brains behind the hugely successful VirtualGiving.com and PlannedGiving.com and has helped create planned gift marketing programs for many national charities. Viken will share his steps to take to identify “loyal” donors and to reach them with your planned giving opportunities. You might be surprised how willing your donors are to talk about significant contributions that don’t require writing a check today.

Join us for “You Had Me at Bequest: How to Start a Planned Giving Program for Your Nonprofit” on Monday, March 23, 2009 at Noon Eastern (9:00 a.m. Pacific). It’s $35 or included with your All-Access Pass. Get the details and register. (Pass holders, login here to RSVP.)

Tags: planned giving
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What Your Supporters Can Do for You Online, When You Empower Them

This Friday, March 20, John Kenyon will join me in presenting a webinar called “Creating Online Evangelists: How to Excite and Motivate Your Supporters.” Who are these online evangelists that your nonprofit should be exciting and motivating? They are ordinary people who, because of a great personal passion for your good cause, do extraordinary things to help you, whether you personally ask them to or not.

Here are some examples of what John will be talking about on Friday and how you can find and support people like these two evangelists, for your nonprofit.

Twelve-year old-Mimi Ausland from Bend, Oregon has provided over 50 tons of food to needy animals in shelters through two websites she created.

In 2008, after learning about the food shortages many animal shelters face, Mimi - with help from her parents and months of research and planning - created the websites freekibble.com and freekibblekat.com. Her efforts prompted Castor and Pollux, a Portland, Ore. pet products company, to donate 10 pieces of kibble for every answer to the animal trivia questions Mimi posts on her site. Visitors to the site not only help contribute food, but learn something about animals in shelters.

Since April of 2008 she has provided over 713,000 meals to hungry dogs and cats. She has become the sole supplier to 11 shelters nationwide. In the fall of 2008 she was honored by the ASPCA with their “Kid of the Year” award for her efforts. Mimi is one of a new breed of “online evangelists” who promote good causes, often independently, not as agents of the organizations they support.

It’s not just kids taking the proverbial lemonade stand online . . . people of all ages are using the social web for good.

Judith Sol-Dyess was touched by the people she saw who lived at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, where she works as the Sr. Director of Information Systems.

Judith created a simple yet effective website called Project30W named for the buildings address, 30 W Chicago Ave. Although the building is her office, for many it is their home.

On the site she shares her experience of her neighbors along with portraits of them, showing their humanity and giving viewers a window into the lives of people who live a that Y. Even though she is an employee, Judith is sharing her personal experience and suggesting people make donation to help support the people she now knows as friends.

These are two examples of individuals motivated to help a cause on their own using the online medium. How can you excite your supporters and motivate them to spread your message online?

Learn about the efforts of Mimi, Judith and other “Online Evangelists” in the webinar this Friday, March 20th, and more importantly, what lessons you can learn to encourage your own online evangelists. Get the details and reserve your spot now.

Tags: online evangelists
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