Future Fundraising Now

The donor hasn't given in 9 years -- should you keep trying?

I want to show you a smart piece of fundraising I got in the mail recently from Feeding America.

First the envelope:

This is a smart envelope. I don't know what DONOR CONFIRMATION ENCLOSED means, and that's its power. (Also, the organization that sent it is not identified in any way -- there's only a PO Box address on the back flap.

Because it incites curiosity, it likely gets a good open rate. (Wouldn't it be cool if we could measure the open rate of direct mail the way we can for email?

But here's where it gets interesting:

This, along with a return envelope, is the entire contents of the pack.

As you can see in the box on the lower panel, I am a deeply lapsed donor to this organization -- nearly nine years. The amount of my last gift (which I've crossed out to protect my meagre privacy) was enough to put me in a mid-value donor category.

For reasons of my own, I stopped giving to this organization. They have no idea why, and really no way to find out, short of asking me directly. But they want me (and my mid-value potential) back!

For most donors, it would be crazy to keep mailing someone as deeply lapsed as I am. The response rate will be abysmal -- probably lower than 0.2%. A crazy waste of money.

But if the donor's last gift is high enough, all the math changes. Because the small number of those donors who do reactivate at a very high average gift. And be more likely than average to upgrade. Suddenly that terrible response rate doesn't look so bad!

Two more things I want to point out about this pack:

1. It has a good offer -- a match that will "TRIPLE your impact". Smart move, as a match dependably works better than the same pack without a match.
   
2. The pack is dirt cheap. That's not always a smart tactic, but in this case it might be -- over-spending on an audience as cold as I am can quickly undermine the feasibility of the project.
   

Winning back a deeply lapsed mid-value donor is worth a little extra work!

(This post first appeared on February 8, 2018.)

3 fundraising fears and how to stare them down

What are you afraid of in your fundraising? What does your board worry about? Here are 3 common fundraising fears and how to face them from the BDI Blog:

1. Am I asking too often? Almost certainly not. If communicating too much were a problem, you’d see donor retention drop as you increase communication. That never happens. Retention increases as you add communication. So does net revenue. You’re far more likely not asking often enough to keep donors on board.
   
2. We send the same messages over and over – donors must be getting sick of them. You are paying close attention to every piece of communication you send out. Donors are not. What seems like mind-numbing repetition from your point of view is just a message starting to get through for most of them. Repetition is your friend!
   
3. Do my communications make my organization look bad? Effective fundraising is about problems that urgently need solving. It’s easy to get the sense that all you have are problems and no solutions. Unless you are regularly reporting back, showing donors that they’re giving makes a difference. Fundraising is a relationship, not just an endless parade of asks.
   

Fundraising books finally back in print

For about a year, I’ve been getting queries from people who wanted to read one of my books -- and couldn’t find a way to get them. Or all they could find were used copies and exorbitant prices. What gives?

What gave was this: They were out of print.

“Out of print” meant new copies weren’t being printed, and nobody who was willing to take your money and ship a book to you had any copies. You may be able to get used copies, but those quickly grow scarce (and expensive).

My books -- and a whole lot of other books on fundraising -- went out of print because the publisher closed its doors. That left literally nobody to handle selling them.

The publisher was Emerson and Church, which specialized in fundraising books, and had a large catalog of them, including the all-time bestseller among fundraising books, Asking, by Jerold Panas. And books by Tom Ahern, Roger Craver, Andrea Kihlstedt, Harvey McKinnon, Andy Robinson, Kay Sprinkel Grace, Martin Teitel, and others. It was a significant loss to our profession.

Fortunately, another publisher has stepped up put much of the E&C catalog back into print: Civil Sector Press, a Canadian publisher that had an excellent catalog of fundraising books already. They also assumed publishing for The White Lion Press, a UK publisher with some major fundraising titles.

So I’m happy to say these two titles are available again:

• The Fundraiser's Guide to Irresistible Communications
  
• How to Turn Your Words Into Money: The Master Fundraiser's Guide to Persuasive Writing
  

You can buy them from the publisher or at Amazon, or at most other booksellers.

(If you’re wondering, I’ve also written a third book, with a different publisher, also available: The Money-Rasising Nonprofit Brand.)

6 ways to fix your nonprofit website

You’ve got a great looking website with tons of excellent content.

You’re getting lots of visitors to the site.

But not many donations.

What’s wrong? It’s your conversion rate -- the percentage of visitors who end up taking action.

Here are some of the common problems that hurt conversion rate -- and cost you revenue, from the Wired Impact Blog, at 6 Nonprofit Website Conversion Rate Killers (and How to Fix Them)

1. Targeting Everyone. Connecting with No One. There’s no cause in the world that “everyone” will support. (Yes, there are many that everyone should support. But they don’t.) Know who cares about your cause and laser-focus on them. Speak their language. Connect with their values. Discover what moves them.
   
2. Your Pitch Isn’t Clear. A lot of nonprofit websites are trying to be tutorials on how your organization works. That will never get people to donate. Keep it simple, clear, and outcome-focused. Donors don’t give to fund your processes. They give to make things happen. Figuring out how to communicate your outcomes is one of the most difficult tasks in fundraising. But it’s a must.
   
3. Broken or Slow Conversion Paths. You might be shocked how many nonprofit websites make it impossible to donate because something is broken. Or frustratingly slow. Periodically check your giving pages from many different systems (including mobile). Fix anything that’s broken, confusing, or slow.
   
4. Overwhelming Visitors with Too Many Choices. There might be a whole lot of different things you want your audiences to do. Don’t pile them all into a massive list. Keep it simple. Most pages on your site should have only one call to action.
   
5. Your Actions Are Too Complicated. Complexity kills conversion. Remove actions that you don’t need people to take. Keep everything as simple as possible.
   
6. Visitors Don’t Trust You. Sadly, a legacy of scam and incompetent nonprofits have made many people not trust you. Give them reasons to trust. Show watchdogs logos. Make financial information available. Make it easy for people to talk to a human. Share your privacy policy. Display a pledge to donors. It all helps!
   

(Tons of details on the fixes at the post!)

Mistakes in fundraising that work out well

Cross-posted at The Better Fundraising Blog.

What do you think when you see this direct mail fundraising envelope?

A mistake? The handwriting goes across the window ... that can't be on purpose, can it?

Turns out, this was a mistake. A miscommunication between the designer and the printer.

Big problem?

Nope. It worked great.

It's the kind of "mistake" that usually improves fundraising. An odd, out-of-place, not-the-done-thing that grabs your eye and makes you cringe.

More often than not, this kind of mistake works for you.

I was once involved in a direct mail piece that included a bounce back paper placemat. Donors were asked to sign the placemat and return it with their donation. The placemat would be put on the table at a meal the donation helped fund. It's a good (and proven) way to increase response to meal-focused offers.

But here's the error: on the reply coupon, there was a quick reminder about the placemat. Despite many layers of quality proofreading, the printed final that went to out donors said:

Please sign the enclosed placenta and return it with your donation.

Are you cringing?

Whether you're cringing or not, the piece broke records for response. A few donors wrote to point out the bizarre error -- mostly along with their donation.

Why did this mistake seemingly boost response?

Our theory: Errors grab attention. And someone who's paying attention is a lot more likely to donate.

So when an error happens, it may not be a problem. It might even be great! So great you'd consider making a mistake on purpose.

New fundraising laws concerning artificial intelligence

Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence and what it will mean to humanity.

And fundraising.

Here are some laws to help us navigate this brave new world:

Brooks’ Warning about Quality and Quantity

People who are bad at writing will also be bad at using AI in their writing; the net result will be no meaningful change in writing quality. But the quantity of bad writing will dramatically increase.

AI Output Law

Garbage in; garbage out. But to those who don’t understand, the output garbage is indistinguishable from really excellent fundraising.

The Snake Oil / Killer Robot AI Conundrum

There are two beliefs about AI and fundraising that you should ignore:

1. AI is going to revolutionize fundraising and take it to a new promised land.
   
2. AI is going to utterly destroy everything in fundraising.
   

More Laws of Fundraising

Improve your memorial giving program with these 8 tips

When someone you love dies, making a donation to a cause that was important to them can be a meaningful and comforting act. That’s why donors do it.

If you’re the health fundraising sector, you already know this, because it’s very common there.

If you haven’t come across memorial giving, it’s worth looking into. It’s a real motivation for some donors some of the time.

Here’s some help from the Boomerang Blog, at 8 Tips for Managing Your Nonprofit’s Memorial Donations:

1. Involve the honoree’s family. Try to find a close immediate survivor of the person people are remembering with donation. Let them know others are giving. This person may or may not be a donor, but you should treat them like one.
   
2. Allow donors to send a note to the honoree’s family. Find ways to let memorial donors be as personal as possible.
   
3. Send thoughtful donor thank you notes. Their giving motivations may be different from other donors, but the gift is real, and heartfelt.
   
4. Communicate the impact of tribute donations. As with “normal” thank you messages, make clear the impact of their giving.
   
5. Keep memorial donation data organized. These aren’t typical donors. Make sure you know who they are. They aren’t “donors” in the normal sense -- yet. They are prospective donors, and should just be thrown in with the population of donors.
   
6. Share information about your memorial donation program. Make sure all your donors can learn about memorial giving.
   
7. Highlight other ways to give. Let potential donors know that giving money is just one way to honor a loved one. Volunteering and other forms of involvement can be meaningful too.
   
8. Facilitate peer-to-peer fundraising. Make it easy for people to recruit memorial donations.
   

4 game-changing hints for powerful fundraising

There are a handful of results-crushing approaches that happen constantly in fundraising. People use them so often because they seem right.

But they aren’t. They actively discourage donors from giving.

Here’s a myth-busting post from Clairification that can help you leave those unfortunate approaches behind: Before Sending a Fundraising Appeal Do This, Not That:

1. Talk to your donors, NOT at them. It’s easy to think that if you just inform your donors about your track record of success, your excellent methodologies, your talented staff, and your fiscal acumen, donors will be bowled over and they’ll give. That should work, but it doesn’t. Donors don’t give because you’re awesome. They give because they want to change the world. That means you have to approach them on their terms. Keep it simple, emotional, and make your point with stories, not facts.
   
2. Ask donors to change the world, NOT to help you change the world. In the donor’s world, you are a “middle man” in their mission to change the world. They aren’t giving to support your goals. They’re giving to meet their own goals. Your job is to show how their goals and yours align.
   
3. Show what the donor’s gift will accomplish in the future, NOT what others’ gifts (or even theirs) accomplished in the past. Donors give to make something happen. Not to pat you on the head for what you’ve already done. The time to tell donors about accomplishments is after they’ve given. Then they can share in the celebration of success.
   
4. Give a reason to give now, NOT whenever for whatever. In fundraising, “give some time” translates into “don’t bother to give.” Always have a reason to donate now. Even an arbitrary deadline is better than no urgency at all.
   

5 thank you letter fails

Thank you letters to donors are an important chance to build the relationship. The way you thank is just as important as they way you ask.

Here are some common thank you letter mistakes you can avoid, from the Get Fully Funded Blog, at 5 Things You Should Never Write in a Thank You Letter:

1. “Dear friend of xyz organization...” Thank your donor by name. When you strip them of their identity and reduce them to what they are in relation to your organization, you fail on a very human level.
   
2. “On behalf of the board and staff at xyz organization...”
   That’s stiff, overly formal, and a waste of words that signal “boring” to most readers. Just thank the donor.
   
3. “Your donation will help us meet our goals...” Donors are rarely interested in your goals. They give to make things happen. Thank them for that, and do it with a story.
   
4. “We have six programs spanning three counties...” Not important to donors. Tell them what their giving helped make possible on a human level.
   
5. “Don’t forget to get your tickets to our upcoming event...” Don’t change the subject. A thank you letter should be only a thank you letter.
   

An effective thank you letter is full of life, connection, and tells a story about what the donor became part of when they gave.

Are you dumbing down your fundraising?

It’s common for nonprofits to be frustrated that they have to “dumb down” how they talk about their work. Like any profession, we put a lot of effort, experience, and knowledge into doing the work we do.

And any time you have to explain all that to someone who hasn’t climbed that learning curve -- whether it’s your mother or your donors -- you clearly see how far their knowledge is from yours.

And if you’ve been involved in fundraising (or talking to mom) for more than a few minutes, you’ve probably noticed that dragging someone up your learning curve ranges from incredibly difficult to futile. Learning is hard work. Teaching is even harder.

The solution is to simplify. Make your complexity easy to understand.

Which can be frustrating. You feel like you’re leaving important things out. You feel like they aren’t getting the whole picture.

Which is why simplifying is often called dumbing down.

Big mistake.

The attitude behind calling clear communication “dumbing down” is arrogant, elitist, and leads to ineffective fundraising. And ineffective fundraising careers.

We aren’t alone in the “dumbing down” challenge. Scientists face it too. Probably more than we do.

Which is what this article in The Brilliant (a magazine for scientists) is about: Scientists, please stop saying ‘dumbing down’. It says the term “dumbing down” should be discouraged by scientists “to the point of extinction”:

The use of this term perpetuates an outdated view in the STEM sector that making complex information more accessible is inherently bad. With the pressing urgency of climate change, we need global engagement and the general public pushing our politicians for fast and lasting change.

So next time someone around you uses the expression “dumbing down”, challenge them to rethink their own biases and to engage with people who aren’t mirrors of themselves.

Like many scientists, we are in the business of changing the world. And we can’t do it alone. We need to bring others along so they can be part of the mission.

If you think of simplifying your work so non-experts as “dumbing down,” your attitude will infect your communication. Your frustration and sneering contempt for your “dumb” donors will prevent making a meaningful connection with allies you need. Because you’ll be missing the whole point of talking about your work outside your organization.

Talking to people who aren’t just like you requires an act of the intellect and the heart. To enter their world, to be relevant to them.

It takes a big heart. It takes an inclusive spirit. And it’s not easy to do.

It’s not “dumbing down” -- it’s “smarting up.”