Future Fundraising Now

6 common mistakes that can wreck your fundraising plan

As we approach the new year, it's a good time to think about your fundraising plan.

You have one, right?

As you think about your plan, here's a helpful post on some of the common ways we torpedo our own plans, from Nonprofit Hub, at How NOT to Make a Fundraising Plan:

1. Not having your plan in writing. You probably have most of a fundraising plan in your head already. It's based on what you've done before. Here's the thing: If your plan is only in your head, you don't really have a plan. Put it in writing. Think it through. Know you have the resources to do it. You will have a much better year if you do this! I should mention that I've seen hundreds of annual fundraising plans, but I've never seen one that was followed exactly. That's life -- things change. And it's okay. But you need to have a plan!
2. Having unclear goals or no goals at all. You are a lot more likely to achieve something if you are aiming specifically to achieve it. Make measurable goals part of your plan.
3. Making everything perfect. You don't need to think through every possible contingency. That's not possible. Just create a schedule and goals, and do your best to stick with them.
4. Neglecting your donors. Put donors (not revenue) at the center of your plan. It's all about starting, keeping, and growing relationships with real human beings.
5. Not making time to plan. An hour spent planning will save you several hours of wheel-spinning later. Take the time to think ahead. It feels difficult, but it's worth it.
6. Taking on too much. Make sure your plan is achievable. Plan for reality -- and stretch a bit -- but don't just call your ideal world a plan. It isn't.

A thought on timing: Yeah, it's a bit late to be talking about building your Calendar Year 2021 plan. Ideally, you should give yourself at least a week -- better yet two weeks -- to create your plan.

But a great plan can cover any 12 months -- calendar year, fiscal year, or 12 months starting at a convenient time.

Just make sure you do it!

A 5-step formula for coming up with amazing fundraising ideas

Book Review: A Technique for Producing Ideas by James Webb Young

Fundraisers need ideas. Lots of them.

Ideas for turning your organization's work into thrilling fundraising offers. Ideas for standing out in crowded mailboxes and inboxes. Ideas for doing more with less.

Successful fundraisers have many ways of discovering and refining ideas.

In super-abbreviated form, here's a classic, in a little book originally published in 1940 by legendary advertising copywriter James Webb Young:

1. Gather raw material. Learn everything you can about your topic.
2. Work over the material in your mind. Think hard about what you've learned; really concentrate on what you've discovered. But don't attempt to finalize any ideas you get at this point.
3. Drop the problem completely. Do something unrelated: listen to music, go for a walk, read a novel. This pushes your search into your unconscious mind, where it can really grow.
4. An idea will come to you. As if from nowhere, you'll get an idea. It may seem like magic.
5. Shaping and develop your idea to practical usefulness. At this point you realize just how raw your amazing new idea is. This is where you connect that raw spark with what you know about fundraising.

It's not the only way to discover ideas, but it's a good one that I can vouch for.

Webb has another observation that really helps. It's about the reading habits of the best idea-people:

Every really good creative person in advertising whom I have ever know has always had two noticeable characteristics. First, there was no subject under the sun in which he could not easily get interested.... Second, he was an extensive browser in all sorts of fields of information.

That is, be generally curious. Don't read only about your cause or only about fundraising. Learn about interesting stuff, no matter what it's about. The less related to your needs, the richer and better. Read "useless" things. They'll enrich your mind and make your fundraising better!

This book is tiny. You can read the whole thing in a sitting. It will pay off quickly!

Available at Amazon.

5 tips that will make you feel better at year end -- and help you raise more money

Here are some things worth knowing, from the Bloomerang Blog, at Your Year-End Fundraising Pep Talk:

1. Your donor does not read every fundraising email you send. So, send more. Seriously, It's much more likely you are sending too little email than too much. Open rates tell the story: Most of your emails get trashed without a second look. (See How much fundraising mail is too much?
2. Do not sweat the unsubscribes. They were never going to give anyway. Some people just shouldn't be on your list. That's okay. Let them leave.
3. Typos happen to all of us. Someday it will happen to you. That's okay. In fact, some typos might be good for your bottom line (see Sign the enclosed placenta: The weird power of errors in fundraising)
4. You are not 'talking down' to donors by writing at a 6th grade reading level. You are being respectful, courteous, and kind. That "grade level" is not about your reader's education. It's about your clarity. Guess what: It takes a lot more writing chops to write at 6th grade level than to write at 12th grade level. (See Why every fundraiser should write at the 6th-grade level)
5. You are not being manipulative or sappy to use emotion in your fundraising. People make decisions based on their emotions. That's just the way the human mind works. If you don't like that, you don't like moving people to action. (See Why you can't leave the emotions out of fundraising)

The secret to balance in fundraising

When I was a young fundraiser, I was an extremist. I zoomed back and forth between two kinds of fundraising extremism. It was kind of fun, and it gave me a continuing sense of self-righteous fervor.

But I was missing the boat, over and over again.

I went back and forth between what I'll call right-wing fundraising and left-wing fundraising. These are not political terms in any way, but describe approaches to fundraising itself. Let me describe them:

Right-wing fundraising

This is fundraising that stays with best practices. It's cynical of new approaches. It has advantages and disadvantages...

Advantage: Fundraising results are usually good. Best practices are best for a reason -- they work!

Disadvantage: You don't innovate. You've seen too many bogus innovations that cost too much and accomplish nothing. So changes -- generational and cultural shifts, changes in technology and media use -- they can catch you unprepared.

Left-wing fundraising

This is fundraising that's focused on innovation, change, and the future. It also has advantages and disadvantages...

Advantage: You figure stuff out early, and adjust more quickly to changes in the fundraising landscape. You tend to be one step (or more) ahead of others, which can be a huge advantage.

Disadvantage: You fail and screw up a lot. Let's face it: The majority of new ideas don't work the way they're intended to. That's just the way life is. And it's nearly impossible to see the badness of an idea when you're in new territory.

As a young fundraiser, my natural tendency was toward left-wing fundraising. I talked about the need for innovation all the time, and I had no patience for "we've always done it that way" as a reason for doing anything. I loved manifestos and open letters that made bold statements and predictions. I wrote a few myself.

But now and then, I'd encounter some half-baked "innovation" that was self-evidently stupid -- but being touted and accepted purely because it was new. I'd fly to the right and become a spokesman for knowledge, wisdom, and proof.

It took me a long time to realize that both extremes are great. And both are flawed. And that the secret to success is not to sell your soul to either extreme.

To be a moderate fundraiser.

If I could go back in time and talk to my younger self, that's what I would say. I'd give myself a set of principles something like these:

• "We've always done it that way" is not a sufficient reason for doing something. It's also not a sufficient reason for not doing something. The past is a guide. Not a prison.
• Best practices are more likely good than bad. But there's no guarantee they're good. Test and question them.
• Change is inevitable. We face a change of generations (Boomers are replacing the older generation). We face major changes in communication technology and the way people use them. Costs for traditional fundraising media are going up faster than inflation. Ignore those things, or fade away!
• The more things change, the more they stay the same. Human psychology has not changed, despite all the other things that are changing. Everything you have to do to succeed in the old media -- you still have to do in the new.

Knowing those things would have really saved me a lot of time, energy, and bonehead errors.

Then again, my young self probably wouldn't have paid attention to a gray-haired, middle-aged codger trying to tell him these things.

Maybe the only way to learn is the hard way.

(This post first appeared on April 22, 2016.)

2 weird subject line tricks for fundraising

Want to improve response to your fundraising emails?

The most important element to work on is the subject line. When you don't get a winner there, it really doesn't matter how brilliant the rest of your work is.

Strange thing about subject lines: There are two contradictory "tricks" to win eyeballs. You can read about them on the Bloomerang Blog, at Fundraising Magic Tricks to Boost Year-End Response.

Trick #1: Clarity. Use the subject line to tell the recipient exactly what they'll find inside.

Trick #2: Curiosity. Create mystery. Don't reveal what they'll find inside.

In my experience, #2 is the go-to approach most often. #1 works better only when the thing you're revealing is either an amazing "deal" or some situation everyone is thinking about -- like a natural disaster.

How to solicit your donor's most precious gift

The most gracious, important, and precious gift any donor can give you is not money.

It's attention.

Almost everyone can come up with at least a little money they can give away. Hardly anyone has some extra attention to share.

This is the main reason it's hard to succeed at fundraising.

We struggle to get donors' attention.

That's why one of the keys to success is to spend real quality time and energy on outer envelopes, subject lines, headlines -- the part of any communication that grabs attention. It doesn't matter how amazing your offer and your message are if they don't see it in the first place!

Here are three ways to improve your attention-getting power:

1. Mystery is (usually) your best friend for getting attention.
2. Plain, informal, not over-polished is better at breaking through. This is why a plain, no-teaser envelope is so often the top performer in direct-mail testing.
3. Your next best friend is WIIFM -- making it clear to everyone you're hoping to reach What's In It For Me. That means a focus on action (the donor's action), benefits (to the donor), and the donor's name are all important.

Here are some approaches to avoid if you hope to get attention:

1. Cleverness, wordplay, abstraction are terrible at getting attention.
2. Giving it all away ("Hungry children need your help now") rarely works -- except when your fundraising proposition is really amazing, as in matching grant or other form of leverage.
3. Your logo is not a magical attention-grabbing talisman. It's more likely the opposite.

Not a step-by-step, guaranteed-success fundraising guide

Now and then, a reader of this blog comments something like this:

Just tell me how to write my fundraising!

They've noticed that most, maybe all, posts here are tips, approaches, hints, ideas, even philosophy. Not specific "how-to write fundraising" material.

It's an astute observation. But there are two reasons for the approach I take:

1. Telling you how to write fundraising is not the mission of this blog.

This blog hopes to equip you to write amazing fundraising.

Because your bespoke fundraising, created by you and fully in context with your organization, your donors, your community will be many times more amazing than my generic attempt at some kind of plug-and-play fundraising message.

You'll raise more money that way.

And you'll help spread the word about what really works when you know in your bones what really works -- not something you picked up online that you hope will do the job.

I want to change the world by equipping fundraisers to do great work. If you want to join me in doing that, your part is to get equipped and do the great work.

2. I don't trust templates, and neither should you.

I can't tell you how many times I've wished I could find a perfect template for some odd new writing challenge. Something to free me from the terror of the blinking cursor with a reassuring promise that "this will work."

Problem is, that promise of a template is iffy. At best.

Unless a template is targeted to your exact situation, there's an awfully good chance it will lead you astray.

The only times I'm willing to create a template for others to follow is when the situation is super-specific -- when I'm confident it's more likely guiding people toward success rather making an empty promise it can't fulfill.

If you want someone else to write effective fundraising for you, you can do that. It's a smart move for many. There are many people well equipped to do that. They want you to pay them, of course. But it can be very much worth what it costs.

(And what you'll notice about the good ones is that before they start writing, they'll ask you a lot of questions. That's how they make sure they're doing the right assignment.)

But even if you choose to outsource, you'll be better off if you understand fundraising from the inside.

The truth is, fundraising is hard. Even outsourcing it is no piece of cake.

There's no way around that.

Even if you've read every blog, studied every book, attended every conference, had great mentors, and done it for decades.

It's still a struggle. A journey.

I invite you to join the journey. That's what this blog is about.

Writing a "case"? This book will show you how

Book Review: Turning Doubters Into Donors: How to Make a Compelling Case for Your Cause by Tom Ahern

I'd been in fundraising a good ten-plus years. I'd written hundreds of fundraising campaigns.

So when someone asked me if I'd written very many "cases," I hardly knew what to say.

As far as I knew, I'd never written a case, ever. I didn't even know what a case was. I vaguely hoped case was just an unfamiliar name for something I'd done plenty of times.

Nope. No luck. I had to find someone I trusted to explain it to me.

Maybe you've been in a similar position. Everybody seems to know what a case is. They talk about it freely and easily, as if everyone does them all the time. But you're saying "huh?"

Thing is, you are a lot luckier than I was. You can read Tom Ahern's latest book, Turning Doubters Into Donors. It tells you exactly what a case is -- several distinct types of case -- and how to create one that knocks your donors' socks off and moves them to shower you with donations.

A typical case is a document that's part of a capital campaign. It makes the case for why we're hoping to raise this extraordinary amount of money. Most often this type of case is several-page booklet, beautifully designed and image-heavy, written with soaring, inspiring words designed to take donors to heights of connection.

But Tom points out that the standard case isn't the only type.

There's also the feasibility case, which is a less formal document, used to solicit advice and interest from very high-end and closely connected donors, and the internal case, used for staff and others involved in fundraising to equip them with the information and approaches that will help them be more effective. (I wish this were a lot more common than it is!)

If you find yourself needing to write a case, this book will help you find the paths, ask the right questions, avoid the pitfalls, and make it work.

It's packed with real-life examples, stories of success (and failure), and insider advice.

Highly recommended.

Available at Amazon or from the publisher.

15 things every fundraiser needs to know about writing powerful headlines

Headlines are some of the most important writing you'll ever do. Advertising legend David Ogilvy put it this way:

On the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar.

He said this in an age when one of the most important forms of advertising (and fundraising too) was on-page ads in newspapers and magazines. So he was very much talking about printed headlines at the top of an ad.

Which we don't do so much any more.

But we still use headlines constantly, though in slightly different ways:

• Email subject lines.
• Teasers on direct mail envelopes.
• Headlines in newsletters.

Any time we put large copy above smaller copy, that's a headline, and Ogilvy's 80¢ rule applies.

Things not to do in headlines

• Don't make them mere labels of what's below, like "President's Column" or "Health Update." Make your headline a sentence, meaning it has noun(s) and verb(s).
• Don't use newspaper-style "headlinese," which prefers fewer words over almost everything else, so it often has only implied verbs, and abbreviated ideas. Your headlines can be long in most situations!
• Don't use to be verbs (usually).
• Don't use passive voice.
• Don't use -ing verbs.

Things to do in headlines

• Use concrete, specific nouns.
• Use strong action verbs.
• Use the word you.
• Use your donor's name where possible (subject lines or digitally printed pieces).
• Emphasize relationships.
• Describe conflict, not static situations (conflict is not always between people, but often between people and their challenges).
• Use multiple headline elements where possible and appropriate (like subheads above or below the main headline).

For envelope teasers and email subject lines: Mystery is one of your best friends.

Finally, learn from the masters. The most reader-focused and powerful "headlines" are often found in these two places:

1. The Tabloids. They're still great. They live or die on impulse purchases, so they have to be good!
2. Clickbait. Same thing. The interesting thing about these is that techniques come and go as they work so well they start to be over-used and then they stop working.

How not to feel like a failure next Giving Tuesday

Early reports are that Giving Tuesday was huger than ever this year.

Not a surprise, given that almost everything in fundraising has been huge this year.

Which raises the question for next year: "Should we 'do' Giving Tuesday?"

Here are my answers:

1. Don't decide next November. Think about it now.

One of the most common causes of Giving Tuesday Failure is hasty, half-baked strategy and execution, thrown together in the days before the big day, often because someone insisted that you "do" Giving Tuesday.

Decide now. If you're doing to pursue it, give yourself time to do it right.

2. It's okay not to do Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday doesn't work for everyone. If you've tried it and it hasn't done well for you, it may be your donors just aren't dialed in to the idea. If that's the case, don't waste your time.

The real "Giving Tuesday" for most organizations is on a Thursday this year: December 31. That's the biggest online giving day of the year for many, many organizations, including most that do very well on Giving Tuesday. You almost certainly should "do" December 31!

However, it may be that it hasn't worked because you haven't done it right ...

3. If you do it, do it right!

The most common mistake organizations make on Giving Tuesday is they don't actually raise funds. They just send out messages about Giving Tuesday.

Giving Tuesday is not a reason to give. It is (for some people) and occasion for giving like birthdays, Christmas, Hannukah, and others.

My inbox was filled with subject lines like Today is Giving Tuesday and messages that went like this: It's Giving Tuesday, so give us a donation!

That's not fundraising. Fundraising is giving donors the opportunity to make something happen that they care about. Even on Giving Tuesday. That's what the organizations that do well are doing.

If your Giving Tuesday fundraising hasn't worked, take an honest look at it. Is it really fundraising, or is it just telling people to give because it's a random Tuesday?

4. If it's working, keep doing it.