Top 10 Ways to Screw Up Your End of Year Fundraising Campaign

It's mid-October, I hope you all have thought about what your end of year fundraising campaign is going to look like.  Remember, here in the United States, tax-payers can take a deduction for charitable giving, and often send larger gifts in December in order to get those deductions.  Gail Perry offers excellent advice on what you need to avoid when sending end of year appeals.  My favorite?  Not including the return envelope!  I can't tell you how many organizations forget to do that!  You must make it as easy as possible to donate to your organization, so please, include the return envelope.  Bunnie

Top 10 Ways to Screw Up Your End of Year Fundraising Campaign
by Gail Perry, President of Gail Perry & Associates

There’s nothing more important this fall than your year-end fundraising effort. The next three months is the time when many charities receive most of their entire annual inflow of contributions.

And there is so much at stake right now. This year, more than ever, you’ve got to engage donors in your opportunity and ask them to join you – in a smart, effective and compelling way.

This article updates a list I created last fall. I’ve added more data and reminders for you here.

Please don’t make these mistakes!

Here’s my top 10 list of ways to sabotage your year-end fundraising effort.

1. Send a letter that’s hard to read, with ponderous sentences, long paragraphs and no white space. This fails the “easy to read” test, which is the first hurdle for your reader, who is skimming your prose for the highlights only. Check out my list of 115 Ways to Raise More Money by Mail for guidelines on writing an effective letter.

2. Send a letter much like last year’s with last year’s messaging, no visuals, no metaphors, no stories. Your reader is unlikely to keep reading if it is not interesting. You are not writing an academic treatise; instead you are writing marketing copy. Forget what you learned in your writing courses and instead copy a magazine’s writing style.

3. Bury The Ask deep inside a paragraph at the end of a sentence. Your reader must be able to easily find out how much you are asking for and for what purpose. Make it plainly clear what you are asking for – and ask cheerfully!

4. Don’t include a reply envelope. You’d be surprised how many organizations leave out this VITAL component – you have to make it easy for people to give. This really can be the kiss of death!

5. Don’t update your web site. Studies show that donors – even those who give by writing a check and sending it in the mail – will most often check out your web site to research you before they give. And your website MUST look professional and up-to-date! And it must convey credibility and legitimacy.

6. Only send out one appeal letter. This is disaster for many campaigns. Studies show that one letter will typically get a 15% response – NOT enough to make your year-end goal. Your donors are too busy and need repeated reminders. And no, it is not tacky to keep reminding them!

7. Don’t do phone followup. Studies show that a followup phone call can possibly double your results.

8. Don’t do an email push to non-donors the last two days of December. Studies show that a majority of on-line donors give in December and most of them are on the last two days of December. NOW is the time to get your online donation process working smoothly.

9. Don’t send a PROMPT, warm, personal thank you immediately to your donors. And “warm, personal” does not mean “on behalf of the board of directors we thank you for blah blah” – this impersonal bunk doesn’t warm your donor’s heart. A warm thank you uses the words “we” and “you” and is conversational in tone – not institutional. Penelope Burk’s all time favorite thank you letter begins like this: “You must have heard the cheers in our halls when we received your generous pledge.”

10. Don’t have your board members call donors to thank them within 24 hours of the gift’s receipt. Penelope Burk’s landmark studies showed that when board members made this type of followup call, then subsequent gifts from the donors rose by 39%!

Avoid at all costs, these mistakes. Create a dynamite year-end campaign that brings in the urgently needed resources you need!

Leave me a comment and tell me what you think!

To see more great tips from Gail Perry and to contact her, go to http://www.gailperry.com/

A Personal Touch: Fundraising the Forbes Health Foundation Way

Twenty-five years ago I worked in the development department at St. Vincent's Hospital in Los Angeles. Using a crude computer program we created direct mail campaigns. With a good list we expected a two-percent return on every mailing and we usually got that or more. That is simply not the case anymore. Except for direct mail solicitations to existing members or donors, most direct mail campaigns to new prospects cost more money than they raise. The goal of new prospect direct mail campaigns is to increase the list of donors or members, not to reap a windfall.

Now, much more effort needs to be directed toward personal solicitation. This can be daunting if yours is a small to medium sized organization that doesn't have the budget for full-time development staff. It requires the involvement of the entire staff and board. And it requires making sure potential donors understand how important you are.

Mary Lee Gannon, President and CEO of the Forbes Health Foundation, wrote me an email outlining their efforts to make fundraising personal. I like how she says "we have adjusted our development plan to meet the needs of our donors." Interesting concept. How can you adjust your development plan to meet the needs of your donors? Bunnie

A Personal Touch: Fundraising the Forbes Health Foundation Way

by Mary Lee Gannon, President and CEO

I am the president and CEO of Forbes Health Foundation in Pittsburgh. We raise money for Forbes Regional - a 340 bed suburban community hospital east of the city. We have adjusted our development plan to meet the needs of our donors during this downturn in the economy and it has been beneficial. We are staying in closer touch with our major donors who understand that our needs have not changed and are even greater in these challenged times. The development staff is making personal thank-you calls to all donors over $200 as opposed to a higher amount in the past.

We are meeting with more people on a face-to-face basis and decreasing direct mail activity. Relationship building for now and in the future is our focus. We have worked with our chaplains at both the Hospital and Hospice to host memorial ceremonies when we place leafs on our Trees of Life.

Our Employee Campaign this year was greater than ever because we stressed that during these difficult times, people still do fall ill and that the improvements the Campaign funds would not otherwise occur were it not for philanthropy. We met with as many departments in person as would allow us to present.

Regarding corporations as well as individuals, we are focusing on our existing partners as well as the ones who have no giving history. The latter is not typically advised but we are specifically seeking potential donors who may never have been asked. Then we are arranging private tours whereby our new friends are delighted to see the breadth of our service to the community. They really didn’t know who we were and who we served before the visit.

The number one reason why people give is because they are asked. Think of all the potential donors who are not being asked. If we don’t ask during hard times we are pre-judging people’s dedication to the causes they care about and may support especially when the need is greatest. Know what your need is. And be able to define what would happen to the constituency you serve were you to disappear.

Contact Mary Lee Gannon at www.ForbesHealthFoundation.org

Writing an Effective Membership Renewal Letter

Writing an Effective Membership Renewal Letter

by Bunnie Riedel, Host of Nonprofit Conversation

Some time ago, in the blog “Membership Renewal and Retention” (http://nonprofitconversation.blogspot.com/2009/01/membership-renewal-and-retention.html) I promised I would offer a sample membership renewal letter. And my Google Analytics is telling me that people are frequently searching for sample membership renewal letters, so I guess I better make good on my promise. Rather than providing a sample, I decided to provide step-by-step instructions because every nonprofit is different and it would be impossible to write a pristine one-size-fits-all letter.

Additionally, we have spent a great deal of time here discussing social media and technology, so now I’d like to advocate for good-old-fashioned-letter-in-the-mail membership renewal letters. There are a couple of reasons. Strictly sending a membership renewal via email will lower returns. People are inundated with email and the likelihood the recipient will delete the email without reading it is high. Your email may be seen as just another communiqué from the organization and easily dismissed. And while people are also inundated with postal mail, your chances are much better the recipient will add your renewal letter to their “bill” pile and write the renewal check while taking care of their usual obligations. You can do both, email the renewal letter and mail the renewal letter, that way all your bases are covered.

The Greeting

It is important to personalize the greeting. The address block should look like any business letter you do and the greeting should be “Dear Person’s First Name.” Example “Dear John.” If you are in a culture in which using a person’s first name is prohibited, then at least use a proper “Dear Mr. Smith.” But don’t use “Dear Member” or “Dear Supporter.” You should establish that your organization has a personal relationship with the member and that they are important to your organization and not just some anonymous check writer. Mail merging is a simple process, if your membership person doesn’t know how to do it, they need to learn.

The First Paragraph

The first paragraph must be an acknowledgement and a thank you to the member for their loyalty to your organization. Do not jump into “It’s membership renewal time!” Write a few lines thanking them for their past membership because after all, you are grateful for their membership, without it you wouldn’t have an organization.

Second and Third Paragraphs

Briefly tell them what the organization has accomplished in the past year. When I say “briefly” I mean “briefly.” Your organization may be the greatest on the planet but people do not have time to read a dissertation on its accomplishments. Personally, I am a fan of bullet points. And I am a fan of the rule of three’s (it’s actually an obsession I have). Tell me three great things you did with their membership dollars.

“Your membership enabled us to accomplish so much this year.

• We were able to beat back legislation on Capitol Hill that would have prohibited farming collectives in the Tennessee Valley. Our defeat of this legislation means that family farms will continue to thrive just as they have for over 150 years.

• We held our first-ever conference on “Why Water Matters” in Las Vegas, Nevada. Over 300 people attended the four day conference and we were able to award 50 conference scholarships to graduate students from universities throughout the country.

• We developed a media relations campaign with public service announcements for television and radio on why water conservation is so important. The “Waste Today, Thirst Tomorrow” campaign aired on over 400 television stations and 1,200 radio stations throughout the nation. The video public service announcements garnered a Telly Award as “Most Effective TV Campaign by a Nonprofit.”
  
  We’re proud of what we’ve been able to do and we could not have done it without you!"

Next Paragraph

Now tell them what you have planned for this year. Note, I said, “this year.” Not the next two or three or five years. You need their membership commitment to accomplish even greater things in the coming year. List a few of those great things you are going to do. Again, bullet points are my preference; short, sweet, bullet points. Also show some excitement about what you have planned…you just can’t wait to get to the projects! If some of what you have planned is continuing the programs you are already doing, that’s fine, but do emphasize why those programs are so necessary and important.

Finally “The Pitch”

The pitch or closing the deal,, whatever you prefer to call it. This is not the time to be shy, ask them to renew their membership and make it urgent “Please renew your membership today!” This is the paragraph (or two) where you might even include a premium for renewing quickly, such as: “If you renew your membership in the next two weeks, we will send you our lovely low-flow shower head so you can begin to conserve water right away!” This is also the place where you can ask them to renew at a higher level or add an extra amount to their membership.

The Close

Thank them again, let them know that if they need anything they can contact you and you will be happy to assist. The closing must be from the highest officer (Executive Director) or Chair of the Board, not the membership director. Make it warm and friendly, I think “Sincerely” is just fine but you can go beyond that with a “Your partner in water conservation, Jane Doe” if you choose, just make sure it’s not cheesy.

Technically

Here are some technical points:

• Try not to go over 2 pages. I once was in a seminar in which a direct mail consultant said the appeal letter had to be 4 pages. I completely disagree. People do not have time to read 4 pages, the mail package will cost you a lot more and nowadays, people see lots of paper as being wasteful. I recommend 2 one-sided pages so it has some weight, but if your organization is highly concerned about conservation, you can do a double sided letter (not my first choice).


• Do use recycled paper and envelopes, people notice things like that.


• Include a return envelope. You don’t have to provide postage and in fact, I recommend you do not provide postage as some will view that as waste. If they really like you, they will spring for the stamp.


• Be sure the outside envelope has “Address Correction Requested.” While you have to pay the return postage, in the long run it helps keep your list clean.


• Don’t forget to include the membership application.


• Be sure the signature of the Executive Director or Chair is in blue, not black. Even while most people understand that the membership letters are computer generated, having the signature in blue makes it look more personal.


• Be sure to send a thank you note, it can be brief, but acknowledge their membership. Many organizations like to provide membership cards, you can do that, but it’s very expensive, so unless having a membership card entitles them to some discounts or special events, you don’t need to do that. A nice thank you will suffice.

In the previous post I talked about when you should mail, how often you should mail, etc. You cannot mail one time and expect good results, you just can’t. Read the Membership Recruitment and Retention post mentioned at the top of this one for a membership renewal mailing strategy.

And, please do write me if you have any questions or need assistance info at riedelcommunications dot com

Thanks for reading! Bunnie