Tear-Jerkers or Not? July 27, 2011 By Ewlacasse

Selecting a photo to represent your mission—in an ad, PSA, brochure, solicitation—is always a challenge.  There is the inclination to show the desperate conditions of the people you serve, the conditions you seek to change.  On the other hand, you’d like to show the results you can achieve with the donor’s help.  Which is it?

The Austin (TX) Humane Society, with the aid of their ad agency Door Number 3, recently reported  a measurable positive response when they dropped their grim spots about animal abuse and neglect  last year and replaced them with more cheerful messages focusing on lifelong bonds and emotional connections between owners and their pets.

They changed the tone of their website with humorous videos starring talking animals and an on-line game called “Trap Cat,” educating players about the charity’s efforts to spay and neuter feral cats.

Results have been impressive. By the end of 2010, the Austin Humane Society reported a 13-percent rise in contributions, not including bequests and other planned gifts, reports Amanda Ryan-Smith, director of development. During the first half of 2011, the upswing is maintaining: the charity’s 2010 year-end appeal based on the ad campaign’s approach generated $100,000, double the amount it had raised in 2009.

Increased giving has not been the only benefit of the new marketing strategy. Animal adoptions also increased last year and have continued to grow. From January through April of this year, for example, the humane society has placed 838 pets with new owners, up from 770 during the same months in 2010. What’s more, the charity doubled volunteer hours in 2010.

Perhaps the appeal of “desperate” depictions works in the short run with animal lovers.  It just may be that, in today’s world, hope and documented results are a better, and longer-lasting draw.  If you make such a change, be sure and document the results, and be sure to let us know!

"No More Asks"? Try this for size! June 26, 2011 By Ewlacasse

Last month in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Holly Hall reported on the success of a nonprofit that sends an appeal promising never to ask for another donation.  Hall received the solicitation from Smile Train, an international foundation that trains professionals as well as treats children with cleft palate.  No kidding: the envelope read:  “Make one gift now and we’ll never ask for another donation again.”

Brian Dearth, Smile Train’s chief marketing officer, explained:  The idea was hatched during a staff brainstorming session (see June 6 GiftWorks Fundraising Blog).  And it’s a perfect fit with Smile Train’s mission.  They perform one-time surgery which changes a child’s life forever.  Why not offer a prospective donor the same satisfaction?

Intriguing idea: but does it work? Dearth reports that the “one gift” offer, as the solicitation is called, proved so effective in 2008 tests that it’s now used in all of Smile Train’s mailings to recruit donors. He declined to provide specific figures but says the appeal is a “significant improvement” over the charity’s previous approach to winning new donors.

When a donor responds to the mailing with a gift, they can indicate whether they want:  never to be asked again, to receive limited communications, or to receive regular updates from the charity.  Those who check off the “never” box do receive a thank-you note and the receipt and, later, a mailing showing a child who’s been helped, but no more requests for money.

It’s a startling idea, but it shows how thinking outside of the box can provide some fresh, new approaches.  Especially when you think of the hundreds of solicitations vying for the same donor dollar as you are:  Doing something new that will get the envelope opened is a great idea.  Maybe “no more asks” isn’t the approach for you; but brainstorm what you might do that will get your prospects to take notice and to open the envelope—where you then have a second chance to engage them to join you!

What's Missing from Most Email Campaigns? April 17, 2011 By Ewlacasse

By David Simpson Co-Founder, GoldMail, Inc

Here’s an interesting take on pumping emotion into your appeals, found on Down Ticket Dems http://www.downticketdems.com/

Most contributions at the grass roots level are driven in by emotion.  And, ironically, as campaigns rely increasingly upon Facebook, Twitter and email blasts, that key motivator – the emotional message – doesn’t get conveyed very well to the prospective donors or volunteers.

I only give when I feel inspired, when I feel angry, when I feel optimistic, when I feel the passion and sincerity of the person asking me.  It’s a visceral response, which gets tempered by my intellect. But, without igniting those feelings in me, you don’t have a shot at getting me to open my checkbook.

I’m not alone.  Click through rates in email – that all-important gauge of whether you’ve “touched” the recipient – are low – and dropping. I’ve not seen any studies yet of click-through rates on Twitter and Facebook, but I suspect they have the same challenges. That moment when you have someone’s attention needs to be compelling, it needs to engage the emotions, and too often this doesn’t happen.

The gaping hole in Twitter, Facebook and most email campaigns, is their silence. There’s no audio. There nothing to engage the ears. The messages are text and visuals.  We know from our own experience that when you can engage both the ears and the eyes, your message is absorbed more fully, and the message stays with you much longer….

This phenomenon was highlighted recently in a fundraising email campaign by a national non-profit. The first email campaign used only pictures and text – and it resulted in a 1.2% click through rate. A few weeks later, the campaign was repeated to the same list, and it resulted in a 7.1% click through rate – and donations increased by a factor of 5!  The difference was that the second solicitation had audio-visual content – a very engaging, personal and obviously sincere appeal from a real person – the head of the campaign. His tone of voice conveyed his passion and his integrity – and the urgency of the need. The recipients were touched – and the results were far better. (Here’s the appeal that was in the email blast: http://play.goldmail.com/vdqsq80xk28p)

So, as you create new messages – whether you share them via Twitter, Facebook or email, don’t leave out the most important element – your emotion. Let your passion and commitment be heard – loud and clear!  It will do wonders for your response rates.

David Simpson, Co-Founder, GoldMail, Inc.   www.goldmail.com.  GoldMail is a platform that permits the rapid creation of audio-visual content that can be published/shared over every email system and on all social media.  GoldMail has committed free service to any bona fide nonprofit. To find out more, please email david.simpson@goldmail.com 

 

Separate Prospects from Suspects Before Pressing "Send" January 27, 2011 By Steve Fafel

Tom Ruwitch, Founder of MarketVolt

Let prospects identify their interest by clicking a link.

My 18-year-old cousin received an email from a nonprofit (which shall remain nameless, but let’s call it DoGoodDeeds) last month, promoting the organization’s new website and inviting him to register for a free webinar about planned giving. After opting out from the nonprofit’s mailing list, my cousin asked me: “Why would they send me this junk?” My reply, “Because you had joined their list, and they probably send everything to everybody every time.”

My cousin subscribed to DoGood Deeds email list a few months ago. He appreciated the organization’s mission, and he was probably going to make a donation this month. But he’s not a planned giving prospect. Not surprisingly, when a teen receives an email about end-of-life planning, he finds it creepy and inappropriate. “I don’t even have a girlfriend,” he wrote. “Why would I want to talk to these guys about my will?!” 

Don’t make the same mistake! Do not send everything to everybody every time. Email marketing is a great tool, in part, because it’s relatively inexpensive and easy to use. Press send and – voila – several thousand constituents receive your message. We all understand that it usually takes more than one touch to snag a prospective donor or volunteer. Combine email’s ease-of-use and affordability with the need for multiple hits and you naturally want to press Send, over and over and over.

If recipients don’t find your email pertinent to their interests—or, worse yet, if they find it creepy or offensive, you lose a prospect forever.

 But if recipients do not consider your email content pertinent to their interests – or, worse yet, if they find it creepy or counter to their interests – they will press Delete, Opt-out, click the Spam button, or all of the above. Then, as happened with my cousin, you lose a prospect forever.

So what’s a fundraising professional with a tight marketing budget to do? You have to separate prospects from suspects. You have to segment your lists so that you can deliver targeted messages only to true prospects.

Let’s look at a better way to promote planned giving:

• Include an item about the program in your email newsletter. The newsletter should include a little bit of everything so that all readers will find something worth reading.
• Include a link to “Read More” that points to additional information on your website.
• Use a system that can track who clicks the link. A few days after sending the newsletter, pull the list of people who clicked that link and save that list as “planned giving prospects.” Then send the email about planned giving and the webinar only to your Planned Giving Prospects

You can use the same approach for virtually any business goal you have – raising volunteers, identifying and cultivating major donor prospects, connecting with prospective donors for a specific program.

Use link-tracking in your general interest newsletter to segment your list, and then deliver targeted messages to the prospects you’ve identified.

If DoGoodDeeds had taken this approach, they could have developed their planned giving program, kept my cousin in the fold, and received a donation from him later this month. 

Tom Ruwitch runs an interactive marketing firm in St. Louis, MO. MarketVolt provides email marketing software that can be used in conjunction with GiftWorks, as well as consulting services to nonprofit and for-profit businesses to help them maximize the value of lifetime relationships. To download a free copy of Tom’s e-book High-Voltage Marketing, visit MarketVolt.com/book.

 

Ingredients for Capital Campaign Success August 5, 2010 By Mary Pat Donnellon

by Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE

If a capital campaign is in your organization’s future, you will want to do everything you can to ensure success, including:

• having strong annual fund history,
• setting a realistic goal,
• establishing a sufficient pool of qualified prospects,
• building strong staff support,
• creating gift acceptance policies,
• setting up a campaign organizational structure, and
• purchasing an adequate donor software system.

Strong infrastructure is a key prerequisite to a successful campaign. A good donor software program will enable you to assess the level of current support, identify major donors, and track campaign gifts and pledges accurately. In addition to software, other infrastructure requirements include gift acceptance policies and office procedures for handling donations. A planning study will help you identify your internal strengths and weaknesses and assess community support. Analysis of successful campaigns point to three additional ingredients as the most crucial:

• writing a compelling case for support,
• recruiting a committed board of directors, and
• developing strong volunteer leadership.

These three key ingredients should be in place before a decision is made to go forward with a capital campaign. Let's look at them one at a time.

Case for Support

To conduct a successful capital campaign, an organization must first have a clear, compelling case for support that inspires and motivate volunteers and donors. The case is often referred to as being “bigger than the organization.” It talks about the people who will be served, the importance of the project to the community, and the difference the donor can make in the lives of people by supporting the campaign.

Once the preliminary case is tested during a planning study, it should be reviewed again in light of input received by community leaders. If it is found that the case is not strong enough, the time may not be right for your organization to run a campaign, at least not for this project.

Board of Directors

Board commitment must be present before an organization proceeds with a campaign. Board commitment means that the board is committed to this campaign in every respect—emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and financially. The board should pass a resolution approving the campaign once the planning study report is received and discussed. At last five or six board members should be willing to serve on the campaign cabinet.

One hundred percent of the board must make a financial commitment before any other gifts are solicited for the campaign. It will be crucial to show other funders that the family of the organization has made its commitment first, and at the highest level possible for each board member. This is the time to ask board members to stretch their giving to a truly visionary level.

Volunteer Leadership

Good volunteer leadership can make or break a campaign. It is essential to select a campaign chair or chairs who can inspire others to become involved and to support the campaign—even if the selection process takes several months. A recruitment package should be prepared that includes the case for support, the campaign timeline, and position descriptions for each member of the campaign cabinet, along with an organizational chart.

The campaign chair should be someone who believes in your organization's mission and supports it wholeheartedly, ideally someone who has been involved with your organization, and someone who is known and respected in the community and has the ability to both give a leadership-level gift and to solicit leadership gifts from others.

Once the campaign chair is in place, others key positions on the cabinet should be filled. These volunteers will, in turn, recruit others to serve on the campaign as needed.

With effective volunteer leadership, full board commitment, and a compelling case for support, most campaigns will succeed.

---

Linda Lysakowski, ACFRE, is president and CEO of Capital Venture, a full-service consulting company that specializes in capital campaigns, development audits and plans, and board development and training. Linda is the author of numerous books; her new book on capital campaigns will be released later this year. For more information on capital campaigns and other fundraising information, visit www.cvfundraising.com.

Middletown Area Senior Center July 29, 2009 By Mary Pat Donnellon

"Fundraising is the art of maintaining relationships, and GiftWorks makes that easy," says the volunteer fund director of this organization.

In 2005-07, the Middletown (Ohio) Senior Citizens Center conducted a fund drive and built a new, state-of-the-art facility.  But there was not an on-going campaign to support the facility.  As a recent retiree, I volunteered to help establish a development department to conduct an annual campaign.  In the past, as a college administrator, I had done fund raising, but I had never operated a software program.  Upon the recommendation of a professional, I purchased GiftWorks.  And I am glad I did!  I downloaded the manual and set up the program.  At every step I found it easy to use, and there was always support available from GiftWorks if I needed it.  After two or three weeks, we were up and running.

To make a long story short, we have been able to raise over $70,000 since I began in November, 2008, and I am very proud of that.  All of my records are neat, up to date, and easy to manage.  Fundraising is the art of maintaining relationships, and GiftWorks makes that easy.

The mission of the Middletown (Ohio) Area Senior Center is to serve maturing men and women by addressing those needs and interests that contribute to their continuing health, employment, and independence.  In the current economic atmosphere we need to help support our senior citizens, many of whom are quite vulnerable.  As it turned out, the increased need for home-delivered meals, transportation, in-home care and other programs operated by the Center have caused membership to triple in one year to 2300 members.  An increasing number of persons over 60 years of age has placed a heavy burden on services, and the Center needs to fund vital programs for the elderly.  An on-going annual campaign maintained and supported by our GiftWorks Program will help make that possible.  I have been more than happy to recommend GiftWorks to other organizations with which I am familiar.

 

Getting the Most Out of the Holidays December 13, 2005 By Steve Fafel

Your mailings are out, your events are almost all in the past, and you're looking forward to the holiday break. In the meantime, what are you working on?

A lot of our customers are working on their 2006 budgets. Some are using the time as an opportunity to clean up after another long year. And some are taking stock, thinking through what they can do next year.

I'm planning a lot. I find the best way to get things done is to set the general plan, set specific goals and dates, and then get buy-in from my co-workers. From there we finalize the plans and get to work on them. Plan, engage, execute. I'm pretty sure I borrowed that from Andy Grove of Intel, but it's a good one.

So what are you doing as the year closes? Post your comments below.