Lessons from a Soccer Fundraiser

 Uncategorized  Comments Off
Oct 102011
 

I have two daughters who play soccer with the local youth soccer organization. It makes for some action-packed weeks in the fall and the spring!

It also puts us in line for every fundraiser the soccer organization conducts — team photos, individual photos, MLS and college team partnership promotions and ticket sales. Most of the time, I’m happy to participate and feel glad to be contributing to sports programs for kids in our community.

But the other day, I received an email from someone affiliated with the soccer organization demanding that each parent on my older daughter’s team purchase two tickets to a local university soccer game, chiding those who had not yet contributed.

Now, as it happens, we’d already purchased tickets for our family through our younger daughter’s team. I explained that to the representative who emailed me back saying, “Okay, you’re fine then.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa! I know this person is almost certainly a volunteer, but somebody with the soccer club needs to give their volunteers a lesson in donor relations!

So let’s examine what went wrong with this Ask and figure out how it could have been done better.

The Offer

The first email we received about this particular fundraiser contained no details, just a vague mention of the need to purchase tickets to a soccer game at the university. I didn’t know who was playing the game — was it our kids? Or the university team? Or an exhibition game for our local MLS team? I didn’t know when the game was scheduled. Would we even be able to attend if we did purchase the tickets? And how was the money raised going to be used by the club?

The Ask

I know that no fundraising professional out there would demand a gift. But do you train your volunteers and program staff how to ask for donations? It’s all too easy for a volunteer to take a simple request that each family buy two tickets and turn it into extortion. Make sure they understand that donations are voluntary. And no one should ever be chided for declining to participate.

The Thank You

And of course, every donor should be thanked, genuinely and promptly. Tell them what their contribution means to the organization. Do my tickets to the university soccer game help pay for club equipment? Or scholarships for budding soccer phenoms in need? Make sure I know that up front and remind me when you say a heartfelt “Thank you.”

Don’t let anyone in your organization — staff, volunteer or friend — inadvertently create ill-will as they try to help raise money. Drill in the importance of treating donors with respect and gratitude, and you’ll see donations rise.

 Posted by Richelle at 12:11 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,

What Nonprofits Can Learn from Netflix

 Nonprofit  2 Responses »
Sep 192011
 

I read the email from Netflix Co-Founder and CEO Reed Hastings this morning with a mixture of disbelief and amusement. A lot of people have summed up the new changes, which include dividing the company into two entities, with Netflix responsible for streaming video, and the new unfortunately named Qwikster responsible for DVDs. Despite Mr. Hastings’ emotional admission that he “messed up”, his statement remains almost as tone deaf as the one he made earlier this year when he announced controversial new price structures.

Which is why I think the Netflix debacle holds a great lesson for nonprofits.

A lot of nonprofits have had to reinvent, restructure and reassess over the last few years of economic turmoil. Some have cut back on donor newsletters and magazines, others have laid off staff, sold assets, and consolidated services. A lot of the time, you can get away with making big changes without informing donors. But when financial or other concerns force you to make big public changes, how do you communicate that to your loyal donors?

Not like Netflix.

The big mistake the Internet media company made wasn’t raising its prices or splitting its business — or even lacking “respect and humility”. It was not understanding what its customers liked about the service it provided.

When I read Mr. Hastings’ statement, I wondered if anyone in the PR department actually uses the Netflix service. Customers flocked to Netflix because they could get DVDs and streaming content. They saw the company as a content-delivery service with multiple avenues for delivering that content.

But the company saw itself differently. Where customers saw one service, Netflix saw two (DVD and streaming) and decided to charge for each. Which they probably could have gotten away with pretty easily had they made moves to separate the services in customers’ minds before they announced the big price hike. (I have no words for the new Qwikster service. WHY are they making it harder for people? Why?)

The lesson: You must listen to your donors. Know how they perceive your organization, what they like and what they don’t like. See where their goals and your goals meet and where they diverge. If you must make a change you know will be unpopular, see if you can steer your communication efforts so that your donors will understand where you’re headed and why.

You’ll always get complaints, and most of the time, that’s good. It means your donors are paying attention.

But if you understand where they are coming from, you can communicate your changes more effectively, and avoid the kind of controversy — and mass exodus of once-loyal supporters — Netflix has enjoyed the last few months.

 Posted by Richelle at 3:41 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Three Ways to Collect Testimonials

 creativity, Nonprofit  Comments Off
Sep 062011
 

Collecting testimonials can happen out in the field, on the phone or during events!

We all know we should be collecting testimonials from our Members, board members, constituents, volunteers and those affected by our organization’s work. They’re the stuff of fundraising gold, able to leverage gifts more effectively than any facts and figures can ever do.

But how do you collect them?

Listen

Nonprofit professionals work long, hard, often thankless hours. By the time you answer that 50th phone call or head off to that Friday night Member event, it’s hard to remember what your own name is, much less to muster the energy to actively chase down testimonials.

So don’t.

All you have to do is listen. People want to tell you their stories. They want you to know why they support your organization and what your cause has meant to them. Give them the space to say what they want to say, and they’ll give you the gift of a shining testimonial. (You might have to take notes, though!)

Ask the Right Questions

Some people need more guidance than others. If you find yourself with someone who has a story to tell but doesn’t know how to tell it, ask them a few questions to get them thinking in the right direction:

  • How did you become involved with this organization/issue?
  • Why are you passionate about it?
  • What have you seen personally that drives you to support this organization/issue?
  • What does the organization’s work accomplish? For you? For your community? For the world?
  • What would the world look like if this problem was solved?
  • What are the barriers to solving it?

Any one of these questions can get people’s testimonial juices flowing — and give you oodles of great stuff to use in your fundraising.

Get Everyone In On the Act

Testimonials are great for fundraising, but collecting them is not just the job of fundraisers. In fact, the best testimonials often come from program staff as they’re out in the field because they’re the ones who see firsthand what needs to be done and how your organization is progressing.

All staff members — program staff, executive staff, board members, interns and volunteers — should be on the lookout for good testimonials.

Make it easy for everyone with these ideas:

  • Create a special Testimonials folder on the file server
  • Put a box on the conference table for collecting handwritten stories
  • Make a My Story form donors and friends can fill out at events
  • Learn how to use the audio recording feature on your smartphone so you can capture stories in the moment
  • Give a prize for “Testimonial of the Month”
  • Start every staff meeting off by reading one or two of the stories you’ve collected to inspire and inform

How does your organization collect and share testimonials? I’d love to hear your suggestions!

 Posted by Richelle at 11:39 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Tips & Tricks: Letter Length

 Nonprofit, Tips and Tricks  Comments Off
Aug 102011
 

The other day, I sent an acquisition letter to the new development director at an organization I’ve worked with for several years. The letter had gone through the rounds with her predecessor, but we wanted him to make sure he was comfortable with the language, the tone, and most importantly, the facts as laid out in the piece.

His #1 comment? This letter is too long! Nobody’s going to read all that.

How long is too long?

The only good answer, of course, is as long as it needs to be. But there are a few general guidelines you can follow.

There was a time when 6-page letters were not unusual, but these days, most direct mail is 2 pages or 4 pages. Why not 3? Paper costs — there’s simply no good reason to have a blank page (the back of page 3) in your package. That’s space that could be better used to sell your cause or make your case. If you’re running 3 pages and can’t cut, make sure your margins are nice and big, your paragraphs short. Try adding one more testimonial, or a personal story from the signer. But don’t waste that last page!

A 2-pager

I like 2-page letters for simpler, more straightforward campaigns. Those that have easy-to-understand asks with no need for a lot of explanation or history work well in shorter letters. Urgent actions — we have 14 days to save this animal’s life!, for example — are perfect for 2-page letters.

Sometimes financial constraints can dictate a shorter letter. If you need to save money, getting rid of that second piece of paper is an easy way to do it. But make sure you can still make your case in those two pages.

A 4-pager

There’s a reason this has been the standard for so long: it works. No, people may not read every word, but they do skim through, and if they can see that you’ve used those four pages well — with testimonials, facts, a story or two, and urgency — they’ll feel good about giving to you, knowing that you are knowledgeable and passionate about your issue.

Especially when you’re introducing someone to your organization or asking them to take a specific action, it’s nice to have that extra space to tell them why their support is so important right now.

Test, test, test!

Letter length is a fantastic test. You may think your donors like the short-and-sweet letters you’ve been sending out, only to find out they really do respond better when you tell them more. Often, organizations “cheat” on letter length by narrowing the margins and running paragraphs together. Test and see if more air in your letter — even if it runs to 4 pages — bumps up response.

Conversely, if you’ve been sending out 4-page letters for years, you might save a bundle by switching it up to 2-pagers.

Many of my clients like to switch it up depending on a number of factors: how many people are getting the mailing (the smaller mailings often get 2-pagers to save on up front costs), the subject, the action required, the signer, the printing turnaround (there are some 2-page formats that can be turned around in 48 hours at the printer), etc.

The message

Above all, the message you’re communicating should drive the letter length. Donors don’t like it when you pad your letter with boring repetition, just so you can fill out 4 pages. And they don’t like feeling like you left out important details just to keep your page count down.

 Posted by Richelle at 4:17 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,

3 Ways to Involve Your Donors

 Nonprofit  1 Response »
Aug 042011
 

One of the easiest ways to get people fired up about your organization is to involve them directly in your work. Give them a piece of the action, and they’ll be that much more invested in your mission…which means they’ll invest in you.

So how do you get them involved? Try these three simple involvement devices that can work wonders:

Petitions

I work with a lot of activist causes, so one of my favorite involvement devices is the Petition. Petitions are win-win for organizations and donors. Your people make their voices heard, and you have a chorus behind you on some of your biggest issues.

A few of key points to consider when doing a Petition: first, it’s best if the Petition goes to someone your donors have heard of and who has the clout to make the change you’re asking for. The President, prominent members of Congress, corporate CEOs or business titans — these are all great targets. Second, make sure you’re asking for something sufficiently large enough to warrant a Petition. Your donors want to help you move mountains, not drive the truck around the block. Finally, make sure you deliver them as promised! Nothing zaps your credibility faster than collecting a stack of petitions that don’t ever make it out of your office.

Surveys

Nearly everyone loves a Survey. Like the Petition, this gives your donor the chance to make their opinion known. You can make it narrow by asking specific questions about one current issue your organization is working on, or you can ask a series of questions about the overall work your organization is doing, or, for current supporters, how you’re doing.

I like to include a survey toward the end of a Renewal series as a way of prompting late responders to finally renew — or say why they won’t. Two caveats: keep surveys short — 5-7 questions is best — and always use the final question to lead toward the gift.

Declarations

I’ve used this involvement device sparingly, but when you are launching a huge campaign, changing the direction of an organization, or pushing for policy change on a massive scale, a Declaration of Support can be a great involvement device.

Structured much like a Petition, a Declaration enables you to lay out your entire case in a few lines, then asks your donors to sign their support. You get donor buy-in for big campaigns or organizational changes, and donors get the satisfaction of being visionary leaders helping to guide and support exciting new endeavors. Again, it’s not for every campaign, but when you’ve got a blockbuster, a Declaration of Support might be just the thing to involve your donors.

One key point to remember: For all three of these involvement devices, about 1/3 to 1/2 of your responses may come back with no money. Don’t panic — these no-money responders have proven they care about your issue. They’ll reward you in the future if you keep giving them the chance.

There are many other kinds of involvement devices — from membership cards, to tear-off forms, and much more. But these are three of my favorites for nonprofits because they’re affordable and they invite your donors to become more invested in your mission than they were before.

What are your favorite involvement devices? Is there something else I should add to my bag of tricks? Post in the comments.

 Posted by Richelle at 1:54 pm  Tagged with: , , , , ,

It IS Personal

 Nonprofit  Comments Off
Jul 282011
 

Direct mailer writers always talk about making our mail ”personal”. For us that means lots of “I, you, we”, using a conversational tone, and, quite often, fudging the rules of grammar a bit.

But the other day, a couple of things happened that reminded me that there is another way to keep things personal — something it’s all too easy to forget in this day and age of social media connections and conducting business by e-mail.

First, I ran into an acquaintance who runs an arts organization. She was thrilled because her group had just been notified that they were the recipients of a big grant. I congratulated her, and she told me this story:

“You know, we thought for sure we were out of the running this year. The group giving the grant just announced they were eliminating arts funding! So when I got word, I immediately called them up to say ‘thank you’. The man in charge of granting the awards told me that he had gone against the new policy specifically for us because he remembered meeting our Executive Director and having a great conversation with her at an unrelated event. Personal connections really do count!”

Do they ever.

A similar thing happened to me a couple of months ago. A client I’d been working with for a couple of years went through some restructuring. They completely reevaluated all of their old contracts with an eye on reinventing their program from the ground up. I fully expected to lose the business.

But the Development Director called me up and asked that I stay on, one of the few contractors asked to do so. Now, I’m sure my strong work ethic and quality product played a part in that decision. But the tipping point?

I took the time while on a vacation in their city to stop by and meet the gang at their office.

This wasn’t actually a calculated move on my part. At the time, I had no idea that they were planning on restructuring. I just wanted to be able to put faces to the e-mail addresses and conference call voices. But those couple of hours out of my vacation paid off.

Those face-to-face connections are important — maybe even more so now that so many of us do business with people across the country…or across the globe. It might take a little extra time and effort, but the payoff could make it all worth it.

 Posted by Richelle at 1:06 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Angling for donors

 Nonprofit  Comments Off
Jul 182011
 

It's hard work reeling in donors. Don't leave the fishing to amateurs.

The other day, I overheard a development professional I know telling a potential client, “I like to let board members have input into all direct mail copy.”

My alarm bells went off, and I wanted to jump in and offer all sorts of unsolicited opinions about that. But instead, I decided I’d just save them for you.

Now, he went on to explain that he likes to involve board members so they have buy-in to the direct mail program — a sort of “We’re all in this together, folks!” idea. I am all for inclusion and board buy-in.

In fact, I believe wholeheartedly that everyone involved in your organization, from the board president to the once-a-month volunteer, should know what’s going on in the organization and be able to communicate that.

But.

A few years ago, I wrote a letter for an organization run by a very respected, very intelligent scientist. He was widely published in prominent scientific journals and national newspapers and magazines. He was a great writer, and he hated the letter I wrote for them. Ripped it to shreds. He deplored the overly emotional tone and the use of 2nd person point-of-view. He was adamant that his donors would see through such a hackneyed ask and leave the organization in droves.

Naturally, I was upset. I had worked extremely hard getting the complex technical details in the appeal right and melding those with the kind of impassioned, personal plea I know works in direct mail.

The development staff and I sat down and discussed how to proceed, and eventually, we convinced the executive director to test his approach vs. my approach. The results were definitive in my favor.

Now, this guy was a Ph.D. He had a couple of decades of experience in writing about his subject on me. But he didn’t — at that time — know direct mail at all.

Unless your board members — or other people you’re asking to read your direct mail copy — are or have been involved with direct mail before, it is likely that they’ll look at a good appeal letter and see all the same things my scientist client saw: hyperbole, simplified language, lots of “you”, too much bold and underlines — things that academic writers are trained to avoid like the plague.

There’s a reason hopeful anglers like to hire guides when they go on a big fishing expedition: they want an expert to show them where the fish are and what they’re biting on. Rather than tossing their lines out and seeing what happens, they’re taking the expert’s advice and adapting it to their equipment.

Your direct mail program needs that same care. If you take bits of advice from every angler on the river, you’re not going to catch as many donors as you want.

Buy-in is great. But educated buy-in is better. So make sure anyone reviewing your direct mail letters has a good Direct Mail 101 course — or at least read an article like this one from Fundraising Success — before they toss in their line. And happy fishing!

 Posted by Richelle at 10:59 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,

The Passion Behind the Ask

 Nonprofit  Comments Off
Jul 112011
 

“Passionate people are the only advocates which always persuade. The simplest man with passion will be more persuasive than the most eloquent without.”

~Francois de La Rochefoucauld

You are the best advocate for your organization.

Which means that everyone at the organization – from the receptionist, to the IT person, to the program staff, to the Executive Director – is a fundraiser.

Daunted? Don’t be.

I’ve been writing direct mail fundraising letters for fourteen years. And as I’ve talked to countless staff members, trying to gather the information needed to produce a blockbuster piece, there’s one question I’ve learned to ask first:

Why are YOU so passionate about this issue/problem/organization?

Because when you’re trying to raise support – whether it’s time, money or energy – for your organization, you’re talking to people. And people want to hear the good stuff before putting that all-important signature on the check.

They want to be moved. They want to feel they can make a difference. They want to connect with their tribe and feel they’re part of something greater than themselves.

And if you’re trying to get their money (or time, or referrals, or anything else), you’ve got to convince them that you can give them what they want. The best way I’ve found to do that is to convey your passion.

That’s one of the things I love about direct mail. It’s personal, it’s impassioned, and it conveys key things about your organization, its mission and its issues in a concise and friendly way. While asking for money!

But that ask starts with your passion. After all, a direct mail letter is a personal letter from one person at your organization to one donor. That one donor — multiplied by the thousands of letters you send out — needs to sense your excitement about the cause, your commitment to working on it. They need to feel that YOU are absolutely convinced that your organization is the best for the job.

When they can feel every ounce of your passion in that ask, that’s when they are most moved to give.

So, what do you love about your work? And why should it matter to the rest of us?

 Posted by Richelle at 10:15 am  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Tip: Photos in Direct Mail

 Nonprofit, Tips and Tricks  Comments Off
Jul 052011
 

The other day, a client asked what I thought about using photos in direct mail. I sat down to shoot off a couple-sentence answer and ended up writing several paragraphs about my experience with photos — the good, the bad and the complicated.

The next day, I stumbled across this article from Jeff Brooks at Future Fundraising Now, which could have saved me a lot of trouble if I’d found it earlier! I agree with his advice to test, test, test…but here are some other thoughts I shared with my client about photos.

The Good

When you find a photo that tells your story, use it. The story should be clear at a glance, or easily understood with minimal text. Color is best, but black and white or sepia can be effective for some photos. People and animals work better than things.

The Outer Envelope, the Letter and Inserts are the best places for photos. But if you’re going for an image on the envelope, it needs to be particularly strong. Remember, your number one goal with the outer envelope is to get it opened, so any photo you use has to be intriguing and compelling. And you need to follow up on that intrigue in your letter copy, or the people who open the envelope are going to feel cheated.

Offering a free gift? Include a photo of the gift. Inserts are great for this, and you see many organizations put the premium photo on the OE. But be careful that you’re not over-selling the premium to the detriment of the organization and your cause.

MercyCorps is one organization that uses photos well, as is NRDC — check them out.

The Bad

I have been involved in testing photos on OEs, letters, inserts and replies. Results were generally either even with no photos, or unimpressive, with a couple of exceptions like those noted above. It would be easy to assume that photos just don’t work, but the real story is this: BAD photos don’t work.

Photos of people standing around — even important people — are ineffective in direct mail. Got a photo of your executive director shaking hands with President Obama? Great! But please don’t put it in your direct mail. Landscapes often make beautiful photos, but they’re a difficult sell in direct mail…unless they tell that compelling story.

And even the best photos are no good if you have to run them so small that it’s hard to tell what’s in them.

Bottom line: if your photo isn’t going to entice a donor to give, then you’re better off without it.

The Complicated

If you’re running the photo in color, that will mean additional printing costs. Be sure to check to see if you need permission to reprint it, and what kind of attribution you need to supply. Using more photos means less room for copy, so if you have a wordy copywriter or an organizational tendency to include a lot of information in your letters, you’ll have to remember to cut.

I really do like using photos in direct mail. When done well, they can boost response and give your donors a great sense of what your organization is all about. But it’s important to choose the right photo, put it in the right place, and test, test, test!

 

 Posted by Richelle at 9:54 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

Three Ways to Keep Copy Fresh

 creativity, Nonprofit  Comments Off
Jun 272011
 

The other day, my 8-year-old asked me what I did at work. Patiently, I explained (again) that I write letters asking for money for organizations that help people. She rolled her eyes and said, “I know that! I meant what did you do today?” I told her that I worked on a letter for one of my clients. She heaved a big, 8-year-old sigh and said, “Yeah…but, well, do you just write the same letter over and over?”

Nearly every time I sit down at the computer and stare at the blank screen, it feels like a brand new mountain to climb. There are new facts to learn, new victories to share, new programs to ask for money for. Most of the time, I feel energized by the work that I do. Each letter is a new opportunity to delve deeper into an organization’s mission and to find new ways of telling their story.

But everyone has days where work feels like, well, work.

And one of the most important parts of my work is making sure I don’t write the same letter over and over. Believe me, donors can tell when you’re phoning it in. They know when your copy is less-than-inspired, and they respond by NOT responding.

So how do I keep it fresh each and every time?

  1. Micro-editing. Like all writers, I have words and phrases I favor. Organizations have those too. I combat all that boilerplate with aggressive line-by-line editing. A stronger word or a more active phrase can liven up even the most lifeless copy.
  2. Read it aloud. A direct mail letter is a personal letter from one individual at your organization to one donor. It should sound like that person talking to a friend. When you read it aloud, you can hear those boring recitations of facts for what they are: turn-offs. Bonus — you can also spot the complicated turns-of-phrase, the too-long sentences and the just-plain-awkward asks.
  3. Turn it on its head. Say something unexpected. Use a metaphor or simile that no one would anticipate. Ask a question that cuts to the heart of your issue (and leads the donor right to where you want them to go). Take advantage of literary techniques like assonance and alliteration. Make a pun. Unleash your creativity and see where it takes your letter. (You can always cut those bits that don’t work out, but taking the risk is bound to pay off now and then!)

I told my daughter a few more details about the letter I was working on that day — for an environmental organization — and it led to a great dinner-table discussion about conservation and natural resources. The next day, I heard her telling one of her friends, “My mom writes a lot of letters, but they’re not all the same, even though it kind of sounds like they could be.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

 Posted by Richelle at 10:58 am  Tagged with: , , , , , , , ,
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