Have you upset one of your donors recently? Just how mad do you suppose they are at you, on a scale of 1 to 10? Take this quiz and find out. Continue reading
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Your donors have only one question that bothers them.
If you want to acquire more donors, you have to answer it. If you want to raise more net revenue, you need to answer it. And if you want to increase the lifetime value of your donors, you must answer it.
Here’s their question: “How will my donation change the world?” Continue reading
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Yes, grandma tweets daily about her arthritis and buys her cat food on eBay, but how does she prefer to donate, online or offline?
Yes, mailing a fundraising letter costs more than sending an email appeal. But which method brings in the most net revenue for most non-profits?
Yes, you prefer to communicate by email than by mail, but which method do your most profitable donors prefer?
The answers to these questions are best settled by the facts. The debate between direct mail fundraising versus online fundraising is settled, at least for the next 10 years. Here’s why. Continue reading
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The ten dumbest words ever spoken in the English language are: “We don’t have money in our fundraising budget for that.”
The people who say this most often are board members. Uninformed board members. Timid board members. Board members who don’t understand that charitable organizations live or die by their donors, and that you and I must spend money to acquire, steward, upgrade and retain our donors.
The surest way to win board approval for your donor acquisition and stewardship budget is to know your long-term donor value. Continue reading
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Fundraising consultant and researcher Penelope Burk of Cygnus Applied Research says direct mail is declining in popularity. She is wrong. Continue reading
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The key to raising money online isn’t Facebook or YouTube or Twitter or a donate button on every webpage.
It’s email.
Email is the tool that gets your message into the mind of your donor and persuades her to return to your website to make a donation. Continue reading
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Nothing says more about the success of your fundraising program than the lifetime value of your average donor.
Average lifetime value, of course, is the gross income you receive from your typical donor during the time the donor is giving to your charity.
Donors to your charity give different amounts. Some give a lot. Some give a little. Some give often, some give seldom. Some give one gift. Others give multiple gifts. Some give for a year. Others give for decades. Some give through one channel (direct mail, for example). Others give through multiple channels (direct mail, online, phone, special events).
Your goal as a fundraiser is to figure out how long your average donor gives to your organization, and how much that donor gives during that “lifetime.” You should know what this number is for every fundraising channel, and for all channels combined. Continue reading
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Thank your donors promptly and personally every time they mail you a gift.
Describe how you are using the donor’s last gift the way the donor intended. The majority of long-term, faithful donors give to make a difference, and many will not give again until they know their last gift was put to good use the way they wanted—so show ample proof. Continue reading
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Direct mail fundraising is a soccer game where the opposing team keeps moving the goal posts.
A premium that worked last year doesn’t work today. A package design that worked at your last charity doesn’t work at your new one. A proven way to acquiring new donors gradually fails.
How can a tested, proven tactic stop working?
When you test one thing against another in the mail and Thing A outperforms Thing B, you know what works, right? The key to knowing what works in direct mail fundraising is testing, right?
Well, sort of.
There are at least three times when you should ignore your test results. Continue reading
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Does your charity need to double or triple or quadruple its income over the next five or ten years? Are you trying to figure out how to do that? Follow these simple steps to discover how many donors you’ll likely need to reach your goal. Continue reading
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I was 44 years old, about to adopt my second child, and was sitting in my lawyer’s office, looking over his updated draft of my will.
Everything looked fine except for one small mistake. Throughout the document, he referred to me as Neil Sharpe. “I, Neil Sharpe, being of sound mind and body, do declare this to be my last will and testament.”
Well, it certainly was my last will and testament using that lawyer, because my name is not Neil. The will he drafted was invalid. It would never have worked after my death, or Neil’s death, for that matter. Continue reading
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If your charity wants to retain the services of a direct mail fundraising firm to conduct your next mailing, answer these questions before you pick up the phone. You’ll save yourself a lot of time, and give the firm everything they need to give you an accurate quote. Continue reading
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The only number in fundraising that matters is net revenue.
Net revenue is the money you have left over after you subtract your fundraising expenses from your fundraising income. Net revenue is the only money you can do mission with. The more net revenue you have, the more good you can do in the world.
You would think that board members would encourage their charities to raise as much net revenue as possible. But plenty of them don’t. They instead obsess over fundraising costs, and pressure their fundraising staff to cut fundraising costs wherever possible.
This is foolish and short-sighted. It’s the equivalent of cutting your office energy costs in half by not heating in winter and not air conditioning in summer. And losing all your employees. Continue reading
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I am not a prophet, I am not the son of a prophet, but I do serve on the board of a non-profit. And I’ve discovered through the years that charities who succeed at acquiring donors through the mail obey five immutable laws of direct mail fundraising. These laws aren’t carved in stone. But they should be. Continue reading
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A reader of my newsletter asked me:
“How do I most effectively integrate a participant story into an annual campaign ask letter? What effective ways do you see participant stories being told in a letter? Could a story/profile be attached separately after the letter? I really believe that the stories of the participants who are served by my agency should be highlighted front and centre in our annual direct mail campaign. They are stories of life change, personal courage, and perseverance. At a recent fundraising conference, I heard how donors build their most lasting commitments with agencies when their hearts/spirits are touched by the cause of the organization. Speaking to hearts wins over speaking to “heads” almost every time. In my mind, there is no better way to speak to hearts than to present a participant success story.” Brian
Well, Brian, there are four ways to include what you call “participant stories” into your direct mail fundraising appeals. I call these stories “client testimonials.” A client testimonial is either a statement made by someone, or a story told by someone, who has benefitted from the services your charity delivers. Here’s how to use testimonials in your direct mail appeals. Continue reading
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Read through the diaries of the pioneers who settled the Western parts of the United States and Canada and you’ll discover that the most desperate act of hunger was to eat your seed corn. Eating your seed corn sealed your death, even though it prolonged your life for a while.
Charities today are making the same deadly mistake.
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Never before has there been more money available to your organization than right now.
Members of the “Greatest Generation,” those who lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War, now in their 80s and 90s, are collectively leaving billions of dollars to charitable causes in the United States and Canada.
Their preferred vehicle for giving isn’t a check. Or a credit card. It’s a simple charitable bequest in their Will. If you are not marketing your bequest program to this generation with all the resources you have available, you are missing what many are calling the greatest opportunity in the history of fundraising. Continue reading
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If you drop a donor acquisition package in the mail as a test and it generates a response rate of 17%, can you say your campaign was a success? No.
If your donor acquisition test mailing generates an average gift of $125, can you say without fear of contradiction that your test was a success? No.
So how do you know if your direct mail donor acquisition test mailing was a feat or a failure? Answer enough of these questions in the affirmative to satisfy your boss, board, or banker. Continue reading
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If your charity is at all typical, you will lose 65% of the donors you acquire by direct mail in the first year alone.
In other words, only 35% of the donors you acquire through direct mail will give you a second gift. Most donors acquired through the mail are acquired at a net loss (you must spend money to acquire each donor), so you can see how important it is for you to do all that you can to encourage first-time donors to give again.
Here are the main reasons new donors do not give a second gift: Continue reading
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What should you do if your charity raises money through the mail but your country’s postal workers are about to strike, or are already on strike?
Naturally, you’re troubled.
Most charities in Canada that are not places of worship raise a substantial portion of their operating budget using fundraising letters. Many charities also rely on the mail to recruit new donors, keep their donors up to date with newsletters, invite donors to special events, conduct donor surveys, and issue charitable tax receipts and thank-you letters. So a strike by postal workers isn’t just an inconvenience. It threatens a charity’s very existence.
Here are some ways to survive a postal strike. Continue reading
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Know how to boil a frog?
You don’t just drop him into a pot of boiling water. He’ll jump out.
Instead, you place him in a pot of cool water, then warm the pot gradually to a boil. The frog grows accustomed to the rising temperature, until it’s too late. He boils.
Know how to go bankrupt as a charity? Continue reading
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In today’s mail you receive two pieces of mail, a letter from someone you know, and a brochure.
Which one will you read first? Which one will you read all the way to the end? Likely the letter, right?
A letter is a piece of correspondence sent from one person to another. It’s personal. Continue reading
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Don’t listen to fundraising consultants like me who say you should never ask for a gift in a thank-you letter.
That’s what I used to say before I was hired by a non-profit that did ask for donations in its gift acknowledgement letters. I wanted to axe the practice. But then the director of finance showed me that including a reply device and business reply envelope with every thank-you letter raised over $150,000 annually for the charity. After that I wasn’t so quick to condemn the practice.
I still think thanking a donor and asking for a gift at the same time is crass. That’s what my gut says. And I agree with Penelope Burk, Michael Rosen and other fundraising practitioners when they say the practice is likely to drive away donors.
But does asking for a gift in a thank-you letter help or harm your charity? Test and find out. Continue reading
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The worst thing you can do in direct mail fundraising is mail only one appeal a year.
Direct mail is part of your annual campaign, yes. But that doesn’t mean you should mail only one fundraising letter every 12 months. Annual doesn’t mean annually in direct mail fundraising. Here’s why you must ask for gifts by mail more than once a year. Continue reading
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The percentage of people who visit a website and get somewhere through the shopping cart process but eventually give up is around 59 percent.
So that means more than one out of every two visitors to a website has a credit card in hand and is ready to buy (or donate) but does not. They give up. Continue reading
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What percentage of your donor base sends your organization a gift each year? If you are at all typical, less than half of your donors at any given time are active. So how can you increase the percentage of your donors or members who participate in your fundraising? Here are some ideas. Continue reading
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If you appeared on the reality TV show Dragon’s Den (or Shark Tank), pitching your charity to investors, would they give you any money?
Watch a few episodes of either show and you’ll quickly discover the most common mistake wannabe entrepreneurs make: They don’t know their numbers.
They don’t know their costs. Or their break-even point. Or the size of their market. They don’t know the numbers that will persuade investors to fund their business venture. So they walk away without a penny.
In fundraising, you live or die by your numbers. You can’t hope to get your budget approved (or hold onto your job) unless you can demonstrate that you know your business. And your business is numbers.
Here are the six numbers you need to know cold. Continue reading
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Your donor is busy or in a hurry. Or both. That means your fundraising letter is an interruption. Your donor is doing something else when your appeal arrives.
Busy donors in a hurry are unlikely to read your letter word for word from the Dear to the Sincerely. They skim. They read the P.S. They read the opening line. They dance about.
So what can you do to help your donor read your letter and respond with a donation?
Help her read quickly. Continue reading
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What does your charity have to do to guarantee that some of your donors will stop giving today?
Nothing.
You are going to lose donors today whatever you do. Or don’t do.
Donor attrition is a fact of life at every non-profit organization. No matter how long you’ve been around, no matter how large your base of support, no matter how popular your cause, no matter how much your donors love you, some of your donors will fall away today and never give you another cent. Continue reading
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Want to learn a vital lesson in public speaking from the CIA? Make eye contact with your listeners. Continue reading
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Your donors expect something from your donor newsletter that they don’t expect from their daily newspaper or cable news show.
Yes, your supporters read your newsletter and the newspaper to discover what’s new, what’s going on, what’s current. They read to be better informed, to understand the issues better.
But your donors have one question they want answered when they read your newsletter, and it’s not a question they ask of any other media. Their question is this: “What have you done with my money?” Continue reading
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How long should your direct mail fundraising letter be? One page? Two pages? Six pages?
If your charity is typical, over the years you’ve had board members and executive directors who’ve never allowed your organization to mail long letters. Visit their gravesites and their tombstones bear the same epitaph: “Donors won’t read long letters.” Continue reading
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Some of the most gripping and moving stories I’m ever likely to hear, I heard at AA meetings. You see, at every Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, a man or woman in recovery is invited to tell their story. Every story is different, but follows a simple formula. That formula is what makes AA meetings so powerful, and memorable. Incorporate that formula into your fundraising letters and you’ll touch hearts. Donations will follow. Continue reading
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A group of editors for a national tabloid newspaper held a competition to see who could write the most outrageous headline for a front-page story. The winner: POPE’S DAUGHTER CAUGHT IN COMMIE LOVE NEST.
Consumers buy tabloids because of their headlines. The more outrageous the headlines, the more likely consumers are to buy the newspaper. If you want your donors to open your fundraising letter envelopes, learn a lesson from the tabloids. Write teaser copy on your outer envelopes that makes them irresistible. Continue reading
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The secret to success at acquiring donors through the mail is to ignore your initial results.
The results you generate in the first few months of your direct mail acquisition campaign might delight you or they might distress you, but they will almost certainly mislead you. Don’t decide to continue of halt your program based on short-term results. That is reckless. Continue reading
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I got a big surprise the day I closed my direct mail fundraising consultancy and started working for a national charity. I discovered that my new employer used its gift acknowledgement letters as a way to raise funds. With every donation thank-you letter it mailed to donors, it included a reply device and business reply envelope. Continue reading
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Q1. What is list trading?
A. List trading, or swapping, is the practice of exchanging mailing lists with another charity. They mail a fundraising letter to your list and you mail a fundraising letter to their list. Continue reading
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Direct mail fundraising will be harder in 2011. Postage rates are increasing. Attention spans are decreasing. And discretionary income, which is to say, the money your donors use to support their favourite causes, is tighter. So, if you want to succeed at raising funds with direct mail letters, follow these five timeless tips. Continue reading
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Do you consider yourself a comic? Your donors might. If you are at all typical, you have let these two silly words steal their way into your copy, rendering it ridiculous. But take out your scissors, remove these offending articles, and your writing will become clear, concise and compelling. Continue reading
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How can you predict the success of your direct mail fundraising campaign before it has concluded? You know the challenge. If your charity is at all typical, you receive donations from your fundraising appeals for months, even years, after they have mailed. I worked for a non-profit organization that received thousands of dollars each November from its end-of-year mailing OF THE YEAR BEFORE. Continue reading
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The best person to approach for a major gift is someone who already supports your charity. Sometimes those donors are hidden in plain sight in your donor database. Here’s how to find them. Continue reading
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If I asked you to recall the domain names of the 20 largest US charities, you’d do pretty well, I know.
You’d remember mayo.edu, of course, the largest US charity, and ymca.net (2nd).
And clevelandclinic.org (4th).
And redcross.org (6th).
And likely salvationarmyusa.org (7th).
But would you remember nyp.org, mskcc.org, csmc.edu, bgca.org, and chop.edu?
I didn’t think so.
Although these charities are the 9th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th largest charities in the United States, their domain names fail the three tests of an effective charitable domain name. They are neither easy to spell, pleasant on the ear, nor memorable.
If you want your donors, clients, employees and the media to remember your non-profit domain name, follow these 20 Do’s and Don’ts for naming yours.
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1. Make a distinction between individuals, foundations and businesses
Do not mail one appeal letter to everyone without distinction. Instead, segment your database into individuals, foundations and businesses, and speak to each audience in a unique way.
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I dislike being called Allan, Allen, Mr. Sharp and Mrs. Smith. If you want to please me as a donor, start by getting my name right and follow up by getting my address correct. To do that, avoid these four common mistakes found in most donor databases. Continue reading
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Hospital lotteries and sweepstakes raise millions of dollars for good causes but they do more harm than good. Here’s why. Continue reading
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The secret to persuading your donors to open and read your direct email fundraising messages is to make them sound like a note from grandma. Continue reading
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My brother-in-law says you should be thankful for truckers because everything you buy was handled at some point by a trucker. LoWayne is a trucker, so he’s biased. But I think he’s right anyway.
You depend on truckers for your life. And, if you are a direct mail fundraiser, you depend on direct mail response devices for your livelihood. Response cards and order forms are the devices that deliver the donor’s gift to your office. Without them, no direct mail transaction takes place. Continue reading
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Will your direct mail package ever produce a standing ovation? It might. When you mail an effective invitation to a seminar, workshop, awards show or special event, you literally move people-out of their seats and into yours. That’s one of the hardest jobs in direct mail. Here are 11 ways to boost the success of your direct mail invitations. Continue reading
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I had a client who wanted to drive prospective customers to his online store using a postcard. Great idea, I thought, and cost effective.
He had a terrific product, a compelling offer, and a sound business model. He had just one problem. He wanted to make all website visitors register before they could browse his product catalog. Big mistake.
So I, along with his business partner, managed to talk him out of the idea. And he was glad that we did. Continue reading
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The easiest way to encourage a donor to mail you another donation is to thank her properly for her last gift. There are right ways and wrong ways to thank your donor. Avoid these mistakes when mailing your donation thank-you letters, notes and cards. Continue reading
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To generate more donations from your website, think like Wal-Mart.
If you visit a Wal-Mart looking for a spare tire, you don’t walk in the doors looking for a sign that says “Spare Tires.” You look for a sign that says “Automotive.”
You don’t want “Housewares,” “Fashions,” or “Electronics.” You walk towards the sign that says “Automotive,” and when you get there, you look for a wall of tires. When you see those, you know you’ve arrived. Shoppers who can’t find what they want in one store leave for another. That’s why retailers spend millions of dollars each year on improving their wayfinding, store layout and signage. Walk into a Wal-Mart today and you’ll notice two things about the store layout: 1. Wal-Mart has clearly delineated grocery from general merchandise, and 2. they’ve established strong sightlines into key departments.
Continue reading
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Which would you read first (and right to the end): a typed, generic fundraising letter from the Red Cross or a hand-written letter from your grandma Hostetler in Muleshoe, TX? I’d choose the personal letter over the impersonal every time. And so would your donors. Continue reading
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A few years ago I sat down with my lawyer to sign my Last Will and Testament. I had never had a Will before, so I hired a lawyer to draft a Will that was clear, expressed my wishes, and would not likely be contested in court. He pushed the completed document across the table for me to review and sign. Everything about the document seemed fine except for one nagging detail. Throughout the document, the lawyer had referred to me as Paul Sharpe. I don’t know anyone by that name. And neither does my lawyer. Once he had corrected his mistake and made the document about me, I was satisfied. Continue reading
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The secret to raising funds online is not Facebook or Twitter or texting or even your website. It’s email. To raise money on the Internet you need the email addresses of folks who believe in your cause and want to see you in their inbox. Here are nine principles to follow in acquiring those addresses. Continue reading
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In New York City, publishing capital of the world, lives an unorthodox book editor. He does not read manuscripts from aspiring authors. Instead, he asks the author to summarize the plot in five words. If the author can capture the book editor’s attention with the five-word plot synopsis, the editor reads the manuscript. Otherwise the aspiring author walks home with the manuscript. Continue reading
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You can lose a direct mail donation quicker than you think. So your primary goal at the start of your fundraising letter is to demonstrate relevance. You must prove, and quickly, that what you have to say is relevant to your reader. That’s why I recommend you write your copy as though it’s appearing on page one of a Google search results page.
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A good photograph in a donor newsletter arouses curiosity. If you have a photo of your Executive Director receiving an oversized check from the local Rotary President, that photo will not arouse curiosity. It will stimulate a yawn in many of your readers. Continue reading
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Your donor newsletter doesn’t have to be something that you mail to people after they give you a donation. If your newsletter, business model and board of directors allow it, you can use your newsletter as a way to acquire donors. An excellent example is a magazine called Vim & Vigor. It’s 8.5′ x 11”, full color, and actually looks like a magazine. It’s perfectly bound and looks like it could be sitting on the shelf right next to Cosmopolitan at the cash out in a supermarket. Continue reading
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Successful direct mail donation letters contain three things: a compelling case for support, a request for funds (the “ask”), and a response device. The case is the Incentive. The ask is the Imperative. And the response device is the Instrument. Continue reading
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I know a man who spent 21 years in maximum security prisons. A product of rape born in an abandoned building, he was incarcerated at age eight into Canada’s most violent and brutal reform school. He became a chronic runaway, then a gang leader, then a drug king-pin. He was addicted to drugs for 20 years. Was investigated for prison murders. And was classified as one of Canada’s most dangerous convicts. Continue reading
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Your success at online fundraising depends on four words. If you want to acquire members and donors, raise funds and encourage others to advocate for your cause, these four words must appear on your website. Continue reading
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The non-profit organizations who raise the most money online use their websites to engage visitors. This is a vital step in raising money online. It’s not enough just to have a Donate Now button. You have to have a website that actually encourages people to do something on your website and get involved in some way. Continue reading
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Dear Alan,
Do you have any suggestions for the (post direct mail) reminder letter? I would love your thoughts on the letter as well as the donation form.
Thanks, Shannon Brown Continue reading
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List cleansing is the process of keeping a mailing list accurate and up to date. The process involves, among other things, removing duplicate records, formatting addresses to postal standards, and updating addresses of those who move.
See more definitions at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising
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In list terminology, a cell is a statistical unit or units, a group of individuals selected from a file on a common basis and isolated as a group.
See more definitions at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising
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UNICEF outer envelope
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A Carrier Route is a group of addresses that a mail carrier can deliver to in a single day. Carrier Routes “roll up” into ZIP Codes. There are roughly 15 ZIP Codes per Carrier Route.
See more definitions at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising
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A Back Test is a mailing designed to reproduce, and therefore confirm, the results of a recent direct mail test. Also called a retest or confirming test. Usually run when the results of a test fall within an acceptable range but do not give the mailer enough confidence to roll-out to the entire list.
See more definitions at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising
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Alphanumeric: A set of characters that contains letters and numbers, and perhaps punctuation marks, such as a Key code: JUN-0909-L21.
Learn more at the Glossary of Direct Mail Fundraising
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You have a costly problem with returned mail. All non-profit organizations do. You mail perfectly nice letters to donors who have supported your cause for years, and then, one day, without so much as a by-your-leave their mail comes back to you marked RETURN TO SENDER. Continue reading
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I know from reliable sources that the Mr. Murphy who coined Murphy’s Law (“If something can go wrong, it will”) worked as an account manager at a lettershop. After leaving his position of direct mail fundraising manager at a national charity. After all, in what other line of work, other than, say, launching a space shuttle, could you meddle with so many small details to sabotage your mailing? Murphy knew every way to mess up a direct mail appeal, but he had his favourites. Here they are. Continue reading
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Stephen Hitchcock makes a wise recommendation on how to keep your mailing list clean. In his article, Keeping Your Donor File Clean, in Contributions Magazine, Stephen recommends the following step: Continue reading
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Do lift notes still lift response rates to fundraising letters? Yes, as long as they stand out. Continue reading
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I received an email from a fundraiser who is about to lose her job. Her board of directors has decided they cannot afford her salary. They see her salary as just a line item in the budget, one found under the heading of Costs rather than Income. They blame their decision on the recession. I blame the board. And I sympathize with my fellow fundraiser. Continue reading
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Your organization needs to find more major donors for two vital reasons. First, major donor fundraising is the most cost-effective use of your time and money, costing somewhere between two cents and fifteen cents to raise a dollar. Second, many organizations are finding that the top 20 percent of their donors contribute 80 percent of the charities income. Continue reading
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One of the quickest ways to learn the craft of direct mail fundraising is to donate money to your strongest competitors. Pick the Top 10 organizations you admire and mail them a donation of at least $20. Then watch your mailbox. What you’ll get is a correspondence course in raising money with paper and postage. Continue reading
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The main difference between direct mail fundraising and major gift fundraising is simple. Direct mail fundraising solicits small gifts from many people while major gift fundraising solicits large gifts from few people. One tactic solicits on paper, the other in person. Here are some tips to remember when you begin a major gift program. Continue reading
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The key to securing large gifts from your donors is relationships. Relationships that are warm, professional and mutually beneficial. But how do you nurture or cultivate those relationships with prospective donors who have little or no connection with your organization and your cause? Continue reading
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I was handed a challenge last week. If I am brave enough I will accept it.
I taught a class at a college in Toronto. The professor invited me to teach his students about direct mail fundraising envelopes. So I spoke at length and, with examples, class participation, question-and-answer sessions, brainstorming and group exercises, taught the basics of envelope dimensions, indicias, envelope teaser copy, envelope graphics and more. The students were engaging and creative. We had a hoot. Continue reading
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How long should your next fundraising letter be? One page? Two pages? Six pages? What is the correct length for a direct mail appeal?
I’ll tell you in a minute. Continue reading
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What would you do if I broke into your office at midnight, sat down at your computer, and jumbled the mailing addresses of 1,200 of your current donors so they became undeliverable? Continue reading
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My wife can still remember the name of her math teacher from grade four. You know why? Because he, um, paused every few words, and ah, ahhhhh, you know, ahh, added an ahh to what he was saying, ah, so that Ruth, was driven to, um, distraction. Continue reading
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If your non-profit organization is typical, your direct mail program raises 50 percent of its revenue with one mailing-the Christmas appeal. More people give more money to the “Holiday Season” letter than they give to any other single mailing all year. Your goal this Christmas is to persuade these generous donors to give again. Here’s how. Continue reading
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If you want your fundraising letters to sound more vigorous, get tense. The present tense, that is.
Listen to the sports news on the radio and you’ll hear the announcer saying, “tomorrow the Atlanta Falcons take on the Minnesota Vikings.” The announcer doesn’t say, “the Atlanta Falcons will take on the Minnesota Vikings.” He doesn’t say that they will, but that they do. Continue reading
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My wife and I listed our house for sale last Monday and sold it on Wednesday. The buyer offered us a few hundred dollars more than our asking price, so we accepted. But we have lingering doubts. Maybe you would, too.
You know how it is. You name your price, and your buyer agrees immediately. So you immediately wonder if your price was too low. Maybe that’s why the buyer agreed to your price so quickly.
In direct mail fundraising you’ll find this same challenge. How much should you ask a person to donate if they have never donated before? Continue reading
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You should literally think twice before offering your direct mail donors a back-end premium. And neither of these thoughts has anything to do with net revenue. Continue reading
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The most valuable thing in direct mail fundraising isn’t your donors, but your donor data. Your building could burn down this afternoon, and all your staff could quit, and you’d still be able to recover if your donor data remained intact. But if you lose your donor data, you lose, period. Continue reading
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The best way to improve your direct mail fundraising program is through testing. Don’t follow fads, board whims, or a gut feeling that turns out to be indigestion.
Instead, test. And, to save money and time (and further indigestion), follow these eight rules. Continue reading
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I received an email the other day that reads as follows:
–letter starts–
Hello Mr. Raiser,
My name is _______. I work for a non profit organization, the ____________. We are in a season of taking the ministry international and also growing and empowering the ministries within. I would like to draft up a professional letter, that will go out to major corporations and empowered people, asking for donations, and for it in return be a tax write off! My goal is to mail/email a donation letter to different large companies and multi-millionaires example Oprah Winfrey, Donald Trump. I’m not sure at all as to how to even begin the letter. Please help! Continue reading
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One of your best sources of direct mail donations is people who have stopped giving you direct mail donations. We call these people “lapsed donors” and “expired members,” two uncharitable ways of referring to friends who have not given a donation in 12 months or more. Continue reading
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Your donors do not respond to your direct mail appeals because you include a postage-paid reply envelope. They respond because they believe in your cause, admire your organization, and want to help the people you serve. Continue reading
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Back in 1997, as I sat in the departures lounge at Ottawa International Airport, I didn’t know if Ruth would accept my proposal of marriage. I fidgeted. I procrastinated. Finally, as they announced the final call for her flight back to Ohio, I popped the question.
Ruth said yes. Yes!
That’s the tough part about asking someone to marry you. You have to ask them. You don’t know what their answer will be until you ask, and unless you ask. Continue reading
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Search engines are the most common way that potential donors will find your website. A non-profit website that appears near the top of search engine results will witness a dramatic increase in traffic compared with competing websites that appear further down in the results.
Like every other charity, you want a high ranking on the search engines. Unfortunately, many charity websites appear poorly in search engine rankings-or not at all-because they are not written and designed to take advantage of how search engines work.
So how do search engines rank your web pages? Continue reading
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I have on my desk a direct mail fundraising envelope that I have never opened. And never will. Perhaps you can learn a lesson from its failings.
The offending article was mailed by the Canadian Red Cross. It is a full-colour envelope, 6.5 inches wide and 5.75 inches tall, with a window. The envelope promotes the organization’s lottery.
This envelope fails most of the tests in my book.
Here’s why. Continue reading
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When you write your donor newsletter stories, do you write to one reader at a time? One person writing to another? Or do you make the common newsletter mistake of writing from “us” to “them?”
Direct mail donors are individuals. They donate as individuals. And they read your newsletters as individuals. If you want your newsletter stories to inspire them to donate again, you must write to them as individuals. And write as a human being. Continue reading
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The quickest way to improve your donor newsletters is to start seeing your world in story form. Behind every person there is a story. And behind every story there is a person. Your job is to uncover both. Your donors want to read about people, not projects. So write about people. Show photographs of people. Let me give you an example of what to avoid. Continue reading
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Your fundraising newsletter will attract more readers, raise more funds and retain more donors when you publish outstanding photographs.
Photographs are the most important images you can feature in your donor newsletter. Good photos make your newsletter pages more interesting. They help your non-profit organization communicate immediately who you are and what you do and who you help. Photos, more than any other element, help you distinguish one issue of your newsletter from another.
Readers tend to look at photos first, then headlines, then photo captions, then the article. Which means your photographs must grab the attention of your readers. Here’s how to recognize a great photo when you see one (or take one). Continue reading
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