Marc A. Pitman's Blog, page 13

3 Ways to Stay Connected With Your Nonprofit’s Supporters

Many organizations make the fatal mistake of asking their donors for gifts over and over again without a break for other types of communication. However, when you don’t vary the type of communications and engagement opportunities with your supporters, your donors may start to feel like an ATM, always giving funds but receiving little in return.

Instead of continuing this vicious cycle, nonprofit professionals have started to realize the value of focusing on relationships with donors and how they can keep supporters connected to the mission for the long haul.

Giving supporters additional opportunities to stay involved and connected with your organization results in better relationships and higher donor retention rates.

In this guide, we’ll dive into three ways that your organization can maintain connections with your supporters and build relationships by expanding beyond standard solicitation efforts. These three strategies include:

Send informative emails and messages.Provide additional involvement opportunities.Show appreciation for any type of support.

Your supporters drive your organization’s mission forward by providing the funding and moral support necessary to build your programs up. Don’t treat these vital individuals as ATMs. Instead, build relationships and expand your potential by following these strategies.

1. Send informative emails and messages.

When donors contribute to your cause, they’re not only giving money to your organization. They’re giving it in support of the mission you represent and the purpose of the campaign. They want to help build schools, lower pet adoption fees, and provide food to the homeless, not just give money to an organization.

Keeping this in mind, your supporters want more updates than simply what your next fundraising campaign will be and how they can help. They want information about how your programs are working, exciting new updates about your newest initiative, and success stories from those you’ve helped.

That’s why nonprofits should send regular updates to their supporters with information about their mission progress.

When you plan to send these updates to your loyal supporters, here are the tips we recommend:

Segment supporters by campaign. This will help provide insights into the programs that your supporters feel most passionately about so that you can personalize the message to focus on those particular programs. For example, if someone purchases a t-shirt that’s designed for a campaign supporting the medical needs of abandoned animals, you might draft an email with the success story of Butcher, the dog who received his vaccinations and found a forever home. To put the cherry on top, you might even include a photo of Butcher wearing a t-shirt with the same design as the ones sold in the campaign. Personalize every email. When you send informative emails to your supporters, be sure to include the personal touches that you would also include in solicitation emails. Generic “dear donor” solicitations won’t make the cut. Leverage the donor data you have on hand to show donors the message is meant only for them. Start these emails with the supporter’s preferred name, then include it again somewhere in the middle of the email copy as an attention-grabber partway through. You could even include some details about the campaigns they supported in the past as well.

You might send a regular newsletter with some of this information in it, but we recommend taking this strategy a step further and sending additional updates as well, especially after a fundraising campaign.

After your fundraising campaign, you should follow up to say thank you to all of your donors who helped you reach your goal. Then, you should reach out again to provide updates on the progress of the program they helped support. Doing this opens up the opportunity to show them the impact of their contribution and allows you to demonstrate that you used their funding responsibly.

2. Provide additional involvement opportunities.

Informing donors about your organization’s progress helps you connect with them by simply showing impact. However, you can really strengthen those connections by providing additional ways for them to get involved that don’t require giving money.

This allows them to get involved and show their dedication without putting additional strain on their pockets. Down the line, these deep connections will result in additional contributions. We recommend focusing your attention on the following non-monetary involvement opportunities:

Advocacy Campaigns

Advocacy is a tangible way to encourage your supporters to get involved without asking them to contribute a dime. All they need to make a difference is their voices and time. You can influence local, state, and even national policies by asking supporters to sign petitions, call their legislators, and send emails or tweets.

When you host an advocacy campaign, ask supporters to get involved. Then, ask them to take it a step further by sharing the activities with their friends and family. They can send emails, share campaigns on social media, and even discuss the opportunities by word of mouth.

Volunteer Opportunities

Beyond giving monetary gifts to your cause, supporters can also contribute their time in order to make a difference. Ask supporters to volunteer their time working with your various programs or helping run your events. Then, be sure to reach out and thank them, telling them about the impact their time made.

You might even find that these contributions of time result in additional funding for your cause if your supporters are eligible for volunteer grants. These are donations of money contributed by some employers with corporate social responsibility programs when their employees volunteer a certain number of hours with eligible nonprofits. This is a fantastic way to further their impact without asking them to reach into their own wallets to donate.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers

One opportunity you might offer your supporters for volunteer work is to participate in your next peer-to-peer fundraising campaign. While these campaigns are often viewed as opportunities to expand your support network, it’s important to remember that the true champions of peer-to-peer fundraising are the supporters who volunteer their time and effort to raise funds on your organization’s behalf.

While this is a fundraiser, those who raise money on behalf of your cause don’t necessarily need to donate. Instead, they can volunteer their efforts and time. According to Bonfire’s peer-to-peer fundraising guide, here’s what these campaigns generally look like:

Partner with a t-shirt fundraising company like Bonfire for your next peer-to-peer fundraiser to take the campaign to the next level. That way, instead of asking for a normal donation, you can sell t-shirts along on the campaign pages, encouraging people to contribute more by providing additional incentive to do so.

3. Show appreciation for any type of support.

Staying connected and building relationships is a two-way street. It requires both give and take from your organization and your supporters. When you provide updates to your loyal supporters, they’ll be more likely to get involved. Then, once they get involved, you’ll need to turn back around and show your appreciation.

This appreciation is what shows your supporters that you care about them and their contributions really matter to the organization. Even after a big campaign, you can keep motivation high among your supporters when you show appreciation and the impact of their contributions.

No matter if supporters donate, volunteer, raise funds in a peer-to-peer campaign, or sign a petition, they’re still serving your organization, so you should be sure to show appreciation in ways that resonate with them. InitLive’s appreciation ideas guide offers several ways to say thank you to your supporters, including:

Providing free gifts like t-shirts, books, and goodie bagsServing a luncheon or dinner for supportersHosting holiday celebration eventsShouting out supporters on your nonprofit’s social media pageSending thank you letters to your valued supporters

Say thank you without any ulterior motive. Simply show your appreciation for everything that your supporters do for your organization and your mission. Then, you can encourage them to stay involved in all sorts of ways, such as with the non-monetary ideas listed above.

There’s a lot that goes into developing lasting relationships with supporters. The cycle follows the same few steps of supporters interacting with your organization and you responding with appreciation, information, and invitations to get involved time and time again. This cycle of interaction and open communication is what builds relationships between nonprofits and supporters, strengthening your support system and resulting in greater average lifetime values amongst supporters.

This article was contributed by Kevin Penney, CMO and Co-Founder at Bonfire.

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Fire that donor!

Money does weird things to us, doesn't it? A lack of money leads nonprofits to a growing desperation. A feeling they "need" every donor. Anyone who'll give them money.

Including bullies.

But sometimes, the problem isn't hearing "no" from a donor. Sometimes the problem is hearing "yes."

Fire your bully donors

You've seen those costly yes's. Donors who make all sorts of demands on the nonprofit staff. Who take weeks to reply to messages but expect the nonprofit to reply immediately. Who seem to think the nonprofit is there to serve them rather than its mission.

Donors who are bullies.

A few years ago, I had a client who regularly raised about $500,000 a year. But every year, he'd bend himself into a pretzel for a $10,000 gift from one surly donor. The man would give, but not without putting my client through the ringer. The meetings would often become the donor haranguing my client with questions like an attorney trying to pick apart a defendant. There was no sense of respect or appreciation for the hard work of this leader.

After hearing him agonize about this donor for a few weeks, I asked, "Why don't you fire him?"

He was shocked. Fire a donor?

I asked him how much time preparing for the annual ask, doing the visit, and reporting back to this donor were taking him. With a staff of 3 FTEs, all that time was more valuable than the $10,000 the donor was giving. I tried to get him to see all the other people he could communicate with in the same amount of time, people who liked his work. People he enjoyed.

I tried to get him to fire that donor.

Fundraising isn't begging

Nonprofit leaders are not beggars. We do not exist for settling for the scraps from the tables of people who feel get ego boosts when demeaning others. We're professionals looking for people to partner with our organization's mission.

Partner. Even challenge. But not boss. Not ridicule. Not deride.

Nonprofit leaders get enough ridicule and derision as it is. Why actively pursue donors who seem to take glee in bullying us?

There are no guarantees

It can be hard to risk losing funding. There are no guarantees that the money will be replaced by someone else.

But if you are getting harassed by donors, you're creating a culture where it is acceptable for donors to treat you and your staff that way. (The Association of Fundraising Professionals found that one in four women report having experienced sexual harassment on the job. Two-thirds of that was from donors.)

But we're not in nonprofits to grovel for money and put up with people's abuse. We're in nonprofit to fix a problem. Why would we create more problems by permitting bullies to push us and our staff around?

This may sound woo-woo, but a powerful thing happens when we eliminate negative energy from our space. We open up the space for positive to flow in.

So while there are no guarantees, our staff needs to see us taking a stand. And we ourselves need the strength that comes from taking a stand.

It's your choice

Ultimately, it's your choice. You get to decide if you'll accept their money and all the baggage with it. Or if you'll stop pursuing them and use your time in other way.

In the end, my client decided not to fire the donor. He told me he'd realized the annual barrage of questions helped him be more focused. Not wanting him to forget that it was his decision to seek this donor's money (I hesitate to call it a gift), I made sure he realized what it was "costing" him to get that clarity. He felt it was worth his time.

And it was his choice.

As it it yours. Are there donors you should consider firing?

A note on privilege: I am aware that as a white, cisgender male, I benefit from centuries of of systems designed to afford me the broadest array of choices. For some, my "fire a donor" and my "it's your choice" comments may come across as naively flippant. It's not meant to. In my experience these are very hard decisions - as hard as any decision to fire someone. My goal is to use this unearned privilege to advocate for safer work environments for all nonprofit employees.

Have you had experience telling a donor their behavior was unacceptable? Or even going so far as to altogether stop pursuing a bully disguised as a donor? Let me know in the comments.

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A nonprofit fundraising plan that adjusts with the time

Today's guest post is from T. Clay Buck, Founder & Principal of TCBFundraising. A Master Trainer, Clay also teaches at the University of Nevada. He's been on all sides of a nonprofit - running the fundraising, analyzing nonprofit databases, and consulting to nonprofits. Here, he shares the basics of creating an effective nonprofit fundraising plan. You can see his tweets about nonprofit fundraising, and about Labrador retrievers, by following him on Twitter @TClayBuck.

Uncharted Waters: A nonprofit fundraising plan that gets results

by T. Clay Buck, CFRE

The first thing you see when you enter my house is a very large, framed nautical chart.

The edges are frayed and, in some places, ripped. There are creases that are on the way to becoming tears from being folded and unfolded countless times.

There are hand-written notes at certain places – way-markers for seafarers to be wary or reminders of dangers within the deep. Some of these are clearly in different handwriting.

At the bottom is a stamped message: “1909 Ocean Geographic Institute.” On the back is written the name of a vessel and the captain’s name, dated 1921.

This is a well-used, working nautical chart. It clearly changed hands and mapped many voyages. Who knows what stories it guided sailors through or what it storms it helped them weather?

My family and I have spent many happy hours sailing the same waters this chart describes. It will catch our eye and we reminisce, “Remember that time . . .” Or a trick of the light will call our eye to somewhere we’ve not yet been, “Some day we will . . .”

Maps record where we – and others – have been, showing us the way, telling us what works and what doesn’t, what dangers to avoid and highlights to see. They also carry our future – point out to us what’s possible, where potential lies, and opportunity abounds. From “Here be dragons!,” to “X Marks the Spot!”

Fundraising plans do the same.

Now, while it’s not likely you’ll frame your plan and place it in a prominent position in your home, a strong, detailed plan is your visible commitment to your goals, the mission, and the community you serve as a fundraiser.

It is also your guide and your map. A thoroughly developed plan is based upon history, supports the budget and financial needs, and lays out aspirations for stretch goals.

Based On History (i.e. Data)

A good fundraising plan will incorporate what your organization has done in the past:

How much money have you raised in recent years?How many donors? How many gifts per donor?What’s the quality of the data?

Ideally your budget will be based on the same information, particularly on your key metrics – and it’s absolutely critical that fundraising be at the table and part of the budgeting discussion.

And a fundraising plan will provide realistic goals that are both achievable and aspirational. For example, perhaps you want to invest more in digital fundraising and increase email communications, but if most of your donors don’t have an email address on file that changes your plan from one of increasing email communications to one of contact capture and increasing data hygiene.

We also have to think about the fundraising plan differently than we do the strategic plan.

An effective fundraising plan lays out the goals we intend to achieve within a time frame. In this context we are talking about your annual fundraising plan. A strategic plan is a bold, aspirational goal over a longer period – it’s vision in action, where do you want to be.

History, then, tells us what we can do. If your ultimate goal is to double the amount you raise year-over-year, the question in an annual fundraising plan is if your history will allow you to achieve that within the plan’s timeline. If your giving history doesn’t indicate significant increases, but there’s a sudden budget increase, the question then becomes if you can implement tactics within your plan to achieve them.

Supports The Budget

Your fundraising budget is a physical manifestation of your organization’s commitment to the mission. When you’re establishing an annual budget, the fundamental proposition is: “In order to feed hungry people [our mission], it costs $xxxx [our budget] and in order to fulfill that mission, these are the steps we will take [your plan.]

A goal without a plan to support is just a wish.

But it’s far more than just a number. Let’s say, for example, your annual fundraising goal is $250,000. What’s a stronger plan – two $125,000 gifts from major donors or 250 gifts of all different levels and amounts? Neither is inherently right or wrong, but in the answer to that question lies the details of your fundraising plan.

A fundraising plan needs to provide a long-term, sustainable approach to funding your organization’s mission. It also needs to provide the details on the tactics that underpin the over-arching strategy.

Let’s say your goal is to raise significant money from major donors. In looking back at your data (from step 1):

Have you ever had a successful major gifts program?Do you have the prospective donors at those levels?What potential pitfalls could come your way as you execute on that goal?

The fundraising plan is going to address all of those opportunities and more in supporting the goals outlined within our organizational budget.

Aspirations for Stretch Goals

Sailors for millennia gazed at the horizon and wondered what was there. Cartographers imagined waterfalls tumbling over the edge of the earth in the abyss of chaos. Some of our earliest seafaring tales, weave stories of mariners lured to their demise. Yet humans never stopped building boats and taking out to sea.

So, too, do fundraising plans point us to what could be.

Go back to that example of major gifts. Perhaps your history does show you’ve never had a successful major gift program – but that doesn’t mean you can’t build one! And it certainly doesn’t mean you can’t lay the groundwork in this year’s plan to start.

Investing in the fundraising plan – and the process to build it – not only lays out the current tactics to achieve this year’s goals, it allows you, the fundraiser, to start laying the groundwork for the bigger goals, the bolder visions, while still accomplishing today’s immediate needs.

Maps encourage boldness...they make anything seem possible.
-- Mark Jenkins, Explorer, Author, Adventure Travel Columnist

A good, solid fundraising plan makes a daunting goal seem possible. It lays out the tactics that inform the strategy and inspire boldness – not just for ourselves, but for our donors and the beneficiaries we serve.

If you liked this, you'll love Clay's training Uncharted Waters: A nonprofit fundraising plan that gets results in changing times at https://thenonprofitacademy.com/trainings/fundraising-plan/.

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Nonprofit Mission and Case Statements: 4 Top Tips

Today's article covers an integral project for all nonprofits - creating and refining mission and case statements. These documents are a vital foundation for all communication activities a nonprofit will undertake, as Grant Cobb, Head of Marketing and Analytics at GivingMail, explains.

Your mission and case statements aren’t just information statements about your nonprofit. While it’s easy to understand why many would mistake these documents as purely informative in nature, the true potential of mission and case statements is how they can be used to market your cause to outside audiences.

Asking for donations requires listening to and understanding your audience. As tools for soliciting donations, your mission and case statements thus need to reflect not just what your nonprofit does but why your cause is relevant to potential donors. After all, it’s unlikely your mission and case statements will be read by many people outside of donors, volunteers, grantmakers, and sponsors, all of whom you must convince that your nonprofit is worth supporting.

Finding the right way to ask for donations requires experimentation, especially for new nonprofits who don’t have their mission statement nailed down. Approaching donors without a solid mission statement can result in stumbling through your ask. To help your nonprofit avoid this dilemma, this article will explore four tips for creating effective mission and case statements, including:

Outline Key DocumentsMake Your Case Relevant to Your AudienceAssess if Your Mission has ChangedContinually Collect New Anecdotes and Statistics

Remember that your mission and case statements also often serve as your nonprofit’s first impression to donors. Take the time to thoroughly workshop your mission and case statements to ensure your nonprofit puts its best foot forward in each introduction to new supporters. Let’s get started.

1. Outline Key Documents

Your mission statement serves as the foundation for a number of important documents required for effective nonprofit funding strategies. This includes case statements your nonprofit will present to potential funders. Creating a comprehensive nonprofit mission statement and holding onto well-articulated case statements can save your nonprofit time and effort as these documents can be used repeatedly in the future.

Of course, when your nonprofit prepares a new case statement, you shouldn’t just copy your mission statement word-for-word in place of your overview section, or submit the exact same case statement to two different donors. Case statements need specific details to make them relevant to each donor, but you don’t need to start over each time you write one. Often, major components of case statements such as who your constituents are or why your nonprofit was founded remain the same and can be reused.

Organizing and keeping these documents straight can be especially useful if you are balancing multiple major asks at one time. For example, as this guide to grant management explains, grant applications are time-consuming processes that require an intense, detail-oriented approach. You can save time on each application by writing one case statement and editing it to match the individual specifications of each grant, rather than starting from scratch for each one.

Your mission statement can also help inform this process. As you edit each case statement, take the time to refer back to your original mission statement to ensure that you never drift too far away from your nonprofit’s central goal. This principle can be applied to almost every document your nonprofit produces, keeping all materials in alignment while still taking into account unique audiences.

2. Make Your Case Relevant to Your Audience

Mission statements encompass everything a nonprofit stands for and its purpose, and your case statements serve as an explanation for why someone would donate to your cause. However, these documents don’t exist in a bubble, and they need to respond to the motivations of your audiences.

Your nonprofit likely has multiple audiences that you’ll present case statements to while fundraising, and each should be approached in a different way. These audiences can vary in income, age, favored outreach method, and more. Here are a few common audiences and how you should consider editing your case statement to appeal to them:

Major donors. Major donors have a relationship with your nonprofit that has been slowly built up through multiple interactions with your fundraising team. However, while you may have a personal connection to these donors, it is still common to present a formal case statement when asking them for a major donation. For these donors, be sure to recognize their past support, history with your nonprofit, and what their personal investment will help accomplish.Corporate sponsors. While most major donors are content with being recognized in some way, corporate sponsors often want something more in return. As Double the Donation’s guide to corporate philanthropy explains, “By supporting the greater good and committing to positive social change, companies create a positive public image for themselves, enhance their relationships with consumers, and also foster employee engagement.” When preparing a case statement for sponsors, explain how your nonprofit can help them, whether through direct promotion or the positive PR boost they may receive.Grantmakers and foundations. Grant applications often have very specific requirements, but essentially, they are also case statements. You’ll spend the bulk of the application explaining what your nonprofit does and why you deserve funding. As mentioned, many of the components of prior case statements can be reused for grant applications, but you should take careful note of how each application diverges. For example, one foundation might award grants to nonprofits who help low-income families, while another focuses on children. Your nonprofit may be eligible for both, but you’ll need to reframe parts of your statement to reflect these subtle differences.

Even as you change your case statements to appeal to new audiences, make sure every document you produce maintains your brand identity. It’s easy to get caught up in courting new audiences, but maintaining a sense of consistency across all communication channels will help establish your nonprofit’s credibility in the long run.

3. Assess if Your Mission has Changed

If your nonprofit has grown and gained more resources, you might find that you can expand your goals or broaden your focus. You may have access to more robust fundraising capabilities than your original do-it-yourself approach could muster. And this is perfectly fine—as your nonprofit grows, your focus might change, and if it does, your mission should change as well.

After major campaigns, programs, and accomplishments, take a moment to reassess your nonprofit’s focus. A few questions you can ask to help reflect on the state of your nonprofit are:

How will your nonprofit continue to fulfill its mission? After making a major stride (or suffering a major setback), your nonprofit might need to take inventory and determine what moves you hope to make in the future. Some initiatives take years to complete, and launching a new one will determine your nonprofit’s path for years. Consider if your mission statement fits with the direction your nonprofit wants to take or if it needs to be adjusted to continue representing your evolving organization.Will your nonprofit’s mission ever reach an endpoint? Some nonprofits are established with missions they intend to complete fully. For example, a nonprofit might be founded to raise funds to renovate the buildings of several local schools. When this nonprofit finishes renovations, it’ll need to decide between dissolving or changing its mission statement to find a new purpose.Does your nonprofit need to change missions? Nonprofits often adjust their missions from their humble origins as their focus naturally drifts or becomes more defined. In other cases, you might find your mission changing by necessity. This can be caused by major developments in your field or even in your physical location. For example, a natural disaster might cause a nonprofit that helps shelter and support the homeless to shift tactics to disaster relief. By contrast, you might also feel tempted to change your mission after a few years for the sake of it, but if you have no real reason to, there isn’t a need to change directions.

In most cases, if your nonprofit changes its mission statement, it will be small amendments or language changes that help alter your focus in subtle ways. However, if you are making a more dramatic change, be sure to alert your supporters, so they can understand why your nonprofit is pursuing new initiatives.

4. Continually Collect New Anecdotes and Statistics

In many ways, your mission and case statements are similar to a well-crafted fundraising appeal. They introduce your organization and succinctly explain why a donor should consider contributing to your cause. Also like a fundraising appeal, you can improve and expand your mission and case statements by updating them with new anecdotes and statistics.

While you shouldn’t change your mission statement every time a new report comes out in your field, one or two attention-grabbing statics can help you elaborate on your mission statement on your About page. For example, an organization dedicated to promoting women entrepreneurs might include a statistic about the percentage of female-led businesses and organizations as a way to promote their cause’s importance.

However, while data points are important for your nonprofit’s development and can intrigue your donors, anecdotal evidence and stories can be even more powerful for your case statements. GivingMail’s guide to fundraising appeals clearly lays out the importance of a good story: “Stories appeal to the emotional quotient of your members by giving them more to grasp… After all, people remember personal stories way more than they remember facts and figures.”

As your nonprofit fulfills its mission, collect new anecdotes from your constituents and volunteers and consider how you can incorporate them into your case statement. Statistics and facts can help your donors make logical decisions about whether or not to contribute, but opening with an emotional appeal can help contextualize your case and create connections between donors and your cause.

Your mission statement defines your nonprofit and effective case statements are one of your nonprofit’s best tools for earning substantial fundraising. Consider how you’ll need to change and adapt these documents as your nonprofit grows and attracts new audiences. But remember that your mission and case statements can also help serve your nonprofit and improve your functionality and fundraising potential.

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Should I ask my friends?

One of the scariest things about fundraising is the fear that you'll ruin relationships. One of the most common questions I get as a fundraising coach is "Should I send this appeal to people I hangout with?"

Last week, an accomplished nonprofit leaders asked me just that. She was in a giving day and wondered if she should message a group of friends. A colleague warned her not to. But I suggested she consider it. Her nonprofit is important to her and the nonprofit's mission is important to this group.

Who was right?

How would you have answered her?

As I've replied to her, I started thinking about the conflicting direction she was getting, I've realized the answer lies in the motivation behind the ask.

If you're asking out of desperation, a fear that you'll miss your fundraising goal, then don't. That desperation will put a strain on your relationships.

But if you're asking from a place of invitation, go for it. People like supporting their friends. And inviting friends to support something they value is a courtesy.

When you're asking out of desperation, you start saying and doing things you'd never do to a friend. And the ask tends to be all about you and your nonprofit.

But when you're asking from a place of invitation, you're thinking about your friends as much as your goal. Maybe even more.

So who was right? I'd say we both were. Chances are good her colleague sensed the desperation and knew the negative impact that kind of ask would have. So I suggested that she should if she could ask from that invitational place. More of a "We're doing something cool that supports something you value" than a "We'll miss our goal if you don't give."

What would you have said?

How would you have answered her? Let us know in the credits.

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How to Make the Most of Your Next Text-to-Donate Campaign

In today’s fundraising landscape, the importance of mobile platforms cannot be overstated. Researchers estimate that by 2025, almost 75% of internet users worldwide will only use their smartphones to access the internet. That represents an astonishing shift to heavy dependence on handheld devices as well as a major opportunity for nonprofits to engage with supporters on mobile devices.

If your organization is planning an upcoming text-to-donate campaign, there are a few best practices to implement now to create a standardized, effective approach for all future mobile giving efforts. Plenty of nonprofits are positioning themselves to emerge from the pandemic with a strong fundraising strategy, and these tips can set your organization up for success.

After your organization is set up with a text-to-donate platform and receives a dedicated mobile giving phone number, your fundraising team should:

Optimize Your Online Giving PageMarket Your Campaign EffectivelyMake the Most of Your Donor DataPromote Matching Gift OpportunitiesIncorporate Text Giving in Your P2P CampaignsHighlight Recurring Gift Options

Nonprofits need powerful virtual fundraising tools to meet current and future fundraising goals. The influence of mobile technology will only grow in the next few years, and nonprofit professionals like you need training and guidance to maximize your mobile fundraising efforts. Let’s get started!

Optimize Your Online Giving Page

In a text-to-donate campaign, your supporters will either text a dollar amount or keyword to your text-to-give number. In response, they’ll receive a link to fill out your online donation form.

This means that your digital donation page must be optimized for mobile viewing. Weird formatting, slow page load speeds, and confusing form fields are all elements that can turn off a prospective donor and cause them to abandon their contributions altogether.

You can avoid these pitfalls by making your giving page mobile-responsive. Donately’s donation page guide explains a few benefits of a mobile-optimized donation form, including having the ability to:

Increase donation convenience. A responsive donation page will automatically adjust to fit any screen size. Your text-to-donate supporters will be able to easily view your page and fill in the necessary fields without having to switch devices.Reduce supporter frustration. Mobile-optimized pages create an overall more pleasant experience for donors since they don’t have to pinch their screens to zoom in and scroll around to find each form field.Avoid readability issues. When your giving page is responsive, all font and image sizes will automatically adjust to avoid any formatting issues that decrease the readability of the page.

In this example, you can see how this donation page was created to fit any device’s screen, from a desktop computer to a smartphone:

Be sure to create your donation page on a platform that enables mobile accessibility. This way, you’ll be able to pair an effective donation page with your text-to-give platform to optimize the giving process and decrease form abandonment.

Market Your Campaign Effectively

Once you’ve secured your text-to-give number, be sure to promote it across all your marketing platforms to inform your supporters about the opportunity. The success of your campaign is dependent on how many people you can persuade to text the number and follow through with a donation.

For the greatest odds of success, be sure to take a multichannel marketing approach. According to AccuData’s digital marketing guide, fundraisers should “discover the digital channels that appeal most to their desired audience and use a combination of those channels to reach that audience.” For your organization, those channels might include:

Email: If your nonprofit sends out a recurring newsletter to supporters, be sure to include your text-to-give number in every email you send throughout the campaign. Encourage readers to share the number with their own networks to spread the impact of your fundraising efforts. Additionally, share information about how long the campaign lasts to encourage immediate action.Organic social media posts: Create a posting strategy for your social media updates promoting your text-to-give number. You can also create a Facebook or Instagram story promoting your number and explaining how the text-to-donate process works, so supporters are equipped with the information they need to get involved.Paid social media ads: Targeted social media ads can deliver your text-to-give campaign information directly to your target audience. Marketing specialists typically recommend a combination of organic social media posting and paid ads. Your organic posts help grow your social media following for free, while your paid posts can boost general public awareness of your cause and reach those who are most likely to get involved in your campaigns.

As you launch your promotional strategies, make sure to pay attention to engagement metrics (such as likes, shares, comments, and impressions) to determine which types of messages are most effective. You can also use your social media and email marketing analytics to determine the times of the day that your supporters are most active on each platform. Then, schedule optimized text-to-give communications at these times to reach the widest audience possible.

Make the Most of Your Donor Data

Your nonprofit has undoubtedly collected donor data in past fundraising campaigns. Most established nonprofits have access to data tools that collect fundraising data points such as changes in average gift size over time, fundraising ROI, and conversion rates for different action prompts, as well as more basic information like donor names and email addresses.

If you’ve collected some or all of these types of data, you can use this information to improve your fundraising strategy for your upcoming text-to-donate campaign. Use your data to determine:

Popular days of the week for donations. For instance, if most donors contribute on Thursdays, you’ll know to post on social media and send other communications about your text-to-donate number on Thursdays.Donors’ preferred names and their giving histories. You can address donor emails and other mobile giving-related communications with each individual’s name. Further, reference their giving history to thank them for their past contributions and encourage them to check out your new campaign.Donor matching gift eligibility. You can use your database to determine which supporters are eligible for matching gifts through their companies and focus your text-to-donate marketing efforts on this group.

These strategies can help you form a more targeted, deliberate marketing approach for your text-to-donate campaign. And, don’t forget to gather data throughout your next campaign as well. Powerful text donation software can track elements of your campaign such as:

The frequency of text-giving throughout your campaignYour most active donorsHigh volume text-giving times of the day or weekThe average donation size of text-to-give contributions

You can collect and analyze this data to adjust your text-to-give strategy for future campaigns. Depending on the length of your campaign, you can even adjust your strategy as you go to see how the changes impact the engagement level of your supporters.

Promote Matching Gift Opportunities

As we mentioned, text-to-give campaigns present the opportunity to harness corporate giving initiatives.

This page of matching gift statistics states that around $4-$7 billion in matching gifts goes unclaimed each year, representing a major fundraising opportunity that nonprofits tend to overlook. This is an especially important consideration when you’re receiving a large influx of donations, like during mobile giving campaigns.

In your text-to-give promotion, encourage supporters to check with their employers to find out if they offer a matching gift program. You should also include a matching gift search tool that enables donors to check their eligibility directly on your mobile-optimized giving page.

Then, when donors submit forms to get their gifts matched, they can double, triple, or sometimes even quadruple the impact of their singular contributions, depending on their employers’ matching policy.

Incorporate Text Giving in Your P2P Campaigns

Your peer-to-peer fundraisers are also an effective avenue to promote your text-to-donate campaign. When your supporters create their own P2P fundraising pages, encourage them to include your nonprofit’s mobile giving phone number and keyword in the page description. Then, when their family members and friends view their peer-to-peer page, they’ll be able to use your convenient text-to-give number to immediately contribute to your campaign.

If you’ve never held a P2P campaign before or don’t have experience incorporating them with a text giving campaign, here are a few best practices to follow:

Encourage participants to put your text-to-give number on both their campaign pages and within their social media posts to increase engagement with your mobile giving opportunities.Supply peer-to-peer fundraisers with helpful graphics that explain the text-to-donate process (you can include these elements in your organization’s peer-to-peer fundraising guide/toolkit).Look for a platform that offers both text-to-give and P2P fundraising tools within the same system to streamline fundraising across the board.

This way, your P2P campaigns can accomplish several things at once — you can spread greater awareness of your cause, attract new supporters due to the wider audience of these campaigns, and receive a fundraising boost from your text-to-donate platform. Simply put, your nonprofit can greatly benefit from combining the power of text-to-give and peer-to-peer campaigns.

Highlight Recurring Gift Options

Finally, you should use your next text-to-donate campaign to highlight recurring gift opportunities. Recurring gifts provide a sustainable, dependable revenue source for your nonprofit.

They also offer a simple way for donors to continue supporting your cause without having to resubmit their donation forms over and over — they can just fill out your donation form once and check the box for recurring donations, and your organization will automatically bill them on a regular basis (depending on whether they opted to give weekly, monthly, or annually).

Throughout your text giving campaign, you can take advantage of recurring gifts by experimenting with a few tactics, such as:

Prominently showcase your recurring donation option on your online giving form. In fact, you should feature more than one prompt that encourages donors to consider becoming a part of your monthly giving program to boost the odds of conversion.Thank donors who sign up for your monthly donation program. Be sure to show gratitude for donor generosity to let them know that their gifts make a difference for your cause and that you appreciate their involvement.Enable supporters to manage their own recurring giving plans. Give supporters the ability to adjust their gift amount, frequency, and payment type. This grants supporters more control over their involvement while saving your staff time from having to implement any of these changes on the backend.

These stewardship strategies can help transform one-time text-to-give donors into long-term recurring donors who stay involved with your nonprofit even after your text-giving campaign ends. This should be the main goal of all of your fundraising campaigns: to form relationships with supporters and gain their trust so they remain engaged in your organization’s activities for the long haul.

With these strategies in mind, you can make the most of your next text-to-donate campaign and drive a major donation boost to your organization. Be sure to use your text giving campaign to highlight more than just your mobile-accessible donation page. From matching gifts to your recurring gift program, promote a wide range of giving opportunities to maximize your next text campaign. Happy fundraising!

About the Author: Andrew Berry
Andrew is the head of marketing and customer success for Donately. After getting involved with nonprofits at a young age, he discovered a passion for helping the organizations that are making the world a better place. Knowing how vital online fundraising has become, his goal is to help nonprofits raise more money online each year! In his spare time, you will find him cooking up dinner, playing with his dog or cheering on Boston sports teams.

The post How to Make the Most of Your Next Text-to-Donate Campaign appeared first on FundraisingCoach.com.

A Leader’s Social Media Presence: 4 Ways to Make It Count

Do you doubt the power of your, and your nonprofit’s, social media presence to be a powerful tool for connecting with supporters? Maybe you’ve maintained your brand across profiles and networks, regularly posted, and even used advertisements to reach new audiences. But now, it feels like you’ve hit the maximum value that your social presence can provide.

To make the most of your social media footprint, you’ll want to build personalized relationships with each and every social supporter.

At GoodUnited, we wrote the guide to Facebook fundraising. While doing so, we’ve discovered a few steps you can take, both with your personal social media footprint as a leader and your nonprofit’s social strategy as a whole, to take action for your mission and grow relationships with supporters that last. Here are the tips we’ll cover:

Use Facebook Fundraisers to provide revenue during uncertainty.Thank users that have started their own efforts.Connect with virtual supporters in Facebook Groups.Use Messenger to cultivate long-term support.

Now, let’s say you already have a fairly successful social media strategy on Facebook. Your nonprofit has a ton of followers, you’ve successfully used ads to enhance your following, you post strong content, and you even benefit from user-created Facebook fundraisers.

How do you take your Facebook strategy to the next level, to bring stability to your organization during uncertain times and raise your relationships with supporters on the platform and beyond? Let’s dive into the top tips.

Use Facebook Fundraisers to provide revenue during uncertainty.

We don’t need to go into detail about the challenges that 2020 presented for your nonprofit. But, there is value in discussing the steps you took to overcome them.

Specifically, let’s consider how you likely pivoted your in-person fundraising events to the virtual sphere. Rather than outright canceling your annual gala, walk-a-thon, or day of giving, you accessed virtual fundraising software and adjusted your vision.

As a leader, that’s what you do when everything goes haywire: “... the vision remains the same, and so does your community. What changes is the path you take to that vision.”

Unfortunately, it’s also true that many virtual fundraisers of 2020 left much to be desired. And at this point, donors have been asked (time and time again) to give, but they haven’t benefited from the in-person interaction with your organization and mission as they would have in the past. Plus, with an unknown vaccine rollout timeline and whispers of the world reopening in the foreseeable future, there’s a question of whether events will stay fully virtual or turn to a hybrid model.

Embracing Facebook fundraisers is key to continuing to raise funds effectively during the uncertainty. On Facebook, you can access an audience of virtual donors that you may not have connected with previously. You can quickly plan and execute a variety of virtual fundraising events to engage this audience. According to our virtual fundraising experts here at GoodUnited, the following are all possible through the platform:

Live-streamed fundraisersBirthday fundraisersPeer-to-peer fundraisers

And as a leader, where does your personal social media footprint come into play? Well, first, you should actively participate in Facebook fundraisers and create your own— showing that even your organization’s leadership is chipping in.

Thank users who have started their own efforts.

At one point, Facebook fundraising had a bad reputation. This was largely because fundraisers are started by users, and therefore they can easily fall through the cracks when it comes to a nonprofit’s ability to acknowledge them. When your nonprofit fails to acknowledge fundraisers, you can come across as ungrateful for your supporters’ efforts.

But, Facebook fundraising’s bad reputation is hardly earned— especially considering the platform’s newly unveiled tools that make thanking fundraisers easier than ever.

Let’s start at step one: thanking fundraisers begins with discovering fundraisers. The process is broken down in this guide to Facebook birthday fundraisers, but essentially, you’ll want to:

Navigate to your nonprofit’s main Facebook page.View the “Fundraisers” tab to see all efforts started on your behalf.Use the “Sort & Filter” tool to view those that haven’t been thanked.Post a personalized comment on each fundraiser, thanking the user for their support.

These “thank you’s” can come from your main nonprofit page. But, as a leader, consider sending a few personal thank-you notes from your own profile. Further, consider sharing (and perhaps even donating to) the fundraisers that are publicly shareable.

Connect with virtual supporters in Facebook Groups.

One thing that makes 2021 different from 2020, is that the challenges of last year aren’t new— they’re commonplace. Instead of scrambling to learn everything there is to know about social distancing, you have already adjusted to the regulations resulting from the pandemic. For example, we know that we’re going to spend more of the year connecting virtually from a distance than we will be speaking face-to-face, in-person.

This awareness allows us to make the most of a hard situation. For example, you can plan to incorporate innovative, community-building tools into your strategies for this year, such as Facebook Groups. We’ve found that Facebook’s algorithm favors groups— meaning that you’re more likely to see a post from a group on your Timeline than that from an individual friend. This means that there’s a high likelihood that your supporters will encounter the information in your groups.

Consider creating groups for users that:

Simply create virtual fundraisersAre interested in participating in large peer-to-peer efforts (like a 10k step challenge)Are looking to advance your mission as public advocatesOr something else!

Facebook Groups serve a few purposes. They create an online community space for supporters to meet one another and bond over their support of your organization. However, it’s also a great opportunity for you to share educational resources, such as tips for holding a successful Facebook fundraiser.

This is what can help your social supporters, many of whom are likely not professional fundraisers themselves, be successful on the platform. And as a leader, you can speak directly with your organization’s supporters and forge strong connections.

Use Messenger to cultivate long-term support.

In times of change, you have to return to your core values as a nonprofit. For many organizations, one of the non-negotiables is building strong relationships with supporters. With Facebook Messenger, you can do just that.

On Messenger, you can have one-on-one conversations— simply talk— with supporters and return to the basics of donor stewardship. Conversational messaging through Facebook Messenger allows you to:

Share gratitude, encouragement, and tips with fundraisers.Share information about how to get involved with your organization outside of Facebook.Share educational information about your cause.Survey your supporters (which, according to Bloomerang, is helpful to increase retention rates over time).

As a leader, you can speak one-on-one with the people that fuel your nonprofit’s work— expressing how valuable their contributions and time are for advancing your mission. It’s an entirely new channel to raise your relationships with supporters and acquire lifelong donors, and it’s one that few nonprofits are using at this point. This might be because nonprofits aren’t sure how to get users to opt in to Messenger to begin with.

However, there are a few ways you can get started. For example, you can invite supporters to join a group, and then post in the group asking supporters to connect on Messenger. Or, you can include a Messenger invite directly in your initial “thank you” notes from the second section.

To wrap up, if your organization is using Facebook regularly but is still not seeing the relationship-building and fundraising results you would hope for, don’t let that doubt hold you back from greatness on the platform.

We’d highly recommend seeking out the new ways that you and your organization can understand, inspire, and grow relationships with supporters on the platform. Emphasizing Facebook fundraisers, thanking users, and connecting via groups and Messenger are great ways to do just that.

And, if the tips in this guide seem out of reach with your organization’s current bandwidth, you can always work with a company that specializes in helping nonprofits cultivate relationships with social supporters at scale (like GoodUnited!) to elevate your efforts. Good luck!

About the Author: Nick Black, CEO of GoodUnited
Nick is the Founder and CEO of GoodUnited, a venture-backed Software as a Service (SaaS) startup that helps nonprofits like Wounded Warrior Project, American Cancer Society, World Wildlife Fund create 1:1 relationships with their donors through the combination of data science and human judgement delivered in conversational messaging platforms. Nick's work with GoodUnited resulted in being named The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s 2017 Distinguished Young Alumnus.

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Going beyond a no in your nonprofit fundraising ask

I recently heard author Andrea Waltz remind fundraisers to "go for no!" (That's the name of her book too.) It's a reminder that too often we give up before the donor has really made a decision.

Reframing Failure

She also shared the need for us to reframe the word "no." When asking for money, too often, we hear a "no" as the end. I asked. They answered. The end.

But fundraising is about relationships. Relationships are built on conversations. When you ask a donor for a gift, say $25,000, and they say "no," they may not ending the conversation. They may be open to giving. Just not open to giving $25,000.

This is sort of an "invitational no." A no that's an invitation to politely explore further. As a fundraiser, part of your job is to find out what the donor will say "yes" to.

3 Reasons for a "No" in Fundraising

Fundraising expert Alina Gerlovin Spaulding says there are only really 3 no's:

No about the projectNo about the gift totalNo about the timing

As you're in an asking conversation, you get to explore each of these with a donor. You might say, "I'm sorry to hear that. Is it the project that doesn't fit? Or is it the amount?"

Your goal is to pleasantly find out if there's a gift level, timing, and project they will support. If they have an issue with the project, then you adjust. If it's an issue with the amount, than you can suggest paying over time. Or ask if they already have a donor advised fund. If timing or a DAF isn't an option, you can suggest different gift levels.

Serving Your Donors, Your Program Staff, and Your Cause

This is not license to badger people. Or to become argumentative. If you're following the "Ask Without Fear!" steps we teach here, you will already have a relationship with your donor. You'll be making the ask based on the donor's shared values. Something they genuinely care about.

So you'll have the pleasant persistence to explore possibilities with them. Just walking away is an option. But your nonprofit's work os worth getting a little uncomfortable for. As a fundraiser or nonprofit leader, part of your role is to raise funding. This helps your program staff do the excellent work that they do. And helps you be the change you want to see in the world.

So, rather than just tucking your tail and running when you hear a no, pause. With sincere curiosity, explore what might work for the donor and for your nonprofit. If it's still a no, that's ok. Most no's are "no for now." You're in a relationship and might have something to suggest in the future.

But often you'll find that you didn't share enough about the impact of the gift. Or that payments could be made quarterly, or over a couple years. So share that with them. In so doing, you're serving the donor, your program staff, and your mission.

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Fundraising in the Black: 4 Accounting Best Practices

Effective organizational management is imperative for nonprofits to be successful in achieving their missions. Today, Jon Osterburg, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Jitasa, lends the knowledge he's gained helping over 100 nonprofits globally with their finances. He outlines several best practices nonprofits can implement in their accounting processes. 

Fundraising is a vital part of your organization’s strategy. While we all wish that we could achieve our goals and pay no money to do so, that’s not always feasible. You need to raise money to effectively conduct the programming that helps you work toward your mission.

You know the old adage, “It takes money to make money.” Well, it’s the truth. The most impactful and effective fundraising campaigns will require your organization to spend some funds. Understandably, this also means that some organizations’ campaigns end up in the red, meaning they actually lose their hard-earned funds. That’s the last thing that you want. No matter how generous your donors are, fundraising results in the red is a bad sign that can lose their trust.

Establishing a well-thought-out and data-driven plan ahead of time is the best way to ensure your fundraising campaign is profitable, ending in the black.

In this guide, we’ll dive into four different accounting ideas to ensure your next fundraising campaign ends up in the black. These best practices include:

Create a Detailed Campaign BudgetConsider Your Campaign AudienceCompiling the Resources You NeedAnalyze Your Campaign Results

Ready to dive deeper into profitable fundraising? Let’s get started.

Create a Detailed Campaign Budget

Your organization creates an annual budget to help determine your overarching financial health and goals. This living document includes both the yearly revenue that you anticipate making, the expenses you anticipate encountering, and notes on how you arrived at those figures. At the end of the day, your budget looks something like this example pulled from Jitasa’s budgeting guide:

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In the same way, your organization should create a detailed budget that covers your anticipated revenue and expense sources for your campaign.

This budget will cover your overarching fundraising goal and spell out how you’ll hit those goals using a number of different fundraising sources. For example, let’s consider a nonprofit that’s hosting an annual fundraising fun run event. This organization will likely need to account for the following expenses:

Renting the space where the fun run will take place.Purchasing t-shirts and other merchandise for each of the attendees.Investing in event registration software so attendees can easily sign up for the event.Purchasing bibs, safety pins, and labels for the racers.Hiring a DJ or other entertainment to make the event fun.Purchasing insurance for the event.Investing in marketing software and incurring advertisement costs.Providing refreshments and water for the racers at the event.

While these are just a few examples, showing that even a seemingly simple event like a fun run can add up with all sorts of costs! That’s why you also need to recognize your various forms of revenue and estimate how much will come from each source. In this fun run example, here are some of the revenue sources the nonprofit might encounter:

Individual registrations to participate in the fun run.Additional donations made to the organization for the event.Matched gifts provided by employers of the event participants.Sponsorships from local businesses in the community.Merchandise sales that are made at the event.

For each campaign, make sure you know what fundraising data to track to keep an eye on your various revenue sources during the campaign. For instance, you may have different revenue goals associated with donations, merchandise sales, etc. You’ll, therefore, need to track each separately in addition to your overarching fundraising goal to ensure a successful campaign.

Consider Your Campaign Audience

A surefire way to raise less than what’s ideal is by targeting your fundraising campaign to the wrong crowd. Consider, for example, you’re hosting your annual fundraising gala and requiring a $300 ticket price per plate. Who would you approach to invite them to the event? Young adults who have historically given between $25 and $50 to your campaigns? Or major donors who typically give in the thousands? Probably the latter.

By nature, most fundraising galas are designed to entice major donors to attend an exclusive event and ultimately give a large contribution by the end of the night. Therefore, you’ll probably spend a bit more on this fundraising opportunity to ensure the venue is top notch, the food is delicious, and the atmosphere is exquisite.

As you design your own fundraising campaign, consider your audience and the campaign type to make sure they’re in line with one another.

Ask yourself the following questions to get started:

What is your fundraising goal?Which supporters could best help you reach your goals?What demographic is this audience? Age? General interests?What is the average donation size for your chosen target audience?Which events have they attended in the past?What would the ideal turnout be for this particular event?What fundraising idea best suits your chosen audience?What has this audience responded to in terms of marketing in the past?How will you market to that particular audience?

The great news is that most of this information can be found in one convenient location— your donor database. Assuming your organization uses effective donor management practices, you should have information in your system regarding a number of audiences you’ve engaged with in the past.

From this information, you can pull average gift amounts, draw conclusions about the past events attended, and make assumptions about the amount of money your supporters are able to contribute to the campaign you’re planning.

For example: If your goal is to raise $50,000 for your next campaign, you might reach out to a large number of small to mid-sized supporters. You might decide to plan a dance-a-thon with your supporters, encouraging them to come out for a fun evening. This is a fun event idea for all ages and for supporters who can give in all amounts.

Gathering this intel before the campaign activities allows your organization to make the most accurate estimates about revenue possible to fill out your budget.

Compile the Resources You Need

Now that you’ve chosen your fundraising idea, start thinking about the resources you’ll need to make the campaign possible. There is an abundance of piecemeal solutions that can generally accomplish some of your needs. But if you want to create the best experience for the audience, choose software designed specifically for your chosen type of campaign.

Essentially, this is the difference between using donor management software and spreadsheets to manage your donor information. You know how much more valuable the former is.

Make a list of the resources you need to raise funds before you start investing left and right. Look back at your budget to see how much you’ve allocated to these resources to determine how much you can spend on each one.

When you conduct your research on each resource, consider the prices so you don’t overspend on this overhead expense.

For example, if you’re hosting the dance-a-thon from the last section, you will probably need to invest in registration software, donation pages, powerful sound system, and music platforms. Going through these solutions, you’d have to determine which options are:

The best bang for their buck.Within your predetermined budget.Equipped with all of the features you need.

Once you’ve narrowed your list down, ask further about price, ensuring you reach out about hidden fees like implementation and training expenses. This will provide a holistic view of the actual overall cost of the resources you need.

Bloomerang’s fundraising software guide lists out a number of tech solutions that can help get you started on your research for these resources. And, they’re conveniently listed out by fundraising campaign type.

Analyze Your Campaign Results

When it comes to your fundraising strategy, your long-term goal is probably growth. Growing your fundraising campaigns over time is what also helps your organization grow its impact on the community. Not only should this campaign be profitable, but you should also be actively tracking campaign data to advise future opportunities and continue improving.

Consider the metrics that will best help your organization grow its fundraising over time. Then, track these metrics between each of your fundraising campaigns. For example, you should track analytics such as:

Your donor retention rate. It’s more cost-efficient to retain your existing supporters than it is to acquire new support. Thanking donors, stewarding them, and otherwise showing appreciation will help this metric increase over time.Average donation size. Track the average gift size among your supporters and among your supporter segments. This will help you better understand your audience and reach them for each campaign you host in the future.Overhead expenses per campaign. Track your investments in resources, venues, and other costs of hosting fundraising campaigns. That way, you can find any gaps in your strategy and discover new opportunities to become more efficient with overhead costs. This decreases the ratio between overhead and donations raised for future campaigns, allowing you to do more with less.

All of these metrics will help your organization to grow over time, but there’s another reason to keep a close eye on campaign data. Tracking your financial results throughout the year helps when it comes to future financial audits.

After each campaign, consider which analytics and metrics you’ll need to add to the financial reports included in these audits. Tracking that information now and ensuring your records are organized will prevent your staff members from scrambling to find all of this information down the line.

As a professional fundraiser, you understand how challenging it can be to conduct the perfect campaign. It takes funds, patience, and perseverance for each campaign. If you raise $50,000 in a campaign, but spend $52,000 to set it up, you still end up in the red. Efficient budgeting and planning ahead of time is the key to fundraising in the black.

Be sure to work closely with your accounting team to make sure you're in-line with your overarching budget and have effectively planned out each campaign for maximum profitability. Preferably, your accountants will be experts in nonprofit accounting (like those at Jitasa) so that they can help specifically with these types of campaigns.

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3 problems with the major gift as carrot analogy

Have you ever been about to ask for a major gift only to be warned about the carrot in the garden?

It goes something like this:

"Sure, you could ask them now. But it might be better to wait. You see, if you were to pull a carrot now, it might come up really small. But if you let it stay in the ground a little longer, it might grow much larger."

If you've ever had that analogy inflicted on you, you've seen this response from your board or team: everyone in the meeting relaxes into their chairs. They breathe a sigh of relief.

The pressure is off. The ask doesn't need to happen.

And it's 100% wrong.

The "major gift as carrot" analogy will ruin your nonprofit

This analogy always has irked me. In part because it invariably leads to the potential donor never being asked.

After all, every day we hold off asking is letting that carrot grow bigger and bigger!

It might be. But you are creating a lack of funds for the people or mission you're supposed to be serving. And the donor is missing out on the joy of giving to help those people or that mission.

3 Problems with the major gift as a single carrotIt's based in fear
While the "let's wait" sounds respectful, it's really based in the fear of being told "no." It falls into the education trap: if they just knew more about us, then they'd really give generously.

NO! Education does not drive donations. Education informs, but only asking drives donations.

And asking requires the courage to risk hearing an answer we don't want to hear.

It's based in scarcity
The idea that a donor's gift is a single root vegetable cheapens the entire process. (No disrespect intended to root vegetables.)

In fundraising, asking shouldn't be a one-time occurrence. And it certainly shouldn't be the only communication you're doing with your prospects.

If your nonprofit is doing worthwhile work, it will need ongoing funding. And if you thank the donor well, this won't be the only gift you receive from them. It will just be the start of an ongoing, growing relationship.

It disrespects your program staff
Your program staff is doing amazing work. Work that deserves being well resourced. Your holding back from asking is forcing them to continue "making do" with what they have. Scraping by. They deserve better.Stop treating your donors like root vegetables

Just like with any organization, as nonprofit leaders, funding our organizations is our responsibility. And part of that means asking for money. There is no shame in inviting someone to give generously to the work you do.

No one is going to do that asking for us. And the potential donors have no idea how much it takes to do the work. It's our job to respectfully ask them for a clear dollar amount. If we're premature in asking, they'll tell us. And we'll get to grow the relationship.

They may even say "no." That doesn't feel good. But it's all part of the "Ask Without Fear!" process.

Not asking isn't the answer.

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