Marc A. Pitman's Blog, page 18

#GivingTuesday 2019: How to Build A Successful Fundraising Campaign

The holiday season inspires a certain sense of altruism. Around the world, it’s a season of giving thanks ⁠— and often a time for paying this thankfulness forward, too.

No day embodies this more than #GivingTuesday, held on the first Tuesday following Thanksgiving. Inspired by the good done unto them⁠— whether due to a particularly tasty holiday feast or maybe even a productive Black Friday⁠— donors are ready to contribute to positive change in their communities. 

#GivingTuesday is one of the most impactful days of the year for nonprofit fundraising, and the numbers are certainly there to back up these claims. Just last year, #GivingTuesday impacted over 150 countries. Through 3.6 million online gifts, the movement was able to generate over $400 million in donations!

As the holiday season approaches, you’ll need to make sure your nonprofit is primed to host a successful #GivingTuesday campaign. There are a few strategies sure to help you in the process:

Assess your nonprofit’s current fundraising abilities. 
Consider upgrading your donor management tools.
Offer effective donation options in both the digital and physical realms. 
Research your donors in advance. 
Focus on relationship-building in addition to soliciting donations.

#GivingTuesday is a massive opportunity to reach your nonprofit’s fundraising goals, and it’s vital that you’re prepared with an effective fundraising strategy. Read on for a breakdown of the tips listed above.

1. Assess your nonprofit’s current fundraising abilities.

Because #GivingTuesday is the single most impactful day during the busiest fundraising season of the calendar year, preparation is not to be approached lightly. In order to successfully capitalize on this event, it’s essential that you prepare thoroughly.

This starts with an assessment of your nonprofit’s fundraising strategy. You should look at previous processes used (considering what worked and what could use improvement) as well as any structural limitations your nonprofit may have with fundraising going forward. Here are a few questions for you to consider in your assessment:

Do you have a clearly outlined mission statement for donors to support? Have you been successful with this statement in the past?
Is your existing donor-facing content, such as your website, error-free and easy to navigate? Is it easy for your team to make necessary edits and upgrades as needed?
Have your campaigns stayed within budget in the past? Have you set a realistic budget for future fundraising, or does it need adjustment? 
Which fundraising channels have worked best for you in the past, in terms of both total donations and donor acquisition? Which didn’t?
Do you have software in place capable of handling a large influx of donations and the accompanying data? If not, do you have a plan in place to handle it?

While conducting a full assessment of your nonprofit’s fundraising abilities may seem like a massive undertaking, the above list should give you a good starting point. 

Once completed, you’ll see that the benefits of a pre-assessment are endless. Allowing you to identify any existing issues in your fundraising strategy, which you can then fix before they become bigger issues⁠— an evaluation of your nonprofit’s current capabilities allows you to head into the holiday fundraising season (relatively) stress-free!

2. Consider upgrading your donor management tools.

#GivingTuesday means a large influx of donations in a really short⁠— and busy⁠— period of time. The generosity of donors during the holiday season is unmatched, and you want to be well-equipped for handling it!

With millions of gifts coming through online methods, you should make sure your toolkit is up to par. While there’s nothing wrong with manual records (besides all the hard work and risk of human error!), it may be time to consider employing software to handle it for you. There are two types of software that could be particularly helpful:

An internet-based donation platform: An online fundraising platform including benefits such as customized online donation forms, easy facilitation of P2P fundraising, automated thank-you emails, and centralized dashboards for handling all of this information can drastically improve your handling of digital donations. 
A robust constituent management system: A more comprehensive CRM platform allows you to automatically create profiles for your donors, keep track of their previous donations, and view real-time data and analysis. These features make it easier than ever to make informed decisions about your fundraising strategy. 

By automating some of your fundraising processes and data management, you can both gain new insights on your donor base and re-allocate the saved time toward other important functions, such as relationship-building!

3. Offer effective donation options in both the digital and physical realms.

As people head home for the holidays, it’s important that you offer secure donation options wherever that home may be. Whether a donor is in your town or across the world, you want to make sure they have easy access to giving tools!

This can be accomplished by creating a trustworthy online donation tool for donors far and wide to access. Look for a platform that allows you to seamlessly embed your custom branded donation form right on your website. This will help to ensure that donors feel secure as they complete their donation. 

For further information online donation methods, check out these top picks from DonorSearch.

That being said, while it might be tempting to go fully digital in your donation methods⁠— it’s still important to offer off-the-web options for donors as well. 

While online giving is certainly growing and becoming a substantial “piece of the pie” of total giving, it’s still just a piece. Therefore, it’s important that you not only include physical solicitation methods such as direct mail giving, but that you be able to easily accept cash and check gifts as well. 

The main idea here is that you make options available for those that prefer to give digitally and those that prefer to give through paper methods, and that you optimize those options to be as easy-to-navigate as possible. 

4. Research your donors in advance. 

Those in the nonprofit sector are well aware of the power of #GivingTuesday, and that means there will be many groups introducing campaigns right around the same time as you. How do you stand out in a sea of good causes?

One way is to make sure you are effectively maximizing your resources by targeting prospective donors that are most likely to donate to your organization. That means it’s time to research! There are three types of fundraising analytics to consider:

Descriptive fundraising analytics: describes the behavior of your donors, classifying them into groups based on their interactions with your organization, like their history of giving or volunteering.
Predictive fundraising analytics: uses past data on your donors and predicts their future behavior. If a donor consistently gives more each time, that’s a trend worth focusing on. 
Prescriptive fundraising analytics: looks at your predictive fundraising data to determine what plan of action you should pursue in order to take advantage of new opportunities.

You must begin by segmenting your donor base using characteristics such as frequency of giving, gift size, and preferred method of donation, to name a few. Further, and especially for your mid-range or larger donors, you should look at both wealth and philanthropic indicators, noting both the ability of a donor to give and their desire to do so. 

You can then use this information to make predictions about your donor base using any patterns you see emerge. Is there a certain demographic that is more likely to donate than others?

Using these predictions, you can create a game plan for targeting donors most likely to contribute to your organization. By researching your donors in advance, you’ve optimized your entire fundraising strategy. Now, you’re saving time contacting prospects and enjoying a higher success rate when doing so!

For more examples and context around translating those data insights into campaign strategies, check out this guide. 

5. Focus on relationship-building in addition to soliciting donations.

Fundraising isn’t an act of blunt-force solicitation but rather of building lifelong relationships with donors. This is particularly important to remember during the holiday season!

The holidays are all about gathering with loved ones and giving thanks for those relationships. In contacting donors with your #GivingTuesday pitch, it’s important to emphasize the connection a donor will be making with your organization and the lifelong benefits this relationship will have for your cause. Check out a few best practices below:

Begin planning the event a few months in advance and start promotion in early November. 

#GivingTuesday is the most important fundraising day for nonprofits, so promotion should be taken seriously! You should aim to begin planning a few months in advance to give your team plenty of time to create a strong campaign.

Because it’s not uncommon for people to power down technology during the holidays, and there’s no denying that advertising increases across the board during the gift-giving season, you should start promoting your campaign early as well! Starting to heavily market your initiative in early November ensures you don’t get lost in the commotion.

Use positive messaging.

End-of-year giving has a major positive effect on nonprofits through funding their work throughout the entire next year. Make sure that the communications you’re sending to donors reflect the positive effect their contributions will have on the mission they are investing in! This is especially important if your campaign will be for your annual fund rather than a specific project.

Focus on the impact of donations, being as specific as possible.

The best way to show donors that their contribution matters is by showing them exactly what their funds benefit! If your campaign is centered around a core project, include plenty of  specific details on what exactly those donations will be accomplishing in the coming year.

Consider extending #GivingTuesday to have year-round benefits.

Many nonprofits are fueled by the funds raised through year-end fundraising campaigns. Consider approaching donors with sustaining gift options⁠— such as recurring monthly donations⁠— to keep the fundraising momentum going throughout the next year. Offering special incentives for new recurring donors can be an effective way to bolster your budget all year.

Don’t forget the “after.”

Just as it’s important to approach donors with a positive, future-reaching attitude when you first solicit a donation, it’s equally⁠—if not more-important to follow up with a grateful acknowledgement afterward! Doing so ensures you build a relationship with the donor beyond that first single donation, with lasting potential for years to come.

For more best practices on soliciting funds, check out Double the Donation’s tips for asking for donations. 

#GivingTuesday is one of  the largest days for nonprofit online fundraising, and if your nonprofit is participating, you need to make sure you’re well-prepared for this year’s event!

Through completing a bit of pre-research and optimizing your fundraising methods, you’re sure to build a successful fundraising campaign in time for the holiday season. Happy fundraising!

The post #GivingTuesday 2019: How to Build A Successful Fundraising Campaign appeared first on FundraisingCoach.com.

How to effectively interact with donors

So many fundraising problems can be solved by interacting with donors. Getting to know them. Asking about their interests. Learning their stories.

I call it "seeing donors in their natural habitat."

But if you've had years and years of only focusing on your nonprofit and what you do and how great your staff is, interacting with donors can be really hard.

It's like learning a new skill: it feels clumsy and awkward. But as you do it more, you'll find it soon becomes natural.

Often it helps to have simple lists to get us started. That's why I loved Mary Cahalane's blog post "28 Ways You Can Show Donors They Matter to You." Go read it now: https://mcahalane.com/28-ways-you-can-show-donors-they-matter-to-you/

Learning to show donors you appreciate them is a huge step in building a relationship with them.

Relationships Matter

Talking to a nonprofit professional this week, she told of a firm that donated a software game to her work. Now they're donating $12 million. As the relationship around the game - a game that directly related to her cause - they got to know her. And she them. That relationship has grown to a multi-million dollar donor who's thrilled to be supporting the outcomes they're seeing.

The challenge with relationships are

The outcomes are certain: That company could've stopped with the game. All relationships have an element of risk.

Not everyone wants a relationship with you: According to the Veritus Group in their book It's Not (Just) About the Money, two out of three major gift donors don't want a deeper relationship with you. That is actually great news! But it can feel like they're rejecting you personally. (They're not. They're busy and feel great about the giving they're doing for you.)

Put some of Mary's tactics in place today

Start with Mary's list. Donor stewardship is an incredibly powerful place to start growing in relationship activities. Expressing gratitude benefits both you and the donor and tends to make these activities more enjoyable.

As you go through her list, you'll think of other things you can do. You'll see that donor engagement is much like any other relationship - it takes time and attention.

But hopefully you'll see that you can use things you're already doing as you interact with donors. Your "thank you" video doesn't have to be in a studio. It can be out where the mission is happening. Your notes could go with something that is already being sent. You'll start seeing that there's often no need to create special programs or mailings.

If you're going to grow your fundraising in the coming months - regardless of the economy - you'll need to get great at building relationships. You'll want donors to feel you are one of their top three giving priorities. One that they won't easily give up.

So be sure to put some tactics in place today.

What donor engagement strategy will you commit to?

What will you do this week? Tell us in the comments.

And please tell us of other things you've found build relationships with donors without adding a lot to your already full schedule.

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3 steps for less stress in fundraising for the next six months

Do you feel it? The airports and highways are filled with last minute vacation seekers. Back to school supplies are flying off shelves. The school buses are doing practice runs.

It's almost the fall.

For whatever reason, people seem to "settle in" to a more regular routine once the school year starts.

And that impacts fundraising.

Fundraising Happens Year Round

Granted, fundraising happens when we ask people for funds. It's as simple as that. We've heard stories this summer of clients receiving some remarkably generous gifts. Those clients were out there, doing the work, and connected with donors ready to give.

Yet, many of us find it easier to connect with people in the fall. And we find people actually respond to our mail and email better than they do in the summer.

This may be good news if your recent fundraising hasn't been what you would have liked!

3 Steps for Planning Your Fall


Assess the last six months

The first step is to take an honest, hard look at the last six months. You'll want "results" information which can be gotten by running reports of:

LYBUNTS and SYBUNTS: People who gave last year but unfortunately not yet this year and people who gave some year but unfortunately not yet this. (Most experts are saying to only go back 24 - 36 months saying donors who haven't given in the last 2 to 3 years tend to behave more like people who have never given.) Tracking LYBUNTS and SYBUNTS will help you make sure you connect with people who have recently expressed support for your nonprofit.
People who gave this month last year but haven't yet given this year. People often give in some sort of rhythm. So people that gave this month last year may well give this month this year too.
The amount of money you asked for versus the amount of money that was received. For major gift asks, I believe the only legitimate "ask" is one in which you specifically state a dollar amount. A "will you support our cause" isn't a real ask. And it is disrespectful to the donor. The donor has no idea if you mean $250 or $250,000. So treat the donor like an adult and honer her enough to make a clear ask.

You'll also want to ask yourself "activity" questions like:

How many letters did you send?
How many major gift donors did you really make contact with?
Did you really send the thank you notes you said you would? (Or are they piling up on your desk?)

It's important to assess both the activity and the results. Too often we measure results (dollars in) without accurately tracking what actions led to those gifts being made.

I really like the Veritus Group's "Major Donor Dashboard" as described in their book It's Not (Just) About the Money. The idea is for each of your assigned donors (up to 150 if all you do is major gifts), you should know how much you'll be asking them for, when you'll be asking, and what cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship engagements you'll be making. You can find helpful white papers from them, including how to evaluate the performance of a major gift officer, at: https://veritusgroup.com/free-download-library/

Major gifts expert Amy Eisenstein also has a helpful video about four metrics to track - and offers free metrics worksheets - at: https://www.amyeisenstein.com/4-metrics-measure-major-gift-program/

Draft the plan for the next six months

Now that you have a solid sense of where your fundraising is at and why it is or why it is not where you want it to be, figure out where you need to go. What will the next six months look like. Yes, I'm writing this in August so that includes January. Too often we scramble to catch up on bookkeeping in January and forget to actually thank our donors. Acknowledging a transaction is good. But we need to also thank them for helping transform the mission with the impact of their gift.

Many organizations send a direct mail appeal in early September. And then two or three from mid-November through the end of December. Also plan out how your email will coincide with your direct mail.

You'll also want to consider any special events you have planned. These can include anything: employee participation activities, fundraising galas, stewardship events, etc. Be sure to determine if you are participating in a giving day like Giving Tuesday.

And you'll want to look at the touches you make for each of your major gift prospects in your portfolio.

Put the your plans on your calendar

Assessing the past and planning the future is great. Doing those two steps will help you immensely. But putting the results of your work onto your calendar - paper or digital - will help ensure you and your team actually give time required to do the plan.

For example, if you know you want a letter in the mail by November 15, you'll likely need to have it at the mail house two weeks before then. And the final copy completed two weeks before that. And the draft done two to four weeks prior to that. You'll probably need to get started on the November 15 letter on September 15!

You Don't Have to Live in Stress

Running a nonprofit and fundraising are inherently stressful. But we often create unnecessary stress because we fail to plan. Or we fail to work our plan. 

Doing these three steps will help ensure you have as peaceful a fall as possible while still raising the money you need!

What are you doing to prepare for the next six months?

What about you? What have you found helpful to plan out the next six months? Tell us in the comments!

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What Nonprofit leaders need to know about the brain

Nonprofit work is stressful. So often we go about our work without realizing the effects of that ongoing stress on our brains. But Jessica Sharp does. The founder of Sharp Brain Consulting, Jessica helps leaders and the people they serve. Here she gives insights into what we should know about the brain to help our clients and our staff. And ourselves. On Twitter, you can follow Jessica @sharpjes

What Nonprofit leaders need to know about the brain

by Jessica Sharp, founder Sharp Brain Consulting

As an expert on the brain, poverty, and nonprofits, I think there are several things that those of us in the nonprofit field need to know about the brain. 

How the brain impacts our clients

While all of us have different constituents, clients, and program participants, many of us are working with people who are living in poverty. Living in poverty is more than just the reality of the financial burden of taking care of oneself and/or a family, it is so much more than that. Living in poverty has physical manifestations that start in the brain.

Living in poverty can cause chronic, or toxic stress to emerge. All of us will experience stress – hard things that happen that we can’t control or have emotions about. That is normal and when minimal and controlled, it can be good for our bodies. The problem arises when that stress becomes consistent and chronic. Then, it increases our levels of a hormone called cortisol to a level beyond what our body can maintain. That increased level of cortisol puts people at risk for weight gain, diabetes, trouble sleeping, memory problems, and other health issues. For youth, living in poverty increases the size of the amygdala and decreases the gray matter in the prefrontal cortex. What this means is that youth have increased impulsivity, risk-taking behavior, and increased ability to plan and think into the future.

Poverty has physical manifestations for our clients that we need to be aware of to best serve them. Here is one proven tip that you can give you clients to help them mitigate the impact of poverty:

There are substantial benefits to practicing meditation that when done consistently, can have physical changes to the brain. Encouraging clients to practice deep breathing for 5 minutes a day can decrease their impact on chronic stress on their lives.

The impacts of poverty on our clients are summarized in my TEDxGreenville talk which can be viewed here.

How the brain impacts our staff

Like our brains impact our clients, our brains also impact us in a variety of ways. I will focus here on the impact of unconscious bias.

The amygdala, a part of our brain, has many responsibilities within our brain. Among them, it helps us to make quick, often unconscious decisions that help keep us alive. When we meet new people, our amygdala makes quick decisions about them. Sometimes, though, that can have negative effects.

Because of those brain functions, all of us have unconscious bias against certain groups of people. It is important to note that bias doesn’t make us good, or bad, it just makes us human. Unconscious biases are assumptions we make about people before we know them. Those assumptions, sometimes good, but often bad, impact our decision making and how we interact with others.

Here is a real-life example backed by data: a physician has an unknown bias against black women. His patient, we will call her Janet, comes in and complains of pain, he does not prescribe anything to help alleviate the pain. Another patient who is white comes in, Jane, with the same symptoms and issues and that same doctor prescribes pain medication to help her. This experience happens repeatedly throughout the US. The thing is, those physicians believe they are treating all patients the same and that they do not have bias, but the research tells a different story. That is how bias works, we don’t see it, but the impacts are there. It will impact how we view others, interact with them, and in our world, what we do to help them.

Bias can have significant impacts on our work and our clients, and we can’t begin to mitigate those impacts until we understand our own bias. To better identify your own bias, I suggest taking Harvard’s Implicit Association Test.

Once you have taken the assessment and know your biases, here are a few tips to mitigate the effect of your bias on your decision making:

Lean into your biases by building relationships. Start to learn more about the people who are different from you. Often are biases come from messages we have internalized about groups. Learning more about these groups can help decrease the potential negative impacts of your decisions.
When making large decisions about your organization, have diverse teams work together to make choices.
When interacting with and making decisions regarding groups you have a biased against, slow down and do some deep breathing. This will engage your prefrontal cortex to allow you to make decisions that align with your personal and organizational values.

In addition to understanding bias, it is important for those of us in the public sector to know about burnout and compassion fatigue. I have written about both of those things in various places, so feel free to learn more about those subjects there.

Compassion Fatigue: when hurting helps

5 Signs you are experiencing burnout

Having an increased knowledge of how the brain impacts our work can allow us to better serve our clients and increase our impact through our work.

To hear Jessica talk more about this, go to the NPA training "What Nonprofit Leaders Need to Know about the Brain" at https://thenonprofitacademy.com/trainings/know-the-brain. The training is open to all NPA members. Not a member, don't worry. You can be for as little as $19!

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Giving headlines should grab your attention, but not for the reasons you think

Private coaching clients have been emailing me the doom and gloom articles on the latest Giving USA report. Giving was up about $3 billion but when adjusted for inflation, giving was down in 2018.

This should grab our attention. But not for the reasons you think.

In answering a coaching client today, I ended up writing a blog post and giving links to other people's analyses of the state of giving. You can read it at: What Leaders Need to know about Giving in 2019

This WILL be on the test

As a leader in your nonprofit, you need to know this stuff. It's about your organization's revenue. It's worth your time.

This will be on the test.

Top line: nonprofits can succumb to doom and gloom and believe that the news applies to them. Doing that will become a self fulfilling prophecy - they will raise less money.

But you can use the details in this report and the larger trends that are being tracked to double down on the basics of asking donors well and telling them how important they are.

Continuing to improve in asking and thanking will serve you well. But take the time to read the entire blog post over on The Concord Leadership Group blog: What Leaders Need to know about Giving in 2019 at https://concordleadershipgroup.com/what-leaders-need-to-know-about-giving-in-2019/

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Why you should come to the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference? Alumni tell you.

Wondering why you should come to this year's Nonprofit Storytelling Conference?

I could share why I think you should. It's an event like none I've ever been able to be part of.

But as a co-producer of the conference, you'd expect me to say that. So here are some comments posted just this week from Conference alum!

"Our fundraising results have doubled..."

This week, Diane Wheatley said that the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference has helped them double their fundraising results. See her words here:

"Our fundraising results have doubled because of the info and advice we heard at this conference - it's a game changer (I don't like that word, but it fits!)

"If you're on the fence - jump! Jump now while it's a bargain. I'm so glad that we jumped!"

"This is a 'DO NOT MISS' Event!

Anne O'Dell surprised us this week by posting about why she keeps coming back to the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference experience. Read why here:

"How to tell as story seems so simple right?? That is what I thought.

"After attending this conference the first year, our appeal letter, and our annual fundraiser looked very different in terms of presentation of the stories we were telling, and furthermore the results! Year after year, I go back, and learn more and more - and each year the appeal letter, and the annual fundraiser - are bigger and better, and our stories show deeper impact!

"This is 'DO NOT MISS' EVENT!"

"Our fundraising numbers continue to rise"

Sherry Manschot comes every year and is very involved with the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference. This week, she posted this comment on Facebook:

"I learn something new every time I attend. Our fundraising numbers continue to rise.

"I am especially excited about this year's speakers. I encourage you to attend...you will not regret it!"

Coming back and bringing 7 staff this year

Even after 27 years of nonprofit work, Angie Miller found the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference so helpful, she's bringing 7 people from her organization with her this year. We find organizations often do this. One person from a nonprofit comes. They come back the next year but bring more people - including board and non-fundraising people. Even from as far away as Norway!

Read Angie's comment here:

"In all my years of nonprofit work (27 to be exact) this is the BEST conference I have ever been to for honing my fundraising skills and challenging me to stay relevant and forward thinking. This year I'm so excited that 7 people from my organization, not just in the development department, will be attending. To me that speaks volumes about the outcomes that the entire organization is seeing from the great takeaways from this conference. If you haven't already signed up, please do, you won't be disappointed."

Come join us!

These were just some of the comments that were posted on Facebook this week. You can see many more people talking about their experience on the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference's page at https://nonprofitstorytellingconference.com/.

Go there now. Listen to the comments. And register to join us in the fall!

The post Why you should come to the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference? Alumni tell you. appeared first on FundraisingCoach.com.

[Guest Post] Using your data to build real relationships

Today's guest post is from Neon One's Tim Sarrantonio. He's a fundraiser, a database whiz, and regular conference speaker. A more complete bio comes after this article. You can see his most recent thoughts GIFs on Twitter @midwesttgs

How to use data to build authentic relationships with prospects
by Tim Sarrantonio, Director of Strategic Partnerships at Neon One

Data is everywhere nowadays. We’re constantly being told to focus on data, to live in the data, to respect the data in order to power our fundraising. Yet the reality is that data will never replace the core tenets of fundraising - building an authentic connection between your mission and the donor.

However, data can be extremely powerful when used strategically to inform your priorities and decision making. This is especially true when engaging with your major donor prospects, since a piece of vital data could mean the difference between finally making that meaningful connection or prematurely setting up a lunch that leads to an awkward rejection.

With some many data sources, it can be hard for an organization to concentrate. One of the best places to begin with is your existing database of record and then utilize data appending services to optimize your prospect profiles.

Why data needs to inform strategy

Your organization’s staff are going to approach their day to day in different ways, depending on how they are hardwired for solicitations. Some folks will dive right in and pick up the phone to engage while others will want to be more methodical and have as much information as possible before engagement.

Yet no matter how someone is approaching the actual donor engagement process, data is going to make things more effective and impactful. Being able to reference previous giving history, relationships, notes from events, as well as using prospect data to steer them toward your goals for the relationship will be a powerful usage of your time.

How data helps tell the full story

The average nonprofit juggles data in a minimum of three to five data sources when it comes to understanding who a donor is. Having disjointed data means that you won’t be able to understand the donor’s full role in helping you tell your organization’s story. It would be like having several chapters of a book ripped out or located in different areas of your library!

Being able to centralize the donor’s primary profile information into a database of record, or nonprofit constituent relationship management system, is going to be key for your success. Notes, interactions, activities, and previous giving history can all be found in one place without having to hunt for it.

Who’s Who in your data

Yet the data you have control over collecting isn’t enough. Sometimes your organization will need to take things a step further to round out the fullness of your donor’s potential relationship with your mission. A key way to do this is through prospect research data appends, which find information that otherwise would be difficult or impossible to obtain on your own.

There is a healthy trend toward making this wealth and prospect data be easily connected to your database of record, thereby creating a full profile of both information you have direct control over as well as data to help inform areas that were otherwise unclear.

When to leverage prospect data

There is both an art and science around knowing when to utilize prospect data appends in actual conversations with donors. You will want to sound knowledgeable and curious without bordering on creepy. Some key items to keep in mind:

Folks in the US are generally uncomfortable talking directly about their wealth and unprompted references may cause more harm than good
Approach data appends like an investigative journalist, using a verification approach to confirm. For example, if you are aware of previous giving history to other nonprofits like yours then set the stage by asking probing questions to get personal confirmation
Use data obtained from prospecting to guide the conversation, not be the conversation. Think of the data as the basis for the story you are telling alongside of the donor, but always let the actual interactions you have be your primary focus of action

What to do next

Data is not a silver bullet that will solve your retention or acquisition issues. Your organization should be building authentic relationships with donors and data can help organize our thoughts around how and who to engage with. Yet if you have not established a solid why, then all the data in the world will not help you.

The red thread of your actions needs to always come back to your mission. Once that has been established then your ability to act on data will become that much easier.

 

 

BIO: Tim Sarrantonio is a team member at Neon One and has more than 10 years of experience working for and volunteering with nonprofits.Tim has raised over $3 million for various causes, engaged and enhanced databases of all sizes, procured multiple successful grants, and formulated engaging communications and fundraising campaigns for several nonprofits. He has presented at international conferences and is a TEDx speaker on technology and philanthropy. He volunteers heavily in his home Niskayuna, NY. Did you know that Marc A. Pitman is a Neon One Certified Consultant? He helps clients utilize our nonprofit database, NeonCRM – learn more about our software today!

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Are your donors missing the picture?

When you send an email, are your donors missing the picture? Seriously. Many may not have images automatically open. So all you get it a weird blank space. And possibly some words.

Those words are the "alt" text. When you add an image to an email or web page, most programs allow you to fill fields for both "title" and alternative or "alt."

On websites, the alt text can help search engines better understand what your image is about. The SEO experts at Moz have a great example of using alt text to help search engines understand the image of a man with a tie is really "Jim Halpert's impersonation of Dwight Schrute." If you were searching for images from the US version of The Office, this alt text will help the search engine include this image in its results.

But alt text matters beyond the web page.

Alt text matters in email too

Let's say you send an email with this image of one person whispering in another person's ear. (Like I did in a recent Ask Without Fear! newsletter.)

If for some reason your image doesn't load - either because of a server issue or because the subscriber has image loading turned off by default - the image you carefully chose to enhance your message will be just a blank space.

But with alt text filled in, you can describe the image. Or use it to possibly still enhance your message. Even piquing their curiosity like I tried in that email. Some people who received it, saw this.

If their interest is piqued enough, they may load the image which will help you more accurately assess open rates. But even if they don't, it may give them a better feel for the "character" of your nonprofit. If it fits with your organizational voice, humor and quirky can be fun ways to make your message stand out.

Adding alt text takes a little extra time but is really easy. Most email editors have a field for alt text.

If yours doesn't, you can always go into the code and add alt="Image Description" before the closing > in the image HTML. (The MOZ article on alt text has some helpful examples.)

Alt text is even a social justice issue

The "surprise" example above isn't the best use of alt text. Alt text is primarily intended to describe the image for people who can't see it. Screen readers, often used by people with visual impairments, will read the alt text to help the person more full understand the image that others are seeing.

So in doing the right thing by adding descriptive text for those with differing vision capabilities, you will be helping even seeing people more fully understand your nonprofit's message. Even if they are missing the picture!

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Nonprofit Academy Lifetime 2019 Membership Special!

Leading and funding a nonprofit is surprisingly hard. You got into the work to do good. But others don't see it as quickly as you do.

On top of that, nonprofit work can be isolating. As they rise, leaders find fewer and fewer people to confide. And fundraisers? Fundraisers tend to be the only people at their organization to think the way they do.

And there never seems to be enough time to do all you have to do. You know there must be a better way to do the parts of your work. It's almost like you're reinventing the wheel every time you do things like:

Like fundraising.
Or planning.
Or managing employees.
Or marketing your nonprofit better so people actually know what you're doing.

As busy as you are, it's hard to take time to go to the trainings. And even harder to find who are the best people to learn from.

Even if you were able to do both, there's also the budget, right? I often hear people say, "Budget for professional growth? What is that?"

Trainings are great but with registration and travel and lodging and meals the costs add up.

Nonprofit help you need; when you need it

Wouldn't it be great to have instant access to the training topic you need, when you need it, right at your desk? No need to add yet another task to your calendar. Just pop in and start learning?

And at a budget you can afford?

The Nonprofit Academy is just that!

The Nonprofit Academy has over 100 trainings from over 70 of the top experts around the world. When you join, you get instant access to:

14 leadership and management trainings (like creating plans and managing Millenials)
7 trainings on working with your board
19 on growing your major gifts program
7 on using the web and social media
15 trainings for marketing and communications
6 on growing your annual fund
11 on creating your fundraising program
14 on segmenting your data and creating your infrastructure
5 on writing fundraising letters
6 on improving your grants
and 5 on how to optimize your special events!

These don't include the templates you'll find on

creating a fundraising plan,
sample case statements,
examples of gift range calculators,
fundraising audits,
board assessments,
wording for web sites,
and questions to ask in a focus group.

Plus there are new live trainings every single month. As a member, you can even request trainings on topics you want to learn more about!

This includes 70 CFRE credits!

So if you're working on your CFRE, membership makes it ridiculously easy! You have instant access to do dozens of trainings to help you earn the continuing education credits you need.

Help from real people working in and with nonprofits

Membership in The Nonprofit Academy is more than just trainings.  You also get access to live support if you want it!

No more being alone. You'll get to join live, monthly coaching calls with other NPA members and myself. Ask your most pressing questions and get answers. NPA members are a mix of nonprofit employees, board members, and consultants. So you'll hear ideas that are working in real life, not just in theory.

Beyond that, there's a 24/7 Members-only Forum where you can post your questions. No need to lose sleep waiting for the monthly call. You can ask your questions in the moment!.

Finally, there is a training solution built both for your schedule and for your budget!

The Nonprofit Academy. NPA provides the help you need when YOU need it:

trainings - more than 100 plus new trainings each month,
live calls, and
a 24/7 online forum.

NPA Lifetime Membership

The Nonprofit Academy is a great value at any price. A conference with far fewer sessions might cost $3,000 or $4,000. But you get all this for just $19/month or $197/year.

And from now until June 7, 2019, Lifetime Membership is $300 off. Normally $997, the first 40 people who become Lifetime Members will get it for just $697!

Take advantage of this offer at: https://thenonprofitacademy.com/lifetime/

As a member of the Nonprofit Academy, you can get the help you need, when you need it. And you don't have to be alone.

You can still join at the great monthly or annual rates. But now the convenience of one-and-done payment is $300 off. But hurry, this offer ends after the first 40 people take it or on June 7, whichever comes first!

Just go to: https://thenonprofitacademy.com/lifetime/

The post Nonprofit Academy Lifetime 2019 Membership Special! appeared first on FundraisingCoach.com.

Why your fundraising stories don't work

During my time as a leadership and fundraising coach, I've helped thousands of nonprofit leaders clarify their fundraising stories. Nearly all make the same mistake: they forget the audience - the donors.

Take hospitals for instance. Have you ever asked hospital leaders and fundraisers what the most important story they should be telling to donors? If you do, you'll get lots of talk about quality measures and safety awards. You'll hear the pride in their voice. And the passion.

So they craft these "stories." Stories about provider excellence. They share these at staff meetings and get even more statistics on quality improvement data.

Then they share these with the board. Their board loves them. You see, their board has been saying for years that "if people just knew about how good we were, they'd come here."

And therein lies the problem.

Fundraising isn't Marketing

Marketing is not bad. It's important. Talking about quality and awards and metrics is important for a hospital. But those information points do not drive donations.

How do I know? By talking to donors.

Ask a donor why they give and you won't hear metrics and quality data terms. (Unless the donor you are talking to was on the board.) You'll hear surprise at how good the care was. Or the fear they had when facing an illness. Or the sadness of losing a loved one.

You might even hear about anger at other providers getting it wrong. Or disgust with care they'd received in other places.

And you'll usually hear the happiness they experience knowing such a good hospital is in their community.

Did you catch that?

The donations are attached to emotions. Not to statistics.

Create Stories for the Audience, not the Authors

Marketing is crucial for all nonprofits. For hospitals, it is vital to show patients and prospective patients that their care will be high quality. No one willingly gets health care from an institution with a reputation of filth and failure.

So these stories need to be told - when the audience is prospective patients.

But if you're working hard to create the best fundraising stories exclusively by talking to your staff, these data points and healthcare acronyms will dominate your talk. You'll feel passion and pride. But will your donor? 

Too often, we create stories for the authors, not for the audience. In this case, the authors are the staff and boards. But the audience is the donor or donor prospect.

How do you know if the story will resonate with donors? Ask them! Ask them how they first came to donating to your nonprofit. And out of all the many things your nonprofit does, ask them what they are most proud of helping make possible.

As you ask them, take note of the emotions that moved them. Thanks to fundraising letter guru Tom Ahern, I have a list of the "6 Core Emotions" on a post-it note at my desk. The six are: happiness, surprise, anger, disgust, sadness, and fear. (Look in the previous section above and you'll see those are the bolded words in the stories donors tell.)

But Marc, We're not a Hospital

I know, I know. Not all readers of this blog are hospital leaders. So test this for yourself. In your stories, do you talk about data and insider language or do you use the language of your donors? For libraries, most donors I've worked with aren't concerned about "literacy." They're just wanting community members and workers who can read and write. Same thing, but different words to describe it.

When are "data points" right to use? I can think of two cases:

You've tested "data point" stories and they work better for your organization than other stories.
You're donor audience understands the terms. For example, if you're trying to move physicians to give to the hospital, quality awards might work.

The best way to know what moves people to give is to ask them. If you haven't done this, you'll be surprised at how rewarding this can be.

Don't believe me? Ask your donors!

 

An earlier version of this, including exact wording for three questions, was sent to Fundraising Kick subscribers. To sign up for weekly fundraising coaching tips like this, go to http://FundraisingKick.com/

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