Leaders of nonprofit organizations in some sense need to be generalists – in other words, they need to be professionals who have a reasonable command of all the external and internal work that their organization engages in. If there is any area that they are completely clueless about, they need to get up to speed enough to supervise that activity. Some would say it is enough to hire someone to do that for them, but that makes a leader vulnerable to their in-house expert leaving or not attending to their oversight function. Remember: As the Executive Director, President, or CEO (or some combination of those titles), you are responsible for all of it – something that you forget or ignore at your peril.
One of the areas of fundraising I never became an expert in but learned enough to supervise was retail giving (or so-called “one to many” solicitations through email and direct mail, also known as “direct response” fundraising). So, what exactly did I learn about “direct response” fundraising over the years? Quite a lot, actually.
First of all, let me credit those who helped me learn. My teachers have been Sue Woodward, a gifted fundraising professional, Tony Martignetti’s Nonprofit Radio, several terrific colleagues at Grameen Foundation including (during my final years there) Darwin Cruz and Kari Hammett-Caster, and of course my own experiences. I have continued to learn more through blog posts (such as this one) and from books, including a very short one titled Emails and Newsletters that Get Opens, by Rob Ainbinder and Nikki Corbett that I bought and read recently.
Let me summarize what I learned – things that may prove useful to small nonprofits where the leader doesn’t have the money to hire staff or consultants to help or guide them, or the time to read up on the literature.
1. Make your written appeals to donors as personalized as possible. Address them “Dear Mary” or “Dear Mary Davis” rather than “Dear Friend.” If possible, include some note that references how long they have been giving, or have the board member who first got them to start giving to scribble a note of encouragement at the bottom of the letter (if it is a hard copy going through the post office) or send a follow up email (if the original solicitation is electronic). This approach will not be possible for the vast majority of direct response appeals, but look for times when you can use it. The acknowledgement of the gifts you do receive should also be personalized as much as possible. In addition to an immediate gift receipt for tax purposes (which your online donation processor should generate), whenever possible send a personal letter with your signature in a color other than black (so as to signal that you actually signed it yourself) within 3 business days of getting the contribution.
2. In wording your appeals, seek to make them donor-centric. Instead of focusing on how effective your nonprofit is, and what your staff and volunteers are doing to solve some societal problem, frame the appeal mostly in terms of what the donor can accomplish by partnering with your organization. In other words, use the word “you” a lot more than “I” or “we.” Research shows that putting the donor or potential donor in the driver’s seat (rhetorically) gives them a sense of agency and most importantly, makes it more likely that they will contribute. And it should go without saying that messages should be carefully proofread before they are sent out.
3. Make the email address that potential donors respond to sound like “you” (the sender). In other words, don’t have the email address that the appeal comes from be info@grameenfoundation.org. If the donor is tempted to respond, which is a good thing, they may be put off by the impression that their email will go into a black hole or at best to some junior fundraising staff member who may not pass it on or even read it. My team at Grameen Foundation did something clever to address this. While my normal email address was acounts@grameenfoundation. org, they created another one – alex.counts@grameenfoundation.org – that generated thousands of emails every year updating donors and asking for their support. Whenever a donor responded to one of those emails, it was forwarded to me immediately and I responded without fail. That way, it did not clog up (and potentially get lost in) my main email account, and the fundraising team had a record of who replied. They could also hold me accountable for sending back a nice note in a timely manner.
4. A donor isn’t “yours” until they have given to your organization a second time. Oftentimes, a donor will give on an impulse (perhaps in response to an advertisement or at an event) or in response to a request from a friend or colleague. This is great, but unless you pull out all the stops, they are unlikely to give again. What’s worse, you may give back the entire amount of their donation in unsuccessful appeals sent to them over the years to follow. If you make a concerted effort, you can secure that second donation and from then on, the default for that donor is likely to be giving on an annual basis if not more frequently. Until they give that second donation, the default is to have that first donation be a one off anomaly. Think about how you can stand out as a grateful, responsive, and effective recipient of that first donation. Some groups have sent me their swag (pens, tote bags, etc.) and others have sent personal message from their CEOs or the person who encouraged me to give in the first place (such as a board member I was friends with). Whatever you do, try to distinguish yourself as deserving of becoming a regular recipient of a first-time donor’s philanthropy.
5. Appeals should either contain “nourishment” (i.e., some kind of value) or be very short. One type of appeal should seek to educate the donor (about your organization or cause) or to otherwise create value for them (perhaps by sharing some interesting factoid related to your work). These can be longer but must not be solely self-promotional. They can take the form of long messages or e-newsletters. Either way, they should seek to put the donor at the center of the communication (see point 2 above) and contain something they hopefully will value. The second type of appeal is simply a reminder to give and may be as short as a few sentences and a compelling graphic; these are especially important for past donors. During the month of December, many organizations send up to 6 emails, most of which are of the “reminder to give” variety but at least one is more detailed and “nourishing.” If your capacity is limited, you might simply send out a longer appeal in early December and then send shorter ones on December 30 and 31 to those who have not sent in a donation by that time.
6. Appeals should have compelling graphics and photos, and ideally links to short videos related to your mission. I love the written word, and well chosen phrases can help make an appeal effective. But people respond even more to photos, graphics, and embedded short videos (or links to videos). So, include them in your appeals as best you can. If you are the only paid staff and like me don’t have a good sense of design, pull in some friend, relative, or volunteer to help you put together something that is visually appealing. Good is better than mediocre, even if you don’t have the time or talent to make it “great.” Videos need not be highly produced; a home-grown feel can lend authenticity to a 2-minute clip.
7. Appeals (except some of the very short ones mentioned above in point 5) should contain both stories and data. When making the case for a nonprofit, short, “sticky” stories are the most compelling. They appeal to the emotions and can be a powerful part of motivating someone to give an online donation or send a check in the mail. But don’t forget to appeal to the intellect also through weaving in data and numbers that reinforce the stories and the overall case for support.
8. Appeals should make it easy for donors to promote your organization if they want to, especially through social media. Not everyone is into social media, but for those who are, make it easy for them to promote your email appeal or social media channels in a few seconds and then gently but clearly encourage them to do so. Their actions may lead to other donations, but even more important, you are helping them form a habit of being an advocate and ambassador for your organization, and become known in their circles as someone who supports you.
9. Be mobile friendly. I was surprised to learn that 61% of emails today are opened on a mobile device. Make sure your emails are designed to be easily viewable on smartphones. Take advantage of the fact that most email providers allow you to check out the appearance of a draft email appeal on both a desktop and a mobile device before sending it.
10. Timing matters. The best times to send an email are between 10am and 2pm local time (which means you might send emails to the west coast at a different time than to the east coast), and Tuesday through Thursday seem to work better than Monday or Friday. Also, if there is a major natural disaster or some other kind of tragedy (say, God forbid, a school shooting) in an area, hold back your emails or direct mail appeals going there until a suitable time passes.
11. Buying mailing lists (rather than relying soley on your “house list” to grow organically through people voluntarily signing up) is expensive and you will likely lose money on most of them in the short term. But doing so may still be worth it – though only if you keep at it consistently over several years. Research in a deliberate way whether to purchase lists and which to purchase, and then stick with it for a while so that the public gets more familiar with your cause and organization. If you buy a list of (say) 50,000 names and you spend $5,000 more on it than you receive in donations, that may still be a good deal if enough of those new donors renew and become habitual supporters, and especially if even a handful of them ultimately become major donors.
Even if you don’t have the time to study much less master the art and science of putting together the perfect email or snail mail appeal for donors, these simple guidelines will help you be more effective in raising money through emails, e-newsletters, direct mail letters sent snail mail, and other related approaches.