All posts by Moira Kavanagh

12

May

What Personality Type is Your Nonprofit?


fingerprint

Like people, nonprofits have personalities. They’re complex amalgams of an organization’s history, mission and leadership. People rarely have any idea how they come across to the rest of the world, and nonprofits are often the same. And yet, as with people, how your nonprofit comes across to the rest of the world plays a huge role in whether and to what extent you achieve your goals.

So, have you ever stopped to consider what your nonprofit’s personality is? Not what you think it is. And not what the small group of people who nurtured you and love you unconditionally think it is (e.g. your mom, or your organization’s founder).

No, I’m talking about how everyday acquaintances, friends, and new people you meet see you. If you haven’t yet considered your own nonprofit’s personality type, you should. And don’t cut yourself any slack …

… Are you a Pessimist or Optimist?

… Are you a Talker or Listener?

… Are you a Sad Sack or Got-it-Together type?

… Are you a Holiday Carder or Year-Round Friend?

… Are you an Air Kisser or Hugger?

… Are you a “Me-Me-Me” Bore or a “You-You-You” Friend?

Obviously, your organization is way too complex for labels. But is it realistic enough to know that it is being labeled constantly by donors and prospects nevertheless? And is it self-aware enough to know what those labels may be?

Just like it is with people, changing how you look on the outside usually begins with a good long look on the inside.

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By , 05/12/11 • Posted in Membership Development • Tags:



27

Apr

When to Fire Your Fundraising Agency


youarefired1

There are dozens of reasons a nonprofit may decide to part ways with its fundraising agency, and inevitably when the decision is made, it’s for a combination of them. Reasons range from big to small and – truth be told – right to wrong. But the truly big and right reasons boil down to just four. Be sure to pay attention to these key considerations in judging whether your agency is on the job, or out of one.

1. Your agency is not willing to compromise, ever.
Your business relationship with your fundraising agency is just that: a relationship. And successful relationships mean compromise. Is your agency open to discussion on project budgets? Are they willing to try doing things a different way? Will they revisit their fees with you even if you’re in the middle of a one-year contract? You should be able to talk about anything with your agency, and your agency should approach your ideas and needs with a spirit of sensible accommodation. Remember however that your relationship with your agency is a two-way street. If you are not willing to listen and compromise, you might find yourself getting fired by your agency.

2. Your account management team is inexperienced. (AKA the person that sold you on the agency goes AWOL.)
Because fundraising firms are a relatively small and specialized breed of marketing agency, most don’t have dedicated sales departments for drumming up new business. In fundraising agencies, it’s often actual senior account people, along with executive staff, that pitch new accounts and win your trust – and business. So when the star fundraising strategist who sold you on the agency never writes, calls, or shows up at meetings anymore, and you’re left with junior staffers who just don’t inspire your confidence, it’s time to rethink whether the agency deserves the privilege of your organization’s business.

3. Your results aren’t as good as they can be.
Kirk’s demands for seemingly impossible feats of engineering and medicine drove poor Scotty and McCoy to routine desperation on Star Trek. But they always pulled through because although ambitious, Kirk knew what results were possible. In the fundraising universe, good results mean strong analytics, strategic planning and creative, as well as healthy client-agency collaboration. If your agency is giving you all they’ve got, and you have good reason to believe all they’ve got isn’t good enough, then you should think about whether they’re the right agency for you.

4. You share your concerns – and your agency doesn’t address them.
When your agency isn’t living up to your reasonable expectations, it’s your job to let them know right away what isn’t working and to give them constructive feedback on how to address your concerns. When problems are addressed early, they can almost always be resolved easily. But if left unattended, little issues have a way of multiplying and becoming much harder to resolve, usually to the detriment of your program. You also need to be prepared to turn a critical eye to your own organization. Are there ways in which your organization is contributing to the less-than-stellar working relationship? And how can you support a stronger client-agency relationship through changes on your end?

Your agency’s job, in turn, is to listen to you and make real efforts to address your concerns. The best case scenario is they do, and you get back on track with a mutually rewarding partnership that engages donors and raises critical funds for your organization. But even if they don’t, the worst that will happen is you will part ways and develop a new agency partnership that works better for you, your organization and your program.

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By , 04/27/11 • Posted in Development Planning • Tags: ,



14

Apr

Religion, Politics and Branding


Want to get a roomful of people who work in fundraising riled up? Forget religion and politics. Talk about branding.

Maybe that’s because branding is a lot like religion. And politics. It has its thought leaders, moderates, fundamentalists, left wingers, independents, evangelists…. And like religion and politics, it stands for different things for different people.

Nonprofit branding gets especially controversial in direct response fundraising. A brown logo-free carrier envelope with your organization’s name and return address in Times New Roman will almost always generate a better response than a meticulously branded one. It will also almost always irritate, and possibly even enrage, your communications director.

Jeff Brooks rails regularly, and rightfully so, over at Future Fundraising Now against the type of narrow branding mentality that kills direct response fundraising.

But this doesn’t mean you have to violate your brand to create really good direct response fundraising. That’s because branding is about a whole lot more than logos, color palettes and font families. In fact, if your brand IS your logo, then you’re in trouble.

Some think that branding is about how you present yourself. But branding is really about how people see you. Or as Amazon founder Jeff Bezos put it: your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.

And so in direct response fundraising, true brand integrity comes down to one simple thing: being recognizable to your donors in a way that goes far deeper than your logo and fonts.

What does this mean? Well, take yourself.

You don’t wear the same clothes every day. You mood isn’t always the same. You come up with new ideas and ways of expressing them. But this doesn’t prevent your friends from recognizing you and caring about you when you walk into the room. In fact, they love you. Not because you’re some vanilla version of who you think you should be for them. But because you’re you and you’re interesting.

So think about – or rethink – what it means for your nonprofit to be “on brand.” Being human is a pretty great starting place.

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By , 04/14/11 • Posted in Donor Communications, Online Giving & Action • Tags:



15

Mar

Eight Ways to Jump Start Your Fundraising Creative


jumper-cables1It’s easy to develop a fundraising idea. The real challenge in donor development is coming up with fundraising ideas, continuously, so that you can present your contributors with a steady stream of varied giving and engagement opportunities.

Depending on the size of your organization, your healthy membership program may rely on you to develop anywhere from four to twelve to twenty (!) fundraising campaigns per year. Sure, you know your organization is awesome, but saying why and how up to twenty different ways in a single year – let’s face it – is not easy.

So when you’re out of ideas, which you occasionally will be, here are eight ways to jump start your creative thinking and get the ideas flowing again:

  1. Roll up your sleeves. Go to work – on the program side – for your organization for a day. Serve meals, put up drywall, go door-to-door. You’ll be inspired all over and will no doubt find new ways to convey that inspiration to your organization’s donors.
  2. Reverse the way you build your case for support. Most of us naturally take a funnel approach to building a case for support. That is, we start wide with the big picture of what our organization does and then we narrow in and substantiate with specifics on why our work is important and examples of the impact we have. But if you build your case the other way around instead, you’ll actually end up with a more effective case. Next time, start narrow – tell a single story conveying your impact on an individual level – and then expand to the larger discussion of what your organization is doing and why the donor’s support matters. For inspiration, check out The Girl Effect, a collaborative effort that manages to talk about and tackle global world poverty from a very simple starting point and perspective: that of a 12-year-old girl.
  3. Check your idea file. What, you don’t have one? Well get started right away! It can be hard copy, electronic, or both. Whichever, keep a folder of clippings, notes and samples from other organizations that you like. Individually, they’re just scraps but collectively they can be a valuable springboard for new ideas.
  4. Share with and learn from other nonprofits and colleagues. Make time in your calendar and budget to attend high-quality conferences. But don’t be a session hermit. As Seth Godin points out, it’s the engaged conversations you have in hallways that can often be of the greatest value. I’ll be headed to one of my favorite conferences later this week by the way – NTEN‘s Nonprofit Technology Conference – which kicks off on Thursday. If you’re not able to enjoy the opportunity to engage and learn in person, you can still attend online.
  5. Read up. What’s going on in the news about your issues? What are people saying? Are they saying good things or bad things about your issues? Are there any new studies or statistics that are relevant to your organization’s work? Spend an hour taking the external pulse on your issues and your reading will likely spark ideas for new ways and reasons to make your organization’s case for support.
  6. Remember that donors don’t want to hear about your programs; they want to know what you accomplish. Nonprofits usually organize their program areas in ways that make sense from an implementation perspective. Programs are things like: “Education,” “Research,” “Advocacy,” and “Community Outreach.” This is rarely compelling from a donor’s perspective however. Donors don’t give because you “do community outreach.” They give because of your organization’s impact, and at the most individual level possible. So instead of showcasing a program in your next appeal, think carefully about what you really do. I still think one of the best examples of this is the American Cancer Society‘s More Birthdays campaign. For all the organization’s many program areas and initiatives, this campaign distills the impact and goal of ACS into one simple thing: more birthdays.
  7. Spend an hour with your results. Data is one of the best places to look for messaging and campaign ideas. What approaches have your donors responded to the best? Which issue areas have your donors been most interested in? The least? Sometimes revisiting your results helps shape new ideas and approaches that you can test in your program.
  8. Take a walk. Seriously. An apple can’t hit you on the head if you don’t step outside. And by outside, I mean anywhere you’re not staring at a computer screen or mobile device. Your most inspired ideas – of any kind – are more likely to show up on those rare occasions when you’re unplugged and alone with your thoughts.

For fresh ideas and inspiration this week be sure to follow the Nonprofit Technology Conference on Twitter via hashtag #11NTC.

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By , 03/15/11 • Posted in Direct Response Fundraising, Donor Communications • Tags: , , , , , , ,



17

Feb

Direct Marketing Basics are the New Black. Report From #dcnpconf


The Direct Marketing Association Nonprofit Federation‘s annual DC Conference kicked off today bringing together 700+ nonprofit marketers from all over the country.

The name of the conference this year is “Charting a New Course in Changing Times.” But with its focus on the fundamentals of direct marketing strategy – at all levels from beginner to advanced – the “new course,” it would seem, would be doing integrated direct response really, really well.

The “shock of the new” (the financial crisis, social media, even mobile giving …) has worn off a bit. There are no new darlings to fawn over, or financial upheavals to freak out about.

And so here we are: just us and the work.

How refreshing.

Follow the conference on Twitter via #dcnpconf and the DMA Nonprofit Federation @dmanf.

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By , 02/17/11 • Posted in Direct Response Fundraising • Tags: , , , ,



20

Jan

Turning the Tables: What Big Nonprofits Can Learn From Smaller Ones


bigdoglittledog2

There is no shortage of advice in our industry on what small and mid-sized nonprofits can learn from larger nonprofits. It’s a frequent and valuable topic at conferences and in publications.

But larger nonprofits can learn quite a lot from smaller ones too, particularly when it comes to direct response fundraising. Here are a few “habits of highly successful” smaller nonprofits – and food for thought for larger organizations.

1. Smaller nonprofits think of their donors by name, not segment. Nonprofits with large programs think of their donors in terms of segments that are predictive of response, with names like “0-12 Multi,” “Lybunt” or “A3XQP12B.” To smaller nonprofits, donors are “Grace,” “Fred” or “Mr. and Mrs. Walker.”

2. Communications from smaller nonprofits look and feel “real.” Because they are. The handwritten address on the carrier envelope isn’t a font – a person actually addressed the envelope! The rubber stamp on the carrier envelope marked “urgent” is a real rubber stamp. The insert in the year end appeal looks a little grainy because it was actually photocopied, and on a 30-year-old machine to boot.

3. Smaller nonprofits can mobilize quickly. When there is breaking news, lengthy communication routing and approval processes don’t hold smaller nonprofits back from communicating with their donors in a timely manner.

4. Smaller nonprofits don’t write “copy;” they write letters and emails. When you know someone personally, you talk to them differently and are more accountable for what you say. Smaller nonprofits have the advantage of knowing many of the donors they’re communicating with, and this can translate to more genuine – and effective – communications. On the other hand, when an organization starts thinking of its letters as just “direct mail” or its emails as “eblasts” as Kivi Leroux Miller points out, face it, they they probably suck.

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By , 01/20/11 • Posted in Direct Response Fundraising • Tags: , ,



7

Jan

How To Be a Better Fundraising Professional


1. Engage. Have you noticed that the best conversationalists – the people you always find yourself drawn to at gatherings – don’t actually talk that much? They ask questions. They stimulate ideas and opinion sharing. And they make you feel energized and special by their sincere interest in what you have say. If you want your nonprofit to be the one your donors are the most drawn to, try talking less and listening more.

2. Give. You ask your donors to upgrade, make extra gifts, respond to matching gift challenges, meet year-end shortfalls, and make stretch gifts. Do you do any of these things? If you want to effectively connect with donors, you yourself need to be one.

3. Dazzle. Whether you are talking to your donors in a ballroom or a living room, through a letter or a blog post, nothing inspires a donor like passion, intelligence and originality. It’s a lot of work to bring your A game to every donor communication. Fortunately your organization’s mission is well worth it.

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By , 01/07/11 • Posted in Nth Factor • Tags: , ,



22

Dec

The Giving Pledge, Donor Retention and Wishes for the New Year


The new round of Giving Pledges announced on December 9 has generated fresh excitement and debate. The movement which was started by Bill and Melinda Gates earlier this year has thus far enlisted 58 billionaires who have pledged to give at least half of their wealth to charity. The estimated value of the pledges – $600 billion attributed to the original 40 participants alone – is obvious reason for celebration.

The plan is not without its skeptics however, who argue that global redistribution of wealth – an explicit goal of the Giving Pledge – doesn’t  serve the immediate funding needs of charities. Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, may have pledged that he’ll eventually give half of his wealth to charity (and how those assets will benefit charity remains to be seen), but that doesn’t change the fact that nonprofits are struggling right now to provide services at a time when the need is up, but giving is down.

Perhaps the most biting criticism however is that the Giving Pledge doesn’t fundamentally advance philanthropy – another explicit goal of the movement. Case in point: $600 billion has been pledged this year through the Giving Pledge, but giving – actual giving – is down.

In spite of the grave ramifications of declines in charitable giving, we can’t lose sight of one important thing: how much money your organization raises isn’t the only measure of your fundraising program’s success. As an evaluation metric, it’s not even the most important one.

Consider the organization with 1,000 long-term donors giving varying amounts every year, versus the organization with just a few major donors giving annually. Each organization may raise the same amount in individual giving, but the first one is a healthy organization; the second one isn’t.

So what’s the most important metric? It’s the same one it’s always been, of course: donor loyalty.

Though we can influence giving level, ultimately how much our donors give is controlled by things that are out of our control, like the economy. But whether our donors stick with us, or leave … well, that’s all on us.

And so as we come to the end of a year and the beginning of a new one, let me be the first to wish you success where it matters most: inspiring donor loyalty and being an organization that inspires.

Thank you for contributing and reading. I can’t wait to continue the dialogue in the new year!

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By , 12/22/10 • Posted in Nth Factor • Tags: , , , ,



29

Nov

The Problem With Year End Appeals


I often get asked when the best time is for an organization to send its year end appeal. The problem with this question, and the problem with year end appeals, is that they’re all too often viewed as single events that take place at a single moment in time.

November 1, November 15, the Monday after Thanksgiving … these are just dates. But your year end appeal, of course,  is not a date.

Your year end appeal is:

  1. Part of a larger, ongoing dialogue with your donors.
  2. An expression of your donors’ highest values and dreams.
  3. A whole season of communication through varied channels, not a single direct mail piece.
  4. Only just beginning, right now.
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By , 11/29/10 • Posted in Donor Communications • Tags: , , ,



16

Nov

Why Your Nonprofit Should Use QR Codes (Even If Your Donors Don’t)


qrcode

There has been a lot of talk this year from np techies to fundraising pros alike about QR (“quick response”) codes – those blocky looking codes that, when scanned by your mobile device, take you to a URL or send a phone number or text to your smartphone. We’re seeing more and more case studies of nonprofits using QR codes to successfully mobilize constituents. And for every new case study it seems that there are dozens more ideas waiting on whiteboards everywhere.

But for the most part, it needs to be said, the vast majority of our donors probably aren’t equipped to use QR codes, much less know what they are.

For instance, to read a QR code, you need a smartphone. While the number of smartphone users is increasing, according to Nielsen, smartphone users currently comprise only 28% of the mobile phone market. And it’s the younger part of the mobile market. For example, half of all Andriod users are under the age of 35. Do your donors fit this profile? If you’re like most nonprofits, chances are most of your donors, and your most valuable ones, don’t.

Even if you’re a donor who owns a smartphone though, you need to be sufficiently tech savvy and interested in QR codes to install a reader on your phone. Some Nokia models come pre-installed with a QR reader, but the top selling smartphones – the iPhone and Droid – don’t. At least not yet. True, readers are free, and easy to install, but again, awareness and perceived need are the crucial precursors. You know how your mother has a cell phone, but doesn’t text? Not surprisingly, 25% of U.S. smartphone users don’t even use their data service, according to another Nielsen report.

Are these reasons not to experiment with QR codes in your membership program? No way. The mobile web is predicted to be bigger than desktop internet use by 2015. Though your donors may still be getting there, that’s no reason not to be ready for them when they do, or better yet, help show them the way.

But you need to recognize and understand that simple fact – your donors are still getting there – so that when you do test QR codes in your own program, you do so in a meaningful way.

So have I gotten you thinking about the fact that your donors aren’t using QR codes? Great. Then now is an excellent time to make a list of ways your forward-thinking nonprofit is going to test them. Just start your brainstorming the same place you always do, no matter what the medium:

What do you want to say? Who do you want to say it to? What do you want to have happen?

And then imagine how this new medium might be uniquely helpful in achieving those goals, now, next year, and the year after.

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By , 11/16/10 • Posted in Online Giving & Action • Tags: , , , , , , , ,



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