All posts by Moira Kavanagh

22

Oct

Two-Minute Fundraising News Roundup


For the time-challenged (aka everyone in nonprofit membership development right now), here’s a quick roundup of some of the most interesting recent news and information from the fundraising world:

1. On October 7, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported on a study from Campbell Rinker in which 37% of online donors stated that when they receive an organization’s direct mail appeal they use that organization’s website to give, rather than sending a check. The full article is defintely worth reading. The Agitator‘s post, “Why has this taken so long?!” pretty much summed up how exciting it was to get concrete data on the interplay between dm and online.

2. On October 21, Blackbaud released its latest Index of Charitable Giving. First finding: “New fundraising channels, although growing, are not replacing traditional channels.”

So … the Chronicle is reporting that direct mail is prompting many online gifts and Blackbaud is saying new channels aren’t replacing direct mail. No wonder everyone’s email is starting to look a lot like direct mail.

In other news:

3. Donors are giving gobs of money to political candidates. Are you modifying your fundraising strategies in light of the elections?

4. The Bridge Conference Call for Papers deadline is October 30.

 5. Tom Gaffny is speaking at the DMFA in New York on Tuesday October 26 on designing winning direct response fundraising. On November 3rd, the DMFA is holding a brown bag workshop in DC on putting your website to work for your direct response program.

6. And because it’s Friday … did you catch Jimmy McMillan, The Rent is Too Damn High party candidate, on Monday’s New York gubernatorial debate?

 

 

Andrew Cuomo says he has a point. The donors you’re communicating with right now might agree too.

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By , 10/22/10 • Posted in Membership Development •



13

Oct

Three Fundraising Conferences Every Nonprofit Should Attend


If you want to hone your direct response fundraising skills and stay apprised of the latest trends in nonprofit membership development, the good news is there’s no shortage of conferences and educational events to help you do just that. Unfortunately that’s the bad news too. With an unending supply of webinars and workshops promising to teach you how to do everything from conquer social media to overhaul your acquisition program, how do you choose?

Obviously you want to put your time and professional development budget to the best possible use. But this doesn’t just mean getting quality information and case studies from industry experts. It also means getting unbiased information – or at least sometimes taking the information you receive with a grain of salt. For instance, free webinars from service providers can be a great source of information and the price is nice, but just keep in mind that they are, by nature, intended to showcase the supplier’s services.

So which conferences should you attend? No matter what coast you’re on, if your organization is serious about direct response fundraising, it’s well worth making space in your calendar and budget for these three essentials:

2011-bridge-conference-logo1. The Bridge Conference, July 20-22, 2011. For five years the Washington DC Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals has teamed up with the Direct Marking Association of Washington to bring nonprofit fundraising and marketing professionals this two-day, information-rich conference in Washington DC. The sessions cover nonprofit branding, online giving and advocacy, direct mail, social media and other marketing and fundraising tools and techniques. Register by April 15, 2011 for best rates. And if you’re interested in speaking the Call for Papers Deadline is October 30.

2. NTC, March 17-19, 2011. NTEN‘s Nonprofit Technology Conference is the single largest annual conference focusing on nonprofits’ use of technology. It’s not strictly a fundraising conference, but it’s all about the tools you need to understand and integrate into your programs for successful membership development and advocacy. In 2011 the conference will be held in Washington, DC (the location alternates between San Francisco and Washington DC, with a wildcard city in between).

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Sessions cover everything from driving traffic to your website and online conversion techniques to email fundraising and advocacy, to cloud computing and content management systems. Whether you’re an uber techie or just a smart media-agnostic fundraising professional, NTC offers essential information and case studies in online communications, fundraising and new media that you can’t afford to miss.

3.dmanf-logo1 DMA Nonprofit Conference, February 17-18, 2011 (DC Conference). The DMA Nonprofit Federation holds two annual nonprofit conferences in Washington, DC (winter) and New York (summer). Focusing exclusively on direct marketing for nonprofits, it’s a high impact conference that delivers up a wealth of case studies and ideas that you can put into action in your own program. You don’t need to attend both conferences – just attend whichever one is closest to you and you’ll be glad you did.

And for professional development in between conferences, DMFA educational programs offered in New York, Washington, DC and Boston provide high quality direct resonse training and networking opportunities whether you’re just getting started in membership development or are an old pro. Next week on October 21 the DMFA will be offering DM101, a full-day workshop in DC covering online fundraising, direct mail, targeting, analytics and more.

What are your must-attend conferences and resources for fundraising information and ideas? Share your tips here.

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By , 10/13/10 • Posted in Direct Response Fundraising • Tags: , , , , , , ,



23

Sep

How to Apologize to a Donor


Oops! 

The author who wrote love means never having to say you’re sorry obviously didn’t know the first thing about direct response fundraising. Direct response is complicated, involving dozens of elements – data, production, content management systems, the post office, and the perfection of mere mortals to name a just few.

And so it’s inevitable: occasionally we mess up. But how well we say “I’m sorry” when we make a mistake is one of the most compelling ways we say “I love you!” to our supporters – and, in turn, earn their respect and loyalty.

So what do you do when you mess up? First, take a deep breath. Then take these three simple steps – and you may just find that those lemons you accidentally lobbed at your donors can make for some pretty great lemonade.

1. Act quickly. When you’ve made a big error that warrants recontacting your donors, drop everything. Get back in touch with your donors as soon as possible to respond to the mistake. This means if it’s a major donor, you should communicate with them via phone or email within hours. Same thing if it’s an erroneous email to a large number of donors: get your correction out via email within hours. And if your communication channel is direct mail, take the “snail” out of mail and get your correction out within 48 hours.

For example, a mailshop once made a production error on a client’s direct mail project in which a #10 window envelope was enclosed in a solicitation mailing instead of standard #9 closed face reply envelope. This meant that when the donor mailed their gift and personalized reply device in the window envelope that was provided with the solicitation, the gift did not deliver to the organization. Instead, it mailed right back to the donor. It was a huge mistake, worsened by the fact that it occurred within a high dollar segment of the campaign. Fortunately the mailshop knew it too. The error was discovered Friday night. They worked all weekend and remailed corrected packages Monday morning.

2. Be transparent. When you make a mistake come out and say it. When one organization realized that it hadn’t acknowledged a sizeable batch of donor gifts for over two months, they addressed their error head-on in their delayed thank you letters saying:

Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in acknowledging your very generous gift. We encountered a mistake in our computer system and have realized that a significant amount of time has passed. We’ve since resolved the problem and assure you it will not happen again.

Likewise, in the case of the reply envelope mess up, the corrected packages were sent with a cover note from the Executive Director that got right to the point:

Dear Friend of (Organization Name),

Last week, we sent you important information about (Organization Name)’s (Special Campaign Name). We have just learned that due to a production error however, you might not have received the correct set of materials from us. As one of (Organization Name)’s most valued supporters, I want to apologize sincerely for this error and ask you to please be sure to review the corrected information enclosed …

3. Be positive. You may have messed up, but your donors are still incredible and your organization is still doing incredible work. After you say “I’m sorry,” take the opportunity to let your donors know how much you appreciate them, and remind them how important their support is to the work you’re doing together.

Here’s what the organization that messed up on their acknowledgment letters went on to say to their donors:

Your support means so much to us and we are profoundly grateful to have you with us. Thank you again, not only for your gift, but for your understanding.

Pretty great, huh? And here’s the rest of the cover note on the high dollar donor package resend:

If you have already responded to our (Special Campaign Name), and this letter has crossed in the mail with your gift, I want to thank you for your generous support. If you haven’t yet considered our request, I would like to convey my hope that you will take part in (Special Campaign name) by sending your gift today. On behalf of the Board of Directors and all of us at (Organization Name), please accept my deepest thanks for your ongoing friendship and generous support.

Not only were its donors impressed by the organization’s attentiveness, but they also gave more to this mailing than they had ever given to a single solicitation before.

So on those rare occasions that we may disappoint our donors – or ourselves – remember that all is not lost. On the contrary, when you mess up, it’s an opportunity to improve your processes for implementing your campaigns. More importantly, it’s an opportunity to show your donors how much you value you them, because in direct response membership development nothing says “I love you” like “I’m sorry.”

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By , 09/23/10 • Posted in Donor Communications • Tags: , , ,



25

Aug

The Worst Reason to Ask Your Donors to Give:


Because it’s time to.

Powerful fundraising is the intersection of strategy, passion and relevance. Of course we have communication calendars. And we most certainly have fundraising goals.

But if you find yourself starting your next development/membership department meeting with “What are we gonna write about this month?” then take a step back.

Instead, ask yourself and your membership team:

What is our organization fired up about?

What gets our donors fired up?

Where is funding needed?

What do we want to have happen with this appeal? (And don’t just think about financial goals.)

Start here and your powerful message – and results – will follow naturally.

Where have your best ideas come from? Share your thoughts here or drop us a line at topics@nthfactor.com. And if you’d like to expand your own idea library, email us to request MKDM‘s free Idea Book.

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By , 08/25/10 • Posted in Donor Communications • Tags: , ,



12

Aug

7 Things You Should Be Doing NOW To Meet Your Year End Fundraising Goals


checklist

A lot of factors go into year end fundraising success: targeting, message, strategy, the economy, and current events, to name a few. These are big, important, perhaps even daunting, components of how well, or not, your year end campaigns turn out.

But another predictor of success in year end fundraising – and one of the most significant ones – is a rather practical matter, and completely within your control: when you start working on your year end campaigns.

“I’ll get to it right after Labor Day” is, frankly, not a plan; it’s a liability. That’s because not allowing sufficient time for quality analytics, creative and targeting can spell underperformance not only for your year end campaigns, but for your entire annual program too.

As a rule of thumb, allow at least three months for campaign development (although development time can be much longer for large-scale campaigns). For a year end campaign launching November 15th, here are seven things you should put on your immediate “to do” list to ensure that your carefully crafted campaign receives the attention and response your organization deserves.

1. Organize and analyze essential data. Roll up your sleeves and look at your data every which way to plan your year end strategies. For starters, what are the giving trends among your prospects, members and donors, by significant types and segments? What does this suggest in terms of year end fundraising strategies and message differentiation? Also, what does your body of testing data point to for year end strategies, and what new tests do you need to conduct? Take a closer look, too, at what factors have contributed to your year end fundraising successes in the past. How can you replicate them this year? Start mining critical data now in order to shape meaningful year end strategies.

2. Collect information and ideas from all departments. Gather key development, membership, program and communications staff to review organizational priorities and program happenings, and brew ideas for fundraising and constituency-building. Whether that means a meeting of ten people, or two, it’s important to develop campaign ideas collaboratively, across departments.

3. Determine how much you need to raise. You already have specific goals for your year end efforts in your campaign plan, but if your overall program isn’t performing according to plan, you may need to modify your year end goals. Is your program performing above or below goal? Do you need to make up a shortfall, or build on success? Get a solid handle on where you stand relative to your annual goal, and shape your strategies accordingly.

4. Define your target audiences and approaches. What audiences do you wish to reach in your year end campaigns and how should you differentiate your approaches in terms of media and messaging? You may, for instance, communicate one way with low dollar members, another way with high dollar contributors, and an entirely different way with prospective donors.

5. Book your vendors. For agencies, copywriters, designers, mail houses, telemarketing firms and other service providers specializing in fundraising, the fall is like tax season for accountants. Everyone gets incredibly busy. Some don’t even take new clients after Labor Day. Avoid coming up shorthanded in your year end campaigns and book your key vendors early.

6. Develop a contingency plan. If, like most organizations, your year end fundraising revenue makes up a significant portion of your annual goal, you should have a backup plan of action in the event your year end campaigns don’t perform according to plan. This is another reason to start early on your campaigns. For instance, if you don’t launch your year end campaign until the second week in December because you fell behind schedule, then if your campaign is anything less than you expected, you have no time to address it before the end of the year.

7. Read up and reflect. Take time to think about what’s going on in the world – from serious news to pop culture – and think about what may be on your donors’ minds. Unemployment is 9.6%. The Dow fell below 10,000 again this summer. BP spewed oil into the Gulf for 87 days. And a flight attendant stormed off the job earlier this week and Americans mentally high fived him. Think about the significant threads of culture and current events shaping your donors’ perspectives, and how you might shape your year end campaigns accordingly.

So get started today and you’ll be in great shape for your year end campaigns. One last Bonus Tip: to really drive home the three-month lead time rule of thumb for your campaigns, keep a “Donor Time” Calendar set three months ahead within daily view of your workspace. Your Donor Time Calendar will serve as a daily reminder of what campaigns you should be developing today, to reach your donors three months from now.

How are you planning for your year end fundraising success today? We want to know! Post your tips and ideas here.

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By , 08/12/10 • Posted in Development Planning • Tags:



4

Aug

Make New Friends But Keep the Old


If you’ve ever been a Girl Scout, you probably have this campfire song permanently imprinted on your brain. I think about this song a lot as we encounter and test new membership development strategies with what seems to be increasing speed and frequency. As Tony Elischer pointed out at last week’s Bridge Conference, we can easily get so caught up in seeking the next big thing in fundraising that we take for granted – or even dismiss – the tried and true techniques that our programs were built on.

Blackbaud‘s newly released Index of Online Giving neatly affirms the old Girl Scout adage. In its survey of over 1,400 nonprofits of all sizes, it showed online giving to be the fastest growing segment of charitable giving. Small and mid-sized organizations in particular, are finding online giving to be an attractively cost effective channel, and a preferred method of giving among younger donors, while organizations focused on major gift fundraising are enhancing online fundraising efforts in support of their annual funds.

Blackbaud Index for Online Giving

At the same time, Blackbaud reported that online gifts to the organizations in the study accounted for just 5.7% of overall fundraising revenue. In fact, Target Analytics‘ last report on national fundraising performance released last year showed that the overwhelming majority of charitable contributions are still made via direct mail: 77% as of Fall 2008.

As we continually refine and update our programs to keep pace with our donor’s preferences, we would all be well served to keep in mind our old direct response friends that, while perhaps no longer shiny, are as golden as ever. They’re also more than willing to get to know, and work with, our new friends.

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By , 08/04/10 • Posted in Direct Response Fundraising • Tags: , , , ,



29

Jul

5 Bridge Conference Takeaways


qrcode-mkdm

The Bridge Conference is over, but as usual we left energized by the sessions and the company of over a thousand colleagues dedicated to advancing the missions of great nonprofits through better communications and fundraising. There was no shortage of good ideas and observations at #2010bridge, but these five stood out:

1. The hard ask is so 2006.
How often do you hear “stop begging for money” in a fundraising conference? It was a remarkably common thread at this year’s Bridge. Of course we know we need to ask. But this year’s Bridge brought a heightened focus on the idea that inspiring donors to give isn’t merely a matter of asking; it’s a matter of being an organization that inspires. It’s also about building relationships. In our session on donor-centric communications, Evan Parker of The Nature Conservancy observed that his organization tends to achieve better constituent engagement – and giving – in their social media communications when they don’t ask, so much as they simply talk about the issues and the work.

2. Reinstatement is the new acquisition.
This gem came from Becky Odum of Barton Cotton. Excellent point.

3. The next big thing in fundraising: QR codes.
Or at least there’s a lot of excitement to this effect, and not just at Bridge. QR (“quick response”) codes are those funky looking barcodes that you can scan with your portable device. The codes, when scanned with your portable device, direct you to a mobile site. Think about the possibilities. Just yesterday, Mashable posted a story on how an activist group is using QR codes for a campaign to clean up the Gulf. To see a QR code in action, scan the code above and let me know what you think of the newly launched site ;).

 4. Internal list building is more mainstream; we’re still tweaking conversion.
Online internal list building as a means of augmenting traditional prospecting programs is becoming more mainstream. Most organizations at the conference, it seemed, now have formal programs of online name acquisition. But many are still ironing out effective conversion strategies and processes.

5. If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. As Tony Elischer pointed out, most of us come to conferences looking for the new. New strategies, new media, new ways to improve our programs. But much of what we do works extremely well. We’d be well served to resist the brute “out with the old and in with the new” mentality and think instead about finding the small 5% or 10% of our program strategies that actually could benefit from the new.

What were your favorite Bridge Conference takeaways this year?

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By , 07/29/10 • Posted in Membership Development • Tags: , , ,



15

Jul

5 Ways to Screw Up Your Next Direct Mail Campaign


 

banana-peel

The road to direct response fundraising failure is paved with good intentions. Here are five ways you can really harm your direct mail results – so be sure to steer clear of these easily avoidable pitfalls as you start work on your fall appeals:

1. Mail early. If you want to stand out from the crowd, get ahead of them, right? Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way in year end fundraising. Successful direct response fundraising is about the right message, at the right time, to the right people. Sending a message at a time when no one is ready for it all but guarantees a weak response. The fact that organizations send year end appeals in the same timeframe doesn’t mean yours won’t get noticed; it means it’s a timeframe that works.

2. Mail late. Q4 is the single most important time of the year for fundraising. Why jeopardize critical funding for your organization’s programs with poor planning? Get started on your year end appeal in the first week of August.

3. Do something “different.” There’s good different and bad different in direct mail fundraising. Good different, for instance, might be recognizing that your control format isn’t performing as well as it used to and testing a proven direct response technique to help boost results such as hand addressing, or a follow-up reminder notice. Bad different, on the other hand, would be testing a completely unproven direct response idea suggested by someone whose direct response experience consists solely of receiving, and occasionally responding to, direct mail.

4. Make your campaign all about you. “The problem is our donors just don’t understand us. If we could make them understand us, I mean really get us, they’d give more.” Sound familiar? It’s the perennial lament of Development committees – and it’s totally backwards. If you want your campaigns to succeed, stop obsessing about getting your donors to understand you and start obsessing about understanding your donors. Forget about writing the perfect explanation of what your organization does and instead focus on making the perfect connection with your donors.

5. Don’t ask for money. It seems obvious, but it’s surprisingly easy to get so caught up in making the case for support that you forget to actually ask for money in your direct mail appeal. Make sure you have a clear, direct ask within the first few paragraphs of your letter and repeat it at least three more times throughout, and definitely in the p.s.

Do you have any do’s and don’ts to share? Cautionary tales? Stunning successes? Questions about improving your direct mail results? By all means, share them here, or drop us a line at topics@nthfactor.com.

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By , 07/15/10 • Posted in Direct Response Fundraising • Tags: , ,



9

Jul

The Boss of You


Quick: who do you work for?

Most people, when asked this question, will automatically tell you the name of their employer: “I work for Acme Incorporated, where I’m the VP of Sales and Marketing” (or something like that).

But “who signs your paycheck?” wasn’t really the question. And you, of course, are not most people: your employer is a nonprofit.

This means you don’t work for the Chair of your Board. You don’t work for the person who supervises you. You don’t even work for the nonprofit that employs you.

You work for your organization’s donors.

Your donors believe in something, and they have hired YOU – and everyone else in your organization, from the Executive Director to the administrative assistant – to achieve their vision.

So the next time you sit down to write a membership renewal letter, or a cultivation newsletter, or a fundraising email, remember this:

You are writing to your boss.

For insights and ideas on communicating with your real boss, join me on July 27th in Washington, D.C. at the AFP / DMAW Bridge Conference, where Robin Kornhaber and Jeff Costantino from Legacy, Evan Parker from The Nature Conservancy, and I will be sharing helpful case studies and tips in our session Six Steps for Building Donor-Centric Direct Response and Communications Strategies. Hope to see you there!

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By , 07/09/10 • Posted in Donor Communications • Tags: , ,



21

Jun

Looking for Membership and Advocacy Ideas?


MKDM‘s annual Idea Book is here!

Highlighting some of our most effective membership and advocacy campaigns for national and regional nonprofits, the book is part portfolio, part how-to guide, part idea-generator – and it’s yours for free.

notebook2010blog1

To order your free copy, email your name, organization/company and mailing address to ideabook@mkdmc.com.

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By , 06/21/10 • Posted in Direct Response Fundraising • Tags: , , , , , ,



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