Tagged as ‘Donor Communications’
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 […]
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 […]
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: […]
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. To order your free copy, email your name, organization/company and mailing address to ideabook@mkdmc.com.
In membership development and advocacy, the things that deliver the best results don’t always align with an organization’s favorite way of speaking about itself or its work. Sometimes an organization’s most important programs or messages – the ones that strike at the very heart of its mission – are the least appealing to donors. So […]
The most successful membership programs excel, in large part, because they know how to strike up the conversation with prospective donors. Instead of would you like to make a gift? great membership programs approach us with questions like: what concerns you more: drilling in the Arctic, or deforestation in the Amazon? They ask our opinions: […]
If you’re responsible for creating your organization’s newsletter you probabaly scrutizine every edition for accuracy, messaging, typos and so on. But when was the last time you sat down and read your organization’s newsletter cover-to-cover … for pleasure? Made you laugh, didn’t I? That’s ok. Most of us are glad to forget our newsletters the moment they’re printed […]
For many nonprofits, November 15th is the most important day of the year on the membership development calendar. It’s on or within a few days of this date that many of us send our most important direct mail solicitation of the year – the Year End Appeal. And arguably, it’s what much of our work […]
Earlier this week I received an Evite for a friend’s birthday party with this at the bottom of the invitation: I was already a fan of the American Cancer Society‘s More Birthdays campaign professionally, and genuinely appreciated seeing it in action on a personal level via Rebecca’s birthday invitation. The power of the campaign is […]
In direct response fundraising, “membership” in an organization is often a symbolic donor status, but a highly effective means of articulating and cultivating donor relationships. A donor is someone who makes a gift, but a member is someone who belongs. Membership conveys a sense of community, a basis for annual renewal and a framework for […]
