According to this post “Ring-Cha-Ching, Hear Them Ring” on the blog Email Insider, the retail email holiday season has already begun. In fact, it began in August.
Thankfully for nonprofit fundraisers, most donors aren’t yet in the holiday giving mindset. That means there’s still time to prepare for the end-of-the-year fundraising push. So what do you need to do to get ready? We asked a variety of online fundraising experts and delved into some key online resources and found some great advice.
Build your list now
One key piece of advice comes from Hilary Zwerdling, senior consultant at M+R Strategic Services, who urges nonprofits to grow their email lists now, in September and October, so they have time to cultivate these individuals before the holiday appeals start streaming into their inboxes. "It’s critical to build and deepen your eSubscribers’ relationship with your organization and issues," Zwerdling says.
Make sure your data is ready
Heidi Gider, Senior Development Officer at Women’s Health Research, reminds us that your “ask” is only as good as your data, and that the most important thing to do now is to ensure that your data is accurate. Make any corrections or updates (address changes, etc.) now, not after Halloween. She also recommends reviewing the timing and sequencing of your appeals so that they don’t conflict with your other important communications. She adds that Thanksgiving is a great time to say thanks, so thank your supporters and remind them how much their support matters to your work. Finally, make sure you’re prepared to process your gifts and thank your donors in a timely manner.
Make it easy and meaningful
Network for Good offered these perennial tips in their holiday tips last season (paraphrased below):
- Make the gift real – tell donors in concrete terms the impact their gift will make (think Oxfam Unwrapped and the Heifer Project’s gift guide).
- Make it easy to give – make your donate buttons prominent and place them wherever it makes sense. And minimize the number of clicks required between “donate now” and “thanks for your gift.” You don’t want to lose them once you have them.
- Ask for recurring gifts – Monthly recurring donors, automatically billed via credit card, give you more money, more predictable revenue, and save you solicitation costs.
- Be brief – Or, K.I.S.S. (Keep It Short Santa). It’s a busy time of year, the shorter your communication the better, but don’t skimp on the substance.
Talk about the passion
Sea Change Strategies produced a “Procrastinator’s Guide to Year-End Fundraising: Critical Action Steps for Raising More Money” last year and its chock full of tips. I can’t capture all the great tips here and do them justice, but a few key points. First – the scary news – “as many as 98% of visitors to an organization’s donate page leave before making a donation.” Why? A combination of technology and psychology - bad web sites (confusing, poor layout, etc.) and failing to connect with the donor. Their advice focuses as much on relating to your supporters as it does on technical fixes – “if fundraisers spent half as much time re-connecting donors with the passion and vision that inspired them to give in the first place as we do trying to get them to give again and again, we’d all raise more money and keep more of our donors for life.” Maybe Mark Rovner and company will bless us with an updated guide for 2007.
Other selected wisdom
Consultant Lisa Grob focuses on getting organized. She advises making a plan now, assigning roles and responsibilities, integrating messages across modes – online, direct mail, etc. – but tailored for each medium. Time your different pieces online & offline to complement and coordinate your delivery. And, develop a sense of urgency in your messaging.
The Feminist Majority’s communications and development manager Erin Carmany cites Network for Good’s advice to send supporters an end of year summary of their giving over the past year all you’ve accomplished with their help. Who doesn’t like to know that they’ve made a wise investment?
Sarah Burris, recently of Skyline Public Works, has some more “evergreen” advice, she says if you want to be successful raising money online you have to ask, and ask a lot more than many groups currently ask. Also, make sure your appeals and landing pages creative, clever, and well designed. Finally, people love a gift, so think about giving a premium to your donors, holiday cards, stickers, t-shirts, just make sure you can afford them.
If nothing else, this post should serve as a timely reminder to get your data, site, and strategy in order, and make sure your donors know how much you appreciate them and what their support has helped you do this year.
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