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Dig into Your Donor Data to Grow Your Annual Fundraising

There’s more to measuring your annual fundraising than how much money you raised. To get the full story, you’ve got to measure performance in terms of your donors as well.

Your donor data reveals critical information that you’ll need in order to improve your fundraising and make the most of the giving potential within your database.

It tells you which donors are responding to your outreach and illuminates how well your strategies and tactics are working.

Your donor data reveals your best, most valuable donors. [Read more…]

How Does Your Donor Retention Stack Up?

Have you taken a close look at your donor retention from last year?

Specifically, you want to discover what percentage of your donors from 2018 gave a gift in 2019 or so far in 2020. Measuring your retention rates each year is hugely important because it’s a critical indicator of weather your fundraising is improving… or not.

Here’s a quick reminder of how to calculate your own retention rates: [Read more…]

The Key to Donor Segmentation

Segmenting your donors is the process of placing your donors in logical groups, tagging individuals in your database as a member of that group, and communicating with those segments in ways that speak to their connection with you and your mission.

I’ve written before about the importance of donor segmentation, and why it is well worth the effort. It is a critical step toward establishing a moves management program.

But while segmentation is simple in concept, it is a daunting task. It’s a task that requires a high level of activation energy as well as commitment to maintain.

What’s the key to making it happen? Keep it simple and consistent. [Read more…]

Wrapping up your year-end campaign

Once your year-end appeal letter is in the mail, your email series is written and scheduled, and your gift acknowledgement letters begin their journey… time to wrap-up your campaign and start counting the money!

Right?

Not so fast!

In our relief to check that appeal mailing off of our list, and our need to look ahead to the coming year, we often forget several critical things that must be accomplished. [Read more…]

The critical missing piece of your fundraising plan

I’m excited to share today Part 1 of our new 4 part video series: Developing a Strong, Systematic Annual Fundraising Program. I’m particularly excited about this series because it really gets to the heart of what annual fundraising means.

In part 1, I talk about what annual fundraising actually is – as well as what it is not. I also share what I’ve found to be one of the major problems with the way we typically approach fundraising today.

If you’d like to view the rest of the video series, sign-up here now.

If you’ve found this helpful, I hope you’ll share it with your networks.

Planning a simple but smart year-end campaign

Did you notice that this Webster’s Dictionary definition of “campaign” is a series of activities?

Did you see that a campaign needs a specific goal?

This also applies to your year-end campaign.

Specifically, a year-end campaign is a series of donor communications occurring within a specific timeframe, with a well-defined goal.

Even if your year-end efforts have in the past been limited to just one fundraising letter and a thank you note, it isn’t all that difficult to turn your fall fundraising letter into a full-fledged year-end renewal campaign. If you’ve been running a more sophisticated campaign, it might be time to add a new channel or produce a campaign wrap-up video.

Regardless of your campaign’s current status, taking it to the next level will take some advanced planning to ensure that you have enough time, money, and technology to execute it well.

To get you started, here’s a quick guide to planning and preparing for your annual campaign:

[Read more…]

6 fresh fundraising and stewardship ideas

Recently, I’ve come across some inspired ideas for fresh donor communications and fundraising beyond the run-of-the mill, same-old-same-old you always read about.

Keep these in mind as you craft your annual campaign or next year’s fundraising plan: [Read more…]

Do your organizational and business donors need a unique approach?

In my hometown, there is a popular locally owned gift shop. Instead of charging a fee to gift wrap purchases, the store asks their customers to donate a dollar or two to a specific charity.

For many years, one specific charity was the sole recipient of these funds (along with a tremendous amount of publicity).

When I went to this store to grab a birthday gift the other day, I was surprised to discover that a different charity was now the gift wrap money recipient. [Read more…]

5 fundraising appeal mistakes that waste your nonprofit’s money

In a small nonprofit, with heaps of fundraising tasks on your plate, planning for fundraising appeals typically gets the short shrift.

There’s plenty to keep you scrambling: finding a compelling story, crafting a donor-centered letter, and rushing to get your package in the mail at just the right time.

But there are hidden costs and wasted funds when appeals become an afterthought. You’ll lose out in ways you may not even recognize.

Here are several costly appeal mistakes nonprofits often make. Are you guilty of any of these? [Read more…]

Should you ask volunteers to give money on top of their gifts of time?

In Part 3 of our series on targeting key donor segments we discuss if and how to approach key volunteers for financial support.

Sandy, a development manager for a mid-size, regional animal shelter wrote in with this dilemma:

“I suggested to our VP of Development that as a part of our fall campaign we write a special appeal to our numerous active volunteers who haven’t yet made a financial gift. He promptly shut the idea down since he felt we’d be devaluing their gifts of time. I strongly disagree and am wondering if other organizations have had success asking their volunteers for financial support.”

Many nonprofits are reluctant to ask for money from their program volunteers for this very reason. Organizations don’t want to appear greedy or offend their volunteer corps.

But your volunteers are your biggest advocates. More than anyone, they understand your work and the importance of your mission. They also understand that your organization depends on financial support to continue to operate. [Read more…]