Are you over-soliciting and under-communicating?

How creative can your thank you be?

The problem is – we solicit our donors often, probably way too often.

But what happens with our donors in between solicitations?

It’s called “communications,” says my friend Kivi Leroux Miller, the nonprofitmarketingguide.com guru.

And there’s the rub.

We study, study, study how to ask.

But do we study as hard how to communicate warmly and personally?

Are we studying how to make our donors feel loved and so very appreciated?

(Does your thank you letter make your donor feel loved? Just asking!)

Why aren’t we studying “warm and fuzzy” communications to donors?

(I’d sure rather go to a Warm and Fuzzy workshop than The Art of the Ask workshop!)

Now, don’t get me wrong here.

You GOTTA be able to ask and ask well.

‘Love on” your donors

BUT you also GOTTA “love on” your donors (as we say in the south) a whole lot.

Donor numbers are declining. But "Donor Love" can reverse the trend.

And I’m taking a stand right now that we over emphasize the Asking, and we neglect the Donor Communication, aka, “Donor Love.”

I think it’s time fundraisers and board members tackled this issue head-on.

Why You Need a Donor Communications Program RIGHT NOW

How we communicate with our donors has everything do to with whether they give again, and whether they keep giving.

Great donor communications can reverse our terrible decline in overall donor numbers.

Remember that the overall number of donors has decreased by 20% over the past 5 years. (Blackbaud)

Donor Love can boost up our abysmal donor renewal rates.

(Did you know that overall donor retention averaged 41% and new donor retention averaged 27% in 2010? Gasp!) (AFP Fundraising Effectiveness Survey)

Just think how much money you could raise if you get more donors to renew???

Donor Love can make or break your fundraising program – hands down.

If your donors don’t feel appreciated, involved, supported, responded to, connected, and informed – then they probably will not make another gift to your wonderful cause.

So, what’s your communications strategy to keep your donors in the loop?

You need a plan to keep them close, warmed up – so they’ll be friendly when it comes time to ask again.

You need a plan to connect with them.

Create a systematic, month-by-month calendar for your donor communications.

In between your solicitations, what will you send them? What will you say to them?

A Donor Communications Program Can Create Amazing Results

Remember the old fundraising adage: “Find 7 ways to thank your donor and she’ll give again.”

That’s what Donor Love is all about.

Here’s a checklist of ideas you can use to craft your very own Donor Love program – things to help you create compelling, happy, friendly, warm and fuzzy messages to your donors.

Be systematic.

Set up a calendar of what type of communication you are sending out and when it goes out.

Plan ahead and put somebody in charge.

Create themes and message ideas and get everybody to agree on them ahead of time.

That’ll save you lots of time and discussions later on!

Get Help.

If you are really smart, engage a terrific communications firm like Big Duck Marketing, or Agents for Good.

Ask them to help design a Donor Communications program for the year.

A great communications consultant can come up with ideas that will charm the socks right off your donors.

Ideas you’d never think of.

Be creative.

Come up with different ways to say thank you to your donors. Can you send a singing thank you telegram for example?

Donor Love can increase your donor's trust in you and your organization.

Can you change your Annual Report into an “Accomplishments Report?”

Can you change your Annual Meeting into an Annual Celebration?

Can you change your Donor Appreciation Event into a cookout or a porch party?

How can you involve your donors in the life and mission of your cause?

Use lots of channels.

You have all sorts of communications channels at your disposal:  in person visits, phone, mail, all types of events, newsletters, acknowledgements, social media.

Use them all. Systematically.

Especially face-to-face visits.

Let your donors know how you spent their money.

Donor are having a lot of trust issues these days. They don’t trust the government, big institutions, politicians, nonprofits and probably not your organization either.

You have to earn their trust.

How?

By letting them know how you spent their money – as accurately and as transparently as possible.

Let your donors know what you achieved with their money.

(Note: this is different from “how you spent their money.”)

Can you be this warm and fuzzy with your donors? : )

This is about outcomes and your results.

How many people did you help? Or cure? Or feed? Or care for?

How many kids, or adults or elders? How many performances did you present? How many educational sessions with how many kids?

Get your tone right.

Lofty and formal is different from warm and fuzzy.

Yes, it’s ok to deviate from the formal, jargon-rich, lofty “nonprofit-speak” that you so often use to the rest of the world.

What’s the tone of your communications to them?

How personalized?

Yes, it’s ok to use contractions like I’m using in this sentence.

Yes, it’s ok to tell stories and to be casual.

By all means, be friendly!

Bottom Line:

It’s past time to add Donor Communications as a new formal element to your fundraising program.

You’ve GOT to stay in front of your donors – cheerfully – in between solicitations if you want them to keep giving!

What do you think? Let me know with a comment!

Here’s an interview I did recently for the nonprofitmarketing360 blog. I thought you’d enjoy it!

What are the issues that are keeping your clients awake at night?

GAIL: I think the economy is just a huge issue. People are worried about whether they can raise the money they need or not.

But I’m also seeing a really interesting problem.

What's keeping YOU up at night?

My consulting clients are struggling to learn how to take donors who are identified potential major prospects and develop them to become major donors.

It’s a very delicate, step-by-step, intuitive process to bring a major donor along.

That’s a lot of what I’m teaching my consulting clients, all these little subtleties of developing that type of relationship.

I’m surprised. I thought major donor fundraising is like dating, so I assumed that everyone knew this instinctively.

GAIL: Well, you would be surprised how people feel nervous about it, men and women.

I have a friend at UNC-CH, Eli Jordfald, who gave a presentation called ‘Mastering the Art of the Discovery Call” to a standing-room-only session at an AFP International Conference in Chicago.

She works in the Lineberger Cancer Center at Chapel Hill. She talked about how she takes a prospect who’s identified as having potential, and what she says and does to find out if they really have potential.

It’s a delicate step by step process.

Have the top burner issues changed since you started consulting?

GAIL: I think there’s a little bit more desperation among the clients. A little bit more worry.

I spend time comforting people a lot, and assuring them that if we go through these processes, we can be successful.

So they look to me like the savior, which is scary, but I have a lot of confidence that we can be successful if we do it correctly.

A lot of issues with major donors haven’t changed. Also, I’m still teaching people how to get board members to return their phone calls and read their emails.

I am very interested in keeping up with the front edges of my profession, so I’ve been studying Internet marketing at great length. I’m on Twitter, I’m on Facebook; I have my own blog with over 7,700 followers.

I study subject lines for my blogs and how to write copy, and that’s a whole new skill set for a lot of people.

Nonprofit fundraisers have got to learn how to write for the web, and they’ve got to understand web marketing.

A lot of your work seems to be around boards. Is that a particular weak spot for a lot of organizations?

GAIL: Lord have mercy. It’s amazing what a pain point it is.

It was such a pain point of mine, that I was driven to write my book, Fired-Up Fundraising.

I was frustrated and upset with some of these boards I was working with. So I hired a leadership consultant, Dr. Thomas Griggs, to teach me how to motivate people, how to build teams, and how to get people together.

Leadership consultant Dr. Thomas Griggs inspired my new way to approach boards and fundraising.

He tutored me for a couple of years. And that training has informed a whole new perspective of working with board members that is much kinder, gentler and more fun.

People love it. I do board retreats all over the world. The board members love the work I do with them, because they’re bored too.

I surveyed my mailing list and I asked what is the biggest challenge in fundraising today, and I would say almost half the people, when asked an open-ended question, said something about their boards.

So, I have definitely hit the pain point of all pain points.

Board members are in pain too, because they feel like they’re not making the difference they want to make.

You can’t shake your finger and order them around.

You have to motivate them, make them feel good and successful, and gently bring them into fundraising.

You can’t just say, you’re supposed to go out and raise money, because they don’t know how!

Then they’ll flee. They need to be understood. And here’s why this is important:

According to some research, guess what’s the number one indicator of how much a board member actually gives to the organization?

It’s how they rate the quality of their experience on the board.

Do you think that social media have impacted fundraising practices?

GAIL: Sure. I’m not so sure people are bringing money in through social media, although I have seen some campaigns that have been very successful.

But social media is going to be more and more important. I don’t think it’s impacting the big money right now because most people who give money are older, and they’re the people who are not on social media.

However, I read a recent study that a third of boomers are on a social media site every day. I don’t think we can be ostriches and just stick our heads in the sand and hope this stuff goes away.

I don’t want to be a dinosaur myself. I want to be relevant.

What do you advise clients when they’re looking into all these things and what they should do?

GAIL: I tell them the first thing they’ve got to do is have a great website.

The first thing you need is a terrific web site!

Second thing, they have to do some decent email communications. And third, they should worry about social media.

I see some abysmal websites that are practically driving donors away. So let’s start with the basics. I’m redoing my website all the time.

When did you start blogging?

GAIL: I started with great focus and regularity about a year and a half ago, and I committed to sending something out every Friday morning.

Whether I’m alive or dead, I send out one really good article. I try to make it interesting and snappy and throw my personality into it.

What was your goal when you started?

GAIL: My goal was to get people to subscribe to my content, to sign up for my list.

It was to write really compelling, interesting copy that people thought was valuable, and give it away, and become someone who was trusted.

As web guru Seth Godin says, you earn permission to email people.

They give you permission to come into their lives, into their computers. So that was my goal.

Blogging has been a great marketing tool for my consulting and my speaking.

And now I have almost 100 members of my online training/coaching program, Fundraising Insiders, who are working closely with me to stay on top of the best practices and trends so they can raise lot of money that they urgently need.

Do you feel like the goal has been met?

GAIL: I would like to have more reach.

See, I’m this funny person. I have a personal mission.

My mission is to make the world a better place, what's yours?

My mission is to reach as many nonprofit leaders as possible, inspire them with energy, and give them tools and skills so they can make the world a better place.

So the blogging helps. It’s how I execute my mission along with speaking and training and writing books.

It’s part of my service to the world, and I think it comes back around.

Are any of your clients integrating direct mail and social media successfully?

GAIL: Probably not. But I don’t know how important it is.

I think it’s more important to integrate email and direct mail in what we call multiple-channel fundraising.

You send a postcard, you do a phone call, you do emails, you do a letter, you have your website, and that message is all the same, it’s consistent, it all reinforces each other, and it’s sent out in a sequence.

That’s smart fundraising.

Did you like my interview? Tell me why or why not with a comment below:

We all want more of those major gifts.

Ahhh . . . major gifts . . . the pot of gold!

And we know that major gifts can make or break our organization’s financial future.

But major gift donors are changing, just like fundraising is changing.

This month my “Fundraising Insiders” members (join us!) are focusing on Trends for 2012.

I’m interviewing Margaret Battistelli, editor of Fundraising Success magazine, (Friday Jan 27) and Kivi Leroux Miller of Nonprofitmarketingguide.com (Friday Jan 20) on their outlook for 2012.

And next Tuesday Jan 24, I’m discussing my own take on Major Gifts Trends for 2012. I’m pulling a lot from Penelope Burk’s most recent survey of donors that came out last fall.

Here’s a sample of what I’m presenting in my webinar next week:

1. Visit your major donors and show them your organization’s positive results.

I hear this over and over from major donors:  ”Is my gift really making an impact?”

And they don’t know how to answer this question.

We all know that major donors are giving much more carefully. They are reading the fine print.

Show a measurable result: How many school kids did you help last year?

They are asking lots and lots of questions. They are getting deeply involved in their favorite organizations.

SO – Invite them to private donor briefings.

Introduce them to people your organization has helped.

Review your budget with a special donor or two.

If you can show your donor measurable results, then you’ll assure them.

And you’ll raise lots more money.

This is what does a “measurable result” looks like:

• We served 2050 seniors hot meals this month.
• We built three wells in Africa that cost $10,000 each.
• We helped 250 former prison inmates transition to a positive new life.
• We cleaned 3000 miles of streams.

My friends, this is what YOUR fundraising needs to look like this year!

2. Look for unidentified major donors within your donor data base.

I almost fell on the floor when I heard Penelope Burk say, “More donors does not equal more money.”

This goes against everything we know and hold dear in fundraising, doesn’t it? Can’t you just hear your board members saying, “we’ve just got to expand our donor base!”

But think deeper: the cost of acquiring new donors is very very high.

They may be giving $25 a year but they could give a lot more!

In fact, the generally accepted thinking in the business world is that it costs 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to get more business from a current customer.

Clearly it costs YOU less to develop a deeper relationship with your current donors than it does to go out and beat the bushes for new supporters!

You can raise more money with fewer donors.

So focus on loving your current donors more.

Show them what their gifts are accomplishing.

Thank them profusely.

Treat them like your friends. Better yet, treat them like family.

Penelope Burk’s research shows that 2-4% of your overall donor base has the capability of making major gifts.

Her research found that if properly thanked and communicated with, these previously small donors would make a gift of $1,000 within a year.

3. Design most of your fundraising for the over 65 age group.

I suggested last year that you should ask your grandmother to read your fundraising appeal letter and get her feedback on it.

Mosts major gifts come from older donors.

One of the direct marketing pundits said recently that fundraising materials were typically designed by edgy 20 and 30 somethings.

And they designed what they personally thought was effective.

And it can be quite off the mark.

All the studies show that most larger gifts come from older people.

This is a no-brainer! They have had time to accumulate wealth, educate their children, and enjoy life.

Trend: Older donors will continue to give most major gifts.

Be sure to design events for them (no late late nights).

Be sure their materials are readable (no tiny type please!) and appealing.

And remember older donors really do enjoy the face to face personal visit!

Now, you may have a cause that is web-based and much more oriented to younger people. In that case, look for an angel or two among your supporters, but also don’t forget your grandmother!

Bottom Line:

Create a major gift plan for 2012. Be creative. Look inside your current donor files for prospects.  Love on all your donors a lot. Tell them what you are accomplishing. Be in front of them a lot.

You’ll be successful if you do!

And if you want to discover more Major Donor Strategies for 2012 (There are really 10 of them!), be sure to join the Fundraising Insiders and my webinar next Tuesday at 2pm ET!

(FYI: Joining the Fundraising Insiders gives you a monthly subscription to all my trainings, webinars, Master Classes with experts, archives of past classes, free workbooks and my Template and Sample Library.)

So do you agree with my major gift strategies for 2012?

Tell me why or why not with a comment!

I bet you made some new year’s resolutions, didn’t you?

That’s great!

I have an additional resolution to offer you:

Take a stand.

Just take a stand for what you believe in.

Just like that.

Draw a line in the sand and say to yourself, “I want to make a difference.”

And then say “I AM going to make a difference.”  (Isn’t that powerful!)

Because when you make a declaration that you are going to do this, something happens inside.

By “naming it” and “claiming it,” you start making it happen.

Think for a moment.

What really matters to you, anyway?

What urgently concerns you?

I hope it’s the cause you work for so hard.

Because if you are that concerned, then what are you going to do about it?

Remember Gandhi famously said:

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Can you become that change that you so urgently want to see? Can you actually embody that change?

If you want to make it happen, you need these three things along with you.

You need:

1.  Courage

My, oh my, but it’s easy to sit back and expect others to take the lead.

Isn’t it?

But what happens when no one steps up to the plate?

Or when your cause’s supporters lose sight of their goal, or they dissolve into petty bickering or competition?

Well, my friends – nonprofit staffers and board members alike – the world NEEDS more people to step up to the plate.

It takes gumption as we say in the south.

How do you muster up your courage?

You get over yourself.

You hold fast to your vision of what you are trying to accomplish.

You keep your goal firmly in sight and hold on to it tight.

Because if you are totally “possessed” by your goal, then you’ll forget your self consciousness.

I remember when I first started public speaking. I was absolutely scared to death.

Standing up there and looking at all those faces staring at me, expecting me to say something interesting –  it was enough to send panic thru every molecule in my body!

But then I remembered what I was speaking about, and how passionately I felt the need to communicate.

And somehow, I lifted up out of my fear and became in some way “possessed” by my energy, passion and my ideas. And they just spilled out of me then.

Bottom Line: If you hold fast to what you believe to be deeply true, you’ll find more courage than you ever thought you had.

2.  Enthusiasm

Ralph Waldo Emerson said “nothing great was achieved without enthusiasm.”

"Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm." -Emerson

And I so believe this.

Because if you are enthusiastic, you have happy outgoing energy.

This energy is attractive.

It pulls people to you. It pulls supporters, dollars, connections.

All of a sudden people want to hang with you. Your cause’s bandwagon is growing. And growing.

If you are a group of people who are fired-up, enthusiastic, energetic – then you can do anything.

This is the energy that can change worlds.

Pump yourself up.

That’s why I always say that board meetings need to be terrific gatherings.

They need to be like cheerleading sessions. When you pull your team together, you’ve got to fire them up with energy and enthusiasm.

And you’ve got to do the same for yourself.

Get yourself in touch with what really matters to you, and what stand you are going to take.

You’ll be motivated enough to take on the world!

Bottom Line: Everything starts with energy. Make yours expansive and happy – and you’ll attract all sorts of help!

3.  Clarity.

If you want to change the world, and rally supporters to help you, then you need a very clear goal.

You need to know what you are trying to achieve.

You've got to be totally clear and focused about what you are trying to do.

• You need to know when you want it done.
• You need to know how much money you need to raise.
• You need to know what outcomes and results you are aiming to create.
• You need to know what it will take to get there.

You’ll never be successful if you don’t have a clear goal.

If you are raising money for your cause, then you’ve got to say: “ we need xx money in order to do yyy work.”

For example,

• We need to raise $100k in order to bring meals to 2000 elderly members of our community.
• We need $500k to build an orphanage in Africa.
• We need $50k to present a concert or a performance.

I don’t know why nonprofits are so reluctant to state how much money they need.

So many of my clients just say “we need as much money as we can raise.”

That’s fine, but it doesn’t grab donors. It’s not specific enough.

You need a clear goal.

Donors – especially these days – want to know how much help you need in order to accomplish your goals.

They aren’t messing around.

And they don’t like fuzziness.

If your message is muddled, you are not going to raise the money you need.

Bottom line: You’ll never get anywhere if you don’t know where you are going. Have a clear goal!

I hope these ideas help you fire up your board, your staff, and your supporters.

Remember how urgent this is. There’s no time to waste.

There’s too much at stake.

Don’t mess around. Go for it!

Did this resonate? Let me know with a comment!