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Show Your Donors Some Love – Use Feb. 12 to Say Thank You

donor heartThey are investors in your charity.  These courageous men and women support your non-profit with their time, talent and treasure.  Now is the time to let your supporters know how much you appreciate them.  February 12 has been named nationwide on social media as Donor Love Day  (#donorlove on Twitter).

Here are a few ways you can show your donors some love before and after February 12:

1. Send a thank you note without asking for a another gift.  No other action will produce more additional donations than a thank you note.  There is nothing wrong with including a reply envelope, but don’t ask.  Make sure to hand write a special note or thank you.  It is critical that you thank them and thank them quickly.  The faster you thank a donor after they make a gift, the more likely it is they will make a second gift.  Charities who thank  donors within 24 hours report recieving a second gift from as many as 20%, 1 in 5 donors will send a second gift.

There are over 2 million non-profit organizations in the United States.  Network for Good reports that over 70% of them never even send a thank you note within one month of recieving a donation, and of those, 37% never send a thank you note at all.

2. Call Your Donors.   Pick up the phone and just say thank you.  Even a voice mail will be appreciated by your supporter.  I love the idea of a donor “phone-a-thon” this time of year.  I have seen some smart charities get every member of the staff and board calling donors to do nothing but say, “thank you.”

3. Just Drop By.  Without announcing yourself or if you’ve been unable to reach the donor by phone, just drop by.  Leave your car running and the door to your car open.  Knock on the door and hand the donor a small gift and/or card.  Simply say, “I can’t stay.  I was just in the neighborhood and thought I’d just drop by to thank you for your friendship and support.”  Hand the donor the card or small gift.  Smile.  Shake their hand and say thank you.  Then quickly get back in your car and drive away.

4. Recognize Your Donors On Social Media.  Without mentioning the home town or dollar amount, use Facebook and Twitter to give your donors a shout out.  Say something about your friendship and the tremendous impact your friend (name here) has had in saving lives through your charity.  Remember, make the reference about the friendship and impact, not the amount of the gift.  #donorlove day on February 12th each year  is a great way to do this.

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New Year Gurus Wrong Again… DM Will NOT Die in 2014

RIPWell it’s that time again?  Another new year and with it another crop of “New Years gurus” spewing the end of the direct mail fundraising industry… we’ve heard it all before: “the internet has ended direct mail”; “social networks have replaced direct mail”; “postage price increases have killed direct mail”; “paper manufacturing costs have crushed the DM industry”.  The list could go on and on.

What the New Year gurus fail to understand is that it is not an “either or” scenario.  It is not direct mail versus the internet. It is direct mail AND all the other channels of giving.  DM and the web now work together for the donors convenience.

Make no mistake about it, direct mail is changing.  There are fewer donors using the preprinted DM reply devices and reply envelopes.  America’s top non-profits are now reporting that between one-quarter and one-third of all direct mail responders use the charity’s web site as their response device.  No other channel drives more gifts to your website than Direct Mail!

If you are not doing a “match back” of your internet gifts against your mail file you may be missing a very important metric in measuring the success of your fundraising program.  The best charities even track the the day the mailing arrives in home and the day the donor goes on line to make their gift.  The spikes correlate almost to the hour the postman reaches out and places the mail in the donors mail box.

In addition you should know that the more zeros on the check the more likely it is that the donor will NOT use the preprinted reply and envelope.  If you track major gifts that come in on-line, by a phone call or white mail (the donor’s own envelop, not the pre-printed reply envelop) you are going to see that the date of the donation is usually within 72 hours of the in-home date of your last direct mail piece.   Donors making bigger donations of  $500, $1,000, $5,000 or more often DO NOT USE the pre-printed envelops that they are given with the direct mail piece.

Many “experts” fail to look at giving the same way as the donors do.  Development professionals have been trained to measure the results… as independent channels.  The fact is that over the last decade this is not how fundraising happens.  Most people who give online also give through the mail and people who give in the mail also give through other channels.

Any fundraising “expert” saying that ALL giving is shifting to the internet because it’s the new technology is absolutely wrong.  When people give on line it is no more about the technology as saying when people give in the mail it is because of the paper. There are multiple reasons for why donors give through multiple channels. I tend to believe it is simply convenience at the point of contact. It can be the time of year. It can be dollar amount of the gift. There are a huge number of other reasons why people give through multiple channels.

Roy C. Jones, CFRE
Roy C. Jones, CFRE

I met recently with the president of a not-for-profit who shared that “we are going to stop using the mail entirely and move to digital communications exclusively.” After falling off my chair (for the dramatic effect, of course) I shared with him that he was about ready to “deep six” his organization. He changed his mind after our discussion about integration of mail with the internet.  If you are about to accepted another New Years guru’s pronouncement that “direct mail is dead” be careful. Donors need to be given options so they can make a choice for the best channel to process each gift. When you limit the number of ways to give you are telling your supporters “give my way or give your money to someone else.”  Rest assured, many donors will just head down the road to their next favorite charity.

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Don’t Let “Buddy The Elf” Fix Your Website in December

buddyFor most charities 50% (or more) of their revenue for the entire year occurs during the 4th quarter and over one half of that amount arrives during the month of December.  December is not the time to make changes, edits or do testing with your website.  LEAVE IT ALONE.

 The time to test or make improvements on your website is in the spring and summer.  During the fall, and especially moving into year-end, the most important thing you can provide for your website is STABILITY.

 I amazed this year at the number of charities making 4th quarter modifications on their websites.  The root cause may be a desire to spike traffic for “Giving Tuesday” or to increase year end giving, but trust me when I tell you that modifications to the infrastructure of your website could really hurt you during the busiest time of the year.  Remember, most websites are what we call relational databases.  The HTML code is strung together like lights on a Christmas tree.  If you change something in the middle of your website, the odds are problems will occur in other areas of your site that are indirectly linked to the area you changed.  Yes, it is very similar to what happens on your tree when a bulb comes loose.  You’ll spend many hours twisting every bulb and then ultimately replacing the entire string of lights on your tree.  Web site quality control is tough, timely and expensive.  It takes hundreds of hours to properly Q.C. and make modifications on your website. Time is the one commodity that you do not have approaching year-end.

 Of course, I am NOT talking about things like on line emergency break fixes, Email deployment or Holiday campaign-specific changes (banner/feature/giving page updates for campaigns).  However, if you are building new code.  Things like adding additional pages or writing new code adding significant features IT COULD BE A BIG MISTAKE at this time of year.

 Successful marketing, even with websites, is about minimizing risk to increase opportunity.  Remember, if you are like most charities, half of your annual income is at risk.  So even if Buddy The Elf has a great idea to make your website more Christmassy… put Buddy in the mail room and keep him away from the computer screen.

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What I am Thankful for… a year of thanks and giving at THANKSGIVING

Roy C. Jones, CFRE
Roy C. Jones, CFRE

This has been a tremendous year of learning, growth and preparation. I am convinced at the age of 53 that the next decade of my work in philanthropy is going to be most impactful of my life.  I often told my sons as they were growing up and facing some specific challenge that God was preparing them for something BIG.  Well, I guess I know in my heart that the next BIG thing is yet to come in my life.  He has truly used this year to prepare me for the something special.

I have sat down this year, face to face and personally interviewed 117 major donors. People with hearts that are so unique.  People whose careers and businesses are not about amassing wealth.  People who believe their purpose for living is giving.  They have dedicated homes, careers and businesses to alleviate suffering, helping the homeless, feeding the hungry and providing clean, cool water to those who thirst.

These wonderful people opened their hearts to me. These supporters have cried. They have shared their hearts. They have asked for my advise on how to best give of their time, talent and treasure. However, the most important thing to me was what they said when I asked for their advise. As a major giving advisor, what could I do better… what could the organization do better?  Time and time again it came down to two things, two critically important words. Two verbs of action… that required me to get better and to improve. Those two words were: LISTEN & IMPACT.

Our financial partners wanted only two things: a chance to be listened too and a chance to see the impact their investment was having. There is no doubt about it, everytime I simply listened, giving increased… sometimes right on the spot. Once a donor becomes convinced you are listening to them and have become their advocate they give more. Its just that simple.
 
I am so thankful for these courageous philanthropists and financial investors in charity.  (I truly don’t like refering to them as “major donors”.)  These special people taught me that the importance of listening and demonstrating impact are critical to increasing major giving.  The thing I saw time and time again was if I create more ways for our financial partners to “get their hands dirty” in the work of Jesus it always had a profound impact on their giving.
 
I am so thankful for my co-workers who taught me so much this year.  Event management has been the key learning.  Most importantly, making sure that every detail of every event is centered on one thing: the impact you have having on lives.  
 
I learned so much from each of you. I learned the importance of integrating email and text messaging into my communications with donors. The phone and handwritten notes are important, but to build regular communications you have to email and text in this day and age to grow the relationship.
 
Most importantly, this year I learned to cry. I have cried with so many of you with your struggle to reach your goals. I have cried with donors as we have prayed for children all over the world. I have cried often in my prayers for each of you as you have worked so hard to raise the resources you need. The “old Coach Ro Jo” was afraid to share his emotions, but the man I am today is not afraid to tear up and wear his heart on his sleeve.
 
Thank you. You each know I am your friend and supporter for life. My home is always open and my cell phone is always on. I truly believe we’ll be helping others through philanthropy for many, many years.     

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Are You Ready for the Golden Week? 8 Steps To Safeguard Your Year-end Fundraising

By any metric or system of measurement in fund development the last week of the year is by far the most profitable week for any charitable organization. I often refer to this week as “golden week”.

Roy C. Jones, CFRE
Roy C. Jones, CFRE

Marketing “pros” know that once the Christmas appeal is in the mail that it is NOT the time to “take a break” and relax until January.

The best development leaders bear down during the months of November and December to insure that the last week of the year is the most profitable 7-days of the calendar year.

I know some development directors who “swear by” the last week of the year. They contend that reaching their annual goals often comes down to the last few days of the year. Most contend it is often the difference between ending the year in the black or sinking deeper into the red.

The best executives strategically plan for a “yearend balance-the-books” appeal and reach out to their best donors for one last year-end gift. Be cynical if you want, but if your year was like most not-for-profit organizations you are behind in achieving your financial goals. You’ll soon have had to make some tough decisions about next year and the fact is that unless a few of your best donors step up to make just one last yearend gift you may be forced to cut vital services and programs.

Now is the time to be direct with our best donors. Sometimes the truth works!  Tell them that fundraising has been slow and you need their help so that you do not have to cut vital programs next year.

To repeat a phrase that I used to tell political candidates… “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.”

Take immediate steps to insure that your ministry or charity can have an extra “payday” this year. Do not delay. Look at every revenue stream you have and see if you can make one last appeal to remind donors and supporters that it is not too late to have an impact. The gift they make could be the difference between your organization continuing vital services or being force to turn those in dire need away.

Here are just a few suggestions for maximizing your cash flow during the “Golden Week” – last week of the calendar year:

  1. Major Donor Letter. Send a hand addressed, multi-stamped, first class letter to your major donors telling them of the “year end crisis” you are faced with. Include a reply envelop with live stamped first class postage. This tells the donor that this is not some “fund raising ploy”. The challenges you face are real or you would not have gone to the expense of writing them and sending it first class with a First Class return envelope. I have seen many organizations do a 10 to 20 percent response rate during the last 10 days of the year.
  2. E-mail Blast. Send a “year end, balance the books” appeal to every email address you have. I suggest sending at least 3 different appeals in your email campaign during the last 10 days of the year. Sure, you will get a few complaints, but to most of your supporters they understand the importance of ending the year in the black, not red. Most who take the time to see your emails, and as importantly, notice that you have emailed multiple times the last week of the year, know that the challenges you face at year end are real.
  3. Direct Mail Letter to Regular Donors. Now is the time to send that “Urgent Gram” to your regular (those that give under $1,000) direct mail donors. If you ever had a “real reason” to send that year-end crisis appeal this is the year to do it. Trust me, it is worth squeezing in one last pay day. Push your January appeal out a week or so later and create a hole in your mail schedule so that the Monday after Christmas your “year-end” appeal is in home.
  4. Do not forget your monthly donors. Your sustainer file should be mailed the year end appeal too. If you have your sustainers coded for a “limited mail or no mail” do not forget to create a flag so they are forced into your select for the mailing. In addition, your monthly donors who have an HPC (highest previous contribution) of $1,000+ should get a phone call thanking them for their support and asking them to make a “sacrificial year end gift”.
  5. Search Engine Marketing. The last week of the year sees a HUGE spike in major donors cruising the internet looking for a local charity to make that last gift to for the year-end income tax deduction. Beg, borrow or barter for your organization… sink another $500 to $1,000 into SEM. Search Engine Marketing will pay for itself. There is no doubt that during the last week of the year you will reap large rewards and a huge number of new donors at the major gift level.
  6. Earned Media. Sure you are exhausted… you have had that special Thanksgiving push and you had a very big Christmas push, but trust me… do just a little bit more. Hold a press conference with a local celebrity or politician reminding your community that YOUR CHARITY is the group to consider making a year-end gift to. Think of creative ways to get the media on site at your ministry or charity during this week. Remember, the last week of the year is the “slowest news” of the year. The media is frantic to find content and stories to write, film and broadcast about.
  7. Matching Gift Reminders.  Part of maximizing the year end  is reminding your donors to use their employer’s matching donation. I like the idea of planting the thought as the holidays approach. You should always include a link to the matching gifts directory in all our year-end emails.  Invest the time to gather the employer matching gift forms for many of their major donors– like some universities have–the best strategy is to attach the form to the donors’ (personalized) email.
  8. Web Site Campaign. Create a splash banner on your web site telling donors it’s not too late.  Double check and QC all of your giving pages to make sure there are no broken links or dead ends.  ALSO, IF YOU USE PAYPAL BE VERY CAREFUL.  Make sure you check the option to accept American Express and then make test donation to make sure it is working.  If you don’t select the option, your gifts may not be processed.  Remember, major donors like those points. It is not unusual to see 5-figure and even 6-figure donations placed on an American Express card. 

Do not quit! Finish strong! The last week of the year is not the time to “take off” or relax. Your year could literally be turned around by a single major gift. Keep telling yourself that “it just takes one gift” to literally change your world. Work hard. Finish strong and take advantage of the “GOLDEN WEEK” in fundraising.

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The New Normal for Year End Giving…

December has changed for most non-profits, we have just experienced the biggest decline for a December in more than a decade. Volatile stock markets at year end; combined with expensive, divisive political campaigns and new tax implications from one year to the next are forcing most non-profits to rethink the giving calendar. Is this the new normal?

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About Roy Jones

Roy Jones has more than 30 years of relationship building, coalition development, marketing and fundraising experience. He is recognized professionally as one of the top relationship managers in the country.
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