Tag Archives: Guidestar

It’s December – Quick Tips for Year-End Fundraising

It’s only one month to the charity tax deduction deadline for 2012.  Hopefully, you’re well into your year-end fundraising drive by now.  Here are some quick reminders.

Please don’t:

  • import email addresses of people who haven’t specifically agreed to get your communications
  • keep sending repeated messages to email addresses that have already bounced (this may result in your organization being marked as a spammer)
  • send repeated emails, but don’t bother to check on how well they’re doing so you can improve your response

Please do:

  • synchronize your content across different channels messaging is consistent and that they relate to each other, e.g. direct mails reference the emails or vice versa
  • segment your list so you send a different message to those who have regularly supported your nonprofit than those who have rarely shown interest
  • be specific in explaining how donations will be used to better achieve your mission
  • send prompt thank you messages to those who have already contributed
  • schedule your final email for morning of Mon, Dec. 31 (many constituents will wait until the last day to give)

Want more tips.  Get advice from Katye Andresen and Gail Perry, listen to some Creative Ideas for Year-End Fundraising Online, then attend this webinar on Dec. 6.  Wishing you a successful year-end fundraising season!

Attracting New Donors to Support Your Nonprofit

Surprisingly, as highlighted in More Money for More Good, a free nonprofit fundraising guidebook developed by Guidestar and Hope Consulting, only a third of individual donors do research before choosing nonprofits to donate to.  Nevertheless, there is an opportunity for your organization to attract new supporters if you can follow these steps:

  1. Collect the right information, using tools such as Charting Impact, participating in the Guidestar Exchange program and encouraging stakeholders to describe the organization’s impact on Great Nonprofits.
  2. Communicate in solicitations, on website and through other outreach where your organization has received recognition by sites such as Philanthropedia and Charity Navigator.
  3. Connect with prospective contributors by selecting specific segments to target (but don’t focus only on demographics – e.g. age, sex, income, which don’t play a meaningful role in donor motivation).

More Money for More Good is worth a read, containing many interesting observations about how donors choose charities to support.  Start by making sure your website demonstrates the impact of your work – its still the first place that prospective givers visit.

How to Evaluate If You Should Donate to a Nonprofit

If you’re like me, you probably donate to many of the same nonprofits each year.  But how do you evaluate whether to continue supporting a particular charity, and when to give to a new organization?  Here’s some of my criteria:

  1. Which causes do you feel most passion for?  For me, I believe strongly in promoting tolerance and fighting racism, so I support organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.  I also like to help nonprofits that feed the hungry like Mazon and who provide services for seniors like Dorot.
  2. Does an organization take the time to report back on how your donations have been used?  Charity Water does this especially well with its video reports.
  3. Are your communication preferences respected – and are you asked by what channel and how often you would prefer to be contacted?  I make almost all of my contributions online, yet continue to receive frequent direct mails which I often ignore.
  4. Does the organization keep its website current, as well as its social media channels to highlight its achievements?
  5. Is the only time that you receive solicitations when the organization wants money, especially during the year-end fundraising season?  Smart nonprofits keep in touch year-round and don’t always include an ask.
  6. Does nonprofit have complete data on Guidestar and a favorable report by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance?
  7. Does the organization have clear, consistent messaging in its online and offline communications?
  8. Do you get asked for another donation shortly after you’ve sent your last contribution (when you usually give only once a year)?
  9. Is your contact information current (and if not, is it easy for you to correct it?)
  10. Does organization assume that you want to make a large donation even though most of your gifts have been in much smaller amounts?

What other tips would you ask for evaluating whether to continue supporting a charity – or to give to a new organization?

For an example of a wonderful nonprofit I’ve recently become familiar with through their consistently upbeat and informative communications, visit Mitzvah Circle.Foundation, and follow them on Facebook and Twitter.  They ‘support individuals and families through difficult times, collect and provide essential supplies to people living in poverty, and assist people who can’t find help elsewhere.’

What’s New in ePhilanthropy

This week’s torrent of news centered around Susan B. Komen’s decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood, the torrent of outrage which eventually caused them to reverse their decision.  What’s even more amazing is that Planned Parenthood supporters stepped in to make up the loss by special contributions, similar to in the past when funding was taken away.  Congratulations to Planned Parenthood for quickly activating their dedicated constituents;  shame to Komen for ruining its branding with such a poorly thought out decision.

So Facebook is going public.  How will this affect its relationship with its many devotees, which is expected to increase to 1 BILLION later this year?  It’s a bit sad that Convio, not long after going public, agreed to be acquired by its long term competitor, Blackbaud, apparently to take advantage of a financial windfall.  (Also see my recent blog post.)  It will be interesting to watch the path Facebook follows once its loyalties move mostly to its shareholders.

Pinterest seems to be very popular lately.  Have you used it yet?  With all the social media tools available, Small Act (via my friend Shana Masterson) suggests you choose carefully how many you can manage.  (I’m posting regularly on Twitter and Facebook, but less so on LinkedIn and Google Plus so far, trying to find content which is appropriate to each platform.)

After they donate or take the actions you request, do you make sure to thank your donors? Here are some tips from Guidestar and a quiz from Network for Good.

Are you getting good response from your email marketing efforts?  Use these 7 tips for appeals and also 5 Best Practices for Increasing Email Subscribers Engagement.  (And go here if you need help in getting them to sign up to receive your emails.)

Thinking about getting a tablet, such as the iPad or Kindle Fire?  Here’s a good article to read first.

Tips from an ePhilanthropy Pioneer

eTapestry introduced their ‘software as a service’ product in 1999, long before many others realized the benefits of a web based interface.  (eTapestry was acquired by Blackbaud in August 2007.)  This week I had the opportunity to attend a session given by CEO Jay Love who offered some interesting insights.

Social media is on everyone’s radar lately;  Jay described the value of monitoring comments about your company / brand and described a recent experience where eTapestry was able to respond quickly to a negative tweet by a customer.  Read about the happy ending.

It’s often frustrating when our donors stop giving, but sometimes the problem is hidden when the number of new donors more than make up the difference.  If we can find ways to re-engage lapsed donors, what a difference this can make in our list growth!  Here’s some recent Guidestar tips on how to reduce donor attrition rates.

Two important questions to ask:

  1. How do you welcome new subscribers?  (Common Knowledge has also done considerable work on developing a welcome series of communications.)
  2. How do you manage relationship after opt-in?

Jay described the importance of having a donor database what everyone uses to document constituent interactions, also detailing a personal experience where he is considering discontinuing support for a charity which ‘asked the same questions’ that he had already answered in a past meeting.  In my experience, organizations that have a fully functional CRM often have difficulty getting staff to use it.   In response to my question,  Jay recommended that nonprofits demonstrate that those who are the biggest ‘note takers’ are the most successful in fundraising – and publicize this information to all staff.

Another point which may seem obvious but isn’t always applied – make sure you direct constituents to specific landing pages so you can track where they came from, not to your general home page.

For more ideas, visit Jay’s blog as well as Blackbaud’s NetWits ThinkTank blog.   To learn more about social media, visit the Gear Up for Giving training offered by the Case Foundation.

Random Thoughts at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year since it encourages us to stop and think about what is already wonderful about our life.  No matter what is happening (or not happening) in your life, feeling grateful is probably the best way to bring more good things to you.  I hope this weekend has given you an opportunity to focus on what is already good, not on what you don’t currently have.  Everyone is blessed in different ways, although sometimes we are too ‘busy’ to recognize it.

Answr.net is an interesting new resource which offers best practices in nonprofit technology.  The first ‘channel of focus is email outreach – read some questions submitted so far.

As a follow up to my previous post about going forward with online communication despite the financial meltdown, Robert Weiner offers links to several articles about how nonprofits can survive the economic downturn.  Guidestar also has released a recent survey which offers comparisons between 2007 and 2008 giving levels.

Nonprofit Times offers a look at microblogging, as well as an interesting look at how to plan to utilize social networking tools.

Finally, Nten has released a Donor Management Software Satisfaction Report, which is worthwhile reading for anyone who is considering a change in CRM platform.  Some of the top rating products may be some that you’re not familar with, such as GiftWorks (which I’ve used and can recommend) and Neon CRM.

More ePhilanthropy Ideas from Around the Web

Guidestar summarizes recent Giving USA online fundraising survey:

  • while Internet giving is widely used, it still represents a small portion (under 5%) of overall fundraising
  • most common way organizations raise money over the web is through an online donation page
  • best results come from organizations that combine an online donation page with email appeals

Overall, social networking tools aren’t contributing much – yet, but an organization that utilizes online ‘communities’ is likely to improve results.

Care2′s FrogLoop blog interviews Phillip Artez, President of Artez on how to choose an eCRM.  Phillip says that successful nonprofit fundraisers “aren’t afraid to share brand, content and promotion with their supporters” and reminds us that a large portion of funds will come from a small group of fundraisers so we should “treat them differently.”  He mentions three areas where nonprofits should especially pay attention to: potential of social networking sites such as Facebook, donations originating from mobile devices and more organizations utilizing SalesForce (which has excellent connectivity to other systems and provides up to 10 free licenses to nonprofits).

Finally, the Nonprofit Times explains the importance of using multiple channels since many donors will visit the web before making a donation - even if it’s offline and, surprisingly, even more so for constituents 65 and older.  PerDonordigital‘s Nick Allen, “more people are online, more people are doing research online, checking out charities they support or are thinking about supporting.” But NPAdvisor‘s expert Rick Christ warns that “nonprofit’s Web site should try to support direct mail, but not replace it.” and that direct mail is still how many first hear about a nonprofit. Convio‘s Vinay Bhagat adds that while blogs and social networking are getting more attention, the core web site is still the main way constituents will evaluate a nonprofit.

Many contributors to the Nonprofit Times article, including Nten‘s Holly Ross stressed the importance of integrating the web site with email appeals.


How Not to Fundraise

How to make sure readers pay attention to enewsletters?  Perhaps featuring articles with numbered lists helps;  Guidestar’s recent enewsletter featured the ‘20 Biggest Fundraising Mistakes.’  Some highlights:

  1. Thinking your organization will attract supporters because it’s a good cause.  There are many good causes, and multiple nonprofits, some which promote a cause similar to your’s
  2. Thinking that people will give even if not asked.  When I participated in a pledge based event for my organization two years ago, I was a bit reluctant to ask my friends and family for help.  When I got over my reluctance, I raised almost $1000 despite fundraising for only a few weeks before the event.
  3. Thinking that wealthy people are more likely to give.  Usually, “people make gifts, substantial gifts, that is, only after you’ve reached out, informed them of your work, and meaningfully involved them in your organization.”

Interestingly, Guidestar only listed 10 mistakes, asking that you read the next enewsletter for the final 10. (another great technique to sustain interest).  One tip I would add to the list: thinking that online fundraising is not worthwhile.  More and more constituents are becoming comfortable with online giving and online gifts are almost always higher than offline gifts.  In addition, offering a way for constituents to give online doesn’t take a lot of money or resources.  So why not take advantage?