CharityMatters-NZ Articles, Awareness, Campaign, Communication, Donor Communication, Donor Support, Fundraising

Who’s in Your Advertising

We’ve seen it recently, and no doubt we’ll see it again, a community group using images that portray the peeople they support – yet, doesn’t actually use their images in promotional material, instead opting to use either stock photos or models.

Is it right or is it wrong?

We don’t see models being used for breast cancer campaigns, we see the real people. We don’t see models being used for promotional material of children suffering in far flung places, we see the real children.

So why, in the latest case models used in adverts for homeless charity a ‘kick in the guts’ has this organisation chosen not to use the real faces, the real people they are there to assist? Was it too hard, was it perhaps seen as possibly demeaning to use the real people; who knows. I’m sure they will have some spin out soon as to why, but for now all we can do is specualte as to their reasoning.

On the day the article appeared I heard homeless people talking about it, saying they felt cheated, that they are the real face of homelessness yet were being sidestepped, and they want answers.

I’m picking Lifewise will being getting a few visits from their clients asking why.
When you run your next campaign, will you use people representative of, from your organisation or will you get online and secure stock images, or call an agency for some models to portray the work you do?

If you opt to use people other than those you actually work with, be prepared for some flack, and possibly egg on your face when people start talking about it. And, sadly some of this talk will potentially end with your supporters voting with their wallets, taking their support elsewhere. Can you afford the gamble?

CharityMatters-NZ Articles, Donor Communication, Donor Support, Donors, Fundraising, Reading, Supporter Retention

Not an ATM

I’ve used the phrase quite a bit … your donor is not an ATM, or similar. To receive a link to an article by Marc Pitman ”I’m not your ATM” was timely.

Have a read of what Marc says:

I’m not your ATM

As the economy continues to falter (or barely grow), we need people’s donations more than ever. But if we operate from a place of “need,” we can start sounding like we think we’re entitled to people’s money.

We never are.

So it’s more important than ever that you have your donor relations system in hand.

Here are some things to be thinking about as you review your plan.

Send acknowledgements quickly

Time after time, bloggers report making 10 donations at the end of the year and only getting 3 acknowledgements.

Don’t let this be you.

Best practice is to get those out within 24 to 48 hours. Some nonprofits aim for a week, allowing them to dedicate one day for receipting.

Just get them out.

Have a stewardship system decided in advance

Acknowledgements are expected. Stewardship is much more. Here are some things I help clients consider:

What level gifts get a handwritten note from the development director? The ED? The board chair?What level gifts get a phone call from the development director? The ED? The board chair?Do you have board members or staff do a thankathon?

These should all be spelled out so that, for instance, the ED can have a list of $1000 donors to call each week.

Continue reading here

CharityMatters-NZ Campaign, Donor Communication, Donor Support, Fundraising

They already support, Now What?

You’ve just done the best pitch, only to find out they already support your organisation, now what?

Firstly, shouldn’t you have talked with them and ascertained if they already know you and/or support you?

Fundraising, supporter acquisition time is precious – you need to be making the most of it and to not “qualify” who you are speaking with, pitching at the outset can waste precious resources.

But, having said that; when we do end up speaking with someone who already supports, we should be taking the opportunity to thank them, to encourage them to continue their support and, to also ask if they could help spread the word about the work being carried out.

If you haven’t qualified who you are talking with, you’re most likely making needless pitches; which are most likely taking time away from nurturing new supporters, but yes, you can’t afford to neglect current ones either.

It can be a fine balance – how much time and effort is needed for both segments ?

We know supporters don’t stay forever, well mostly they don’t; so you do need to be out and about, being proactive to replenish your supporter pool. In my experience nurturing new supporters is about 40 percent of your work, the rest is on maintaining the relationships you already have.

If you are spending time (some of the 40%) talking to people already on board, that’s eating away at the time you have to spend with new prospects.

So, next time you set about trying to gain new supporters, ask if they know your organisation; if they do, move them to the donor nurturing quadrant, and move on to the next cold prospect.

What are you doing to ensure your energies are being focused in the right direction?

How have/do you handle it when doing a donor acquisition campaign and discover that some of the people you’re trying to get on board are already supporters?

CharityMatters-NZ Appeals, Campaign, Donor Communication, End of Year

End of Year Giving

Hard to believe that there’s less than 100 days to go until the end of the year; have you finished your end of year fundraising planning?

As we know people do give at Christmas time and, often they will plan who they will give to rather than make ad-hoc donations.

There’s been numerous stories over the years where families have sat down and talked about what they’d like to do in the way of charitable giving, rather than buying presents for each other.

So, if you plan your end of year campaign right and let your current supporters know (and encourage them to share your message with their family and friends) that they can make a Christmas gift to your organisation, you have the potential to gain additional support.

If you are in the habit (which I hope you are) of regularly communicating with your supporters (not just asking for money every time), but letting them know about the work you have been doing since the last update, your successes etc, you should use your next communication to let them know about your end of year plans and how they can be part of it.

Take the time now to finalise your end of year campaign, perhaps double check any plan you have and see that it encompasses everything you need to ensure a good outcome.

What are you doing for your end of year campaign, have you changed the way you are doing this on other years?

If you give to charity, what do you want to see in an end of year message from those you support?

Do you make planned gift giving at the end of the year?

See also

Charities and Christmas

Donors Women v Men

CharityMatters-NZ Communication, Governance, Management, Planning, Staffing

Who’s making the Decisions?

It never ceases to amaze me that senior management in an organisation make the decision to change a campaign message, campaign objectives and more without any discussion from those on the frontline doing the work.

Sometimes the first the frontline staff know about a change is when it has occurred and, if they the fundraising team this can have a big impact not only on how they do their work, but also on their morale.

If management are thinking about changing course, modifying the message (and delivery) they are giving to supporters, wouldn’t it make sense to have your staff involved in the decision making process?

Those doing the day-to-day fundraising are likely to have a better picture of what is and what isn’t working, they will have an idea of how your message is being received and, as such have valuable information that could help you make the decision/s about whether change is needed.

Often frontline staff will feel resentment if decisions are made without any consultation and this can have negative impact on how they do their job; is this something you can afford in this competitive sector?

Any organisation, non-profit or for profit needs to have two way communication, if staff aren’t feeling engaged with what’s happening, if their views are being sought and aren’t valued; you run the risk of having a disenfranchised team – is this something you can afford?

When you make decisions, what discussion do you have with your frontline staff; or are you just doing what you think is needed?

What do you do when staff come to you and suggest changes to a campaign, is this something you take seriously, or do yo just shrug it off?

See also

Staff Morale – Is it a reflection on the Organisation?

Do you appreciate your staff?

CharityMatters-NZ Business Giving, Campaign, Donor Communication, Donor Support, Fundraising, Planning, Research, Telephone Fundraising

Are you ready to change?

To see organisations doing the same thing day in day out to gain funding can be frustrating. Especially when you know they could do better and more if they adapted their fundraising methods.

If you keep doing the same thing and getting the same results, why bother repeating the action, it’s pointless, a waste of time and resources.

Organisations need to adapt.

If your direct mail campaign isn’t working as well as expected, adapt it, hopefully you have done a “market test” before launching the campaign and have allowed for tweaks.

If your telephone campaign isn’t working, why? The people making the calls will have market intelligence that they should be encouraged to share. Is it that they’re calling the wrong area, has something happened that’s drawing donors away (a disaster, humanitarian crisis).

Has you email campaign not gained the hits you would have expected? Again, did you test the campaign with a sample of your database before hitting send to your entire database?

It’s important that all campaigns are tested, not just internally, but more so externally. It’s your market that matters, not only what you and your team think.

How much time and effort are you putting into campaigns that could go belly up if you’ve got it wrong?
Be ready to adapt, have something up your sleeve “just in case”.

Be ready to change the subject line of your email campaign if you’re not getting the hits you would expect.

Likewise, be prepared to send the email at different times/days. And, yes, keep records of what does and doesn’t work.

If your phone campaign isn’t hitting the mark, is it the time you’re calling, change your calling times. And, as much as people hate it, don’t forget Saturdays can be a great calling day.

Before you hit go on any campaign, have an alternative plan, be ready, be adaptable and monitor, monitor, monitor.

Be ready to change, to adapt to any situation, perhaps even end your campaign early if need be.

When someone supports give a quick call and ask them why they have supported – yes thank them too.

Perhaps you have a supporter who has donated previously, but not on this occasion; give them a call and ask why.

This type of intelligence gathering is important, and should be done every campaign, no matter what.

So, in the planning sessions you have for your next campaign, allow for people to call delinquent donors and ask why, and call new donors too (you should be doing this anyway), and thank them, but find out why they are supporting.

Good luck out there, remember there’s lots of competition for the charity dollar.

CharityMatters-NZ Donor Communication, Donor Support, Donors, Fundraising, Regular Giving

Men give more to charity ‘if asked by an attractive woman’ – study

Another interesting read, I wonder if it’s the case in New Zealand.

From NZHerald

When men donate to charity it’s not so much the giving that counts but the desire to compete with other men for the attentions of attractive women, according to a study of charitable donations.

Men will give significantly more money to charity if they see that other men have already given large amounts and when the person asking for the money is an attractive woman, researchers have discovered.

Women, on the other hand, appear to be unaffected by the looks of the male fundraisers, which has led scientists to believe that there is a biological difference between the sexes when it comes to the motivation behind donations.

The findings of the study have put a new slant on online fundraising through charitable websites such as JustGiving, which has produced its own complex etiquette surrounding how much to donate, and whether to do it anonymously.

Read full article here

CharityMatters-NZ Business Giving, Communication, Donor Communication, Donor Support, Fundraising, Planning, Regular Giving, Research, Supporter Acquisition

Do You Know the Numbers

All fundraising is a numbers game, whether it’s tele-fundraising, email, direct mail, face-to-face; it’s all a matter of numbers.

When we look at tele-fundraising, it could be that one in fifty called may give; face-to-face maybe higher, and direct approaches through other means may differ again.

What is important is an understanding of how many, and what type, of approaches is working for you.

To know what your pipeline is, you need to have some knowledge of:

  • How much you’re needing to raise – a finite figure is better than “what ever we can get”
  • What your current “hit rate” is … approaches v donations = hit rate
  • How many approaches to reach hit rate

If you have no idea of what this is, how can you successfully plan a fundraising campaign?

In the business world if you ask most salespeople about the quality of contacts others make for them; you’d likely probably that they are only suspects, probables.

It’s no different when it comes to fundraising:

  • Suspect – anyone on your database
  • Prospect – people know to support
  • Lead – someone ready to consider giving
  • Opportunity – someone wanting give – here and now

It’s important to understand each “category” and to also understand and monitor what it is taking you to reach a favourable outcome, a commitment.

Success shouldn’t be measured solely on the level of funding received, measure it on all outcomes; how many approaches against level of support received.

Watch and observe that the more refined your approaches let lower the number of approaches needed.

This doesn’t mean you need to reduce the number of contacts you have, it’s all about the right approach to the right people at the right time.

How well can you define your contact list – if you don’t have the ability to segment to capture the right people at the right time; you could be missing out.

CharityMatters-NZ Business Giving, Donor Support, Donors, Fundraising, Sponsorship

What Drives Business Sponsorship?

When approaching any business for support, it pays to know why business supports charity. Without this knowledge you don’t have the market intelligence to enable you to form the right “pitch”.

Businesses don’t always give because it’s the right thing to do, they have other motivators, often what fundraisers think is the reason isn’t.

Some reasons why business may sponsor:

  • Brand Image
  • Attract Business
  • Building connections/communities
  • Client Entertainment
  • Social Responsibility

We all hope that business support is because they want to make a difference, and yes, many do. But not all give because it’s right thing to do.

Knowing why a business may support you is important, if you know why you can pitch them in their language, their reason for why they should support you.

If you know a business is likely to support because they’ll have the opportunity to entertain clients, maybe you can weave this into your pitch. If they may give because of the types of others who will be at an event, then use this to your advantage.

Don’t lose sight of the fact that you are asking for charitable reasons and that you need their help – not the other way around.

Some companies may support solely for the PR standpoint, are these the types of business you want supporting you? Or, would you sooner have a business support you for what you stand for, for what you do?

Can business sponsorship be more than simply monetary?

What types of business do you prefer to have support you – those who write out a cheque, or those who will also roll up their sleeves and help out?

What’s some of the main reasons you’re finding businesses are supporting your cause?

What’s some of the strangest requests you’ve had from business sponsors?

CharityMatters-NZ Communication, Donor Communication, Management, Research, Sector news

What’s Working, Do You Monitor?

Often non-profits are so focused on what they’re doing that they don’t always know what’s happening in the sector as a whole.

But, it can be beneficial to an organisation to know what others are doing, how they’re doing it and what results they are getting.

Market intelligence can be a silver bullet for an organisation, it could be all that’s needed to help re-focus where, when and how they do something.

Someone in the organisation should be charged with the responsibility of “sector research” and report any findings to the board or senior management; so as they have a handle on what is happening.

Research could include; subscribing to newsletters, updates from other organisations, setting up alerts to see what others are doing when it comes to web activity.

You could find with this research that others are using language different to that you’re currently using and gaining better results; it could be that you’ll find that it’s the timing of communications that have a better response.

Without market intelligence you could simply be running blind and could well be missing opportunities and of course much needed funds.

Are you monitoring what others in the sector are doing?
Have you changed the way you do things as a result of what you’ve learned?