Please Help Us Prepare
Roger and I are scheduled to present to the 2012 Bridge Conference coming up in Washington DC on August 7-9. The Conference is sponsored by the Direct Marketing Association of Washington and the DC Metro Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. We hope you’ll be one of the 1500 or so fundraisers who attend.
Our session is Wednesday the 8th at 4pm.
The theme of the conference this year is “Harness the Winds of Change” and we have been given an ‘open ticket’ to address that theme however we choose.
Agitator readers will have no doubt that Roger and I have some strong opinions about change — or lack thereof — in nonprofit fundraising.
But we’d like to tailor our presentation to your interests and questions.
What are the key changes in the fundraising environment as you see them — social networking, integrated marketing, adapting to demographic shifts, more demanding donors … or something else entirely? What should we discuss?
And while you’re at it, you might comment on the pace of change in fundraising — in your view, is it plodding or frantic or just right? And what factors govern that?
We’ll be honing our presentation over the next week or so. So it would be most helpful if you get your thoughts in this week.
And don’t forget to check out the rest of the Bridge Conference program. You can register here.
We appreciate your help.
Tom & Roger
5 responses to “Please Help Us Prepare”
Behavioral Science Q & A
Integrating an individual giving appeal with other communications from a charity can have both positive and negative effects, and the outcome largely depends on how it’s executed. Advantages of Integration Brand Consistency: Maintaining a consistent appearance and messaging across all communications can reinforce the org’s brand identity and strengthen brand recognition and trust among your […]
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I’m not aware of any in-market tests specifically comparing recurring vs. gift frequency language. I suspect the answer might not be the same with all gift frequencies, nor with all people. It sounds like a great opportunity for you to test and find out what works for your audience. Based on the literature, here’s a couple […]
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Based on what we know from existing data, those renewal notices can actually be pretty effective in getting people to donate. They tap into our psychology – creating a sense of urgency, reminding us of past support, and using personalization to make the message hit home. They’re playing on our natural tendencies to feel obligated […]
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Interesting question. I had a quick look at the testing done on this topic. On the positive side, in all cases, over half of donors decide to cover the fee. In some cases, it goes as high as 65%. Not a negligible percentage at all. Here’s another test from iRaiser showing consistent results (see point […]
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There’s just one thing to consider when designing a supporter journey: the supporter. More specifically, you need to take into account: Who the supporter is i.e. their identity, which is the reason they support this cause, and their personality, which describes the way they “see” and process the world. These will determine the kind of […]
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I’m not an expert in this but a quick search surfaced this article on the effect of tax reforms on 2019’s charitable giving. The researchers didn’t find a reduction. Actually, they observed an “increase in charitable contributions in 2019, even with the lower tax rates and the dramatically smaller number of taxpayers who itemize their […]
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The impact of mobile communications and mobile technologies on fundraising and response rates via traditional digital fundraising channels, mostly email fundraising, is one problem we need magic cure for. As younger, newer nonprofit constituents come up in the age of mobile devises, yes, many of them are using text messaging just as much as email. So we need to crack the nut of text-based fundraising. But more importantly I think, in near term, we need to figure out the how to adapt to the fact that many of our constituents are now emailing almost exclusively on their mobile devices instead of PCs, and since making a credit card donation on a mobile web browser is so much more difficult, many of us are convinced that its one cause of declining email fundraising response rates.
So I’d like to see some attention paid to that (not that I’ll see you at the conference since I won’t be there). But I’ll look forward to your magic pill via The Agitator.
Ben Smith
Director, Digital Marketing & Fundraising
WNET (THIRTEEN, WLIW & NJTV)
1. Tailor remarks to different size organizations and experience in fundraising
2. Don’t just critique-off positive examples
3. Don’t banter back in fourth in a way that leaves the audience out
4. Cover major donor letters as differentiated from direct mail letters
5. Discuss communication with donors and prospects taking into consideration snail mail and email and web sites and age differences of prospects and donors
6. Discuss the elements of how to tell a good fundraising story
7. Offer a take away people can us now.
Good luck! Wish I was there.
As a consultant working with a range of organizations on direct response integration (w/ a focus on call centres), I find key data service providers (offline & online) to be the monkey wrench in the process. At the very least, both fundraising & tech staff at non-profits are equally frustrated by the slow process & lack of urgency displayed by unnamed companies.
Integrating across media platforms seems to have so much potential — and we all talk about it all the time. I think covering unifying communication strategies will help give a glimpse into the future. For example, a group doing a Sustainer program will have their outbound call centre connected to the online database to look-up a donor using their email address. When the donor requests to receive a Calendar they no longer get being an online donor, the outbound agent can transfer to the group’s inbound call centre to update the file after they make the Sustanier pitch. Or if they decline to make a contribution during the call but the agent notices they’ve been a Activist, they can offer to seamlessly “pass them through” to an action via phone or send an email on their behalf. A fundraising call becomes cultivation, donor service & political action. We are not too far away from this possibility so maybe it deserves a mention. Thanks!
I too agree with integrated platforms. Technological progress means that there is more pressure on non-profits to also progress with the means with which we spread our message and to launch more sophisticated campaigns. The challenge for fundraisers today is to continue to stand out when the competition increases. So many more organizations are competing for the pie and are able to access donors more easily.
However, people continue to donate their funds to nonprofits because they believe in our missions and the people that lead the organizations. In other words, the more things change, the more things stay the same. Namely, the key to sustained effective fundraising is simply staying mission-focused and assuring donors that their money will make a difference. This has to be conveyed in a professional manner, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the main goal — to stay relevant, focused and inspirational!
As a fundraising professional with a very conservative donor base, I am constantly trying to open up donor funding to a readily available student population; these are tomorrow’s donor and engaging with them now is vital. I think if you could include social networking ways to bring in the new gen of donors, then tomorrow’s fundraisers won’t be pulling out their hair as much.
Call me a shining example.
KThompson