Stand Out
Roger began the week with some recommendations for salvaging fundraising bottom lines in the reminder of the year.
#1 was Get Your Message Together. You might say, “No-brainer”. If that’s the case, why, as Roger notes, echoing other bloggers, do nonprofits do it so poorly?
#2 was Get Your Online House in Order. You must be ready to put your best online foot forward in December, when the greatest proportion of online giving occurs by far. There’s heaps of testing and refinement to get out of the way now.
#3 was, put positively, Get Smart About Segmentation. Conventional segmentation tactics based simply on recency, frequency and monetary amount (RFM) planning do not yield the optimal fundraising results. Roger explained why and made an offer that can help you up your game.
Watching all this from my flu-bed, I was then delighted to see Jeff Brooks’ post on Future Fundraising Now about his Uncle Maynard’s treasure trove of direct mail. Here’s a sample of the treasure …
That photo inspires another recommendation — important at all times — but especially relevant during the year-end blizzard of special and annual appeals.
Recommendation #4 is Differentiate (or die, as the famous book on branding admonishes). Think of that photo as representing what your best donor will receive in her mailbox during the month of December … from everyone else! How is your appeal — in look and content — going to stand out and command a response? Not by being ordinary. Not by being formulaic.
Tom
P.S. Americanos … have you registered for the August 7-9 Bridge Conference yet? More than 900 of your colleagues have, because the program is so rich. Co-hosted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Washington DC Metro Area Chapter and the Direct Marketing Association of Washington, two of the largest groupings of fundraising and direct marketing professionals in the biz.
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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