All Nonprofit Marketing and Fundraising Articles
8 Steps to a Timely Disaster Fundraising Response
It can be very frustrating not being able to get out a timely appeal. I remember a specific incident where we were sitting five days after a disaster, and we had not yet sent out our email appeal. At that time I made a decision that that wasn’t going to happen again, that we weren’t … Read more
Are You Bothering Your Donors?
Why are we afraid we’re “bothering” donors? We ask questions like “how soon is too soon to ask for a second gift?” or “best practices say I should wait nine months for a second gift, what should I communicate before then?” Can you imagine a meeting at Amazon where executives debate like this, “We should … Read more
Episode 013 – How Do I Position the Donor as the Hero?
Your donor is the hero. This is one of the hardest concepts for nonprofit staff to accept. In this episode, Jeremy answers a question about how to position the donor as the hero in your nonprofit communications. Using examples, Jeremy teaches you how to write active copy that presents an appeal from the point of view of a donor.
Episode 012 – What is Retargeting?
Retargeting, also known as remarketing, is a technology to show ads to a warm audience. In this episode, Jeremy discusses what retargeting is, how it works, two different types of retargeting, and how your nonprofit organization can use retargeting to get more supporters and deepen your relationship with existing donors.
Episode 011 – How Often Should My Nonprofit Blog?
Blogging is not dead. Far from it. In today’s episode, Jeremy answers a question from a nonprofit executive about how much blogging is right for his organization. This executive is being told by his team to blog every day, but doesn’t understand why.
Mistakes That Will Sink Your Fundraising Campaign
I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I’ve had to learn a lot of hard lessons. Nonprofit fundraising isn’t always easy. There are many rules and guidelines that industry pros have learned through expensive testing over decades. When you learn these lessons, some come from your own expensive mistakes, you will learn how to best fundraise … Read more
Episode 010 – How Do We Stop Fighting Internally Over Income Sourcing?
In this special edition of Nonprofit Answers, Jeremy is live at the Christian Leadership Alliance with a timely question. At the conference, a nonprofit leader asked Jeremy how to properly give internal credit for income without causing problems with attribution and to reduce internal fighting over “credit” for donations.
4 Essentials Required for Donor Thank You Communications
Whether you send a thank you video, a note of gratitude, a welcome gift, a thank you email, or other creative way to thank the donor for their donation, you need to communicate in a specific way to have the biggest impact on your donor. Sending your thanks is a key way to continue developing … Read more
Episode 009 – How Should I Clean My Email List?
Do you have a lot of email addresses on your file that aren’t responding? Speaking from personal experience, Jeremy explains to Grant the steps to re-engage email subscribers and what to do if they continue to be unresponsive.
Hunter Interview – Dave the Development Director
Dave asks, “Why do you want to work at a nonprofit?” Hunter replies, “I have extensive experience raising funds.” “What experience?” Dave asks. “I did a Go Fund Me for a missions trip to Africa.” Hunter replies. Dave asks, “What did you do in Africa?” Hunter says, “I changed a kid’s life by giving him … Read more
Episode 008 – How Do I Create a Sense of Urgency in My Appeals?
Creating a sense of urgency in your appeal messaging will help move readers to become donors. What if you have a difficult time creating a sense of urgency? In episode 8 of Nonprofit Answers, Rob asks a question about how to create urgency in his appeals for a women’s shelter.
Accounting Error – Dave the Development Director
“Looks like we have an accounting error snd we will be $250,000 short,” said Frank, the CFO. Julie, a board member, replies, “That’s ok, we will just ask Dave to raise the money.” “Fundraising is so easy.” Gerrish, the Board Chairman, responds.
100 More Email Appeal Subject Lines
A great subject line can be the difference between catching the recipient’s attention to open your email or to be unceremoniously tossed into the trash or simply ignored. What makes a subject line stand out? It needs to be concise. The best subject lines are between 3 and 6 words in length. You don’t have to … Read more
8 Ways to Reactivate Unresponsive Email Addresses
Do you have people on your email list who haven’t interacted with your organization in some time? Do you want to learn how you can save these people and reactivate them to continue wanting to receive your emails? Let’s explore 8 steps the organization can take to reactivate these people, or decide what to do … Read more
Episode 007 – My Executive Director Keeps Editing Out Fundraising Best Practices
Do you have someone who edits out fundraising best practice from your appeals? Someone who doesn’t like the urgency, postscripts, hyphens, folksy language, or handwritten notes? Is your fundraising suffering because of it? In episode 7, Jeremy answers a question from Julia about how to handle an Executive Director who doesn’t understand fundraising and is undermining her efforts.
Telemarketing – Dave the Development Director
“Hey Dave, we had one complaint about your telemarketing campaign. Can you cancel that?” said Nixon, the Customer Service Manager. Dave replies, “That’s $200,000 of our annual revenue.” “It’s bothering our donors, Dave. Just ask a major donor to give $200,000.” Nixon responds. Nixon walks away thinking “I’m good at this fundraising thing.”
Why Donors Give: In Exchange for a Premium
When it comes time to ask for donations, remember that everyone has different reasons for giving (or not giving). By understanding the concept of “the premium,” you’ll be better equipped to appeal to potential donors’ individual needs and motivations—which will ultimately lead to more successful fundraising campaigns.
Episode 006 – Why Don’t My Emails Perform As Well As My Direct Mail?
Direct mail is not dead. Far from it, direct mail still performs well if you have a good strategy behind it. Many nonprofits are transitioning more investment into digital but aren’t seeing the return in email that they’ve seen in direct mail. Today, we’re going to talk through the five Cs of successful email appeals, then we have a question from Marcy about why her emails don’t perform as well as her direct mail does.
Rewrite Fundraising Letter – Dave the Development Director
“Dave, I need you to rewrite this fundraising letter and remove all of the language that makes us look like we need the donor’s money,” said Wendy, the Executive Director. Dave replies, “We’ll lose donations doing that.” “I also need you to raise 10% more than your goal, thanks.” Wendy responds.
Nonprofit Thank You Video Script
Videos are a powerful relationship building tool. A technique that can help your nonprofit quickly begin building a relationship with your donor is to create a personalized thank you video. This creative way of expressing gratitude to your donor communicates how much you care. There are a number of platforms that help facilitate the personalized … Read more
Episode 005 – What to Do With 25,000 Email Addresses a Partner Offered Us?
Karen’s organization has a partner who offered them a list of 25,000 email addresses. Her boss wants to just add them to their email service provider, but Karen doesn’t agree. In episode 5, Jeremy gives Karen advice as to how to answer her boss and what to do with the opportunity.
How to Create a Sense of Urgency in Your Nonprofit Appeal
Creating a sense of urgency in your appeal messaging will help move readers to become donors. Think this is a trick that no longer applies? Consider the case of two nonprofits reaching the same potential donor. If the first nonprofit conveys a sense of urgency in the fundraising appeal and the second does not, in … Read more
Episode 004 – How Does Email Design Impact Response?
How does email design impact response in your emails? Often there are conflicting answers on blogs as different organizations experience different results when they change factors in their email marketing. In episode 4, Jeremy explores a question about graphics vs text emails and how you can test to determine the right factors to improve response for your nonprofit emails.
Major Gifts Officer – Dave the Development Director
“I’m so glad you came in for this interview to be a major gifts officer, what is one of your weaknesses?” asked Dave. The job candidate replies, “I don’t like to ask people for money.”
