10 WaysW I T H

T O H A V E Y O U R M O S T S U C C E S S F U L F U N D R A I S I N G Y E A R - E N D E V E R

PAMELA GROW

POLL

Do you have a plan for year-end fundraising?

WHY IS YEAR-END FUNDRAISING IMPORTANT?

Just Sayin’

Nearly one third of annual giving occurs

in December

Source: NEON CRM

0112% of all giving happens

in the last three days of the year

Source: NEON CRM

53.8% of nonprofits start planning their year-end

appeal in October

Source: NEON CRM

November and December are the most popular months for

making year-end asks, but some nonprofits start as early as

SeptemberSource: NEON CRM

28% of nonprofits raise between 26-50% of their annual funds from

their year-end ask

Source: NEON CRM

36% of nonprofits raise less than 10% of their annual funds from their year-end

askSource: NEON CRM

Two-thirds of donors do no research before giving (instead, they give to organizations they

already know or that are recommended by friends and

family) Source: NEON CRM

Volunteers are twice as likely to donate as non-volunteers

Source: NEON CRM

59.9% of nonprofits make between 1-3 donor “touches” for

their year-end campaign

Source: NEON CRM

Direct mail is the most popular medium for year-end asks, followed by email and in-

personSource: NEON CRM

WHAT ABOUT NOW?But…

Global pandemic & uprisings

01Photo by Edwin Hooper on Unsplash

01

Photo by Ying Ge on Unsplash

Election

01

Overall charitable giving id not decline in the election year, but increased

Donors who gave to federal political campaigns actually gave more to charity that year (+0.9%). Donors who did not give to political campaigns gave less to charity (-2.1%).

“Rage” giving saw a bump

What Happened…

01

Photo by Pope Moysuh on Unsplash

GETTING PERSONAL WITH

The Fundamentals

What Is A Campaign?Multiple consecutive

asks

Source: NextAfter

Source: NextAfter

Source: NextAfter

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck

could chuck wood?

Let’s Get Started Creating Your Campaign!

“Warm up” your donors

01

“Prime” Your Donors“Pre-suasion is a method of priming

an audience to receive your message more openly.”

Robert Cialdini

WHY?

Who doesn’t want to feel important, appreciated, and fulfilled? And wouldn’t you be more generous if you did?

• Makes people feel important • Makes people feel appreciated • Makes people feel selfishly fulfilled

Source: NextAfter

• One-page Impact Update

• A personal thank you/update call

• A ‘just because’ thank you postcard

• An email

Get your board and staff involved

02

BONUSDownloadable

The idea behind a Fundraising Menu is to provide easily digestible tasks that any board member, introvert, extrovert, or even the most time-strapped, can comfortably manage to accomplish in a short period of time. Even those members who are totally strapped for time can provide financial resources, such as buying stamps, or even snacks for your mailing party!

Plan out your direct mail appeal with plenty of time to canvass your board members for connections. Which members can write personal notes? Buy plenty of colorful Post-It notes and schedule times when your board members can come into the office for note-writing.

The idea behind outer envelope teasers is simple: to get the envelope opened. The problem is most teasers are lousy. A better way to get your envelope opened – and a technique that I’ve used often in smaller organizations – is to hand-address at least a segment of your envelopes. Who can host a house party?

Foolproof Year-End Fundraising 2020

Fundraising Menu

Thank you for helping with our year-end campaign! This is an “All you can eat” menu! Please commit to as many items as you like — but at least one per category.

Board Member: Date:

AppetizerWrite personal notes on appeal letters Provide funding for Facebook ads Review donor names to help with year-end appeal Provide prospect names/addresses for appeal Hand-write thank you notes BEFORE the campaign Other:________________________________________

Main CourseZoom visit with major donor Provide funding for the printing and/or mailing Hand-address envelopes to major donors for year-end ap-peal Make donor thank you calls Buy postage for year-end appeal letters/thank you’s Accompany staff member on Zoom visit Other:________________________________________

DessertCreate social media posts and share Make thank you calls to donors Write thank you notes to donors Send personal emails Other:________________________________________

Grateful Acknowledgement to Andy Robinson �

Clean up your data

03

THIS IS WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT

TrueNCOA

https://truencoa.com/

• How did you do last year overall? By segment? • What channels did you use last year? • What’s your renewal rate? • What’s your breakdown at various giving levels? • How can you breakdown all year-end giving? • Consider a data audit • Review your data with an eye to segmentation

Your story and your theme

04

Your theme is a banner. You march under it toward a special

goal. But does it matter what the banner says? Not much.

Tom Ahern

BONUSDownloadable

Courtesy of Julia Campbell

For direct mail, think package, not letter

05

What do you want your donor to do?

“Donors aged sixty-five and older comprise (by far) the largest slice of the

American charity pie.”Tom Ahern

This

Not this

Add a “lift”

01

Do your best to encourage online donations

EXAMPLESA few

An easily remembered url that will redirect to your site

BONUS

Go online and make a donation to your organization

06

Where does your donor land after they make a

gift?

https://thewaterproject.org

Before

After

Plan out your email series

07

Is There A Magic Number Of Emails?

Run each end-of-year campaign email through this checklist:

• Is the message going to the right audience? • Is the offer is relevant to the issues that matter to them? • Does the offer (the “why”) resonate with this audience? • Are you doing everything you can to maximize the perceived value of this offer

and minimize the perceived cost? • Are you giving a proper incentive to take action now? • Is it simple for your donors to give? • Is the call to action clear? • Do your donors believe that you are trustworthy and that the giving process is

secure? The more – and more emphatic – the “yes” each email generates from this checklist, the more emails you can send.

Source: NextAfter

Your thank you

08

BONUSDownloadable

See how an already great thank you letter became even better — and what you need to know to write a thank you letter that keeps donors coming back!

Extra love for your best donors

09

Source: Denisa Casement

Your best donors get special packs

84% Increase in Funding

YOU NEED A PLAN

What else?

Your checklist

10

BONUSDownloadable

This three-page checklist will provide a failsafe guide to executing your year-end fundraising campaign. The earlier you begin to plan, the more personal touches you can include in your campaign, the more successful you’ll be.

Good luck!

What About Giving Tuesday?

01

Photo by Pope Moysuh on Unsplash

Focus on gratitude

Early Bird OfferENDS in FIVE DAYS

$289Or two payments of $144.50

basicsandmorefundraising.com

$199Ends Friday

Questions?

PAMELA GROW

Contact

Email: pamela@pamelagrow.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pamelagrow/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/PamelaGrow Training: basicsandmorefundraising.com/classes/ Website: PamelaGrow.com

Storytelling Summer School – sign up at www.jcsocialmarketing.com/school

Copyright 2017 J Campbell Social Marketing

STORY COLLECTION WORKSHEET REVISED

Date: What type of story? Client, Staff, Volunteer, Donor, Community Who is the lead on this story? What is the person’s contact information? What is the person’s connection to the organization? What barriers may we face in getting this story out publicly? What challenges is this person facing that we need to be sensitive to? What questions can we ask to tease out the story?

Examples: Client: What was your favorite memory going through the program?

Staff: What is your most formative memory of a client when their life changed for the better?

Volunteer: How did you feel when you first answered a hotline call? Donor: What is one reason that you continue to support us? Community: What impact have you witnessed in the community as a

result of our work?

Storytelling Summer School – sign up at www.jcsocialmarketing.com/school

Copyright 2017 J Campbell Social Marketing

Whom are we telling this story to? What do they currently think? What would we like them to think? What is the single most persuasive idea that we can convey with this story? Why should they believe it? Are there any assets to accompany this story, like video or photos? List out the channels you will use for distribution (with appropriate permissions): Website Email newsletter Blog Facebook

Twitter Instagram LinkedIn Pinterest Other

Storytelling Summer School – sign up at www.jcsocialmarketing.com/school

Copyright 2017 J Campbell Social Marketing

SHARING ON SOCIAL MEDIA What visual element can we add to this story so it will grab attention? (Video, photo, graphic, Boomerang, etc.) What emotion are we attempting to elicit from our audience? (Inspiration, aspiration, anger, sadness, hope, happiness, etc.) What ONE THING do we want them to do after viewing/reading this story? (Donate, volunteer, sign up, sign a petition, download a paper, etc.) What will inspire people to share this story with others?

THANK YOU OVERHAUL #1: NORTHEAST GEORGIA HUMANE SOCIETY, BEFORE:

[[date]] [[address_block]] Dear [[salutation]], What would you do if you saw an animal suffering? I already know the answer. You would immediately help, just like your recent donation of [[gifts.ack.amount]] on [[gifts.last.mmDDyy]] helps countless suffering animals every day. Animals like Lydia (photo) who found by a kind lady who spotted her struggling to walk along a busy road. Starving and dirty, Lydia also was covered in more than 75 ticks who were sucking the life out of her. Your gift immediately went to work to help Lydia as soon as she was delivered into our care. Your support meant she had x-rays which revealed a severely fractured pelvis and leg. Your donation meant she has medications, special splints and bandages, nourishing food, and a soft bed. Best of all, Lydia now has all the care, and all the time, she needs to heal. We don’t want to even think about what could have happened to Lydia, but because you chose to be a LIFE

SAVER, Lydia has second chance for happiness and love! You made that possible.

Amazed. Inspired. Grateful. That’s how your generosity makes me feel. THANK YOU for being part of our family of LIFE SAVERS! Warm wags,

Julie Edwards Executive Director

The Humane Society of Northeast Georgia is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, Federal Tax ID#58-0678817. Your donation may be tax deductible; please retain this letter for your tax records. No goods or services were received in consideration of this gift.

LISA’S COMMENTS: • This letter does lots right: lots of you vs we, hooray! Tells the story of one dog. ☺ Sounds like it’s

written by a human being. ☺ Largely jargon free, and uses a beautiful sign-off (“Warm wags,”).

My suggestions for improvements:

• Font size: Calibri 11. Suggest 12pt or higher, serif my preference.

• Use personal format, not block. Tab paras.

• Address block: I recommend constraining your format from the start: 1” margins all around, input

enough lines for address block, etc. Otherwise you could run over one page.

• Tone: The poignant tone feels like an appeal to me. I’ve done a lot with animal welfare and our general

rule was always to get as grateful and upbeat as we could in the TYs. Your audience might like

different. Watch faceless numbers “countless suffering animals” – I know loads of animal charities use

this, but this letter has a good writer and I feel like you can find a beautiful substitute.

• If you use a photo, caption at the photo when possible. (This one’s wrapped so you’re probably A-OK.)

• Proof: watch typos, in this case missing words where highlighted (this is one of my most frequent typos

too, so we run it past 2-3 eagle eyed staff to help catch them)

• Tax language: if you want to you can warm this up as I did in Pam’s webinar.

THANK YOU OVERHAUL #1: NORTHEAST GEORGIA HUMANE SOCIETY, AFTER:

[[date]]

[[Names]]

[[Address1]]

[[Address 2]]

[[City,]] [[ST]] [[Zip]]

Dear[[salutation]],

When gentle hands lifted broken little Lydia to safety, you were there.

The same way you’ll be there for every cast-off friend who will come through our door in the

days and weeks ahead, because of your wonderful donation of [[gifts.ack.amount]] on

[[gifts.last.mmDDyy]]. Thank you with all my heart.

It’s so hard to express what your gift means to sweet souls like Lydia. Her photo tells the tale of

a lifetime. She was starving, alone, with multiple fractures and covered in ticks.

Lydia wouldn’t have had a chance without you. But with you, everything changed.

Your donation meant x-rays to find what was broken... medications to ease her pain... special

splints and bandages... nutritious food to fill her tummy... and of course, a soft bed! Thanks to you,

Lydia and so many other animals here have all the time they need to heal.

You chose to be a LIFE SAVER, and I’m forever grateful. Because today a little dog named

Lydia has a second chance for a lifetime of love.

Thank you today and always for being part of our family of LIFE SAVERS!

Warm wags,

Julie Edwards

Executive Director

P.S. Thanks to your amazing support Lydia just found her forever home! If you’re in our neck of the

woods, I hope you’ll come by to see all the wonderful work you make possible. And please call us if you

ever have questions. Thank you so much, again, for caring about the animals.

The Humane Society of Northeast Georgia is a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization, Federal Tax ID#58-0678817, which means your donation could be tax deductible. Please help us keep Georgia beautiful by keeping this letter as your tax receipt.

It lets you know no goods or services were received in return for your kind gift. Thank you again!

Foolproof Year-End Fundraising 2020

Fundraising Menu

Thank you for helping with our year-end campaign! This is an “All you can eat” menu! Please commit to as many items as you like — but at least one per category.

Board Member: Date:

AppetizerWrite personal notes on appeal letters Provide funding for Facebook ads Review donor names to help with year-end appeal Provide prospect names/addresses for appeal Hand-write thank you notes BEFORE the campaign Other:________________________________________

Main CourseZoom visit with major donor Provide funding for the printing and/or mailing Hand-address envelopes to major donors for year-end ap-peal Make donor thank you calls Buy postage for year-end appeal letters/thank you’s Accompany staff member on Zoom visit Make follow up calls to renewing donors who haven't re-sponded yet to mail? (Especially for mid/major renewing donors) Other:________________________________________

DessertCreate social media posts and share Make thank you calls to donors Write thank you notes to donors Send personal emails Other:________________________________________

Grateful Acknowledgement to Andy Robinson �

2020 Year-End Fundraising Campaign Checklist

1. Review

What is your overall donor retention rate _____% How did you do last year by segment? Renewals __________ New Donors __________ Upgrades __________ Monthly Donors__________

2. Preliminary

What is your goal for this campaign? Goal for direct mail Goal for online Lapsed donor renewal Other segments (volunteers, staff, clients, etc.) Major donors Mid-level donors Monthly donors Acquisition

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3. Integration: What channels will you use? What’s the status of:

Direct mail (mailing addresses) Email addresses (email addresses) Social media (followers/likes) Phone numbers

4. Story and theme

Theme/purpose

5. What strategies will you use for each segment?

Direct mail (when mailed? in-house? design needed?) Email appeals (when? how many?) LYBUNTS and SYBUNTS (Follow-up appeal?) How will you weave direct mail and email together? Update your donate page? Website home page takeover? Will you use video? Social media content Facebook advertising? Sharing (via email, social media, etc.) Monthly giving donors?

6. Create your timeline and set your budget

What will drop and when? Staffing (last few days of the campaign) Mail house cost Postage Printing, video, etc. FB targeted ads/promoted posts

7. Design, layout and production

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How will you get your envelope opened? Letterhead or designed letter? Print shop, in-house? Personalized ask strings? Reply vehicle and return envelope? Postcards/letters for warm-up Followups (your thank you letter)

8. Warm up

Thank-a-thon? Personal thank you calls/visits to major donors? Impact report? Warm up email?

9. Followup

Do you have a gift acknowledgement policy? Updated thank you letter and email Updated thank you redirect page Welcome kit to new donors? Personal outreach? Processes (different for new donors? thank you videos?)

How will you celebrate your successful campaign?

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