Tue 18 Jan 2005
Google is an amazing resource to all of us. Whether you’re researching prospects, seeking grants, looking up phone numbers, or seeing what other people are saying about your organization, Google is your tool.
Best of all, it’s free! Check it out at: http://google.com/. (I love their toolbar too!)
Tue 18 Jan 2005
At a recent board meeting of one of my clients, we stumbled upon a perfect opportunity to make a planned giving ask of one of their constituents. The person had been involved with the organization for years. The ask would help endow an annual scholarship that was already being given in honor of this family.
This opportunity was so good I felt like I’d burst with excitement! I enthusiastically explained how amazingly right a planned giving solicitation would be for this person. How such a gift might allow this prospect to do for the organization what she hadn’t been able to do up until now. How the organization would benefit for decades to come from her generosity. And how her family may even get involved and give to the fund.
When I stopped, an uncomfortable silence filled the room. To my shock, not one of the people there wanted to make the ask. They fidgeted and shuffled their papers. After what seemed like an eternity, one person hesitatingly said, “I’m not sure we should ask her individually…What if we just sent a letter to our entire database asking them to consider a planned gift?”
One by one, everyone in the room began to breathe again. They all looked relieved. I was in such shock; I actually called them a bunch of chickens!
They’d fallen for a nonprofit version of The Field of Dreams Fallacy. In the movie, the refrain is “if you build it, they will come.” A nonprofit variation is: “if you send it, they will give.”
Here’s a shocking truth: your organization is not the center of your donors’ universe! They don’t think about it nearly as much as you do. And, if the case for giving to the nonprofit were so self evident, people would already be giving more than your organization could handle.
People don’t make significant gifts because they get a piece of mail. People make significant gifts because a person from an organization they value asks them to give to something they care about. A letter can’t do that by itself. So get out there and ask!
Tue 4 Jan 2005
The Creating Donor Evangelists CD is finally done! Special congratulations to Joel Preston of the March of Dimes for buying the first copy back in October!
To purchase your own copy, go to: http://fundraisingcoach.com/cde.htm
Tue 4 Jan 2005
For years I’ve relied on CharityChannel.com’s listservs to keep me in touch with colleagues
around the country. I’ve also loved their newsletters like my favorite, WeReview, which sends out books reviewed by our peers.
Now they’ve added an incredibly cool component to their offerings: CharityUniversity http://www.charityuniversity.com/.
No matter what issue you’re facing, or what subject you want to learn more about, their ever
expanding list of classes will help you grow as a professional. Better still, you are able to listen
to these classes when it fits your schedule!
[If you have tools that you think should be considered for inclusion, please email me at
marc@fundraisingcoach.com]
Tue 4 Jan 2005
Have you tried to buy a box of Cheez-Its in the supermarket lately? It’s intimidating! There are more than 10 different kinds of Cheez-Its! Some of the varieties include:
It takes so long to look at the wall of orangey-red boxes that you can forget what kind you were looking for!
The choice overwhelmed me enough that I first felt paralyzed. Then I felt stupid.
How was it that I, a guy with a Master’s degree, couldn’t make a simple choice about a box of crackers?! Not liking to feel stupid, I left the aisle.
Can you see how we do this Cheez-It thing all the time to our donors? We often give them so many options that we’re confusing them?
Does your reply form or web page have something like this?
“You can give __$1000, __ $500, __$100, __$50, __$25, __$12.50, or __any amount.”
And also include something like this?
“Please send me information on planned giving, stock transfers, creating an
endowment, andcorporate matching gifts.”
Our intentions are good. We know there are lots of ways to support our organization and we don’t know when we’ll have the donor’s attention again so we want to give them as much information as possible.
But PYITS: Put Yourself In Their Shoes.
Are all these options helping motivate a donor to giving or is it paralyzing him?
Options can be very helpful but psychology experts have proven too many options scare people away. So limit your choices to choices you’d be glad they chose.
Rather than sending a letter to all your donors listing giving options from $10-$10,000, why not segment donors and send slightly different letters with only three options:
And, the next time you’re looking to buy Cheez-Its, go for the Chili Cheese–they’re incredible!
[I’m convinced we learn more from our mistakes than from our successes. I’d love to hear your funniest mistakes! You can send them to me at: marc@fundraisingcoach.com.]
