We’ve previously shown how donors prefer round numbers. The pattern holds true for donations above $1,000. The following chart of 650 donations above $1,000, compiled from annual fund results from multiple organizations, shows how much round numbers are preferred. Our Recommended Ask String Table uses these round numbers. Major donors have the biggest influence on [...]
Experienced annual fund managers say that when you convince donors to give using monthly credit card or bank drafts, their annual renewals are higher. Membership organizations agree with that. Personally, I’ve had one charitable bank draft going for 30 years…it takes initiative to cancel it, and you feel guilty if you do! There are many [...]
Compassion International provides monthly support to children to release them from spiritual, economic, social, and physical poverty. Compassion helps more than 1.2 million children in 26 countries. Thirty years ago my wife and I got a direct mail solicitation that was compelling enough to get us started with our first donation. And since then we’ve [...]
When you ask for a donation: Suggest a gift amount using an ask string. Remind previous donors when they last gave and how much they gave. The evidence is that doing so improves results. Previous blogs discuss ask strings. This post shows some examples of combining them with the right ask sentence. For more examples, [...]
I bet you didn’t know that Microsoft Word will automatically calculate the readability and grade level of your fundraising letter. Or annual report. Or newsletter. I didn’t either, until I got Tom Ahern’s recent e-newsletter in my in-box. (I’d point you to it, but it doesn’t seem to be posted on his web site yet). [...]
First, grab your donor’s attention. Attract the eye to the card with some spot color. Then, prime the donor’s brain with an affirmation, a donor benefit word, and a suggested gift amount. Use words like invest, protect, participate, gratitude—words that remind the donor why she is giving. When donors fill out the response card, it’s [...]
Content Has the marketing proposition behind the appeal been worked out? Is it consistent with the organization’s case for giving? Makes clear what problem the organization is addressing and how a gift will help solve that problem “with your help”? Is the letter from one person to another? Not from a committee? Engaging? Personal, even [...]
Most organizations add a planned giving check box to their response card. It often reads like this: I would like information concerning: Including {Your Organization} in my will Other planned gift opportunities It’s rare that someone checks either of these boxes. So, why include it at all? Ironically, donors say the number one reason they [...]
At yesterday’s AFP-MA conference, keynote speaker and donor metrics maven Penelope Burk gave the best answer to this question that I’ve heard: “Solicitations should follow communication to donors of measurable results” So, your fall appeal should follow your donor update newsletter or bulletin by several weeks. “Yes, yes”, you say, “we’ve sent our donor-celebrating, results-communicating, [...]
Direct Marketing IQ’s Ethan Bolt reports that using personalization has grown in every sector, and that includes fundraising, where it went up by 6 percent in 2011. Now, 58 percent of fundraising efforts are personalized in some way. Personalization: Why to do it The reason why 93% of direct mail fundraising appeals are letters is because people give to [...]
