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When most people hear the word “tune up,” they naturally think about automobiles, and probably that their own car is overdue. A car represents a major investment, and timely service and maintenance ensures the best return on that investment.

All for-profit and nonprofit organizations will enormously benefit from similar tune ups to ensure operations are performing at peak efficiency. We often hear that nonprofits should model themselves more like businesses. I’ll take that one step further: Nonprofits that need to stretch nickels into dimes even in good times have more motivation to make sure they’re running as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible. There is little, if any, fat to trim.

The pressures to maintain and increase gift income mount as the need for programs, services, and benefits escalate during times of inflation and challenging economic realities when more people are struggling.

Here are 12 elements to consider for conducting a mid-year nonprofit tune up to diagnose and make improvements that will drive up the gift income that is so essential in carrying out your mission.

1. Make a brutally honest assessment of where every part of the resource development program stands. What were the goals and objectives set at the beginning of the year? As temperatures rise during the summer, how is your organization doing? Are you ahead, on, or behind pace?
2. Engage as many members as possible of your nonprofit family in these frank discussions. If the mindset is that resource development is solely the responsibility of the development staff, the nonprofit is handcuffing itself and compromising its potential. All professional and volunteer team members of the nonprofit have a role to play, and this starts with contributing their ideas and best thinking on where fundraising is succeeding and where there are opportunities for improvement.
3. Be sure your assessment addresses the external environment. How is the local economy fairing? Have any major employers moved in or out of your community? How severe was the impact of the pandemic? How visible and positive is the perception of your nonprofit’s leadership?
4. How well do you understand the motivations of your donors? The tune up needs to feature private conversations with your leading donors on what they believe provides the greatest satisfaction from their gifts. What have they enjoyed from gifts made to other good causes that they haven’t seen receive enough attention from your nonprofit? 
5. Communications and fundraising are seamless. In other words, you can’t tell where one ends and the other begins. The good news is that there are many communication tools to connect with donors and prospects. The challenge is to most effectively integrate all of the different communications activities so that they truly reinforce each other. The first step is spending enough time to precisely identify your three most essential messages. Then make sure that your print, electronic, and digital media efforts are relentlessly driving those messages home.
6. Though their share has dropped a few points in recent years, the vast majority of gifts still come from individuals. When you add bequests and gifts from family foundations to individuals, this share of the philanthropic pie is about 85%. By all means, welcome gifts from corporations and foundations, but prospect lists must emphasize individuals, because in the words of the infamous bank robber Willie Sutton: “That’s where the money is.”
7. We live in a fundraising environment increasingly dependent on major gifts as fewer and fewer donors are making larger and larger gifts. Keep your prospect list of major gift donors in front of you every day of the week. Are they receiving priority cultivation? If not, identify the bottlenecks. The larger the gift target the more challenging it is to get on the prospect’s schedule. Quality interaction is at a premium as money follows time. Is your major gift prospect list missing potential individuals, corporations, and foundations? The Six Degrees of Separation reminds us that everyone on the planet is separated by no more than six personal relationships. Take full advantage of doors that can be opened by staff — both fundraising and programmatic — board members, volunteers, and donors.
8. It is amazing how often this simple truth is overlooked: You have to ask every donor prospect for a specific amount, for a specific purpose, and to be paid by a specific time. The more that you ask — especially in face-to-face meetings — the more money you’ll raise. There is no precise formula on the duration of the cultivation period, other than we know that the greater the desired gift the more cultivation is necessary. Sometimes the cultivation phase — forging a personal and emotional alignment between the nonprofit’s mission, vision, and values and the donor prospect’s philanthropic priorities — can be completed in months if there is enough quality interaction. For major gifts, this may take a year or more. But no organization should delay its ask one day more than is absolutely essential. Remember that your donor prospect is likely being cultivated by other deserving nonprofits championing admirable causes.
9. Your most likely major gifts will come from your current donor base. Is your stewardship program genuine and robust in acknowledging and thanking people for their gifts of time and money? This can take a wide range of forms from intimate recognition events to much larger public events. Stewardship should be carefully designed with the donor’s personality in mind. The deepest concern for the vast majority of donors is understanding how their gift dollars are making a difference. New technology is providing more and more effective strategies such as impact videos. Never underestimate the power of donors personally interacting with the beneficiaries of their generosity. In higher education, this power is very visible when donors meet with scholarship recipients. Study your retention rate in keeping donors to make repeat and hopefully larger gifts each year. It is so much more cost-effective to retain a current donor than to acquire new ones.
10. Are all your outreach channels emphasizing new and popular ways of giving? Donor advised funds have emerged as the most dynamic component of American philanthropy. According to the most recent data from the National Philanthropic Trust, grants from DAFs rose 28% to $46 billion. Your website, marketing materials, and especially solicitation activities should inquire about opportunities to give through DAFs.
11. People can make gifts several times larger through their estates than through wealth. Be sure to discuss the wide range of options from charitable bequests, retirement funds, insurance policies, gifts of stock, and other assets.
12. Celebrate victories. Recognize the roles played by everyone in the discovery, cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship of gifts. They don’t come easily, especially major gifts. Let everyone know that they are directly advacing your mission.

This list is by no means all-inclusive. No doubt, you can and should add other components to assess, analyze, and upgrade the caliber of your resource development program. Final word: Don’t be afraid to make changes as you conduct your mid-year nonprofit tune up. Keep in mind sound fundraising principles and best practices, but take full advantage to adjust strategies as circumstances warrant. Your nonprofit needs to be operating at peak performance as you enter the later stages of the year when the most money is raised.

The post 12 Elements To Help Conduct Your Mid-Year Nonprofit Tune Up appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

Our Ask An Expert series features real questions answered by Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, our very own Fundraising Coach, also known as Charity Clairity. Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on where to look for grant opportunities for new nonprofits:

Dear Charity Clairity,

I am a new nonprofit and want to pursue a grant(s) to fund our mission. Our nonprofit focuses on the mental health of teens and young adults and we would like to fund expeditions in some of the national parks in our state. Any advice on where to look for grants that fit our mission or other funding sources?”  

— Grant Newbie

Dear Grant Newbie,

I understand you’re asking for advice on to where to look for grant opportunities that fit your mission of focusing on the mental health of teens and young adults. One of the ways you’d like to do this is through expeditions in national parks in your state. Sounds great!

Where and how to look for grants is a broad topic that doesn’t lend itself to a quick Q & A. However, I can point you to some helpful resources.

Your best bet is the Foundation Directory. It’s searchable online. You can plug in your geographic area, the type of grant you’re looking for, and the dollar amount you’re seeking. You’ll get a list of funders that fit your parameters, including staff and trustees. This can be helpful in the event someone on your team knows one of these individuals. The Directory is extraordinarily useful, as 90% of foundations do not have websites, making them difficult to find using standard search engines.

There is a monthly subscription fee. However, if you live near a Foundation Center library you can do research on site for no cost.

You may find these resources helpful:

• How to Find and Get Grants — an intro webinar on Bloomerang
• Recession-Proof Your Nonprofit…with Grants! – an archived webinar on Bloomerang
• Identifying, Applying for and Managing Grant Funds — an archived webinar on Bloomerang
• How do I find grants for my nonprofit? — Candid
• Top Tips and Sources to Find Grants for Your Nonprofit — Donorbox blog
• How to Find Grants for Nonprofits – Anedot blog
• Grantwatch – website
• Grants.gov– where federal grants are posted
• Finding Grants, Fundraising, and Writing Grant Proposals – LinkedIn group

Best of luck to you as you move forward with your new nonprofit,

— Charity Clairity

What other grant resources have you found helpful? We’d love to hear from you!

Please use a pseudonym, like “Grant Newbie” did, if you prefer to be anonymous.

The post [ASK AN EXPERT] What’s The Best Place To Look For Grant Opportunities If Your Nonprofit Is New? appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

One of the most pervasive problems in the nonprofit sector is getting your board to be more engaged, and more specifically, to increase board fundraising. The objections shared usually involve board members not wanting to ask people they know for money. 

The irony is that the people your board members know are the MOST likely to donate. This means that getting board members to ask their personal network for money is the fastest way to hit your board fundraising goals. Yet it can still be tempting to allow board members to skip fundraising because it makes them uncomfortable, they’re unfamiliar with it, or you don’t feel prepared to successfully guide them. 

Yes, holding our boards to high standards can be challenging and stressful, but our stakeholders are counting on us. That’s why many nonprofits are looking for options to engage board members in fundraising without requiring them to directly solicit people for money.

To help nonprofit board and staff leaders address this challenge, I created a list of more than 100 fundraising tasks for nonprofit board members. The list offers a wide range of activities to choose from to support the financial growth of the organization. Because board members can be hesitant with personal solicitation, only a few options involve directly asking for money.  

Here are the top 10 easy-to-implement tips to increase board fundraising

Let’s dig in.

1. Use the power of a story to highlight the organization’s accomplishments

I am a huge believer that board members don’t need to be subject matter experts to be good fundraisers. They don’t need to memorize all the programs or statistics. They simply need to be good storytellers. 

Board members can practice telling the story of one person helped by the organization, or the story of how they came to be on the board. This simple act will put board members in a strong position to explain the value of the nonprofit to others, making fundraising easier later on. Storytelling opens doors and creates interest and can be coupled with an invitation to “take action” on the organization’s website which hopefully helps them acquire email addresses.

Board members who want to go further are well-served to stay on top of the organization’s latest accomplishments and share these as stories or anecdotes. Stories are powerful at opening doors and hooking people’s interest.

2. Keep membership data clean

Board members can help you keep your donor data clean. It hurts your organization to have bouncing emails or supporters who didn’t “double opt-in.” In some cases, your mailings may not reach people because their mailing address has changed or has a typo. Maintaining membership hygiene is a very important task that board members can help with. They can make sure member records are spelled correctly. They can also reach out to donors and ask for their cell phone number or birthday month to be appended to their record. Later, your organization can encourage the donor to run a birthday fundraiser. Ask your development staff or executive director about additional fundraising tasks, especially those that always get pushed to the bottom of staff members’ to-do lists. 

3. Get the organization approved on Facebook and other platforms

501(c)(3) nonprofits are raising billions on Facebook using birthday fundraisers or personal fundraisers or simply adding a donate button to posts. Board members can get your organization approved for fundraising on Facebook and Instagram. They can also apply to Google for Nonprofits for a suite of free resources. Board members can monitor the organization’s Facebook account to see when people start birthday or personal fundraisers and then reach out, thank the volunteer, and give them pre-written tips about how to raise the most money.

4. Curate a list for others to solicit

A hugely powerful way to grow your nonprofit’s audience and supporter base is for board members to generate a list of 20-50 individuals who may be interested in the organization’s work. A board member can invite their list to learn more about your organization without making a solicitation. They can also encourage their list to take action on a campaign from the organization’s website. This is a low-lift activity that gets prospects in the “funnel” for a later solicitation by someone else. 

The board member can also share their list of potential supporters and let someone else in the organization invite these individuals to a cultivation event or information session. 

5. Offer tours of the office, website or other resources

Board members can serve as tour guides or “do good docents.” This is fun and easy and could become an ongoing activity. Using the list generated in the activity above, a board member can invite these new prospects to an in-person or virtual tour of your offices, program sites or even part of your website. Be sure that the event highlights your organization’s mission and accomplishments. The tour doesn’t have to involve solicitation. Simply showing people around could be just the nudge they need to get involved. You should include some call to action at the end of the tour, like signing a pledge to get involved or scan a barcode to take people to a specific accomplishments page on the website. 

6. Follow up with lapsed monthly donors

Monthly donors may stop giving because a credit card expired or was shut down. If you have a lot of lapsed commitments, ask a board member to locate the donors on social media or get new contact info from people in your organization. The board members can simply email these lapsed donors with a link to re-start their giving. Don’t think of this as a solicitation, but rather helping a donor who already decided to give an opportunity to reconnect. 

7. Pitch newsrooms

Nonprofits can benefit from free or “earned” media. Getting covered by the media immediately expands your audience and interest in your issues. Not only are you building a relationship with the newsroom, but you are helping the media cover feel-good stories. If you don’t have a media list of broadcast reporters and editors and print and blogging sites in your area, have a board member find that list from coalition partners or build it themselves. Then, this board member can occasionally pitch newsrooms about your events or other developments. 

8. Make programs more fundable

One powerful tactic in nonprofit fundraising is to break down your program budgets into clear categories and then translate them into “fundraising language.” For example, if you can explain that $500 will cover the cost of feeding one person for six months at your homeless shelter, you are more likely to get donors at that level. Many nonprofits have not yet broken down their expenses into these bite-sized donation amounts. This is a perfect task for a board member. 

9. Build and research prospect lists

Board members can help create the conditions for fundraising success by prospecting. Prospecting is the act of compiling lists and contact information for potential funders, including individuals, foundations, businesses, and other grantmakers. Board members can gather and organize information on foundations in your area or state, as well as government grants that may be available and corporate grantmaking opportunities.

10. Demystify fundraising

Nonprofit fundraising can feel daunting and overwhelming, especially to board members. But a little bit of education about fundraising basics can demystify the process and even get board members excited about pitching in. 

Board members can start by joining online communities where people discuss fundraising best practices and share successes. These exist everywhere, including Facebook, Reddit, LinkedIn, and Twitter where a simple search of “fundraising” yields a plethora of groups and resources. Board members should join, observe, engage, ask questions, and then report back to the board and staff. Not only does this fact-finding help the organization stay on top of current trends, but it also “seasons up” the board members to understand the practice, and art, of fundraising.

Board members can also be put in charge of investigating additional and innovative ways for your nonprofit to receive money. For example, board members can spend time researching how to receive and use Google ad grants, how to receive gifts of stock or cryptocurrencies, or how to implement “donate now, pay later” applications. There are many platforms opening up that are very specialized in the areas of grant writing, corporate sponsorship, crowdfunding, and more. When a board member is put in charge of investigating, they may just want to try it out!

Take these ten tasks and turn your board members from “fundraising-hesitant” to active revenue generating supporters. If you need additional ideas, check out the full list of 100 board fundraising activities. I’d love to hear which ones work best to increase board fundraising for your organization in the comments below!

The post How To Increase Board Fundraising Without Having To Ask for Money appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

Our Ask An Expert series features real questions answered by Claire Axelrad, J.D., CFRE, our very own Fundraising Coach, also known as Charity Clairity. 

Today’s question comes from a nonprofit employee who wants advice on how to handle complaints from donors:

Dear Charity Clairity,

I’m really uncomfortable handling donor complaints. My boss acts like I’ve done something unforgiveable any time we receive one. She says: “One complaint received means there were at least 10 others thinking the same thing.” I feel: “Many complaints are outliers; I don’t want to alter a winning strategy to appease one disgruntled person and then risk losing the lion’s share of donors who were perfectly happy.”

— Not Feeling Complaint Friendly

Dear Not Feeling Friendly,

I’m going to tell you to do exactly what I do.

Don’t ignore a single disgruntled supporter.

If someone takes the time to tell you they’re unhappy, this means they care. They’re connected to you. They want something from you, and you’re disappointing them.

Begin with learning where the donor thinks you went astray. Maybe you really did. If so, embrace your errors. Express compassion and contrition. Seth Godin says “customers who feel listened to help you improve (and come back to give you another chance.)”

This is your golden opportunity to get inside your donor’s head and find out what they really care about! Don’t blow this person off.

Here’s a personal example from an interaction I had with a Clairification e-news subscriber:

I have a place on my unsubscribe form where folks can let me know why they unsubscribed.  Jeanette’s reason was: “Tell me something new!” She was intimating, of course, that my blog bored her. I could have just shined her on, said a few choice swear words under my breath and called it a day.  After all, you can’t please all of the people all of the time, right?

Wrong. You can, if you know what pleases them. And that’s the challenge.

In this particular case, I wrote back to Jeanette, and asked her what she’d like to hear more about. Guess how she responded?

LOVE that you wrote back to me Claire! Brilliant.

She then proceeded to give me a specific example of a topic she wanted to hear more about. I wrote back with a few suggestions. And, the next day I saw she had not only re-subscribed but also enrolled in Clairification School.

A donor complaint is a terrible thing to waste.

You’re not alone. Most organizations terribly mishandle complaints. They ignore them entirely, or overreact. Let’s look at some frequent complaints, and ways to address them:

1. You mail too often.

Too often the response here is to mail less. Worst case? Mailing less to everyone (pretty crazy when you’ve had one complaint out of 500 pieces of mail sent, but I’ve had executive directors insist I do this based on just one whiner). Mailing more raises more! You could be a rare exception. But understand how rare you’d be, and don’t make this change without conducting a study (e.g., next time you send an appeal randomly divide your mailing list into two segments; mail to one and not the other. Then, when you mail your subsequent appeal, mail to everyone. See if the group that did not receive the interim mailing responds at a lower or higher rate). 

ACTION TIP: Send a letter to the complainer explaining why you mail as frequently as you do. Tell them your research shows most supporters enjoy learning about your programs and the outcomes of your services through these mailings, and they often share them with friends. This enables you to educate a broader community about the cause and the ways they can become active in creating positive change. You might also take the opportunity to suggest this person join your monthly sustainer program (a good reason to start one if you’ve not already done so!) and therefore receive less frequent mailings – all while assuring your services continue year-round.

2. You don’t need to waste expensive mailings on me.

One unfortunate response is to make your next mailer look cheap. Guess what? In my experience working with dozens of nonprofits of all shapes, sizes, and stripes, making mailings look cheap is never an effective strategy – no matter what folks tell you. Our eyes are attracted to color and photos and good design.

ACTION TIP: Send a letter explaining you do everything in your power to save trees and cut costs; your mailings are actually much less expensive than they may appear. You get a good deal… use recycled paper… have underwriting… etc. In addition, let your donor know it’s actually less expensive to mail more than less. So, if they don’t mind, you’ll keep them on the list because it brings down the costs for others who want to receive the mailings. Then suggest, perhaps, they share their mailing with a friend – a great way for them to leverage their support!

3. I don’t like the stance you took on [fill in the issue].

Resist the temptation to write this person off. Their opinion is important, and one you should incorporate into your ongoing dialogue about what works and what doesn’t work to achieve your organization’s mission. This is an opportunity to open up discussion.

ACTION TIP: Pick up the phone (send a letter if they won’t answer) and let your donor know how much you appreciate their taking the time to voice their concerns. Then, gently explain the rationale behind the position your organization took. You may be pleasantly surprised at how pleased the donor is to have their concern acknowledged. While you may not change their mind, you may be able to make them understand why you differ. And they may be able to accept your stance in this instance.

4. I thought that last newsletter was in poor taste.

Resist the temptation to pass the blame. Never say “Oh, that was the marketing department” or “we outsource that” or “Sorry, that’s not my job.” Anything that comes from your organization to your donor is everyone’s responsibility.

ACTION TIP: When you weren’t responsible for the objectionable offense, listen to the complaint, validate it and then offer to look into it. And make sure you follow through on your promise!

Sometimes it’s okay to take a pass.

While it’s best to be complaint friendly, sometimes complainers are belligerent. They’ll fill the reverse side of a remit envelope with vitriol, and often these folks are not even supporting you at present. You can’t be logical with these people, so it’s best to just suppress them from your file. Put them out of your mind, and hope they’ll put you out of theirs. 

Otherwise, come from a place of gratitude. Make it part of your culture to welcome folks who reach out, rather than treat them with condemnation. Most people just want to know they’ve been heard. Demonstrate this, and you’ve taken a forward step in bonding with them and drawing them closer to your community.

— Charity Clairity

How does your organization handle disgruntled donors? We’d love to hear from you!

Please use a pseudonym, like “Not Feeling Friendly” did, if you prefer to be anonymous.

The post [ASK AN EXPERT] What’s The Best Way To Deal With Disgruntled Donors? appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.

Securing donors only to lose them is just silly business. If you want to move away from transactional one-time gifts, and towards longer-term, transformational giving, here is the single most important thing you need to know to keep nonprofit donors:

RESOLVE to rock the power of thank you!

Begin by making donor retention a priority. By now you probably know data from the Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) shows the average nonprofit in the U.S. loses over 80% of donors after the first gift!

It’s not because donors aren’t generous to you. It’s because you’re not generous to them!

Why else would folks dig into their pockets to make new gifts year after year, only to stop giving to those nonprofits in droves the following year?

When donors don’t feel your love and gratitude, they’re unlikely to send reciprocal love and gratitude your way. All successful fundraising is based on a value-for-value exchange – you’ve got to offer donors something they’ll want to reciprocate.

The simplest thing you can offer is expressed with the power of just two words:

THANK. YOU.

Leverage the power of the “3 P’s”

When Penelope Burk’s groundbreaking Donor-Centered Fundraising research first came out two decades ago (it’s been repeated numerous times since), I was bowled over by the primary finding that if nonprofits did just three things donors would likely give again. Or give more. What was this holy trinity? 

The ‘holy trinity’ of successful donor retention (I call them “3 P’s”):

1. PROMPT thank you.
2. PERSONAL thank you.
3. POWERFUL demonstration of gift’s impact.

The more you incorporate this trinity into your ongoing donor acknowledgement, recognition and communications program, the greater success you’ll have in retaining and upgrading donors. A ‘gratitude program’ is more than simply saying “thank you” once and then ignoring the donor until your next appeal. You need a thoughtful written plan with a cycle of communications that:

• Engage donors without an ask,
• Express authentic gratitude, and
• Show donors how they made a difference.

Top 10 Ways to Say ‘Thank You!’ to Nonprofit Donors

1. Mail

The gold standard is a prompt and personal mailed thank you letter. Not a canned receipt. Something you take time with, stopping for a minute to think about your donor’s individual contribution. They took time to earn the money they gave you; it’s the least you can do to return the favor. Next time you think of the old adage “time is money,” think about spending some time to craft a thank you that will be appreciated. That’s how you’ll get more money in the future.

TIP: Add a personal handwritten note. This elevates the thank you from “canned” to special. It’s why I advocate mailing a thank you letter to donors who give online, in addition to the immediate email receipt.

2. Email

This is what you send immediately when donors give online. But don’t use the canned acknowledgement provided by your CRM or email provider. Donors can tell when something is automated, and they’ll perceive it as “I guess they don’t really care about me.”

TIP:  Attach a brief video or a photo showing how their gift will be used. Let them know they’ll receive their ‘official’ thank you later in the mail. Don’t treat online donors as second class citizens. If offline donors get a personal note, welcome package, and maybe a token gift, make sure your online donors get the same relationship-building touches. Yes, it’s easier and less expensive to forego the mailed letter in the short run. In the long run, you’ll likely retain more donors if you send both types of acknowledgements. If you’re doubtful, test this.

3. Phone Call

This is your secret weapon, perhaps the most under-utilized ways of thanking donors, and probably the method that has the most lasting impact. If you do it, you’ll really stand out. In a good way. Do this in addition to sending a letter before or after the call.

If you’re a doubter, allow me to clue you in to a famous experiment by Penelope Burk, author of Donor-Centered Fundraising. In a test with board members calling to thank donors within 48 hours, those called gave an average of 39% more than those not called – and 42% more even after 14 months! Calls have a real lasting value. A subsequent study by Chuck Longfield at Blackbaud reconfirmed these findings. Even leaving a voicemail helps, though not as much; do try to reach your donor in person at least twice.

TIP: Learn: (1) Who to call; (2) Who should make the call; (3) When to call; (4) How to call; (5) What to say, and (6) Next steps by heading over to Clairification and grabbing my free “Donor Thank You Calls E-Book + Script.”

TIP: Ask donors for their phone numbers on your response devices and donation pages, and use them! Bloomerang conducted an experiment to see how 50 randomly selected nonprofits would respond to their first-time gifts. Only 38% asked for a phone number, effectively ruling out communicating easily and quickly through calls or texts. None called to say thank you.

4. Video

Anyone with a smart phone, or even Zoom, can create a perfectly serviceable thank you video – one that is warm and genuine. It can be as simple as pushing “record” and talking while looking into the camera. Watch this little video of me telling you how to send a pre-recorded video to your supporters via Zoom.

TIP: Take photos of staff or program recipients holding thank you signs; then use a free app (e.g., Canva, Animoto, Vimeo) to edit them into a quick slideshow. You can even add music. Just make sure your video is brief (probably under 30 seconds). It’s not a sales piece. It’s a pure appreciation piece.

5. Donation Thank You Landing Page

Your thank you landing page is a valuable, too-often overlooked piece of real estate. Most organizations simply put cursory thank you language there, and may even use canned language from their email service or CRM provider. This is like having a piece of Monopoly property, but never building a house or hotel on it. It’s fine, but won’t help you win the game.

TIP: Include a compelling image or brief video that tells a story demonstrating the impact of your donor’s gift. Like any other thank you, this landing page should be considered an opportunity to predispose your donor to make a next gift. But don’t sell; show and tell. And make sure it’s optimized for mobile or your donor may miss it!

6. Social Media

This is a great way to keep gratitude flowing throughout the year, and it’s relatively inexpensive. Simply send high fives to your donors using the channels they most frequent (which, of course, you can ascertain by asking them using a survey or response device).

TIP: Sprinkle “because of you” throughout your messaging. Include a link to a video, photo or graphic that makes your donor feel good about those being helped – because of their support.

7. Text

Some people, especially younger donors, communicate primarily through text. These folks may actually prefer a text thank you over an emailed one (which may take them a week to open).

TIP: Consider your audience in crafting your thank you strategy. Texting may be a viable primary or secondary strategy, especially if you’ll otherwise have difficulty getting out a thank you within 48 hours. There are programs to help you (e.g. Rally Corp and thankview).

8. E-Newsletter or Blog

The whole point of these communications is to provide an easy, regular opportunity to make your donors feel good. Don’t miss the chance to sprinkle one or more thank you’s and pats on the back to your donors every time you send one out. Donors are the heart of your mission and make your work possible. Give credit where it’s due. Every time.

TIP: In addition to thanking donors in general, consider thanking specific donors. Praise grows in a public setting, and this can be a nice relationship-building touch for those to whom you’re particularly grateful. And don’t just thank major donors this way. Try thanking the kid who saved up all their pennies or held a bake sale. This can get an entire family to hang in with you for the long-term, plus it also inspires copycats.

9. Annual Report

An annual report is a terrible thing to waste. Even if you don’t include a donor honor roll because you’ve decided it’s too resource-intensive, you can still acknowledge you’d have nothing to report on without donor support.

TIP: Thank donors in the letter from the E.D. or board president, rather than simply talking about how “we did this” and “our organization accomplished that.” Make it about the donors. Also sprinkle thank you’s throughout the body of your report copy. When you report on a program, conclude with “this was only possible with the support of our corporate partners, foundation friends, and individual supporters.”

10. Event Program

Whenever you gather a crowd in person (virtual, too) recognize donors who make your work possible. Don’t just include donor names in the printed program; do it from the podium or stage!

TIP: Consider adding special recognition touches (e.g., distribute logo pins; hold a virtual after-party donor thank you event; send screenshots of the event; send a video thank you of students, beneficiaries, or staff singing a special song or reading a poem in tribute to donors, etc.).

Go the extra mile when thanking donors!

Think of it as giving donors a little “tip” for service well performed.

When we’re loved, we’re likely to return the favor.

When you love again and again, you’ll receive gifts again and again. It’s that simple.

The post Top 10 Ways To Keep Nonprofit Donors appeared first on Bloomerang.

This article originally appeared in Bloomerang. See the original article here.