March 2001
Choosing an e-vendor Nick Allen
What makes a fundraising letter effective? Mal Warwick
What's Up Online Dan Weeks
Choosing an e-vendor
by Nick Allen
WITH A HUNDRED dot-coms pursuing the nonprofit market these days, my firm gets a lot of questions about choosing vendors for credit card donations, e-mail messaging, and charity malls.
Unfortunately, many of these dot-coms have already closed down, laid off staff, or changed their business models several times. We signed up several clients with an online transaction and donor management company that soon closed its office and laid off most of its staff. While the company remains in business with a reduced staff, clients rightly ask us, "How do I know they'll be around?" and "What do I do with my pages if they shut down?"
Some organizations have even decided to stay out of the online world until the dot-com bomb period passes. Rather than wait too long, we suggest you do your homework, be careful, have a backup plan . . . and then take the plunge.
Here are six tips for choosing and working with an online vendor:
1. Do "due diligence." Due diligence is the process investors use to check out the business and financial prospects of a potential investment. Of course, a lot of due diligence efforts by rich venture capitalists haven't seemed very diligent as they watch their stocks drop from $90 to 90 cents. Still, check out prospective vendors: learn about their top management, their financial backing, how much cash they have left, and any recent layoffs.
2. Talk to several current customers. How's the service been? How does the company respond to questions, problems, and complaints? If funds are deposited into the vendor's merchant account, does it transfer the money to the organization in a timely manner?
3. Study the users' and administrators' pages. Are the giving pages or other pages easy for donors to use — or do donors need to fill out five screens to give $25? Ask to look at the "back-end" administrative functions, so you understand how to set up the pages and manage your account. How customizable are page designs? What parts of the forms are required, which can you turn on and off? For example, some donation screens require you to let donors choose to be anonymous. Why would you want to do that? (And how many donors expect to make an anonymous online credit card gift?) Look at the terminology used ("subscriptions" or "monthly giving") — does it sound like the company has a solid understanding of nonprofits?
4. Be willing to pay a reasonable price. While most dot-com services have been charging low or no setup fees and no or low monthly minimums, they're discovering you can't make a living like that. The ones most likely to succeed are starting to charge more — and you need to be willing to pay it or they won't be around to serve you or anyone else.
5. Practice good security. Most dot-com systems let you export your donor or subscriber data as often as you like. Do it regularly, and make sure you back it up.
6. Remember, it's not the end of the world if your dot-com bombs. At worst, it means you have to find another one, then put in the time to establish the account and re-create the pages and functions. Keep your eyes and ears open for other companies, and have a backup plan. Recreating your pages is time consuming, but not a catastrophe.
You can see a list of online vendors at Mike Johnston's www.nonprofitmatrix.com, "your online guide to commercial ASP and portal providers for the nonprofit sector," but the site simply reprints the companies' promo materials. It doesn't rate or evaluate them, so you can't tell the (few) likely winners from the (many) sure losers.
E-mail wanted!
Nick Allen wants to know about your organization's fundraising experiences online — for good or ill — and whether you're willing to allow him to write about them in this column. Get in touch with Nick at nick@donordigital.com, call (510) 647-2700, or check in on the Web at www.donordigital.com. Those of us involved in the emerging field of online fundraising are all learning the hard way. Let's learn from one another! Maybe that will make it a little easier for us all.
Nick Allen is president of donordigital.com, which develops online fundraising, advocacy, and marketing campaigns and conducts Online Opportunity Audits to help nonprofits evaluate their e-mail and Web opportunities. Contact him at (510) 647-2700 or e-mail nick@donordigital.com.
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What makes a fundraising letter effective?
by Mal Warwick
MOST FUNDRAISERS apparently think fundraising letters are all pretty much the same. Here's how their definition of a fundraising letter seems to run:
A fundraising letter is an appeal from a nonprofit organization, describing needs and requesting charitable gifts to fill them.
Right?
Wrong! Wrong on every count.
Banish that ill-conceived and misleading definition from your consciousness. Better yet, copy it down onto a sheet of scratch paper, cross it out with bold strokes of your pen, slice it up with scissors, and deposit the whole revolting mess in the nearest wastebasket.
Now you're ready to get started on the right foot!
Okay now? Read this next part carefully:
An effective fundraising letter possesses three attributes:
1. An effective fundraising letter is an appeal from one person to another.
2. An effective fundraising letter describes an opportunity for the recipient to meet personal needs by supporting a worthy charitable aim.
3. An effective fundraising letter invites the recipient to take specific and immediate action.
I'm sure you noticed that one all-important word is missing here: money. Money — a request for a charitable gift — is an indispensable element in the overwhelming majority of fundraising letters. Omit that request for funds, and your letter will fail the most basic test of effectiveness. What's worse, you'll almost certainly fail to raise much money.
But the action requested in a fundraising letter doesn't always consist of sending money, at least not right away. The specific action requested might be to complete and return a survey . . . to use a set of stamps, name-stickers, or greeting cards . . . or to authorize regular bank transfers. There are hundreds of possibilities. The letter-writer's first responsibility is to determine what that action is. That's always the writer's responsibility when writing for results! And understanding that duty leads to what I call the First Commandment of Fundraising Letter Writing:
When you set out to write a fundraising letter, make sure you know precisely to whom you're writing and why — and be certain your letter makes that point just as clear to them as it is to you.
That "point" — the equation that expresses the who, what, why, when, and how of your appeal — is what I've fallen into the bad habit of calling the "Marketing Concept." So let's take a stab at a working definition of this ungainly term:
• The Marketing Concept embodies the purpose for which you're writing: to secure a gift of $500 or more, for example.
• The Marketing Concept identifies the person to whom you're writing: a donor who's previously given your organization at least one gift of $100 or more, to extend the example.
• The Marketing Concept incorporates the benefits the person you're writing will receive as a result of responding: in this example, great satisfaction from knowing how much your organization can accomplish with $500, plus special recognition for giving such a generous gift.
The First Commandment, then, is to work out the Marketing Concept before you write a single word — and then to be sure every word you write speaks to that concept.
Fundraising letters: One size WON'T fit all
In fact, fundraising letters are of many different types, serving a broad variety of ends and thus involving a great many different Marketing Concepts. To write an effective appeal, you must first determine the target audience and specific purpose you want to serve:
• Are you writing to people who've never before supported your organization, asking them to join? That's an acquisition (or prospect) letter.
• Is your letter to be mailed to new members or donors, welcoming them to your organization? I call that a welcome package; others may describe it as a welcome packet or kit.
• Are you writing to previous donors, appealing for additional gifts for some special purpose? That's a special appeal.
• Are you writing to proven donors at the end of the year? That's a year-end appeal.
• Are you writing to some of your most generous donors, seeking large gifts? I refer to an appeal of that sort as a High-Dollar letter.
• Is the specific purpose of your letter to induce previous donors to increase their support? If so, you're writing an upgrade appeal.
• Are you writing your new and regular supporters to ask them to renew their annual gift or membership dues for the year ahead? Then you're writing a renewal.
There are important types of fundraising letters that I didn't include in this list. Monthly sustainer requests, upgrades, or renewals, for example. Lapsed donor reactivation letters. Planned giving letters. Cultivation letters. And dozens more. What's important here is to note that every fundraising letter is unique. Each has its own distinctive Marketing Concept.
In fact, there's such great variety in fundraising letters that it's difficult to speak except in general terms about what they have in common. Difficult or not, however, the title of this Special Report promises you I'll reveal the "characteristics of an effective fundraising appeal," so here goes my best effort.
I think of six qualities that are shared by the most productive fundraising appeals I've read:
1. Clarity
There's no doubt or ambiguity about the writer's intent or what the reader is asked to do. The message is delivered in unmistakably clear and simple terms that rule out guesswork. Early on, you get the point of the appeal, and that point never wavers throughout the package.
2. Cohesiveness
Every component of the package works with every other to reinforce the message. If the message is complex — as, for example, in an appeal that combines a petition with a request for money — the close connection between the two is absolutely clear. The message isn't mixed. This means, for example, that an appeal for funds shouldn't be muddied by including a catalog or a flyer that offers merchandise for sale or an update on a project discussed in an earlier appeal.
3. Authenticity
From beginning to end, the appeal is credible. The style and approach of the letter fit smoothly with what readers are likely to know about the signer — and the text includes enough revealing personal information to drive home that fit. Similarly, the nature of the appeal fits smoothly with what readers know about the organization and its work. In short, it's natural for this signer and this nonprofit to be sending this particular appeal. For instance, a Hollywood starlet or hunk might not be the most credible signer of an appeal from a sociological research institute. (Don't laugh! I've heard worse suggestions.)
4. Ease of response
The appeal contains everything the reader might need to respond without a moment's delay after reviewing the appeal. At a minimum, the package includes a clearly marked response device and a pre-addressed response envelope, and there's no doubt these two items are included exclusively for the purpose of responding to the appeal. In direct mail, the fundraiser's job is to make it easy for the reader to respond — because experience shows that if it's not easy, the recipient is likely to set the appeal aside and, more often than not, never respond at all.
5. Appropriateness
The message is calculated to be of interest to the intended reader, and the appeal requests assistance of a sort that the reader might naturally be assumed to be able to provide. For example, I might write an extraordinarily interesting letter about the cuisine of Kyrgystan (though why I might do that I can't possibly imagine), but I would be unlikely to generate much response to my appeal unless I were writing to people with either a demonstrated interest in exotic cuisine, a fascination with Kyrgystan, or, even less likely, both. In other words, it's always important to write to the audience.
6. Engaging copy
There's something inherently intriguing about this appeal — either in the story it tells, in the character of the request (or offer) it makes, or in the language in which it's written. It's interesting. It holds the reader's attention. Sometimes this can be accomplished with a clever outer envelope teaser (which is appropriately followed through inside the package). Sometimes a fascinating personal story about a recipient of the agency's help connects with the reader on a deeply emotional level. Sometimes a writer's style is so fresh and compelling that the reader is inexorably drawn through the copy. But something catches the reader's attention — and holds it.
From a mechanical perspective, however, the only things common to all appeals, I believe, are an offer (or proposition) that incorporates the Ask, if any, as well as the benefits to the donor, and the case, which is the argument that justifies the offer and spells out the benefits. If the appeal is framed as a letter, as are almost all successful fundraising efforts, it's likely to include a salutation and signature that clarify the relationship between the letter signer and the person to whom the letter is addressed, a lead that starts off the letter, a close that ends it, a P.S., and a response device (or reply device) and reply envelope the donor may use to return a gift. That's about it.
Many fundraisers relate these elements to a formula, insisting there's a standard structure or sequence a writer may follow in constructing an appeal. I disagree. To understand how to write successful fundraising letters, I believe, you must study appeals that have worked well, attempt to determine what made them successful — then put them aside and focus on your own donors and your own organization. Your fundraising letters will be successful only if they reflect what's unique about your organization and uniquely attractive to your donors.
Discount
This Special Report is excerpted from the revised edition of Mal Warwick's How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters. The new book, published by Jossey-Bass, debuted in March 2001. It's a 224-page oversized softcover, priced at $27.95. The book is a completely reorganized edition of Mal's bestseller, which has long been considered a standard in the field. To purchase a copy, please go to www.JosseyBass.com/catalog/isbn/0-7879-5652-X/. You'll receive a 20% discount if you enter promotional code SO111 on the Jossey-Bass Web site.
Copyright (c) 2001 by Mal Warwick. All rights reserved.
Illustrations
The package components portrayed with this Special Report — all selected from fundraising appeals for the Union of Concerned Scientists (Cambridge MA) — highlight the six characteristics of effective fundraising letters. They're numbered and labeled — but you'll have to study them closely to determine how and why I believe they illustrate those particular characteristics. You can decide whether you agree.
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What's up online
by Dan Weeks
Co-op America's website, at www.coopamerica.org, offers practical steps for using your consumer and investor power for social change. The site is easy to read and maneuver through, with bold colors and icons inviting you to explore each link. The link to the secured membership page is centrally located, with easy instructions for joining as an individual, business or institution. And the "date updated" is recent - always a good idea!
Co-op America's programs run the gamut from their Green Pages — 10,000 products and businesses — to a Wood Wise Consumer Guide; from investing responsibly to shopping responsibly. I found the latter very easy, as I viewed company ratings at their link to www.responsibleshopper.org , where you can research the pros and cons of supporting particular corporations. And their Social Investment Forum site includes comparative charts showing the financial performance, social criteria, and contact information for dozens of socially responsible mutual funds. Endorsements are always good, and this site includes words of praise from Yahoo and Ben & Jerry.
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