Bequests and "Planned Giving"
How can I promote a small fundraising event?
How do you plan a fundraising "phantom event"?
How much can we expect to raise through direct mail?
How many bequests can a nonprofit expect to receive?
What's a normal response rate for a renewal or special appeal?
What is an average rate of rentention for donors?
What percent return is typical for a donor acquisition mailing?
What's the average response to a direct mail campaign to upgrade?
How do I breakeven with acquisition mailing?
Should I substitute a reactivation mailing for one of our acquisition mailings?
Are we "crying wolf" when we ask each year?
How can I use matching gifts to raise money?
What's the best way to promote matching gifts?
What is the best use of a $50,000 matching grant?
Will a Planned Giving option depress the response from a mailing?
Can a directory listing be effective for soliciting bequests?
How can we use follow-up letters in an acquisition mailing?
What's the best plan for a three-part appeal?
Should we send follow-up mailings to our renewal appeals?
How can we project the total return from a mailing?
What's the best way to leverage a large gift to increase response from others?
How can a nonprofit hospital use direct mail?
What are other options for our second holiday campaign?
Is it okay to combine a year-end appeal with a capital campaign ask?
What are other options for our second holiday campaign?
What should the main objective of a donor newsletter be?
What's the best use of a newsletter in a fundraising program?
What makes a good newsletter?
Is a "kid-friendly" newsletter a good idea?
Should all lapsed and former donors receive our quarterly newsletter?
Should we send a second report to past donors?
How do we get more prospects for our e-newsletter?
What do you know about cross-border solicitation?
How much personal information of donors can we disclose?
Are my strategy and tactics sound? And where can I see examples of good annual renewal series?
Are donors still responsive to "Annual Fund" mailings?
Should staff or volunteers deliver the ask to major donors?
How can we evaluate the results of an e-mail appeal?
How can I promote a small fundraising event?
In order to target our mission to youths in the area, our group recently held a benefit concert with a popular local band at a popular local hot-spot. We promoted the show via 1000 flyers at all the local colleges, spots on the radio, ads in the local alternative paper (and regular paper). The concert, however, was a bust. Could you suggest any ideas for promoting small events such as these?
Mal answers: Special events are a little out of my area of expertise -- though I've had my own share of direct experience with them (much of it discouraging). My impression is that musical events are especially risky. To learn more about how to manage such events, I'd suggest the chapter on Special Events in Joan Flanagan's best-seller, "Successful Fundraising." You might also check out anything Kim Klein has written on the topic. (She's published by Chardon Press in Oakland, CA.) Both Joan and Kim are masterful fundraisers, and both focus on local grassroots organizations that put on the sorts of events you're interested in. Good luck -- and thank you for writing!
How do you plan a fundraising "phantom event"?
I've only just heard about fundraising "phantom events." Can you direct me to a resource that will help me plan such an event? The idea is great, but we need to know more before diving in.
Mal answers: I think you're writing about an old idea that surfaces from time to time: inviting people to contribute to a charity in lieu of attending a boring event. I've received invitations to such non-events, but I've never been involved with an organization that staged one. I don't think there's much to an effort like this: the key is to come up with a clever name and an intriguing and amusing invitation — and then sending it to people who might well consider going to an event you organize.
I don't know of any resource that directly addresses such projects. However, I suggest you check out Alan Wendroff's book, Special Events: Proven Strategies for Nonprofit Fundraising, if you feel you need more guidance.
How much can we expect to raise through direct mail?
Is there a way to estimate the amount of money a local public hospital organization could expect from a direct mail campaign for: 10,000 recipients, 20,000 recipients, etc. Any direction on finding this information would be helpful. THANK YOU.
Mal answers: The direct answer to your question, as stated, is NO. Given the sketchy information you've provided, there's no reliable way for me to predict how much money you might receive from a direct mail appeal.
Here's the information that's lacking:
* Who are these ten or twenty thousand people? Have they previously given gifts to the hospital? If so, you might expect a strong response -- anything from one or two percent at the low end to twenty or thirty on the high end. If they're former patients but not donors, the response would likely be lower. And if they're merely prospective donors, all bets are off. You might receive just a fraction of one percent response.
* If these are former donors, how large were their gifts? If these are donors whose previous contributions averaged $100 or more, you might expect similarly large gifts from your campaign. If their previous average gift was $25, that's another matter entirely. Their gifts would likely be within the same range this time around.
* What will this direct mail campaign consist of? There's an abundance of
possibilities -- from a straight institutional appeal for funds to an appeal based on one disease or one unit of the hospital to a "community health survey" to an invitation to attend an event -- and each would result in its own characteristic pattern of responses.
In my workshops, I frequently cite my First and Last Law of the Known Fundraising Universe: "It depends."
How many bequests can a nonprofit expect to receive?
Is there data available on numbers of bequests one should receive using an in-house donor file and through a good planned giving program? In your feature, "The ten most important things..." you note that "The real return on investment may be sizable bequests you receive years later from one donor in a hundred, or a thousand." I'd be interested to know if you know of actual data on this.
Mal answers: Sorry, I have no such data, and I don't know anyone else who has reliable numbers on this question. The number of bequests is erratic, often high one year and low the next, so that many years of data are needed to produce anything like a rule of thumb. Also, some nonprofits are more likely to receive bequests than others. Perhaps United Way is one of those that donors find trustworthy and stable enough to entrust their legacy gifts. I wouldn't know. By and large, legacies are most likely to go to colleges and universities, cultural institutions, and other well-established charities with clearly defined and widely appealing missions (such as, for example, the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, and Jewish Community Federations). Donors may well have a similar view of the United Way.
What's a normal response rate for a renewal or special appeal?
What response rates should an organization expect on renewal mailings as well as special appeals to current donors?
Mal answers: There is NO typical rate of response in direct mail fundraising for ANY kind of mailing. Everything follows Chairman Mal's First and Last Law of Fundraising: It depends. The best suggestion I can make is that you read my book, "Revolution in the Mailbox: Your Guide to Successful Direct Mail Fundraising" (Jossey-Bass, 2004). This is much too complicated a question to deal with in a short email message.
What is an average rate of rentention for donors?
Mal answers: I hope you won't be shocked to learn that there's no such thing as a meaningful average of anything in fundraising. Retention (or renewal) rates vary across the board, depending on a list of factors far too long to recall here.
For starters, you have to distinguish between one-time donors and multi-donors. Those who have given only one gift aren't really donors, and it can be extremely difficult to take that step. I know of direct mail fundraising programs that flourish even though no more than one out of four new donors ever give a second gift.
For multi-donors, the picture is different. Renewal rates here will also depend on how long they've been contributing. The longer on file, the higher the renewal rate — within the limits of mortality. So, in mature programs that are heavily dominated by long-term donors, multi-donor renewal rates of 80% or higher aren't unknown. In much less mature programs, 50% might be the reality.
The overall renewal rate, of course, represents a combination of the two segments, weighted to reflect the numbers in each segment.
What percent return is typical for a donor acquisition mailing?
Mal answers: There is NO typical rate of return in donor acquisition mailings (or just about any other kind of mailing, for that matter). I've elaborated on this point in the material you can find elsewhere on this site.
What's the average response to a direct mail campaign to upgrade?
What's the average response to an upgrading direct mail campaign (without telephone follow up)?
Mal answers: There is no such thing as an "average" anything when it comes to direct mail. My Universal Law of Fundraising applies here, as it does so often:
It depends.
Mostly, it depends on (a) who you're asking to upgrade, (b) how much of an upgrade you're asking for, (c) what you're proposing to do with the money, and (d) what else you've asked of the same donors, and how often.
In the best of circumstances, however, I would not expect a large percentage of donors to upgrade in response to a request to do so. Most people have established their own habitual giving levels and are unlikely to budge from them. If even 10-15% of your donors agree to upgrade, I suspect you're doing well.
How do I breakeven with acquisition mailing?
You send out an acquisition mailing and make it to breakeven on the cost. Moving forward would you rather have twice as many donors with an average gift of $35.00 or half the donors with a $70.00 average gift. I think the larger initial gift giver would be more likely to give again and at an exponentially larger gift amount in the future. Do you have any data or opinions you can direct me to?
Mal Answers: Allow me to comment first on your assumption that you can acquire new donors at breakeven. While a quarter-century ago that was the standard, it's unusual nowadays to recruit new donors without a net investment in the process. You will, in all likelihood, pay an "Acquisition Cost" of anywhere from $1 to $100 or more per new donor on average.
If it were possible to predict so directly that a given acquisition program would bring in donors with an average gift of $35, $70, or any other specific amount, that would be lovely. However, as you're no doubt aware, direct marketing is rarely so predictable. Nor could you *ever* assume that halving the average gift (or doubling it) would result in doubling the response rate (or halving it). Life is rarely so neat.
But now to the nub of your question. There is no simple answer, because the choice between maximizing the response rate and maximizing the average initial gift should reflect the organization's strategy. If your goal is to grow the donorbase, then maximize the response rate and settle for a lower average gift. If your goal is to increase the organization's pool of upgradable donors, then maximize the average gift. So, it depends.
The thrust of your question is right on target, though. It is, indeed, the case that donors whose initial gift is significantly higher are likely to upgrade more readily and exhibit a much higher long-term value. (The exception is when you recruit monthly donors whose initial gifts are merely 1/12 of the first year's income.)
I can't supply you with any hard data to back up this view, but I think you'll find that most people in the business would concur.
Should I substitute a reactivation mailing for one of our acquisition mailings?
My organization usually conducts two acquisition mailings per year, one in spring (low response, low gift) and a much larger one around thanksgiving. Our response rate is usually around 1-1.5%. Instead of putting extra dollars into a second acqusition this year, I would like to spend some energy on retaining our 4700 donors who have not given in the last 12 months. This represents $271,000 of lost revenue. I have segmented this list into years of giving. One group of 1300 has only given once. Are they considered donors, and if so how much time should I spend trying to retain them?
Mal answers: One of the few truly predictable things about donors is that many of them will simply stop giving. Donor attrition is an enduring reality. And that's why it's important to have in place an ongoing program of lapsed donor reactivation.
If you've been accumulating those 4700 lapsed donors for some time, then you have your work cut out for you. For example, if the last gift you received was, say, four or five years ago, chances are slim that the donor will respond now. Anyone whose last gift came in 37 months ago or longer is not a good prospect for reactivation by mail. (Telephone is another matter. Sometimes long-lapsed donors will reactivate in response to a phone call.)
Generally speaking, you can expect that the most responsive people in a reactivation mailing will be donors who missed only last year. The two-year lapses will be less responsive but are likely to be cost-effective to mail. Three-year lapses may be marginal.
The question, then, boils down to this: what do I mean by marginal?
In my view, it's worth spending the necessary time and money to reactivate donors if you can do so at a cost that's no more than 20% higher than the cost you incur to recruit a new member. That's because reactivated donors usually prove to be even more responsive and loyal than new donors.
Are we “crying wolf” when we ask each year?
I've been trained in the school of thought to send urgent, summer slump letters in June and July ‑ complete with bright yellow paper with red underlining to emphasize giving is down. Is this going overboard? We do this each year. Do we run the risk of crying wolf, especially when we know once the summer season is over giving will return to normal levels. Would it be wiser to keep letters upbeat with a gentle reminder for the givers to remember our mission amidst their busy and expensive summer activities? What's your experience tell you?
Mal Answers:
Yes, I think this practice smacks of crying wolf, as you suspect. Many years ago I had a client who insisted on sending year‑end "Emergency!" letters every single year. It worked ‑‑ for a year or maybe two. Then the returns started trending down. After three years or so, the donor file had shrunk.
Consider instead a really long letter in which you tell in detail the story of one of your beneficiaries ‑‑ somebody with a truly heartwarming tale full of ups and downs and heartbreak. There's no guarantee this will work, but it should be just as far out of the usual pattern as your yellow and red attention‑getter. One of the most successful appeals I've ever written was 12 pages long.
Good luck and thank you for writing.
How can I use matching gifts to raise money?
I am looking for some creative ways to market "matching gifts" in our newsletter. What thoughts and ideas can you share? Thanks.
Mal answers: Good question! Matching or challenge gifts are a great way to stimulate donors' interest and coax them into giving more generous gifts than they might otherwise make.
Typically, a challenge works best when it's designed to meet an important and popular need -- not something like paying the rent or hiring lawyers! -- and when there's a clearly specified deadline, usually no more than 3-4 weeks after the appeal is received.
It's also important that there be a convenient and easy-to-use response device. In other words, in a newsletter, a "coupon" on the page won't be enough. You'll need to enclose a remittance envelope or, better yet, a detached response device along with a pre-addressed envelope -- something designed specifically for each appeal.
Now for the substance of such an appeal. Let's say your newsletter is published quarterly. Then pick the most popular program or need (based on response to previous appeals). Figure out how to divide that program or need into a number of attractive and compelling packages. Use one per issue, with a built-in deadline specific to that issue.
I can't contrive an example for you, since I'm not familiar enough with the work of blood centers. But if you were a university, say, I'd suggest building such a program around undergraduate scholarships. Each ad would feature the story of one scholarship student, along with a close-up photo to humanize the appeal even more.
I hope this will help! Thank you for writing -- and good luck!
What's the best way to promote matching gifts?
I am new to fundraising and even newer to annual programs, and have found your newsletter indispensable as a learning tool. I am hoping you can help me with a question I have regarding matching gifts. I would like to educate our constituency on the idea of companies matching their charitable contributions. I am wondering, however, where I might find data on the cost effectiveness and response rate of sending brochures to donors on matching gifts (such as the one published by CASE) vs. basic info provided in the solicitation letter. Basically, I would like to find the most successful, cost-efficient way to do this. Thanks for any information you can provide.
Mal answers: Thank you for your kind comments about my newsletter.
I don't know the direct answer to the question you pose. If anyone has such information, it's likely to be CASE itself. Perhaps they can provide you with statistical evidence that their brochure lifts results. It's worth asking, anyway.
However, my sense is that there's no "answer" to this question in the abstract. Since you're working with a large database, I suggest you test one approach against the other. That way you'll *know* what the answer is!
What is the best use of a $50,000 matching grant?
Which is the better use of a $50,000 matching/challenge opportunity ... a donor newsletter to 25,000 donors (traditionally generates 80K) or used as an acquisition mechanism in a Spring direct mail appeal to 200,000? Thank you
Mal answers: You ask an interesting question. But once again, as so often, I'm forced to respond glibly with what I regard as the Fundamental Law of Fundraising: It depends.
What is it the organization wants and needs most? Is it net revenue -- or is it growth in its donor base? As your question implies, the use of a challenge grant is likely to boost response in either type of mailing. And using the challenge with its existing donors will in all likelihood generate significant net profit, as you indicate. Using the money for a larger acquisition mailing in all likelihood will not produce net revenue -- but, if the 200,000 prospects are well chosen and your letter is strong, it will probably result in recruiting a significant number of new donors. These new donors aren't likely to pay off in a big way in the immediate future, but over time they could produce a big boost to the organization.
So, that's your call -- it's all a matter of strategy.
Good luck!
Will a Planned Giving option depress the response from a mailing?
We would like to include a box for requesting information about Planned Giving on the reply forms of appeals we send to donors. Does adding this additional information usually depress response rates? Thanks!
Mal answers: I've never seen any evidence that this depresses response. Even if it does so very slightly, it might well be worthwhile adding that option, anyway.
Can a directory listing be effective for soliciting bequests?
I am constantly bombarded with offers from organisations that produce publications listing non-profits and that distribute these to accountants and lawyers as a reference for clients who don't know who they want to leave their money to. Naturally there is a fee to be included in one category, and an additional fee to be included in more than one. I am sceptical about the value of such an investment. Do you have any knowledge of how often professionals like lawyers might refer to such a publication?
Mal answers: Unfortunately, I haven't got a clue whether there is any value at all to these listings. In fact, I've never come across such services here in the United States — although they might well be common, so far as I know. I, too, would be skeptical, however. While many legacies are, indeed, left to organizations that have had no prior relationship with donors, these tend to be groups that are well-established, and have strong brands and readily identifiable and easily understood missions: serving the poor, for example, or providing education to underprivileged young people, or cancer research. Keep in mind, however, that this is my opinion, not an informed judgment.
How can we use follow-up letters in an acquisition mailing?
We are doing a prospect mailing off our own list and lists we've bought or traded from other organizations. We plan to mail to these folks three times, with the second and third mailing targeted to those who didn't give the first time.
We have two questions:
Should our 2nd and 3rd letters assume that the person does not know anything about our organization? (In other words, do we assume the person didn't read the first letter?)
What should the spacing be between letters? Thanks
Mal answers: It's rarely safe to assume that someone you've sent a letter will have either (a) actually received the letter, (b) noticed it, (c) read it, or (d) remembered it. You've got a few seconds to get a reader's attention, and if your package fails in meeting that challenge, you're in trouble from the start. So, no, I don't recommend you assume that the person knows anything about your organization. In fact, a favored technique in such situations is to send exactly the same letter again but stamped "COPY" and annotated with a hand-written note acknowledging that you sent the same letter before but are sending a copy because you haven't received a response, despite the fact it was such an important letter.
The time lapsed between the first and second letters could be anywhere between two and three weeks. It might make sense to mail a third one no sooner than a month after the second, allowing extra time for the slow-responders to get around to replying.
Now for a word of caution: it's not worth sending a second letter, much less a third, if the response to the first one is poor. I can't easily generalize about how to judge what's "poor," but suffice it to say that it may be worth doing follow-up mailings with some lists or list segments and not with others.
What's the best plan for a three-part appeal?
This year, instead of just one year-end letter, my boss has asked me to send the letter with two follow-ups (spread out with 3 weeks between each drop date.) The year-end letter is very meaty. The third letter, (the last follow-up), I think, should just be a "we have not received your year-end gift" letter. But the second letter--should it be another meaty letter? I've heard of people sending "copy" mailings--identical mailings to ensure they get donors attention. I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on this one.
Mal answers: When I have the opportunity to do a three-part end-of-year appeal, I usually opt to make a phone call one of the follow-ups. My sense is that, unless you're sending an annual report or some other substantive piece that adds heft to the message; I prefer to stick with two letters.
However, you're absolutely right: some mailers simply repeat the first effort with a second one marked "copy," taking pains to make it look like a real copy. (This is sometimes problematic if your appeal is personalized -- which I think it should be, at least for your more responsive donors.) Some organizations have very good luck with this gambit.
For a third effort, though, I'd think it would be more appropriate to use the opportunity to report on the progress of your campaign to date -- or to extend the deadline for payment, or something similar. In other words, I think it's best that the third effort be something more informative than a hectoring reminder notice.
Should we send follow-up mailings to our renewal appeals?
We typically mail 3-4 renewals each year, plus a couple of acquisitions. Each of our renewals is completely separate and unrelated from the other. We don't have memberships. I'm wondering if there would be any benefit to doing renewal/follow up mailings after each or some of the renewal appeals we mail out. For example, we send one out in March and if someone doesn't reply, they don't hear from us again until the fall. But since we are not a membership-based organization, and the donor will receive at least 2 other solicitations from us over the course of the year, I'm afraid it would be overkill to write the nondonors after each appeal reminding them to please give.
Mal answers: I've never felt that the absence of a structured membership program prevented any nonprofit from using a renewal series to boost its renewal rate. In fact, I almost always advise clients to take that approach, because my colleagues and I have consistently found that a dogged effort to secure at least one gift per donor per year frequently leads to additional gifts. And a renewal series offers the option of building in structured upgrade opportunities — hence, higher average gifts.
However, this does NOT mean writing a follow-up, reminder notice after every appeal. Instead, it means writing a *series* of donor renewal notices mailed on a fixed schedule — roughly 4 weeks apart — during a specified period of the year. In most cases, I advise scheduling the renewal series early in the year, and reserving the fall and winter months for special appeals — including the year-end appeal, which serves as a last-ditch effort to secure that one minimum gift per year.
I'm aware that many nonprofits routinely — even rigidly — mail follow-ups after every fund appeal. I don't recommend that, since I feel that our first responsibility as stewards of our donors' money is to keep them informed by explaining how we're using their money. Formulaic "follow-up" appeals rarely provide that opportunity.
How can we project the total return from a mailing?
Isn't there a formula -- something about calculating the initial return during the first few days of a particular mailing and then being able to "project" the total return?
Mal answers: My answer is what I say so often: yes and no.
Yes, there is a way to project late returns from a mailing by assessing the early returns. But, no, it's not a formula that can be applied willy-nilly to all, or even most, direct mail programs.
The key term here is the "doubling point." Working in hindsight, you can identify the point in the course of counting returns from a mailing at which 50% of the responses were received. This is, of course, the doubling point -- the point at which the returns double. Since most mailings bring in heavy returns in the early weeks and much lighter ones later, the doubling point is usually found to be very early in the process. With a bulk rate mailing, that point could be after two or three weeks (10-15 working days) of returns. With a first class mailing, it's more likely to be found at the fifth to tenth working day since the first significant number of returns was received.
But here are several challenges to keep in mind:
(1) It matters a whole lot how long you measure the returns from a mailing. Far too many fundraisers track returns on a daily basis for only six weeks or so. That's far too short a period. To calculate the doubling point with any consistency, I recommend tracking returns for 12 *months.*
(2) One mailing won't tell the tale. You need to calculate the doubling point for *several* mailings to arrive at a rule of thumb for any particular nonprofit.
(3) In any case, you can't entirely depend on the doubling point calculation by lumping different packages together. Each appeal may convey a slightly different sense of urgency and speed up or slow down the process, thus moving the doubling point.
(4) Be careful: in many mailings, some letters are dropped before or after the rest. Obviously, this can skew the doubling point calculation.
So, you asked a simple question, and I gave you a complicated answer. What else is new?
What's the best way to leverage a large gift to increase response from others?
We have a donor's promise for a large gift ($20,000), and we'd like to somehow use this gift as part of an appeal to increase response. I've considered trying to use it as a Matching Gift, but it's not exactly a matching gift, since we'll receive the gift regardless of the appeal's response. I'm not sure what I'd call it in the appeal letter. How can I write this offer, using this promised gift, to best motivate donors?
Mal answers: Well, you've got a creative challenge on your hands, all right! If it's inappropriate to use the funds as a matching gift — one of the best ways to motivate donors to give a little more — then your options are limited. However, one possibility comes quickly to mind: pick a special project with a budget that comes close to matching the amount of money you'd expect from an appeal — plus $20,000. Then craft an appeal that announces you're already $20,000 toward your goal and ask donors to help you get the rest of the distance. I'm sure there are other possibilities, but that's all my mind will release at the moment.
How can a nonprofit hospital use direct mail?
One of our medical facilities where I'm responsible for the fundraising efforts is not doing well. We get very low responses to our direct mail efforts. I have the task of coming up with new and innovative ways of fundraising for annual giving. Do you know of some new ways of getting a community to support your direct mail efforts? This is an area of affluence, our hospital is state-of-the-art. But, we need donations to sustain. Can you help?
Mal answers: As I'm sure you're aware, fundraising for most nonprofit hospitals has become increasingly difficult in recent years. (The exceptions are those with brand-name recognition regionally or nationwide and with highly appealing specialties, such as children's hospitals.) The widespread takeovers of nonprofit facilities by for-profit chains, the establishment of profit-making subsidiaries of nonprofits (parking garages and specialty clinics, for example), sky-high medical salaries at nonprofit and for-profit hospitals alike, and growing public dissatisfaction with the health care delivery system have combined to blur the difference between nonprofit and for-profit hospitals. For a great many people -- myself included -- it's often difficult to see what is "charitable" about nonprofit hospitals. So it's no wonder that you're having a tough time.
Of course, this situation isn't all new. Traditionally, most hospitals have derived a tiny percentage of their revenues from fundraising -- sometimes as low as 1-2%. Compared with universities, human service organizations, and other "charities," fundraising has been effectively an afterthought at best.
In a real sense, fundraising has served a public relations function rather than a financial one: fundraising (typically through special events) gives the community an opportunity to be involved and develop a sense of ownership of the hospital even if it doesn't play a significant role in generating revenue. To compound matters, these days, with hospitals everywhere feeling a constant need to cut costs, hospital development departments are facing repeated budget reductions -- largely, it seems, because hospital trustees can't see the financial argument for pouring money into a relatively unproductive area of activity.
With all that said, however, my colleagues and I have worked with a number of hospitals that have, indeed, sustained profitable and rewarding direct mail fundraising programs. Unfortunately, there's no single key to success in these programs: they require thoughtful planning, creative and timely execution, and careful follow-through.
To start such a program, however, I would suggest two techniques:
(1) Working with your public relations or communications department, develop a "Community Health Care Survey" (or something similar) and mail it widely throughout your service area. Ask respondents to complete the survey and to send a modest gift to support one of the most appealing services the hospital offers. Relatively few will give, but you'll acquire a larger number of names that may be solicited again, since they've demonstrated enough interest to return your survey. That's one of several ways to recruit new donors.
(2) Develop an "Annual Campaign," with a major appeal to your donors at year-end, and a series of "renewal" notices spaced out the following year, designed to secure at least one gift per year from every donor on your file.
I don't have the time to spell things out in more detail, or to give you a broader picture. I hope those two ideas will get you started.
Thank you for writing, and good luck!
What are other options for our second holiday campaign?
Starting in November, we do a six-card holiday giveaway to our renewals, then usually follow up with a simple hand-signed holiday greeting card from our CEO. What are other options for the second holiday campaign?
Mal answers: The most obvious alternative to a second mailing is a phone call. The combination of mail and phone contact is typically more productive than the separate use of both mail and the telephone.
Either by phone or by mail, you might consider promoting a matching gift. Combined with the natural deadline of Dec. 31st, a matching-gift program can be extraordinarily effective. With or without a matching gift to offer, a simple, personalized letter from your CEO straightforwardly making the case for giving is a third option.
Is it okay to combine a year-end appeal with a capital campaign ask?
We are sending a capital campaign request to our membership, and doing it as our year-end appeal. However, we want to be very clear about this being a one-time stretch gift, and possibly mention that traditionally people give 10 times more their normal gift. How do you recommend we word the "ask"?
Mal answers: My advice to you is not to try to obtain a stretch gift in your year-end appeal. You could end up depressing results from that mailing, which in all likelihood is your biggest-grossing appeal of the year, while failing to get many of those stretch gifts you're seeking.
Your capital campaign is a separate operation (or should be). Run your year-end appeal as you have in the past, then early in 2005 launch an effort — ideally, using a combination of mail, phone, email, and face-to-face solicitation — to secure larger gifts for the capital campaign. The case for giving is entirely different in a capital campaign than it is in an annual campaign. You'll confuse matters if you try to merge the two.
What are other options for our second holiday campaign?
Starting in November, we do a six-card holiday giveaway to our renewals, then usually follow up with a simple hand-signed holiday greeting card from our CEO. What are other options for the second holiday campaign?
Mal answers: The most obvious alternative to a second mailing is a phone call. The combination of mail and phone contact is typically more productive than the separate use of both mail and the telephone.
Either by phone or by mail, you might consider promoting a matching gift. Combined with the natural deadline of Dec. 31st, a matching-gift program can be extraordinarily effective.
With or without a matching gift to offer, a simple, personalized letter from your CEO straightforwardly making the case for giving is a third option.
What should the main objective of a donor newsletter be?
What should the main objective of a donor newsletter be? And what are the content/style factors to consider?
Mal answers: Thank you for sending such an excellent question! More often than not, a nonprofit organization reflexively starts writing and designing a donor newsletter with no thought given to its primary audience or its purpose. It always pays to think through these questions at the outset.
Above all, a donor newsletter ought to express appreciation to donors — not simply to inform them about the organization's work, but to help them understand concretely how their gifts make such a big difference in fulfilling the organization's mission. For one thing, this means that outstanding individual donors should be featured (ideally, with photos) from time to time — to tell in their own words why they give. This also
means that the organization's work — no matter how complex or technical — needs to be translated into simple, human terms (and simple, straightforward English) that any donor can understand.
A donor newsletter should not be a place to spotlight the staff. Features such as "Staff Member of the Month" may be great to motivate employees, but they rarely do much for donors. On the other hand, the
person at the organization who signs fundraising appeals (whether that's the chief executive or the development or membership director) should be featured in each issue through a column of some sort, to reinforce the "personal" relationship that builds up in the mail between her or him and the donors.
I view the donor newsletter as a means to cultivate and educate donors — not other constituencies. If the organization serves people in some specialized, technical field, there should be some other vehicle to
communicate technical messages to them. Donors don't need to hear the details. The donor newsletter is a service to donors or members — a "premium" or membership benefit if you will.
Frequently, a donor newsletter is also used to recognize loyal and generous donors. For example, each issue might include a list of the new members of the monthly sustainer society, a high-dollar giving club, or a
legacy society, or it might list the names of persons honored with memorial or celebratory gifts.
I hope that helps. Thank you again for writing!
What's the best use of a newsletter in a fundraising program?
In regard to increasing the number and dollar amount of donors' donations, what research/testing have you found on including BREs in newsletters (or not), and what research/testing have you found on sending a direct mail appeal (w/ BRE) as a complement to a newsletter (w/o BRE) - either before or after the newsletter?
Mal answers: I can't cite chapter and verse on the questions you ask, but I have no hesitation in saying that a newsletter can, indeed, play a significant, direct role in a fundraising program. In fact, some nonprofits derive a very large proportion of their direct mail revenue from gifts generated by their newsletters.
You ask about two different approaches: slipping a BRE into a newsletter, and mailing an appeal along with a newsletter (presumably including a BRE and a response device as well). These two really are different, and the results typically (though not always) are different, too. Let's look at both.
Adding a BRE to a newsletter -- either binding it in or simply "blowing" it in before it's mailed -- provides readers with a handy device they can use to send a check on impulse. Usually, these BREs are "wallet-flap" or "bang-tail" remittance envelopes that contain a selling message and provide room for the donor to indicate a gift amount and provide a name, address, and other information. In most cases I'm familiar with, response is spotty. The revenue generated most often covers a portion but not the entire cost of the newsletter mailing.
It's a different story with a newsletter cum appeal. The key to this, however, is to mail the whole package in an envelope and to include both a reply envelope and a reply device (ideally, one that's preaddressed and does double duty by showing through the outer envelope of the package). I also advocate tying the text of the letter very closely to the content of the newsletter itself. For example, the letter might present a pitch based on the lead story in the newsletter. In such cases, it's not unusual to generate substantial net revenue.
A caveat: If you already have an intensive schedule of fund appeals underway, with fundraising letters mailed in close proximity to issues of your newsletter, the results are likely to be weaker. An appeal is an appeal is an appeal.
What makes a good newsletter?
Can you give me some points on what makes a good donor newsletter? And specifically, how many pages, and would you recommend adding an appeal letter?
Mal answers: A good donor newsletter must:
** Inform donors about how their gifts have been put to work
** Reinforce the positive feelings that led the donor to send money
** Highlight or profile individual donors as role models for others
** Publicize special giving opportunities such as monthly giving, high-dollar clubs, and legacy giving
** Promote opportunities for donors to become involved in the organization — through volunteer activities, by enlisting support from friends or family members, or by participating directly in such matters as grassroots lobbying.
A good donor newsletter includes lots of photos, especially close-ups (showing people's eyes is critical); uses large type (at least 12 points); spotlights the organization's logo (and tagline, if any); features short articles written in a breezy, conversational style; and includes a contribution form (or coupon) in a corner on the outer back page. A journalistic approach is generally most effective, including quotes from donors and others interviewed as though by a reporter.
Normally, a four-page newsletter is quite enough: an 11 x 17" sheet folded to letter size, and folded in thirds to fit in a #10 outer envelope. It's a good idea to include a response envelope as well — a "wallet-flap" remittance envelope if that's all that's included, or a BRE, a cover letter, and a reply card if you want to turn the package into a fundraising appeal.
I favor using newsletters for fundraising (with all those trappings) sometimes but not always. Presumably, you also mail renewals and special appeals to the same people. If so, you might be overdoing things to make a strong pitch for money in every issue.
Is a "kid-friendly" newsletter a good idea?
As a missionary in Kenya, I work with deaf, hearing impaired and hearing children. I have a few adults that will support this ministry. I also have a few children that save their pennies to help with my ministry needs. I am thinking of writing a kid-friendly newsletter. One that does not ask for money but will give information about the other children that I work with. Is this a good idea?
Mal answers: Anything you can do to strengthen the relationship between your work and your donors seems likely to enhance your long-term fundraising potential. It's hard for me to determine whether the "kid-friendly newsletter" you allude to would accomplish that, but I suspect it would. The people who support you are likely to be charmed by such a publication. In fact, I would suggest that you ask them to ask children, grandchildren, or neighbor kids to send messages to the children you work with. You could then publish their greetings in the newsletter. That's the sort of direct involvement that can help you bond your donors even more tightly.
Should all lapsed and former donors receive our quarterly newsletter?
We have a quarterly newsletter we send to donors. How far back should we go (date of last gift) in sending the newsletter to them — 2 years? 3? more?
Mal answers: You're going to hate me, because I'm going to give you an evasive answer:
That depends.
As a general rule, I wouldn't be inclined to send newsletters unsolicited to former donors — whose who have let 37 months or more lapse since their last gift. However, there are exceptions:
(1) I would first recommend making every effort to reactivate them as donors — including at least one mailing (and, ideally, one phone call) to address the fact that they haven't given in quite awhile.
(2) Sometimes, there are long-lapsed donors who have ceased giving because their finances are constrained. They may want to continue supporting you, but they live on fixed budgets and can't afford to do so. I would normally keep these folks on the list as legacy prospects.
(3) At times, it's also worthwhile keeping once-generous donors on the list even if they are long-lapsed. One organization might draw the line at, say, $100. Another might require a gift of $1,000 or $5,000 at some point in the past to consider keeping a donor on a newsletter list — in hopes (usually vain) that the donor will spontaneously send another cash gift.
Is that enough complications for you?
Should we send a second report to past donors?
After sending an initial appeal to past donors, which included out status report, would it benefit us to send another report which includes more numbers and accountability, and include another response form?
Mal answers: That depends on what you mean by past donors. If they haven't given for a long time, more information will likely be ignored. If they're current donors, that might make sense, but I'd be more inclined to send the information up front as a donor service, without an ask, and then follow up with an appeal. That appeal might even be in two parts, one mailing after another or one mailing followed by a phone call.
Good luck!
How do we get more prospects for our e-newsletter?
I am developing an e-newsletter for my organization. It will go to all my donors and may have the ability to reach across the world using viral marketing. My question is, How do we get more suspects for our Foundation? We want new and more people to sign up for our e-newsletter and then for us to begin the cultivation process. What are some ways to get people to look at our e-newsletter?
Mal answers: Since I don't know what sort of work your organization does, it's difficult for me to suggest anything specific about how you might attract readers for your e-newsletter. For example, if you engage in advocacy, then an online campaign designed to recruit signers for, say, a petition or a statement of conscience might help draw in potential new readers. If you're research-oriented and do work of interest to academics, then I'd suggest you reach other through list-servs and, possibly, other e-newsletters that reach such people. It all depends on who you are, really.
Of course, you can and should place a free offer for your e-newsletter prominently on the home page of your Web site, and you should advertise it in print publications that go out more widely than to your donors. Beyond that, it's difficult for me to say. You'll have to make the best possible use of whatever connections and affiliations your organization has.
What do you know about cross-border solicitation?
What has your experience been with responses from donors living outside the US? Do you appeal to this segment via mail/e-mail? Are there any obstacles to look out for with conversion rates and processing monies? Here at our organization we have strong pockets of alumni in Asia. I'd like to look more closely at this targeted segment and am considering various strategies.
Mal answers: I have no direct experience with cross-border solicitation. I know that many U.S. universities with substantial overseas alumni do solicit them. I also know that many foreign universities solicit their alumni in the U.S. I suggest that you check with CASE and network with your peers at Stanford, UCLA, and UC Berkeley, all of whom are certain to have experience in this area.
How much personal information of donors can we disclose?
I work for a private high school and we're planning a phonathon, parents calling parents asking for funds. How much information are these parents allowed to know about other parents’ past giving history? Is this private information?
Mal Answers: You're asking one of the touchiest questions in fundraising -- and one I'm not nearly so well qualified to answer as an attorney. However, I'll share my impressions with you, so long as you understand that I'm not offering you legal advice.
Our privacy is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution (and, for all I know, by the California State Constitution as well). However, the legal interpretation of "privacy" is evolving. As far as I'm aware, there is no hard-and-fast line in the law or in its interpretation between what fundraising information it's permissible to share with volunteers, and what's proscribed.
More to the point is the personal interpretation that we as individuals give to the term "privacy." Some donors may be shocked to learn that one of their neighbors knows how much money they've given to your school. Some may even be downright angry. The risks in a situation of this sort are obvious.
Despite all this, many organizations routinely distribute this sort of sensitive information to fundraising volunteers. For example, the country's many Jewish Community Federations collectively raise billions of dollars every year, primarily through volunteers who possess this sort of knowledge, and as far as I know, nobody blinks an eye. Most colleges and universities operate similarly. Now you know what I know.
Are my strategy and tactics sound? And where can I see examples of good annual renewal series?
1. I took a stab at planning and I wanted to know if I'm heading in the right direction: Goal - By the end of fiscal year 2008, increase the number of donors by 30% or 3,000; Objective - This year, we will grow our donor base by 5%, 15% in two years and reach our goal of a 30% increase in donors by year three; Strategies - Explore cost effective ways to increase the donor base; Tactics - a) Rent lists from a list broker, b) Work with board of directors to identify 100 names of people to cultivate for major gifts, c)reactivate lapsed donors. Is the correct use of objectives, strategies, goals and tactics?
2. Where can I see examples of a good annual renewal series? Is it okay that we are also sending the annual report one month after the inital drop date?
Mal answers: The approach you've taken to distinguishing strategy from tactics looks entirely sound to me. However, if you want to gain more insight into the process of developing a fundraising strategy that will use the resources you have at hand as effectively as possible, you might take a look at one or both of two books I've written on the subject: "The Five Strategies for Fundraising Success" and (with Steve Hitchcock) "Ten Steps to Fundraising Success."
For a complete example of a renewal series, you could take a look at another of my books, "How to Write Successful Fundraising Letters." I'd imagine you could find other examples somewhere else as well, but unfortunately I can't think of a single place to send you to. Techniques like this are, regrettably, hidden from public view most of the time.
An annual report — if it's that, and not another solicitation — can only help boost the results of your renewal series and phone campaign. The key, of course, is not to confuse donors by asking for a gift when you send the report.
Are donors still responsive to "Annual Fund" mailings?
Are donors still responsive to "Annual Fund" mailings? If so, what motivates them to make an annual gift instead of several smaller gifts? When should such an appeal be mailed, considering that we will also send a holiday appeal?
Mal answers: Your question requires an answer far longer than I have time to write. However, I'll give you the outline of a response and point you back to my Web site, where you'll find lots of information about many aspects of the question that I cite below:
** Giving on an annual schedule comes naturally to people. The year is one of the basic units of time around which we organize our lives.
** Most donors aren't willing to give more than one gift per year. I believe that only about one of every three is likely to give multiple gifts in a year.
** If you already mail a year-end holiday appeal, then it's obvious that your annual fund appeal needs to be scheduled sometime earlier in the year. When my colleagues and I begin an annual renewal series, we tend to launch it very early in the year. However, the spring or summer may be preferable when using another approach.
** An annual fund appeal is not a substitute for all special appeals. I almost always urge clients to mail at least a few appeals in addition to a renewal series or annual fund appeal.
Should staff or volunteers deliver the ask to major donors?
I understand that having volunteers doing "the ask" is the most effective way to raise cash, but given reality, do you see it as ever appropriate for staff, such as the executive director, to make face-to-face or over the phone support requests? Does it matter whether it's a major gift ask or for an operating budget pledge drive? For smaller organizations, is it appropriate for the one staff member to be engaged in making the ask for his/her own salary?
Mal answers: I'm not among those who believe that all major gift asks must be the responsibility of volunteers. In fact, in my experience, it's often important — even essential — for the chief executive to play a part as well. Try as we might to train volunteers to ask forcefully for specific amounts, it doesn't always happen. More often than not, a staff member who accompanies the volunteer is the best person to deliver the Ask. This isn't an ideological or philosophical question, as far as I'm concerned. Whatever works.
I don't see a material difference between the two types of ask. I know of many smaller nonprofit organizations that have hired executive directors with the understanding that they'll help raise the funds to pay their salaries. In none of these cases has anyone raised questions of impropriety.
Now, I'm NOT saying that all such fundraising should be left in the hands of staff. In fact, any person hired under those circumstances would be a fool to take it upon her or himself to raise ALL the funds. But often it requires someone with the time and motivation necessary to pursue follow-up contacts with prospective donors.
How can we evaluate the results of an e-mail appeal?
We are an international Jewish education organization with 26 branches and the largest Jewish content site on the internet. Our site gets just over 1,000,000 visits a month.
Our email list is a little more than 70,000. We send weekly emails that contain either a link to new content on the site, or the content itself. Each recipient receives approximately 10 emails a month. We have been on line for a little more than 2 years.
We offer "memberships" for between $36 and $1200 a year. Approximately 1,200 have become members. Members receive various gifts based on their donation and special access to one part of the site. (About 1/3 of the members use that part).
We recently sent an email to our complete list offering a free book (containing content from our site which we published) for a donation of $100 or more. I was very disappointed that only about 60 people (40 who had never given to us before) responded.
We really believe we have many people who are very much committed to, and benefiting from our site (anecdotal emails tell us this).
1.) Am I right to be disappointed by those numbers? (Specifically this promotion, but also the number who have become members over the years.)
2.) How do we determine what we are doing wrong?
Thank you very much.
Mal answers: Congratulations on building such an impressive online operation! You're far ahead of many, many other not-for-profit enterprises.
It's not clear to me how many of those ten emails per month include requests for funds or offers such as the book offer you mention. If you do that frequently, the low response would be easy to understand. But, for the sake of argument, I'll assume that this was an isolated offer.
In direct response, the two most important elements are the list and the offer. Obviously, you've picked the right list. You can't do any better than your own active, highly motivated readers and members.
Is it possible, then, that the book offer simply didn't resonate with your list? For example, would you have done better if you offered the book free with a gift of $36 or $72? Perhaps. Or maybe the book itself — a compendium of material you've already made available on your Web site — simply didn't attract a lot of interest.
There are two things you can do that could help determine what you're doing wrong:
* Research the questions I've just raised about the offer. Talk to people. Many of them must live in Jerusalem or nearby. Ask them! Call them on the phone, or go visit them — or hold a small gathering, perhaps with a speaker, and use the opportunity to throw out those questions, too.
* Try a different offer, especially one that asks for a smaller amount of money. Maybe that will work better.
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