Regardless of how the appeal is doing, follow these simple tips and you will add 5% to 40% onto your income - extra money for helping beneficiaries in 2009.
There is a barrier though, and a difficult one for most fundraisers. You need to talk to some donors - I mean actually speak with them. But the telephone gives us one of the most powerful fundraising tools ever.
This plan is built on three premises:
- The Pareto Principle. 80% of your appeal income is likely to come from just 20% of your donors. And over 50% is likely to come from just 5% of your donors.
- Your past donors are lovely people, who care a lot about you and they like to be thanked and appreciated.
- Inertia. More donors intend to give that actually give. After receiving your mailing they may become distracted or forget - they simply don't get around to it.
Part I: Immediate action required
- Organise a team of people (if you can't get anyone else, still crack on with it yourself) and invite them for one or two evenings next week to stay late (or come in late) and join you from about 5pm to 8pm. The team does not have to just be fundraisers, get CEO, board members, sevice providers, your mum and their mums.
- Organise pizza / curry / snacks / drinks / treats / nice things for the evenings that have been agreed
- Do a selection from your database of people that were mailed. Use this criteria:
- Gave last Christmas, but not this Christmas
- They have a phone number, and have not forbidden you from calling - 'Rank' them by size of gift last Christmas
- Print out the list, in order, of the top 200. Make sure you include in the printout any additional donations made by each of those donors in 2008
Part III: Next week - the brief
Brief your team (or if by yourself, use a mirror) on the following
- The three premises above (Pareto Principle, donors are nice, and more intend to give than actually give)
- The fact that we are now going to call all the best donors that gave last Christmas, but not this Christmas.
In the call you need to get across these points:
- Thank you. You are wonderful. Your most recent gift of x was really appreciated.
- A short story about someone or something that benefited from their last gift NOT statistics, but an actual story and preferable in first person. "I met a young man with cancer called Phillipe and this is what it meant to him" is better than "Let me tell you about a young man with cancer called Phillipe and..." but the latter is better than statistics. If you are not a people charity, then use your imagination but talk about the beneficiary of their donation.
- Ask them if they recall your Christmas appeal sent recently.
- Remind them about the case study in the appeal (if there wasn't a case study, there should have been so you really need to do these calls right now - and you need to hire someone who can make sure next appeal has one).
- Ask them what they thought about the appeal, if they read it.
- Ask them if they were going to donate (nearly all will say they intend or intended to) - if they say they have already given, thank them and tell them you will look out for it.
- If they don't say they have already donated, then thank them and tell them that you can take the donation by credit card now on the phone if convenient. Most will decline.
- Obviously, if they say OK, process the donation but for those who don't pay by credit card don't worry, just say you will look out for their donation.
- Sit back and wait for a big boost to your response rate and average donation from your best donors.
- The best, long term thinking strategic fundraisers will then call donors again when they receive the donation.
Happy Christmas!
Sean Triner
