Fundraising Copywriter George Crankovic

Tag: advertising

  • These 3 things are probably killing your fundraising

    There are three big misconceptions that nonprofits tend to have about direct response fundraising. They’ll definitely bring down your results.

    Misconception 1: “Too much mail will turn donors off.”

    The fact is that donors like to give and want to give. And why not? Donors naturally want to do good. They want to make our world better. And they want to do it through your nonprofit – which is why they’re on your lists for mail and email in the first place. It just doesn’t make sense to ignore them. Let your donors hear from you.

    Misconception 2: “We need to educate donors about our mission.”

    There’s a place for educating and informing donors, but it’s not in your appeals. Your fundraising letters and emails should be all about your donors taking action. And that can start right at the beginning of the appeal with letter leads like “You have been specially selected to take part in this survey” and  “If your faith moves you to help children who are going hungry, please sign and return the petition I’ve enclosed. Here’s why” and  “I’m writing to you because I urgently need your help to overcome a budget shortfall that’s threatening to undo all the good we’ve accomplished together.” Your fundraising should be about action.

    Misconception 3: “The letter needs to sound like the executive director.”

    The fact is that most donors probably don’t know or care who the president or executive director is. That’s not why donors give. The fundraising for a nonprofit isn’t there to validate a particular nonprofit executive. It’s there to validate your donors. It’s the donor’s letter. It should be about her and her values. And if the letter should sound like anybody, it should sound like a friendly human being talking to another human being about something of concern to them both.

    There’s a lot more about these three misconceptions, and you can find it here: https://tinyurl.com/4uh3ek4c

  • Reaching mid-level donors with direct mail

    You probably hear a lot about mid-level donors, and that’s for good reason. For most nonprofits, these donors represent a major opportunity for short-term and long-term growth. It’s a revenue source that’s largely untapped. The potential is there, waiting to be realized.

    So, who are mid-level donors? Defining mid-level donors will vary for different nonprofits, of course, depending on the size of your nonprofit. But in general, for many nonprofits, mid-level donors are those who give about $1,000 to $9,000 a year.

    Another way to look at it comes from Sean Triner of Moceanic. The Pareto Principle tells us that 80 percent of your donations come from about 20 percent of your donors. That 20 percent consists of about 4 percent for major donors and about 16 percent for mid-level donors. Keep in mind, this is a rough guideline. It won’t work out exactly this way for every charity, but it gives you an idea of where to start in determining who your mid-level donors are.

    Defining your mid-level donors is a good first step. Because the real problem is that most nonprofits tend to overlook these important donors. That’s because they give too much to be considered typical annual fund donors, and at the same time, they give too little to be considered typical major donors. They’re the “middle child” in fundraising – the ones with loads of potential who nevertheless go unnoticed.

    And that’s too bad. Because when nonprofits cultivate and communicate with mid-level donors, it’s possible to:

    • Generate game-changing growth. Remember, mid-value and major donors give almost 80 percent of your revenue. But for many nonprofits, mid-level donors are underperforming. The potential is there for them to give more.
    • Create a class of donors who can be cultivated to move up to major giving.
    • Provide a stream of promising leads for planned giving and legacy gifts. Along with mid-level donors, bequest donors represent one of the best opportunities for revenue growth.
    • Increase donor retention, since donors who give at higher levels tend to remain more loyal.

    Successfully cultivating mid-level donors will require research, data analysis, as well as some means of personal contact, such as telephone calls or even personal donor visits. You’ll want to contact these donors in various ways – ways that correspond to their preferences, of course.

    It takes a comprehensive program. But one key to the program is a specialized direct mail appeal. All the analysis and fundraising strategy will come to nothing unless the approach to communicating with these donors is the right one.

    In general, mid-level donors are less transactional in their giving than most annual-fund donors and far more relational. This is why standard direct mail probably won’t work for them. But specialized direct mail can and will.

    What’s needed is a bigger, better, more strategic direct mail pack – not simply a fancier version of a typical annual-fund mailing.

    Mid-level donors need to be approached in a unique way that demonstrates the impact, stewardship, and engagement they expect. In general, they respond best when there’s a specific program or initiative, when they receive plenty of information, and when they’re acknowledged as being part of a group of select supporters.

    This specialized mail pack has higher production values than you’d use for regular donors. It often has a 9 x 12 envelope. It has a multiple-page letter, with copywriting that conveys the right tone and copy voice for higher-dollar donors. It’s on better-quality paper. It’s highly personalized throughout. It has multiple components – brochures, lift notes, inserts, and so on – that provide plenty of information, both in terms of factual information and emotional content. And it has a full-page reply device that not only presents the ask but reinforces the reasons to give. This is the kind of direct mail appeal that will tend to cut through the clutter and attract attention.

    A pack like this will of course cost more than the mailings you send to regular donors. But to reach mid-value donors and cultivate them, it’s important to focus not on cutting costs but on maximizing revenue. There may be areas in your fundraising where it makes sense to pinch pennies, but not here. A cheap direct mail appeal for mid value donors is likely to fail. But a higher-quality appeal that communicates the exclusivity, personal attention, insider status, and insider information that mid-level donors expect is likely to succeed and generate the revenue you want.

  • Should you do a year-end fundraising appeal?

    Yes, and here’s why.

    It’s one of the easiest appeals to create. And it can be one of the biggest revenue producers of the year. About 30 percent of most nonprofits’ revenue comes in between Giving Tuesday and December 31. At year end, donors are looking for a place to give. That place could be and should be your nonprofit.

    The messaging for the appeal is usually pretty straightforward, emphasizing the Dec. 31 deadline  and how your donor’s gift will help your nonprofit end the year strong and begin the New Year strong.

    The design of the appeal should be equally simple and straightforward. No need to go overboard on photos and graphics. In most cases, simple is best for year end.

    And don’t forget email. A lot of online giving happens in the last three or four days of the year. Your emails can and should be showing up in your donors’ inboxes, so that they can support the good work your nonprofit is doing.

    For more on year end fundraising, see Best Practices for Year-End Fundraising (nonprofitpro.com)

  • One sure way to make your fundraising better

    The single best thing you can do to improve your fundraising?

    Come to terms with a hard truth: You are not your donors.

    They’re probably older than you, for one thing, which means they have a completely different frame of reference, and for another thing, they have a completely different perspective about your organization, because they’re on the outside, not “in the bubble” like you are.

    These differences in perspective between you and your donors can cause problems when you’re creating your fundraising appeals.

    For example, these differences will influence the photos you use in your direct mail and email appeals, the kinds of stories you tell in your appeals, and how you write and structure your appeals.

    And all three of these will have a huge impact on how much money you’ll raise. There’s more to this. Get the whole story here: https://tinyurl.com/ewntb8h9

  • When disaster fundraising works and when it doesn’t

    If you haven’t already, you’ll probably soon receive a barrage of emails appealing to you for donations to help the victims of the horrible earthquake in Turkey and Syria. This is of course a worthy cause. The need is overwhelming. And the rest of the world should do everything possible to help.

    Which makes this email subject line so puzzling. Here it is:

    “How we’re saving lives in Turkey right now.”

    Huh.

    Then in the email itself, there’s this headline:

    “How we’re saving lives in Turkey right now.”

    Double huh.

    Imagine you’re a potential donor. What’s your reaction to that line? Mine is that it looks like they’re got everything covered. Time to move onto the next email in the inbox.

    With that subject line and headline, I’m left completely out of this as a potential donor. And that’s too bad.

    Because the quake zone is total devastation. Tens of thousands killed. Survivors left without shelter, food, sanitation. The risk of cholera and other diseases. It’s destruction on a mass scale.

    However much this nonprofit has done, it’s a drop in the bucket. There’s sooooo much more to do. They need my donation. And I want to give it. But they’re not making it easy. They’re not engaging me. In fact, they’re suggesting that I’m not needed.

    The text of the email begins by referencing the death and destruction. But in the second paragraph, it reiterates the work that the charity is doing. Again, giving the impression that they’ve got this covered and don’t need my gift.

    This is followed by a bulleted list. But it’s not a list of what needs to be done. It’s a list of what they’re already doing. Further on in the email, it says that their teams do whatever it takes.

    Granted, there is a donate button with the words “Rush your gift.” But still, the messaging has an inside-our-four-walls, organizational framing, not a donor-centric one. There’s a lot of “we,” “us,” and “look at what we’re doing,” instead of “you” and “here’s how you can help.”

    Of course this email will probably raise a lot of money. That’s the thing with disaster fundraising. It often does well even if it’s done badly, because donors are generous people who do want to help. Still, donors want to be involved. They want to feel like their support is needed. So instead of making it about what the nonprofit is already doing, it should be more about how much you, the donor, is urgently needed now to save lives. Messaging along those lines can raise even more revenue. Which would save even more lives.

  • Two ways to begin a fundraising appeal – from Jerry Huntsinger

    In Jerry Huntsinger’s “86 Tutorials in Creating Fundraising Letters and Packages,” he makes a point about how to begin a fundraising appeal.

    He makes his point with an example. It’s an appeal for a cancer charity. It begins:

    “Children shouldn’t have to face the devastation of cancer and death. But they do. Each year, hundreds of children…”

    It’s the standard, institutional, boilerplate blah, blah, blah. Jerry notes that where the letter actually begins is in the fifth paragraph, with this:

    “Lance was diagnosed with leukemia two days before Christmas. He was 2 years old. ‘Lance was so sick that they flew us to Twin Cities for immediate treatment,’ his mother said. ‘His platelets were so low that his teeth bled through the night.’”

    BAM – there you are, right in the middle of the drama. Nothing institutional about that. Nothing blah, blah, blah about that. Especially that detail about the boy’s teeth bleeding – that detail gets you.

    Sure, starting an appeal with a story is a tried-and-true approach. But here’s the point. The first opening – “Children’s shouldn’t have to face …” – is basic expository prose. It’s simply explaining something. It’s simply conveying a generalization about children and cancer. It’s not trying to involve you. (It’s something you’d get from ChatGPT if you asked it to write an appeal about childhood cancer.)

    The second opening – “Lance was diagnosed …” – is meant specifically to involve you. It’s telling you that this letter is about a human drama playing out right before your eyes. It’s one human being talking to another.

    As Jerry says, the second opening will raise more money.

  • Tell a better story for fundraising

    Is this the way to make the story in your fundraising appeal more memorable and more impactful?

    Tell it in the present tense.

    Most of the time, stories are in the past tense. This happened, then that happened, then this happened. But there’s research to suggest that stories in the present tense pack a lot of punch and leave an impression on the listener. And that’s because researchers found neural coupling between the storyteller and the listener in a story that’s told in the present tense.

    Granted, this research involved verbal communication, so it may not be directly applicable to written words. But still, it is interesting.

    The researchers wired up the brains of the storyteller and the listener. And when the story was told in the present tense, similar parts of both brains were lighting up. This could mean that the storyteller and the listener are more in sync.

    Partially this could be because a story in the present tense is more likely to be judged by the brain receiving it as an emotionally charged event. Which means that the person hearing the story gets a shot of the brain chemical dopamine. Which makes the whole experience for the listener more impactful and more memorable.

    That’s the theory, anyway, and when you think about it, it does make sense. A story seems more immediate in the present tense. Which means that you’re listener is going to be more, well, present and more likely to stay with you for the whole story and what follows. Like the call to action.

    Naturally, nothing has been conclusively proven in this research. Communication is far too complex for almost anything to be conclusively proven. But it is something that could be worth trying and testing.

  • Positioning for your nonprofit

    Donors want to know that they’re making a difference with their gifts. That’s always been the case, and it’s even more true now with the current recession going on.

    So that’s why it’s important to take a look at your donor communications with a healthy dose of skepticism, as Pamela Barden suggests in her blog post.

    Here are the four questions she recommends that fundraisers should ask themselves as a kind of self-test, a check to see if we’re on the right track:

    • So what? You should be clear about why your organization exists, the impact it’s having, and the outcomes it’s producing. By asking So what? you keep the focus on what matters to your donor.
    • Who’s doing it better? You need to know what other similar nonprofits are doing and what they’re saying about what they do. It’s important to know how your organization is different.
    • What’s our unique selling proposition? You’ve probably heard this marketing term before, but it still applies. It’s all about conveying a specific benefit to your donor that she can’t get anywhere else.
    • What’s the best story to show this specialness? This is where you connect emotionally with donors and do it in a way that shows how what your organization does matters – and deserves your donor’s support.

    Great questions, all. But really, when you think about it, these questions are aiming at basically one thing – positioning. The positioning of your nonprofit. And that basically comes down to the one thing or couple of things that make your nonprofit different from the others.

    So, it’ll be helpful to think about the answers to these four questions, and use them to come up with a positioning statement for your nonprofit.

    A positioning statement, not a mission statement. They’re vastly different. A mission statement is more aspirational, more pie-in-the-sky. Mission statements for most nonprofits are generally pretty vague and not all that useful for fundraising.

    A positioning statement, on the other hand, is useful for fundraising, because it captures what your organization does and what it does that’s different.

    There’s a lot of information out there on positioning statements, and there are lots of templates to use in creating one.  A basic template, though, for a positioning statement is this:  For <target audience>, <organization> is a <type of nonprofit> that <differentiator>.

    Let’s look at an example. Say the nonprofit is a homeless shelter that’s open all day, every day and allows people who are homeless to stay as long as they need to in order to get their lives back on track, achieving the goal of permanent housing.

    So for this nonprofit, we might have a positioning statement like:

    For donors who want to help people who are homeless, Hope Shelter is the social services nonprofit that provides the short-term or long-term stability a homeless person needs to overcome their challenges, secure permanent housing, and return to society.

    This is one out of many possibilities, of course. There isn’t necessarily one right answer when it comes to a positioning statement, and it may change over time as your nonprofit changes. But like any positioning statement, it can be a helpful measure to see whether your fundraising communications are on-strategy.

    But there’s an even simpler way. There have been tons of books, articles, webinars, and more on the topic of positioning and branding. The more you read about it, the more dizzyingly complex it becomes. But there’s a far simpler – and many would say – better way to approach it.

    The branding and positioning for most of the world’s biggest brands can often be reduced to one adjective or at least one word.

    Volvos are safe. Porsches are fast. Apple computers are intuitive. Nike is aspirational. You get the idea. One word that signals a difference, a direction. Sure, it’s simple, but in marketing and fundraising, simple is powerful. And it’s easy to keep in mind when you’re creating appeals.

    So what’s the word for your nonprofit? In the example for the shelter above, the word might be “stability.”

    Stability in the sense that the shelter is an oasis in the chaos and uncertainty of living out on the street … that the shelter is always open, 24/7, to help someone who’s homeless … that someone who’s homeless can stay as long as needed to turn their life around … that the ultimate goal is for the person to find permanent housing … that addressing homelessness creates a stronger, better community for everyone, including the donor, and so on.

    Once you have a clear positioning for your nonprofit, you can check your donor communications against it, and that means, instead of seat-of-the-pants, you’re operating from a strategy – a much better way to go.

     

     

     

  • Make your fundraising appeal stronger with the right teaser

    An appeal from a religious nonprofit has this teaser on the outside envelope:

    “It is necessary to be strong, in order to become great; that is our duty. Life is a struggle which we cannot avoid. We must triumph!”

    It’s a quote from Padre Pio, and while it’s certainly inspirational, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher as a teaser for a direct mail appeal.

    The reverse side of the envelope has another quote from Padre Pio that’s also about struggle and strength in adversity.

    The envelope has a four-color illustration of Padre Pio, along with some graphic elements. Obviously, some attention went into this. Which makes the teaser even more puzzling.

    The outside envelope of a direct mail appeal is prime real estate. There should be lots of thought about what to say on that envelope and what to show, because that’s what determines whether your appeal gets opened or gets tossed in the trash. And getting the envelope opened is the number one, overarching goal.

    The problem is that there’s a dizzying array of options when it comes to teasers. Including not having a teaser at all and simply mailing a plain envelope.

    But the main point is that the teaser has to tease – it has to make the donor want to see what’s inside.

    Sure, a quotation might do that, but usually you have to put a little more into it.

    Basically there are three kinds of teasers: the offer teaser, the benefit teaser, and the curiosity teaser. You can see more about that here.

    So instead of a quotation on this outside envelope, we might think about a benefit teaser or a curiosity teaser and come up with something like:

    • Let Padre Pio inspire you with new strength in these troubling time – inside
    • Why does Padre Pio say, “Do not fear adversities”?
    • See Padre Pio’s prayer for you in these tough times – inside
    • Unsure? Frightened? Pray with Padre Pio now. See how, inside
    • Pray THIS prayer (inside) with Padre Pio for strength in these trying times.
    • Why we need Padre Pio now more than ever in these uncertain times

    These are just a few possibilities for a teaser that could motivate donors to look inside. Another way to go would be an offer teaser.

    The offer presented to donors in this appeal is to join in a special birthday mass for Padre Pio in gratitude for his guidance and intercession. When the donor gives, she can also include her own story about what Padre Pio means to her, along with her prayer intention.

    So, an offer teaser could be something like, “Special Birthday Mass for Padre Pio – join us and draw on his strength in these trying times. Prayer card enclosed.”

    This is of course just one possibility out of many.

    Point is, the teaser is one of the most important parts of a direct mail appeal. But for some reason, it’s often treated as an afterthought. Lots of times, only once the appeal letter is created does attention turn to the outside envelope and the teaser. In reality, it should be the other way around. It’s vital to entice donors on the outside envelope, and get them wanting to see what’s inside. That’s the first step in moving them to give.

  • Coronavirus fundraising – there’s a better way

    Judging from what’s showing up in mailboxes and email inboxes, it looks like a lot of nonprofits are struggling with the messaging around the coronavirus crisis. But honestly, they’re making it much harder than it has to be.

    Take this example from a prominent aid and relief charity. The first paragraph begins with the new president and CEO introducing himself and then acknowledging that he’s stepping into his new role at a challenging time. “We’re all facing the coronavirus pandemic,” he writes. Uh…no kidding.

    So, apparently, this is a new-CEO letter, plus a coronavirus fundraising appeal. Generally, it’s not a great idea to try and do two things with one letter. It’s best when the letter has one purpose and one point.

    The next paragraph talks about how COVID-19 threatens everyone, especially the elderly and people with health conditions. There’s no need to waste time saying this. People have gotten this information thousands of times by now.

    In the third paragraph, the letter writer explains that he’s often asked if it’s difficult to be a CEO at this challenging time, and then assures us that the organization adapts to challenging times because of their strong teams. This comes off as way too self-serving, but beside that, it’s not good fundraising, because it’s about the organization not the donor.

    The next paragraph congratulates the front line health workers for their commitment and the organization’s supporters for their commitment. This is an okay sentiment, of course, but it shouldn’t be here, four paragraphs in, before we’ve even come to an ask.

    Paragraph five explains that all hands are needed on deck in this crisis, and asks, “Can you help us?”  Not “Can you help shut down the coronavirus?” But “Can you help US?” This is organization centric, not donor centric.

    It’s not until the sixth paragraph that we get to the real point of the letter: a donation to provide personal protective equipment for health workers. Before we get to that, though, the letter explains that the organization has already shipped tons of PPE for health workers.

    Hang on a minute – so the organization has already shipped tons of PPE and now they’re asking for a donation to ship PPE? That’s a strange way to present an ask. Why would you tell a donor, right before the ask, that you’ve already done the very same thing you’re asking the donor to do? Sort of takes the edge off of the urgency, doesn’t it?

    There’s a far better way to structure this appeal, and it starts with the opening. Begin with the real and urgent need for PPE. This is something, given the wall-to-wall news coverage, that every donor will immediately get. Then show the donor how her gift fulfills that need, ideally with a specific and compelling offer. Something like: “Your gift of $XX sends XX pairs of gloves. Your gift of $XX sends XX masks.” And so on.

    It’s one of the basic best practices of disaster fundraising. In many disasters, the news coverage provides the background, which means that donors mainly need to know how they can help and what their help will do. If it takes five or six paragraphs of blab to get to this point, most donors will be long gone.

    There’s a basic framework for structuring disaster-fundraising appeals, and it doesn’t include talk about the commitment of your staff, your organization’s history, your organization’s flexibility, generalities about how much of a threat coronavirus is, and similar things. They’re just not relevant. They take the donor’s eye off the ball.

    What disaster fundraising does require is a compelling expression of the need, a clear case for the urgency of the donor’s gift, and a strong offer that details what the donor’s gift will do. All focused around one core idea. Because when the appeal has one purpose and one point, there’s a far greater chance that it’s going to break through, connect with donors, and raise more money.