Fundraising Copywriter George Crankovic

Tag: Online fundraising

  • Try this to increase fundraising response

    One of the best ways to boost the response of your direct mail fundraising appeal isn’t what you might think. It’s to send an email.

    Mail and email complement each other, creating better response than either would separately. That’s one of the messages in new research from Virtuous and NextAfter on multichannel fundraising.

    The research shows that offline donors who receive an email are more likely to give a gift offline and to give again. The email also makes them more likely to give online.

    Clearly, the two channels – online and offline – work together. That’s important. Because, as the research shows, multichannel donors are worth three times more than either online-only or offline-only donors.

    So, the next time you do a mail appeal, take the next step and produce an email to go along with it. This is pretty easy to do. You’re simply creating a companion email that’s based on the content of your mail appeal, so most of the work has already been done. It’s mainly a matter of adjusting the messaging for email, formatting, and then distributing the email.

    Your fundraising will stand out because the research also shows that very few organizations are communicating with offline and online donors in multiple channels. Not sure exactly why this is. Maybe it’s the ‘multiple’ that’s scaring nonprofits off. Maybe they think you have to use every channel that exists. You don’t.

    But you do need to use mail and email. Not one or the other. Both, at the same time. And not just one online channel like social media. During a conversation about fundraising around the holidays, one nonprofit explained that the staff decided they would use social media – alone – for their Christmas fundraising. Good luck with that.

    Mail and email. That’s the way to go. That’s multichannel enough for now. And even that safe step forward will make a big difference in your fundraising.

  • How NOT to begin a fundraising appeal – and one way that almost always works

    A fundraising appeal from a social services nonprofit opens with this:

    “What would we do without you? How would we help local families like Michelle’s?”

    That’s the opening paragraph, the first thing that donors will see, and for some, the only thing they’ll see. Because if the opening isn’t right, then most donors won’t go any further. And that generally means no donation.

    What would WE do without you? How would WE help local families… That’s how this comes off to most donors. We, We, We. We’re the ones doing all the work, and all you do is give a few bucks every once in a while.

    This opening manages to create the appearance of donor centricity without really being donor centric at all. It seems at first like it’s empowering the donor but then it stops short. It takes aim at the target audience – the donor – then goes just wide of the target.

    Maybe the thinking behind this approach as an opening gambit is that it’s we, the organization, in partnership with you, the donor, working hand in hand to do good in the world. If that’s the case, a better approach might be something like this: “You and I are putting our hearts into this – together – to help local families like Michelle’s.” This way it’s more clear that donor and the person signing the letter are on equal footing in this arrangement.

    But still, there’s another approach to opening a fundraising appeal that brings fewer problems with it and almost always sets the appeal on the right track. And it has the added advantage of being simple and direct.

    It’s this: “I’m writing to you because …”  Most people in general and most donors in particular would appreciate receiving clear communication like this.

    No BS, no warming up to the subject, no initial throat clearing, no hollow flattery about how “we” couldn’t do anything without the particular donor reading the letter. Instead, just getting straight to the point about the need. As far as openings go, it’s about as tried and true as they come.

  • Coronavirus fundraising and what not to do

    Fundraising for the coronavirus emergency is, well, unusual so far.

    A soup kitchen sends an email with the subject line “A message from the president.” If you’re a donor scanning your email inbox, that could be just about anything.

    Then when you open it, there’s still no indication. The headline says “A message from the president.” So you read the first line: “I want to keep you informed about our response to the growing coronavirus threat and the impact it’s having across the country.”

    The following paragraphs talk about how the organization’s main priority is health and safety, working with local officials, taking the coronavirus threat seriously, taking necessary precautions, following CDC guidelines, and so on. The email goes on like this for five long paragraphs.

    Only at the very end does it mention that costs for extra cleaning supplies and other measures have caused a budget shortfall. And only at the very end is there an ask for support.

    In a similar vein, an email from an international aid and relief charity opens with an announcement that the WHO has officially declared the coronavirus to be a global pandemic. It goes on to talk about how the organization is taking steps to protect its staff and clients, how it has launched preparedness efforts, and how they’re dedicated to protecting the most vulnerable. There’s a link to a webpage that lays out the organization’s plan. There’s no ask in this email. It’s all informational.

    Question is, Why is this emergency being treated differently from any other emergency that people and nonprofits would deal with … any other tornado, hurricane, flood, fire? Why the form-letter, corporate-sounding pronouncements from on high?

    There’s no need for a charity to issue a formal public statement about the coronavirus. Donors know all about it. The news coverage has been wall-to-wall for weeks now.

    The best practices for disaster fundraising are pretty well established. They could and should be put to use in this disaster too.

    The email from the soup kitchen could open with a subject line and a headline that talk about helping to protect people from coronavirus.

    It could go on to talk about how the homeless people, volunteers, and staff are facing serious risks, and how need for cleaning supplies, disinfectant, cleaning crews, and more is incredibly urgent.

    Then it could have a specific and direct ask to fund the supplies and other actions needed.

    That would be along the lines of a typical disaster fundraising appeal. Lots of charities will need additional funding in this coronavirus emergency just as aid and relief organizations need additional funding after a hurricane, and there are specific best practices for disaster fundraising that show how to secure that funding. We should use them.

     

  • Your year-end appeal: last-minute help, free

    It’s time to get your year-end appeal (online and offline) set up, nailed down, and ready to go. If you’ve been putting it off … or if you already have an appeal prepared and want a gut-check before you launch, here’s help.

    This free guide covers everything from offers to formats to messaging, and more to ensure that your year-end appeal this year is one of your strongest. Get your copy of this free guide here: https://lnkd.in/ehxTgdV

  • Is this the end for digital fundraising?

    Yes, yes, we all know: the future of fundraising is digital, and direct mail is dead.

    So it’s all sunshine and rainbows on the digital fundraising side, then – right? Uh, not exactly. According to A love letter to digital advertising from a direct mail CEO, there are some serious dark clouds overhead that threaten to rain on the digital parade, like:

    • Email inboxes crammed with junk that nobody wants
    • Privacy breeches everywhere
    • Misinformation
    • Fake news
    • Fake influencers
    • Bots that inflate the number of followers
    • Click farms that pump up engagement numbers
    • Misleading metrics about number of clicks, reach, and influence

    Let’s face it: anyone with a laptop and an internet connection knows these things are true. Who among us hasn’t looked at their inbox and groaned at all the useless crap. Same for social media.

    The fatigue that people are feeling from digital marketing is there, and it affects fundraising response. If you’ve ever tried to raise money with email, you know how hard it is.

    And yet, it would be as foolish to predict the death of digital as it has been to predict the death of direct mail.

    Digital-oriented companies like Wayfair and Blue Apron are using direct mail to reach customers. And when Google wants to target business owners, they use direct mail.

    So, when nonprofits think they’re going to go online-only for their fundraising (because direct mail is too expense, and email is somehow “free”), they’re not. Direct mail and online have their problems when it comes to fundraising, but both are here to stay.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Worrying about your year-end appeal?

    What you need is information. It’s here, and it’s free: The Straight-Talk Guide to Year-End Fundraising. Download it now, free, and discover:

    • What you’re missing if you don’t engage your donors at this critical time of year.
    • Mid-level donors – why you shouldn’t overlook this special and generous class of supporters.
    • The importance of Giving Tuesday for year-end fundraising.
    • How to maximize donor response to your year-end appeal.
    • The specific type of offer to present to your donors.
    • What works and what doesn’t when it comes to the messaging for your appeal.
    • Multichannel – how integrate direct mail, email, and social media.
    • And much more.

    Make this year-end appeal your best ever. FREE Download: The Straight-Talk Guide to Year-End Fundraising.

  • Is social media fundraising worth it?

    With all the controversy about Facebook and selling user data and undermining user trust, it’s a good time to think about how and why we’re using social media for fundraising.

    It might not seem like it at first, but there’s a lesson for nonprofits and fundraisers in Sport Rider magazine. This popular motorcycling magazine went out of business a little while ago, even though they had 2.4 million Facebook followers — 2.4 million!

    Looking at 2.4 million followers, anyone could be forgiven for thinking, “Our readers love us! What could possibly go wrong?”

    But as vintage-motorcycle esthete Paul d’Orleans soberly observed, “A ‘like’ isn’t a dollar.” So true. In the cold light of day, those social-media vanity metrics aren’t really worth much.

    How many charities and fundraisers will learn this same, hard lesson about social media?

    How many ‘likes’ does your nonprofit get? How many followers do you have? Thousands? Millions? Chances are, all that means very little.

    Shareable content – that’s the key to social media, we’re told. Think about how much time and effort you’re spending to come up with clever videos, catchy photos, and other shareable content for social media all in order to chase likes and followers. What is it really achieving?

    Sure, the social media proponents say that Facebook and Instagram and the like are supporting and bolstering email response rates. And that may be true. After all, we know that email helps drive up direct mail response rates, so, yes, there may be some cross-channel benefit. But the problem is that when you use Facebook and other social media, they’re the ones in control of the platform, not you.

    As fundraising expert John Hayden explains, an over-reliance on social media is risky, and as an online strategy, instead of putting too much emphasis on social media, it’s smarter to focus more on email, which you can control and which actually produces fundraising results.

    For the fundraisers chasing vanity metrics like the number of followers, likes, impressions, and even more vague measures like awareness, it’s probably time to take a hard look at social media and then at actual donations.

     

  • Isn’t it time for one-click online donating?

    Amazon is the source for everything on the Internet. And according to NPR, it has held the patent on a process that has probably been largely responsible for its phenomenal growth. It’s one-click checkout.

    If you’ve ordered anything on Amazon – and who hasn’t? – you’ve probably noticed how easy it is. You log onto the site, chose your item, and click the button to order it. Easy. So easy in fact that you can get the idea to order, say, some ink cartridges for your printer, find the ones you need on Amazon, and have them on their way to you in under two minutes.

    Surprising as it seems, Amazon has held the patent on the process of one-click ordering since 1997 – back in the Wild West days of the Internet.

    But now that patent has expired. Which means that Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and others can develop one-click checkout.

    So, maybe now it’s time for charities to offer one-click donating. At this point, the options for online giving are a one-time gift or a monthly gift.

    But let’s say I like to give to Save the Looney Bird Society whenever the mood strikes, and let’s say the mood strikes maybe three or four times a year. I’m not a one-time giver, and I’m not a monthly giver.

    So, each time I feel a twinge of guilt about the plight of the Looney Bird, I have to fill in my name, street address, city, state, zip code, credit card number, expiration date, security code, and more.

    Of course, it’s not all that difficult to type that stuff in, but still, wouldn’t it be nice just to log onto the Society’s website and just click ‘donate,’ and know that the precious Looney Birds will be safe for another few months?

    Online donating is pretty easy. But it could be even easier. What do you say, online-fundraising developers?