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Since when are you all knowing?

September 13, 2011 By Sandy

Got your attention?  Good. There’s something bad that’s happening in lots of nonprofits and I don’t want it to happen to you.

You see, lots of well-meaning people are making decisions for their donors instead of letting their donor decide.  They’re deciding how much their donors want to give and when they want to give, instead of letting the donor decide.  It’s rude and it hurts your fundraising.

Here’s an example.  Yesterday, I met with a wonderful, passionate woman who is Executive Director of a small nonprofit that is changing many lives for the better.  She was explaining to me how they keep in touch with their donors.  One strategy they use is to send gift summary letters out in January, but only to those donors who gave $200 or more during the year.

“Why?” I asked her.  I was shocked that they’d leave out so many donors and basically ignore them. She didn’t have a good answer.  Probably they do it to save money.  I explained to her that many of those “lower level” donors might be capable of giving much more if she spent a little time with them too.  She seemed to think that some of them had made a one-time gift.

I wanted to ask her “Since when are you all knowing?”  But I phrased it a little nicer than that. 

The point is this:  unless you’re a mind-reader, you don’t know WHAT is going on inside a donor’s head and heart.  Don’t make decisions for them.  Don’t assume that “the economy is bad and people won’t give.”  Instead, give your donors the opportunity to give when and how much they want.  When you cut them out because you think you know what they’ll do, you definitely won’t raise any money.


In 17 more days, we’ll be releasing the book that will answer many, many questions you have about raising money!  It’s “Get Fully Funded:  How to Raise the Money of Your Dreams” and you can get the entire scoop right here on the Get Fully Funded blog.

Filed Under: Donor Relations, General Fundraising, Get Fully Funded

Why do they give?

August 30, 2011 By Sandy

Thank goodness we’re not all the same!  Wouldn’t the world be a boring place if we were?  There would only be one flavor of ice cream (because we’d all want the same kind).  There would only be one kind of music (I shudder to think what we’d all be listening to or singing karaoke with!!).

If we were all the same, we’d be donating money for the same reasons.  Maybe we’d all want to give back or maybe we’d all want to help others.  Or maybe we’d all just want the tax benefit. But, since we’re all different, we give for lots of different reasons. 

It’s important to keep this in mind when you are fundraising.  It’s easy to start to assume that we know why people will give to our cause, and then create our appeal around the assumed reason.  Big mistake.  We can often get it wrong!  If we assume that people will give because ours is a good cause, we’re going to be sad when donations don’t come pouring in.  Instead of assuming, we need to either find out why people give to our organiation or make our appeal broad enough to be compelling for lots of different folks and different giving reasons.

Here are some of the common reasons why people give:

  • They want to change or save a life
  • They want to help those less fortunate
  • They want to give back
  • They want to make their community a better place
  • Their religion encourages them to give
  • They want the tax benefit

And the most common reason?  Because someone asked.

I was working with a client yesterday, putting together an appeal letter.  He was convinced that most people would give for the tax benefit.  I had to convince him that was not necessarily the case.  He thought that since that’s the reason he would give, it would be the same reason for others.  I had to help him see that people give for many different reasons.

So, next time you’re planning a fundraising letter or an event, remember not to guess you know why people will give. Don’t assume that they are all interested in the tax benefit or that they all want to give back.  Until you get to know your donors, you won’t know exactly what their reasons are, so give them lots of reasons to support your cause.

Filed Under: Donor Research, General Fundraising

When every dollar counts

July 31, 2011 By Sandy

If you’re like many of the nonprofit folks who read my blog, every dollar you raise is important.  You’re looking for every opportunity to raise money for your good cause.  And right you should.

Here’s something I ran across recently that I thought you might be interested in if you haven’t seen it yet.  It’s called Microgiving.

Microgiving is a crowd funding website that lets you raise money online to fund a project, cause or entrepreneurial idea. If you’re looking to raise money, set up a crowdfunding campaign. This allows you to test your concept from day one. In addition to providing you with funding, you can even link to an existing website or Facebook profile from Microgiving, which will help give your site more credibility to visitors, and will help in boosting your traffic, which means more money in your pocket!

To learn more or create a campaign, click sign up. Good luck!

Filed Under: General Fundraising, Website/Internet
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