How to raise less money through your fundraising appeals

Here are some common pitfalls to avoid if you want to raise more money, not less, through your fundraising appeals:

Don't ask. The truth is if you don't ask you don't get. However, many appeals fail to ask donors to give in compelling and inspiring ways. Some charities seem eager to talk about their needs or share stories and only ask once, rather sheepishly, in the final paragraph of the second page - saying something like: ' We need your support to do all this so please give generously.'

If you want to fundraise successfully make sure you position the ask strategically in various places of your appeal, in the response tool and outer envelope. Ask in a warm and enthusiastic manner, show donors what their gifts will accomplish and thank them in advance for their generous contributions.

Talk a lot about your charity's needs. I am sure donors love your charity but at the end of the day they give for their own reasons not yours. So, stop telling them about your organisational needs (e.g. we must meet our budgets, pay our bills, etc) and don't hog all achievements.  Make an effort to understand what motivates your donors to give (and no, it is not because they think you are the best!).

And, start talking about donors as members of your wider team, talk about how they are changing the world and impacting lives through your charity's work.

Don't convey a sense of urgency. The donor might have thought your appeal was good but they filed it away to deal with it some other day. The problem is that one or two weeks later they forgot what moved them about the appeal and threw it away.

To avoid this make sure you communicate to the donor the reasons why they should respond quickly. You can do this by adding a deadline to the letter or by incorporating various reasons as to why the donor should respond with a gift right now.

Don't get donor's attention. According to direct marketing guru Siegfried Vögele you have up to 20 seconds to hook the donor into reading the appeal! During that time they are likely to - open the envelope, examine the contents and decide whether to read on or not.  

Are your stories compelling? Is your ask clear? Is the design of the letter clean and simple? Do your photos tell a story? - All the elements of the package need to work together for fundraising success.

Try to convince the head, not move the heart. Cerebral descriptions of your charity's programmes and lots of statistics are great for training your staff team. But, they are not the stuff fundraising letters are made off. Big picture statistics or statements rarely stir someone's heart but good stories do.

Sound too clever. Successful fundraising copy is simple copy that a 'distracted' donor can read with ease. This means using short paragraphs, short sentences and everyday English.  Remember that the donor wasn't expecting a letter from you and they probably get a lot of stuff in the mail from other charities too. After a long day the last thing a donor wants to do is read a letter filled with run-on sentences, acronyms and big words.

Send fewer appeals. Often donors are likely to support charities that continue to keep them involved through a variety of communications. And, donors who feel appreciated and true partners in your work are likely to give again and again, when presented with new opportunities to make a difference. 

Insights on improving conversations with your charity's donors

The most common way of measuring donor response is by looking at the outcomes of fundraising appeals, online campaigns, newsletter response slips, etc. How many donors said 'Yes’ with their gifts and how many said ‘No’ by ignoring your request for support.

But, is this really all that is being said in the conversation between your charity and your donors? It seems to me that there is a lot more to be gleaned from donor’s responses to your appeals and other communications.

For example, consider these responses from your charity's donors:

·       Yes, I’ll support your cause, but not by taking on a direct debit.

·       Yes, I’ll give you more than what you are asking for by filling in the blank space you’ve provided.

·       Yes, I’ll give something even when you are not asking because I am really inspired by your newsletters.

·       No, not now, but I will give at a different time of the year.

·       No, I will not give to your cause just yet.

If you want to engage donors in a meaningful conversation with your charity you need to recognise that they are not just saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and be ready to address a wider range of more subtle responses.

For example, suppose a donor sends a gift that is significantly larger than the suggested amounts on the response form. How should you respond?

You will say ‘Thank you’ of course, like you always do. But, should that be all? – How about telling them that you have noticed the gift is more generous than usual.

But, what else is the donor trying to tell you? You can find some clues in their giving patterns. How large is the gift compared to the donor’s lifetime giving value? Did they make this gift at a special time of the year, or at a time when they usually give?

If the gift is a significant increase, and especially if it is offered at a time of the year when they don’t usually give, they might be telling you they have received a windfall or money from a legacy.

Now, you can start into a new conversation with this donor by drawing them into a deeper relationship with your charity. If the donor is saying that they are happy to give more to your cause then change the money handles in their appeal next time you ask for a gift or consider moving them into a new donor group.

However, most fundraisers do not carry out such conversations with individual donors. They communicate with thousands of people at the same time through appeals, or email campaigns.

And, this is where the donor conversations get both interesting and challenging. If you are communicating or talking to thousands of donors at a time how can you treat them as individuals? – The answer is through rigorous database analysis.

Just think about the results of your recent fundraising campaigns. If each one of your donors is trying to tell you something what useful information can you glean from their responses?

What about the donor segments with the highest response and low average gifts? Are they looking for the right reasons to make larger gifts?

And, what about record numbers of lapsed donors who were reactivated through the Christmas appeal? Should you be using this appeal package to reactivate other lapsed donors in the future?

What are the donors who seem to respond to regular giving asks in relation to one aspect of your work trying to tell you?

The answers you are looking for are in your response slips and in your database. You just need a good way of discovering them. This is where we can help. 

Take our Fundraising Fitness Test to find out what donors are saying to your charity and to develop segmentation plans that can increase your appeal ROIs.

Why you should encourage lapsed donors to give again?

Recently, while conducting a Fundraising Fitness Test for a client I noted that ever year they were losing over 1,000 donors. And, this was a relatively small charity with less than 5,000 contacfs in their database. In other words, donors were coming in making a gift or two and then not giving again. The charity was doing some donor reactivation work but obviously not enough because the reactivation rates from year to year were less than 10%. 

Does this situation ring true for your charity also? Do you know how many donors your charity is losing every year? If you do, what are you doing to encourage lapsed donors to give again? 

Some Christian fundraisers are reluctant to remind a lapsed donors that they have not given in a while, others keep sending the same appeals to these donors that they send to everyone else and hope for the best. Whether you are following the first or the second strategy I mentioned here one thing is for sure that soon you will end up with very few donors and you will be forced to spend a great deal of money to find new ones. 

Why does donor reactivation matter? 

It matters because it is easier (and cheaper) to encourage a past donor to give again than to get a potential donor to make their first gift. 

What can you do about it? 

First of all set a definition of 'lapsed' donors for your cause - I recommend to most clients that a lapsed donor is a person, or a church or a corporation whose last gift to the charity was 12 months ago.  

Secondly, get to know your current lapsed donors by setting up and running a query in your database to identify donors who have not given to your cause in the last 12 months and have a look at their profiles, the amounts they gave, the types of projects the supported, their giving history. 

Thirdly, think about how you can remind this group of donors about their giving and the value of their support to your charity. You can deliver this reminder with care and love, in keeping with the character of your charity.

You might want to write them a letter or send them an email or when appropriate make a phone call to them. You can gently inquire about their life circumstances, challenges they might be facing. " Perhaps you have been facing some difficulties I’m not aware of...." 

Or, you can acknowledge how busy the donor is and how focused they might be in their priorities, "I know how easy it is to get busy with many things, family, children, work, church ..." And, you might even invite donors to share with you about any prayer needs they might have so your staff team can support them in prayer — regardless of whether the donor is able to give again or not. 

And, you can share some news about your charity and invite the donors to renew their support to your cause. Share impact stories with them, tell them that their contributions have been missed, thank them for their past support and show them what can be achieved by their future gifts. 

Fourthly, create two or three donor reactivation packages and test various copy concepts and strategies for communicating with lapsed donors. Once you have mailed or emailed the lapsed donors from the last 12 months you might want to go back a bit further and mail lapsed donors from 24 months ago or 48 months. However, a word of warning here, don't spend much time and money in trying to reactivate donors who gave to your cause 48 months ago - they might be supporting other causes now but if you want to keep these people around then invite them to sign up to your email communications or to join your facebook page. 

How is the recession impacting Christian giving?

The majority of evangelical donors (93%) answered our question about the impact of the recession on their charitable giving. The good news for churches and charities is that more than half of those who responded (62%) said that the recession had not impacted their giving while 38% said that their giving had been impacted. (The survey was carried out in Autumn part of 2009)

Furthermore, when asked whether they were donating the same amounts as they did six months prior to the survey the vast majority of evangelical donors (80%) said ‘yes,’ 9% said they were donating less than they did six months ago and 11% of donors did not answer this question.

Unfortunately, the opposite is happening in that charities and churches are tightening their belts and shying away from investing in their fundraising or stewardship programmes. Christian charities keep cutting their marketing budgets, or making fundraising staff redundant and some have even stopped their new donor acquisition activities.

If this trend continues, bearing in mind that 53% of current donors are either not likely to respond to new giving opportunities or are undecided, then charities who will grow their income are ones who are investing wisely in new donor acquisition campaigns amidst the recession.

Here are some more research insights that you might find useful:

Empty nesters are more likely to keep giving in recession
Evangelical donors without dependents at home are more likely to continue giving in recession compared to donors with dependents at home. 24% of donors with dependents stopped giving compared to 15% of donors without dependents.

Wealthy donors will continue to give
As expected, recession is having a stronger impact on the giving of donors from low household incomes. One in four donors from households making less than £10,000 stated that their giving has been impacted by recession, this figure fell to 22% for donors with household incomes of £20,000 - £30,000 and to 13% for donors from households making £50,000 or more annually.
Regular giving is safe amidst financial turmoil
The presence of dependents at home is not likely to be a key factor in a donor’s decision to stop giving regularly to a charity. We noted that 5% of donors with dependents at home and 6% of donors without dependents at home had stopped giving regularly to one or more charities as a result of the recession.

This data does not contradict the point we made earlier but can be taken to indicate that the majority of donors with dependents at home whose giving has been impacted by recession have probably stopped making one-off gifts. In other words, once donors decide to give regularly to a charity they are likely to follow through with their commitment despite the recession.
Men are steady givers
Men are more likely to continue giving in recession compared to women. Nearly half of women donors (47%) stated that their giving had been impacted by recession compare to 33% of male donors.

Older donors are most likely to be affected by recession
The economic recession is having a stronger impact on the charitable giving of older donors. Half of evangelical donors in the 75+ age group and 41% of donors in the 65-74 age group stated that their giving impacted by the recession. This figure fell to 35% for donors in the 54-65 age group and 30% for donors in the 45-54% age group.

Donors in employment still likely to give
Evangelical donors who are still working are more likely to continue to support their favourite charities through recession compared to donors who are retired or not working. 69% of donors currently working stated that their giving has not been impacted by recession compared to 58% of donors who are not working.

So, how focused are you on recruiting new donors from the empty nesters group? Have you got any plans to grow your major donor giving? How will you target men in a focused way to keep them connected to your cause? What about payroll giving schemes to encourage those in employment to support your charity?

The favourite ways of giving for UK Christians

Here is some interesting data from our Why Christians Give survey:

1. Nine out of ten evangelical donors have a favourite way of giving.

2. More than half of evangelical donors (56%) prefer to give via standing orders and direct debits.

3. The least popular ways of giving were: online donations (2%) and Stewardship or CAF accounts used by respectively 4% and 7% of evangelical donors.

4. On the whole evangelical donors are more likely to give regularly to charities compared to UK donors’ at large (52% vs.37%).

However, while the relative popularity of methods for UK donors might have changed little in the last decade, the popularity of regular giving methods has changed a lot for evangelical donors.

A partial comparison of preferred ways of giving in 2009 vs. 1998 reveals that giving by cheque was the most popular way of giving followed by standing orders and CAF accounts. Today, we see a 25% increase in giving by direct debits and a 14% increase in giving by standing orders, while giving by cheque remains almost at the same level.

So, do you know your donor’s favourite ways of giving? Have you ever asked them? In what ways would that information affect the way you ask for money in the coming year?

How are you engaging with Baby Boomers as Donors?

One of the key findings of my Christian Giving Survey revealed that the typical Christian donor today is likely to be 55 - 64 years old male, a university graduate, still in employment (in other words a Baby Boomer).

In the UK today Baby Boomers are the largest and richest pupulation segment group - they hold 80% of UK's wealth and are set on spending it in ways they please them. While large charities with big marketing departments have worked hard at understanding this group and tayloring communications to meet the Boomer's needs and expectations many small, or medium size charities are trying to reach out to Baby Boomers without really knowing much about them.

Here are some pointers from our own research and from general thinking about Baby Boomers that can help small charities smarten up their fundraising and makw the most of their relationships with generous Baby Boomers.

1. Baby Boomers are likely to be university graduates who have an appetite for information (like to listen to Radio 4 or watch the news on the BBC) and have more discretionary income than older or younger people. Appetite for information and discretionary income are top requirements for direct mail fundraising.

The question is: What is your charity doing to acquire new supporters from the Baby Boomer generation? Find out what Boomers read or listen to, where do they hang out in your local community (clubs, groups, associations) and think creatively about how you can get your charity cause in front of them.

2. Our research showed that Baby Boomers appreciate good communications - inspiring stories, feedback about projects they have supported, big picture articles on issues you are addressing. How do your charity's newsletters or appeals tell your charity's impact stories? What compelling pictures are you painting for Baby Boomers so they can support your cause? How are you keeping them informed about the impact their giving is making?

3. Baby Boomers are often depicted as self-centered people who grew up in affluent times. They want to be treated as individuals and like to express themselves. That is why personalised fundraising appeals are a wonderful way of connecting with Baby Boomers and giving them opportunities to express themselves in the ways they engage with charities.

Our research showed that wealthy Baby Boomers want to have their say in shaping a charity's direction and future plans. Once you understand what makes Baby Boomers tick the question is: How can your charity provide ways for Baby Boomers to engage with your work and feel that they are playing a special role in making the world a better place through their giving?

4. Most major donors and philanthropists are likely to give generously not because they have high incomes (although that is often the case) but because they have accummulated assets. The fact of the matter is that Baby Boomers are and will continue to inherit significant assets from their parents. And, these assets will ensure that they can sustain their busy lifestyles as well as their charitable giving.

What is your charity doing to tap into this 'inherited' wealth of Baby Boomers? What opportunities can you offer them to leave a mark in the world that goes beyond consumerism and pleasure?

5. Many direct mail packages today are still focused on getting support from the 65+ age groups - long copy and short copy, photos, images, cause concepts, language that appeals to older people but does not necessary connect with Boomers and yunger generations. The fact of the matter is that Boomers are different from their parents.

So, if your charity wants to relate to them you need to start testing the length of the appeals, test the use of credit card donations or regular giving option. And more importantly, create personalised appeals and thank you messages that prompt generosity and philanthropic conversations between your charity and your Baby Boomer friends.