The Better Fundraising Company

Here's another quick tip for you as the year-end approaches... 🎯 📞 Call a major donor who hasn't given a gift yet. Here's what to do (this will be easy for some nonprofits, hard for others): 📋 • Make sure you know exactly who your major donors are. • Run a report to see which of them haven't given in the second half of this year. • Call each Major who hasn't given recently, or who you think could give another gift this year. 💡 Here's What to Say Our approach is that this call is a reminder – a service to the donor – not a direct Ask. Take as much of the following script as is helpful to you and the context of each donor: "I'm calling because I know how much you love helping [beneficiaries/cause], and I noticed that we hadn't received a gift from you yet, here at the end of the year. You and your generosity have been extraordinary. So I wanted to call to see if there's anything you need from me, or [your organization name], to help you make a gift or decide to make one." Then stop talking. Be comfortable with tension (if there is any). Let the donor speak next and take the conversation from there. ✨ Pro major gift fundraisers will also be prepared with three things: • How much you'd like the donor to give • What her gift will do / the outcomes her gift will create • Reasons her gift is needed before the end of the year 📱 If your call goes to voicemail, leave the message on voicemail. 📧 And if you can't make the call, send an email. But only if you can't call. ⚡ It won't work for every major donor – because nothing works for everyone. But for some majors who have been busy, or traveling, or were on the way to sending you a gift but put down your letter and forgot – you'll be providing them a great service. You'll be helping them give a gift that they would love to make! 🎁 And you'll be raising more money!

🎄 As we head into the Christmas season, we have 12 ideas for the 12 Days of Christmas – helpful tips for you as you enter the busiest fundraising season of all! 🎁 With apologies for the cheesy hook 🧀, listen to Steven Screen and his podcast co-host, Jeff Brooks, as they give you some ideas that are especially applicable right now. ✨ Listen now! 🎧 https://lnkd.in/gWFtCBwm

🌟 5 Tips For Your Most Successful Digital Year-End Campaign 📱 Are you ready? 🚀 According to Network for Good, most nonprofits raise about 1/3 of their revenue in December. And 11% of their annual total during the last three days of the year. 📊 Year-end is the easiest time to raise more money online! Think about it this way: 💡 🎁 Your donors are more likely to give during the last weeks of the year than any other time of the entire year. ✨ And because year-end is such an important time for digital fundraising, we want to give you 5 tips that will ensure a successful year-end for your fundraising. 1: Use the same message in every channel 📣 Some of your donors are online, some aren't. Pick your strongest message, then repeat it through direct mail, email, your website, and social media. It's more powerful for your donors to see the same message in different media channels than it is for them to see two different messages. Repetition is your friend! 🔄 2: Ask early and often ⏰ You've been talking to your donors all year about what your organization does, you've told them how they can help. So this time of year, don't Thank them. Or Report to them. It might feel counterintuitive, but our testing showed that Thanking and Reporting this time of year will cause you to raise less money than you could. Follow the advice below and just Ask well! 3: Emphasize the deadline ⌛ A deadline communicates urgency. December 31 is a natural deadline — for the tax year and for your organization. Tell donors your deadline and repeat it multiple times in your messages. 📅 4: Set a goal 🎯 How much do you want or need to raise? What would it take for you to meet your budget? Feed everyone you want to feed by year-end? Shelter abandoned pets through the end of the year? Overcome a financial shortfall? Tell your donors the goal. We need to raise $XX,XXX by midnight, December 31. 💰 5: Communicate consequences 💭 What will happen if you don't meet the goal? Connect the donor right to the heart of your work. 💞 We need to raise $XX,XXX by midnight, December 31 or we will have to cut back on the number of pets in our shelter in the coming year. Or We need to raise $XX,XXX by midnight, December 31 or we will not be able to advocate for the arts as effectively next year. Whatever your organization does, if having less money means you would be able to do less next year, say so! Most important tip? Start now! 🏃♀️

📅 Just getting started with your year-end fundraising? Here's a quick list – Steven's best tips – for what to do with your remaining weeks before the end of the year. ⏰ Make a Plan to Start Earlier Next year First, the hard news: if you're just starting now, you've left money on the table. 💸 You could have raised more. That is a harsh truth. Many people won't like to hear it. But it's true. And for the moment, don't worry about it. But right now, go set a calendar reminder to start earlier next year. Seriously, set a reminder. ⏰ I'll wait. It's that important. The organizations that start their year-end fundraising earlier tend to raise more money. 💰 🎯 What to Do Now Do as many of the following things if you can. And here's the order I'd prioritize them in: 🤝 Identify and contact your major donors who have not yet given a gift this year. Don't do what most nonprofits do, which is hope that their majors give a gift before the end of the year. If you haven't already, identify exactly which of your major donors have not given gifts. Then reach out to each of them to ask for a special year-end gift to help your beneficiaries (not to help your organization). Do it in person if you can; phone is the next best way. Tell them their gift is needed now, and tell them their gift will make a difference! ✉️ Write and send your year-end letter. Send out a direct letter that powerfully asks donors to give a special gift before the end of the year. Tell them their gift is needed now, and tell them their gift will make a difference! If you use a mail house and it's going to take too long to get a letter produced, here's what to do: 1️⃣ Figure out how many letters you could print and send using your in-house process. 2️⃣ Start sending those letters to your top donors, starting at the top of your file and working down. 📧 Write and prep your year-end emails. Be sure to have at least three emails prepped for the last three days of the year. Remember that you do not have to reinvent the wheel: the emails should be VERY similar to your letter, and the emails should be very similar to each other. Repetition is the most effective tool you didn't know you have! Tell them their gift is needed now, and tell them their gift will make a difference! 🌐 Update your website to ask for a year-end gift. Make an update so that the first thing users see on your home page is a clear call-to-action and a large "donate" button. And... wait for it... tell them their gift is needed now, and tell them their gift will make a difference. You will raise more money than you expect. That's it! Do as many of those as you can, starting from the top of the list. ✅ Do a great job on each one before doing anything else. And if you can only do three things, do the top three. If you can only do two, do the top two. You get it. Remember: year-end is the easiest time of the year to raise more money than you expect! 🎉

Today we’d like to thank you for being a Fundraiser. You help your beneficiaries or cause with the funds you raise. You help your organization fund needed programs and incredible impact. You help donors see what’s happening in the world, and you give them a way to get involved. That’s a lot for one job! If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving here in the U.S. like we are, I hope you get a moment to breathe deep, relax your shoulders, and appreciate all the good you’ve done this year. The work you do matters, and it makes a difference. Thanks for being a Fundraiser!

What an incredible experience at the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference in Santa Ana Pueblo, NM! 🌵 Tamaya was the perfect place to reconnect with our old friends and get to know so many wonderful, new people! It's humbling to be surrounded by so many passionate people dedicated to making a difference in the world. Remember, your tireless efforts and commitment to your cause is truly inspiring. The good being done by everyone we met this week is incredible. When you return home, wherever that may be, keep your energy and inspiration going! Every story you share and every dollar you raise is making the world a better place. Thank you to for sharing your stories, insights, and experiences with us. And here's to the power of storytelling and the start to your new fundraising journey ahead! ✨️ - Your Friends at The Better Fundraising Company McKenzie Mitchell Jim Shapiro Sarah Lundberg, CFRE Mary Combi Melissa Kruse Steven Screen Marlize Adair, MBA, CNP Tracey Calderon Ashley Sherbino Gretchen Miller Jonathan Steck (not pictured Jacob Redway & Melissa Sims) #NonprofitStorytelling #BetterFundraising #AskThankReport #NPSC2024 #hyatttamaya

Year-end is the easiest time to raise more money online! Think about it this way: Your donors are more likely to give during the last weeks of the year than any other time of the entire year. And because year-end is such an important time for digital fundraising, we want to give you 5 tips that will ensure a successful year-end for your fundraising. Read Steven’s tips and get started! 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gk6azySw

The Messaging Tactic You Can Learn from Political Fundraising There’s a messaging tactic that small nonprofits can learn from the political fundraising this election season. (And by the way, you’re probably as tired of political fundraising as I am. But let’s separate our tiredness from a tactic we can learn from.) The tactic is telling your donors what their gift will stop from happening. You see this in political fundraising when you’re told that “a gift will stop the other party from gaining power.” Or “you’ll stop some bad thing from happening.” You get it. This is a message that most small nonprofits don’t take advantage of enough. We constantly talk about the things that the donor’s gift will make possible. But we forget to say the things that the gift stops from happening. Take child sponsorship for example. Classic child sponsorship marketing tells people that their gift will provide an education for the child, provide food for the child, provide access to medical care for the child. All of those things are outcomes that the gift will make possible. But that misses a whole slew of things that the gift stops from happening that are powerful and motivating! For instance, when a young girl is sponsored and stays in school, she doesn’t become a child bride. Sponsoring a boy means he stays in school and doesn’t enter the drug trade. Sponsoring any child means they stay under the eyes of loving adults and don’t get caught up in sexual trafficking. Each of those is highly motivating to donors. And I think you can see how using this messaging tactic would make for fundraising that more people would respond to. So I ask you, in addition to telling donors what their gift to your organization will make happen, do you tell your donors the negative things that their gift stops from happening? When you do, you will have given your donors additional powerful reasons to give a gift today. And in my experience, that has two powerful results: Donors have a better picture of your organization’s work and what their gift accomplishes. You raise more money. -Steven Screen

There’s a type of story that works incredibly well to raise money... ...an incomplete story with a current need. Here’s a video that Steven recorded with Christopher Davenport from the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference, that tells you why this approach works so well. The video includes an example of how to use this approach, and Chris tells us that he’s heard from tons of people about how helpful the example story is. 👀 Watch the video! It’s 11 minutes long, but it goes fast. And the ideas they share will jumpstart your fundraising in the coming months! https://lnkd.in/gzv6aTBk

🔥 Hot Take: Share Your Shortfall 🔥 Counterintuitive as it may seem, sharing your organization's financial shortfalls with donors can actually boost your fundraising efforts and strengthen donor relationships. But why? How does this work? Want to learn more? Check out Steven Screen's full blog post. 👉 https://lnkd.in/g-Tcbd7y #NonprofitFundraising #DonorRelations #BetterFundraising