Poorly built donation form pages will cost you a lot of lost revenue. And what constitutes poor built may surprise you. Here's a post from npENGAGE you should read: Donor Acquisition: 3 Donation Form Tweaks that will Quickly Improve Online Fundraising. Ask only for the information you need. Don't ask donors for information you don't absolutely need. Each extra field you make them fill out sends more of them away. (More on that here: How Many Fields Belong On Your Landing Pages?.) Don't distract from the act of donating. Don't have links away from the page, and don't put a... Continue reading

If you're a fundraiser, you should also be conversant in "elder marketing." These are the people who drive the charitable giving bus. And they're steadily moving online. That's why you should look at this study at Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox: Seniors as Web Users. Key findings (among many): Reduced visual acuity is probably the best-known aging problem, and yet websites with tiny type are legion. Pull-down menus, hierarchically walking menus, and other moving interface elements are problematic for seniors who are not always steady with the mouse. Seniors also have a harder time using unforgiving search engines and forms. Seniors often... Continue reading

Another great cartoon from Marketoonist: Why can we imagine an advertising creative director ending it all because someone wants to see proof that his work actually accomplishes what it's meant to accomplish? Easy: He knows it won't come out looking good. He knows that what he does is a flimsy construction built on a bad combination of wishful thinking, BS, and artistic self-expression. He knows it! Take the warning: don't work with standard ad agencies. Too many are not about accomplishing your goals. They have their own goals. They've been misusing their commercial clients for decades. They'll do the same... Continue reading

Failed fundraising projects often have one (or both) of these basic faults: Pedagogical. It's trying to educate people into giving. Polemical. It's trying to debate people into giving. Neither one works, as noted at Happy Donors: The #2 Secret to Writing Fundraising Letters that Maximize Results. Fundraising is about finding and cultivating people who already get it, who already want to be part of your cause: ... the purpose of your letter is not to educate or convince, it's to prompt them to do something they're already quite willing to do ... and to make that donation right now. You... Continue reading

If you're hoping to raise money from Boomers (and you'd better be doing that!) -- here are some thoughts from the Engage:Boomers blog: New Branding Rules. Check out these hints for connecting with the demographic group that will soon (if not already) dominate the ranks of your donors: I'm not a stereotype. (Don't treat them as a generation. They think of themselves as individuals.) Help me first. (Show them what's in it for them.) Embrace the basics. (Clarity, urgency, and emotion win every time.) Make me feel good about myself. (Charitable giving is the ultimate feel-good action. Remind them!) Involve... Continue reading

One of the dependably silly things you can observe if you watch the fundraising scene is organizations changing their names, leaving behind sensible understandable names for new jaw-droppingly strange ones. Seachange Strategies Blog notes this sad phenomena at Why name changes suck and branding is hard, pointing out two recent changes (Point Reyes Bird Observatory is now Point Blue Conservation Science and Jewish Funds for Justice is now Bend the Arc), along with a classic, when World Wildlife Fund tried to become World Wide Fund for Nature. As comical as some of these changes are, they aren't doing it for... Continue reading

Here's some very silly work done for World Wildlife Foundation - Philippines. It's in support of Earth Hour, an event that encourages people to turn off electric lights to raise awareness about climate change. This ridiculous mess is brought to us by our abstraction-loving, award-hungry, nonprofit-predatory friends at Leo Burnett. (This and several more similar pieces here.) You can figure this out if you know some background. That bright orange coral stuff is actually a melted-down candle! Get it? Oh, you didn't realize this whole thing is about Earth Hour? You didn't see the tiny logo in the upper right?... Continue reading

Discover how to stop wasting time, money and energy jumping from one fundraising tactic to the next and instead focus on what matters: Your relationship with your donors and your fundraising offer. When you understand those two things, you'll be better at choosing the right fundraising tactics, and you'll be much better at making any tactic fulfill its promise. To listen, click here to download the audio file or visit the Fundraising Is Beautiful page here, where you'll find several listening and subscription options. Or subscribe with iTunes: Continue reading

Somebody asked Kivi if making an email newsletter a quick, skimmable read constituted "dumbing it down." Read about it here at her blog: Making It Skimmable Is Not Dumbing It Down. (The title gives away the answer, but read it anyway!) Fear of "dumbing down" is one of the great forces of evil in our industry. It makes many fundraisers do extremely dumb fundraising. Making something simple is not dumbing down. Making something clear is not dumbing down. Making something emotionally compelling is not dumbing down. On the other hand, making your message complex and opaque is dumb. So is... Continue reading

Ugly makes beautiful fundraising. I'm not the only one who says so, Oneicity blog (among many others) knows it too and posts about it at Ugly direct mail works. Bottom line: ... if you want to improve your direct mail revenue, then be bold, embrace a little "ugly." It'll be OK, in fact, you may enjoy the income more than great design. This is so consistently true, you should probably develop a "pretty filter" that will help you squash anything that looks too nice. Because it's not going to work very well. Given the positive impact of "ugly" to raise... Continue reading

Fundraising Coach says Throw statistics out of your fundraising letters! Really? Throw them out? Well, yes:. ... studies are consistently showing that when it comes to fundraising, logic kills donations. Worse still, the evidence shows that we can’t mix emotion and logic. Telling an emotional story and throwing in even one calculation or statistic can have devastating results on your fundraising. This is hard to believe, because in our professional lives, we strive to make decisions based on facts and statistics. Actually, that's largely an illusion. We think we make our decisions on facts. Mostly, our hearts drive us. Then... Continue reading

If you're part of that tiny, isolated tribe that has not yet read The Fundraiser's Guide to Irresistible Communications, you might want to take heed to the thoughts to two top bloggers' reviews. Sean Triner, writing at FundraisingBooks.net: This is a book of unarguable, universal fundraising truths that apply in every country or culture I have ever worked in.... Joanne Fritz at About Nonprofit Charitable Orgs: ...here's my call to action: buy Jeff's book! And then start looking for the abstractions in your communications, and go for the literal instead. Discover what these nonprofit thought leaders have discovered! Get your... Continue reading

Fundraising has a lot more to do with love than with commerce. That's why this comparison at Clairification is apt: 6 Things Matchmakers Can Teach Fundraisers in an Era of Digital Darwinism: Help people find their soul mates. Strive to build relationships that will be long lasting and mutually satisfying. Respect the preferences of their customers and use these affinities as a guide to create proposals. Don't use "push techniques" or try to convince folks to meet people they don't want to meet. Offer and celebrate choices. Offer friendly and prompt service. Raise funds like you're a matchmaker. You'll get... Continue reading

Here are a whole bunch of fundraising copy tips from Karen Zapp's Nonprofit Blog: Keep it Simple. Keep it Friendly. Here are most of them: Speak (I mean out loud) what you want to write. Then write what you said; how you said it. Write the P.S. first – your offer Don’t be a nit-pick grammarian. It’s NOT about your nonprofit Hero of your mission is the donor or member. Make this clear in your copy. Use a larger font, and one that’s easy to read Black (not gray) colored font on white background is the easiest to read; body... Continue reading

The one type of marketing that kicks the stuffing out of direct marketing in effectiveness for cost is word-of-mouth marketing: People talking about you to other people they know. When word-of-mouth is pulling for your organization, you basically can raise money for free. (Not quite all the way free, but nearly so.) So why doesn't everybody just deploy word-of-mouth all the time? Well, a lot do. It just turns out that word-of-mouth marketing is extremely difficult and error-prone. Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That! has some analysis on this: 3 common word of mouth mistakes. Those mistakes: You're not... Continue reading

Dear Board Members, Most of you are parents, so I'm pretty sure you've read (and read and read and read) that classic of children's literature, Green Eggs and Ham by Doctor Seuss. On the remote chance that you haven't read it, here's what happens: A creature of indeterminate species named Sam-I-Am harasses another creature of possibly the same indeterminate species (and nameless), trying to persuade it to eat green eggs and ham. The unnamed creature does not like green eggs and ham, and refuses them despite a bewildering array of dining scenarios proposed by Sam-I-Am. Finally, though, the unnamed creature... Continue reading

In this not-to-be-missed interview, fundraising legend and co-editor of The Agitator discusses donor retention, the importance of social media in fundraising, and how things have changed in our profession over the years. This discussion will fill your brain with ideas. Note: somewhat salty language! To listen, click here to download the audio file or visit the Fundraising Is Beautiful page here, where you'll find several listening and subscription options. Or subscribe with iTunes: Continue reading

Here's a question from the Veritus Group blog: should major/caseload donors get the mail and email appeals that others get? And here's their answer -- which, if you follow the advice, could rock your revenue world: Absolutely. Check it out at Major Gifts and Direct Response ... What do You Do? Here's the reasoning: ... I have seen some disastrous results where organizations have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars because they decided for some reason that it was a good idea to stop mailing and e-mailing their major donors.... The combination of direct-response and MGO cultivation lifts all caseload... Continue reading

Are you getting better all the time? If you aren't, then you're effectively getting worse. Our profession is changing quickly. Sit around complacently for a few weeks, and you are left behind -- more ignorant than you were before. Here's some practical advice from npENGAGE: Five Ways to Become a Better Fundraising Professional. Read one thing related to your job a day (news article, blog post, or white paper) Participate in one webinar a month Attend one local networking event or conference each quarter Attend at least one national conference a year Participate in other fundraising events as often as... Continue reading

Seattle-area friends: I'll be speaking at the upcoming conference of the Northwest Development Officer's Association, along with Jill Perry of Providence Hospice of Seattle Foundation on Friday, June 7, at the Lynnwood Convention Center. Our presentation: How to Create a Revenue-Producing, Relationship-Building, Donor-Centric Newsletter. We'll share the secrets of great nonprofit newsletters, including, how to write headlines, the right voice for a newsletter, design principles, and the common "money-saving" idea that kills newsletters. Information and registration here. Early bird (that is, lower price) registration until May 24. Hope to see you there! Continue reading

Have you ever walked into a store and immediately backed out because the place was a random mess, blaring music that was hostile to you, and you couldn't figure out where you should go? A lot of nonprofit landing pages are like that. And that's a big problem. Because more and more donors give online -- and not any other way. If your landing page isn't welcoming, clear, and easy -- you are losing more money than you can count. The Bad Language has some help, at 15 ways to improve your home page. Here are most of them: Attractive... Continue reading

If you have ever cited "donor fatigue" as something that might be hurting your fundraising results, you need to read this article by Sean Triner at Pareto Fundraising: Donor fatigue fatigue. I believe donor fatigue is a pretend thing (used by unsuccessful fundraisers to cover their ... tracks). If you don't believe me, listen to Sean. He has mathematical proof that there's no donor fatigue. That proof: Good old RFV (recency, frequency, value) often called RFM or (recency, frequency, monetary.) A standard and time-tested tool from commercial direct marketing. Here's how it plays out for us: Recency: The more recently... Continue reading

I was advising an organization on their website, and one of the things I advised was this: Make your DONATE button a contrasting color from the rest of the page. Make it the easiest thing on the page to find. The web designer flipped his stylish lid. "That would be a disaster, he said. "It would undermine the entire color palette!" The conversation went downhill from there. This often comes up in discussions with designers, brand cops, and keepers of visual identity systems. They really stand up for those color palettes. They see them as paramount to the integrity of... Continue reading

by guest blogger George Crankovic When the likes of Warren Buffet or Bill Gates cuts a check to charity in the hundreds of millions of dollars, it attracts media attention and admiration all around. High rollers like these can do lots of good in one stroke of the pen. Maybe that's why many people assume charitable giving is largely a story of those who have done very well doing good. But according to a new book on charities and giving by Ken Stern, With Charity for All: Why Charities Are Failing and a Better Way to Give, the people who... Continue reading

It's pretty simple. You can really increase the chance that donors will care about the thing you want them to fund with just three steps, as articulated by Tom Ahern at Nonprofit Hub: How Nonprofit Fundraisers Can Build a Breathtaking Case. The three steps: Make it big. Make it simple. Make your donor the hero. Really, it's that simple. Do that, and the only thing that can shoot you down is having a mis-match between your offer and your donors. Continue reading