It’s New Year’s Eve. Tomorrow starts a new financial year in Australia. FundraisingForce wishes everyone a successful end to the financial year and we hope you have been able to exceed your fundraising expectations and dreams.
It is just two days before the end of the financial year. Is there a sense of celebration or a sense of panic in your workplace? I hope it is a celebratory moment and not a tense one.
All of us scurry to bring in final revenue before the clock ticks midnight on 30 June. But, shouldn’t we really spend the two days catching our breath and implementing solid plans for the new year? Shouldn’t we turn our focus on analysis of what went well and a focus on what we need to alter from July forward?
Stewardship calls are the easiest calls to make. Often times thank you calls are the most surprising for a donor to receive because donors do not expect them. It’s true. Donors expect calls asking for money, requests to purchase lottery tickets, and other asks. It’s rare a call from a nonprofit organisation has the simple purpose of saying “thank you”.
Make one thank you call today. Call a donor who has given for the first time. Call a donor who has given for the past three consecutive years. Call a donor who has increased their level of giving year on year.
Make a thank you call every day or at least one time per week. Document the call in your customer relationship management (CRM) system. Measure and monitor the results of the calls. I bet you will see further engagement by those you call.
There are many reasons to call donors. Calling to make an ask does not have to be tbe only reason.
It’s tax appeal time.
The fact I give to hundreds of charities throughout the year means I am inundated with tax appeals during May and J
une. With only nine days left in the financial year, I am most surprised at the lack of follow up reminders from those nonprofit organisations I have not yet supported this season.
This last week I received an SMS reminder from CARE Australia. This unique (at least the only one I received) reminder stood out with a clear call to action.
There are nine days left in the financial year. What is your nonprofit organisation doing to capture the donor’s attention and to acquire gifts in the final days before the end of the financial year?
FundraisingForce recently conducted an acquisition mailing for an Australian charity. The charity rented lists via a list broker. The day after the appeal dropped, dozens of next of kin placed telephone calls informing the charity their loved one had died. In some cases, their loved one had died years prior. The impact of the deceased mail continued for the next two weeks as more calls were received by the nonproit organisation.
It is typical for some deceased and bad addresses to be included in a charity’s acquisition appeal. It happens whenever charities rent mailing lists and depends greatly on the quality of the data received.
In regards to deceased, these calls are, at best, uncomfortable for the next of kin to make and for the charity to receive. In some cases, these calls are embarrassing to the charity despite the fact the charity has simply rented the names via a reputable list broker. Finally, in most cases, these calls are not necessary and would not occur if charities banded together to manage their data lists. Here’s how:
This is not merely a charity responsibility. Next of kin also have a responsibility to report deceased to the various Australian services to ensure their loved ones do not receive mail. Service include:
If each of us, charitable organisations and next of kin alike, do our fare share and create processes and procedures such as those mentioned above, we can greatly diminish the number of deceased who are mailed and the painful impact on the next of kin.
Earlier last week, I had conversation with a man who has been instrumental in the creation of mentorship programs for school students and young adults in Chicago. Our conversation involved the establishment of such programs, but also focused on measuring the outcomes.
Far too few charitable organisations, in my opinion, take the time to measure the impact of their programs. I would further suggest, with a few exceptions, impact measurement is a relatively “new concept” to our sector.
Equally important, the conversation caused me to think about the fact each one of us who are seasoned fundraising professionals have the expertise to give so much back to those who are early in their fundraising career. We may feel we are time-poor, but everyone has a couple of hours they are able to lend each month. We are not talking about taking on another part-time job in terms of the time commitment required to be a mentor.
Fundraising Institute Australia (FIA) offers a mentorship program as a member benefit. Experienced professionals are sought to be FIA mentors. Additionally, those who are early in their fundraising career should step forward as mentees to be matched with those with experience to share. Contact FIA to learn more.
You know that feeling when you shop in a retail store or travel on an airline, stay in a hotel, or support another consumer goods organisation and you learn they, in turn, are supporting a worth-while charitable organisation?
I had that feeling this weekend when I booked a hotel stay at the QT Hotel in Canberra.
Upon submitting my QT Hotels reservation for a two night stay in June, I was prompted to make a donation to support children’s hospitals across Australia. Under the heading “Help Change a Life“, QT encourages guests to participate in their partnership with 9 leading children’s hospitals by making a donation directly.
In my opinion, there needs to be more partnerships such as this one. Who can argue with supporting a children’s hospital in your community? I am excited to see what they do in-house to promote this program and whether I am encouraged to further my support when at the hotel itself.
We have all worked for organisations where members of the major gifts team did not wish for “their donors” to be contacted via the organisation’s direct mail.
This is insanity. Here’s why:
I am not suggesting everyone in a major gifts portfolio should receive direct mail pieces. In fact, there will be donors or prospects who opt themselves out from receiving certain pieces of mail. We must abide by such requests. Your database will be able to handle opt outs and communications preferences in a sophisticated manner.
Staff creating blanket rules for donors is not smart. Instead, take the time to create a high dollar package. Work in concert with the direct marketing person on your fundraising team to customise the experience for the donor and be part of the appeal effort rather than work against.
I wrote previously about my giving to conservation organisations, including Bush Heritage Australia (BHA) and The Wilderness Society (TWS). I have also written about best practices these conservation organisations follow in terms of response devices and confirm, edit and enhance. This week I received a tax appeal from TWS. The TWS response device spoke of best practice, yet again.
What makes this a best practice response device?
TWS, and BHA previously, know how to make it easy for the donor to respond to calls to action and to assist the organisations to keep their data clean and correct. Charities across Australia might make a gift to both nonprofit organisations to get on their mailing list and to see live best practice samples for themselves.
Earlier this week, I wrote a blog post suggesting tax appeals are a bit tardy this year. This may or may not be right. It is simply my opinion as a donor to more than 200 Australian charities.
Assuming some charitable organisations are behind with their tax appeal, perhaps the reason is data hygiene. One of the single most important steps prior to the tax appeal drop is the need to complete data cleansing.
Some nonprofit organisations take the important step to cleanse their data, while others do not. Data cleansing includes, but is not limited to, high level activities such as:
As suggested in prior FundraisingForce blog posts, dirty data gets you nowhere…except broke. Proper data cleaning prior to dropping the all-important tax and Christmas appeals is not optional. Do you put this in the “too hard” basket? Hire an expert like FundraisingForce who will guide you through the process, management of suppliers, and develop a process for you to follow for years to come.
