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Changing My Hairstyle
My kids chide me that I haven’t changed my hairstyle since Nixon was in office. (Actually, it may have been earlier than that.) Is it inertia,
bending to the cultural and professional norm, or the lack of enough “resources” to work with? Nonprofits often find themselves in that same predicament when it comes to their fundraising or development I heard this factoid quoted and wanted to pass it along...
90% of nonprofits use the same fundraising strategy today that they used 10 years ago –and less than half say it is “effective”!
If you are involved in a nonprofit (board, staff or volunteer), you owe it to your mission, the cause, and the people or pets you pledged to serve. Change requires recognition that your present activities aren’t getting the outcome you truly desire or your donors deserve. Next, an honest assessment of your processes and habits should happen. Often, an independent observer can provide perspective and counsel. Finally, a plan with new actions can be set in motion. Consider these low-cost efforts.
- Call 10-15 donors who gave in 2013 but didn’t in 2014. (Letters or focus groups won’t provide the same results.) You are not seeking a donation, only information. Disarm them with your honesty upfront and they will reward you with useful insight. Ask why they gave before, why they didn’t give last year, what has changed over that time, what the “talk” is about your organization and what improvements he/she might suggest. When taken seriously and done by the highest-ranking executive, it can yield incredible information.
- Don’t want to stray too far from “what works”? Change doesn’t have to be total. Consider adding A/B testing to your fundraising. It’s a simple concept that’s been used for decades. Start with a statistically significant sample; half is common. Mail a different appeal or offer to each set. Change only one thing so you don’t confuse the conclusion! Keep track of which effort “wins” by: dollars, comments, or responses – whatever your metrics indicate
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- Institute a “major donor” appreciation event. It doesn’t have to be an expensive dinner! In fact, some of the best ideas cost little money, which demonstrates your understanding the value of a donated dollar, too. Make it exclusive and DON’T ASK FOR MONEY.
Hope this helps. Let me know what your nonprofit did to become more effective.
Small businesses want to enhance their marketing efforts and attract more customers without requiring a substantial financial investment. It can be done! Here are ten topics about advertising, marketing, and acquiring more customers without breaking the bank. We’ll discuss each of them in greater detail in the coming weeks one at a time. Maintain Visual Brand Consistency: Resources and tools for creating professional-looking graphics, logos, and visual content to maintain a dependable brand image across various marketing channels. Leverage Outreach Efforts: Local targeting and customer outreach are vital for businesses looking to attract customers within their geographic area. Many low-cost, high-reward options are available. Optimize Your Website: Ensuring excellent user experience (UX) on a website is crucial for businesses, especially in this age where consumers expect seamless, responsive, and intuitive online interactions. Develop Excellent Marketing Material: Strategies to build an email list, craft compelling newsletters, and update your sales literature and processes to nurture leads and convert them into customers. Execute Social Media Marketing Strategies: Guidance on leveraging platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, etc., effectively to reach a wider audience and engage potential customers. Implement Content Marketing on a Budget: Tips on creating valuable and engaging content such as blogs, videos, or podcasts that resonate with the target audience without requiring a huge investment. Improve Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Techniques to improve website visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs) organically, driving more traffic without spending on ads. Employ SEM: Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a crucial aspect of digital marketing for businesses, particularly for increasing online visibility, driving website traffic, and generating leads or sales. Engage the Targeted Community: Ideas for promoting the business within the local community through events, sponsorships, collaborations, and grassroots or ‘influencer’ marketing efforts. Track Analytics and Performance: Use free or affordable analytics tools for your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to monitor marketing efforts, measure ROI, and optimize strategies for better results over time.
No, they didn’t win the lottery! No, they weren’t the beneficiaries of a donor’s large estate. No, they weren’t a college or university – they seem to be the only organizations to net those big numbers these days. It was a library located in a town of about 10,000 people. Who was it? The Waverly Public Library, Waverly Iowa. You could say they were fortunate, or lucky, or blessed. They would agree with you, but, as the fundraising consultant chosen to help them, 1Vision Communications would add a few more “secrets” to their success. They were… Prepared At least two years prior, they had conducted a user and community study. They knew what the “hot” (fundable, in our language) areas of their expansion would be. Their Foundation led the way by getting all other volunteers, staff, and leadership involved. Organized This group understood the need for an oversight committee and then let us help them structure the remaining committees to accomplish the work. The top leaders were excellent at gathering volunteers to step into roles, both larger and smaller. Humble They listened. It’s an often-overlooked attribute, but they knew they needed counsel, they sought it out, and they followed advice. While these people were seasoned professionals in their own categories, they hired a us to supplement – knowing any consultant fee would be made up quickly in more and larger grants and donations. Hard-working Maybe this could be said of all Midwesterners, but the WPL team was exceptional at being persistent, committed, industrious, and creative – especially as it had to do with major donor calls, grant-writing, and communications . These are things that could describe your nonprofit, too, as it considers a capital or endowment campaign. Let us help you succeed.
Some variation of the first phrase can be attributed to Henry Ford, Alcoholics Anonymous, or Tony Robbins. However, we often forget or ignore the second important part. I wish every nonprofit executive director would memorize that saying and apply it to their organization. It could be the single greatest piece of counsel around. If nonprofits could all break the shackles of tradition and habit, they might just experience a breakthrough. ‘If we drop that golf outing, could our time be spent more profitably somewhere else? What might happen if we asked our donors why they don’t give more? Maybe it would be helpful if we had a plan in place this year.’ The second component to this maxim is as important as the first. Common sense tells us outcome erosion occurs whenever we do the same thing over and over again. Repeated or continuous actions often result in generating decreasing returns; estimated here at a 15% year-over-year loss. Unless new twists can be added, it is reasonable to expect less, not more. Has your experience confirmed or exploded this “rule”? We’d love to hear your answers.
