Summer fundraising work
I hate July and August at work. Why, well, there is not enough to do. Summer is hard on fundraisers. Maybe there is a direct mail and an email appeal but try making calls - no one is home or wants to talk about supporting your organization. Ok, I am a bit pessimistic, but it is somewhat true. So, what can you do during the lazy, hazy days of summer?
Clean up your data!
Yes, I know that is everyone’s least favorite thing to do. Surely, we can find something else to do? Well, you couldn’t do something that would be as helpful to your overall fundraising program. I guarantee your database no matter how hard you work during the year to keep it clean isn’t as clean as it could be. Everyone’s database can use a good data health checkup.
What to look for: old prospects, duplicate records, old organization records, organization contacts and employees, and incomplete records.
Let’s take your individual records as an example. How do you handle a couple? Do you create a record for each person no matter who signed the check? If so are you sure you aren’t mailing two pieces to those households? Are you sure that one isn’t getting a renewal letter while the other is getting a lapsed or acquisition letter? That would be embarrassing and a waste of money. I prefer couples to have a master record and then a spouse/partner record attached if your system allows you to create that type of record. If it doesn’t, I’d create one couples record with the proper addressee and salutation. You are less likely to offend if you send it to both of them then the wrong one or send too many appeals.
Organizations have their unique challenges. A gift from a company must be credited to the company’s record but there was certainly a person who either authorized or solicited the gift on your behalf. If your system allows this add that person as the contact on a specific gift. This is especially true if it is a big company where you might have multiple relationships. Maybe you do three events a year and get a corporate gift from the company and each has its own contact. You don’t want the company in your database four times. You want to have some system in place to write the correct person for each ask. And remember that your contact may change year to year. I worked with an organization once where large companies sometimes had hundreds of individual records attached to their records. Many of these people no longer even worked for the organization. And when they mailed to the company it would pull every single one of those contacts. What a waste and how embarrassing. Luckily, their CRM allowed them to create different types of contacts and then choose the type when creating a solicitation mailing.
Then there are just dupes. It happens to the best of us. I have an initial in front of my name so sometimes I end up in charity CRM’s up to three times. Nothing annoys me more than getting multiple mailings from a charity I support and I understand how it could happen. Now imagine I am just a regular donor who chose to give your organization a modest gift and the next year I get multiple ask letters. That would not be good stewardship.
Social Media by the numbers from Pew Charitable Trust?
Facebook – which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary – remains one of the most widely used social media sites among adults in the U.S. Roughly seven-in-ten adults (69%) say they ever use the platform. (A separate 2018 Center survey showed Facebook use among U.S. teens had dropped in recent years.) YouTube is the only other online platform measured that matches Facebook’s reach: 73% of adults report using the video sharing site. But certain online platforms, most notably Instagram and Snapchat, have an especially strong following among young adults. To read the full article click here.
How To Write Persuasively
Click on this link to read a great piece from the New York Times.
"So many words. And too often, they are neither convincing nor entertaining. There are ways, however, to write persuasively in your everyday life. To break through the clutter, to get attention and even to bring people over to your side."
"How to get every email returned" - How to get any of your material read.
Who is on Social Media?
Click on this link to read a great Pew Research Survey on uses of Social Media in the United States. Demographics of Social Media
Short Thoughtful Post
It Occurs To Me
August 25, 2022
Quitting Quietly-
I am fascinated by this concept, this movement. I always figured that once you got a job, you did your best at the job, maybe you learned some new stuff and used that to, at some point, move to a higher position. If you are "quietly quitting," are you doing your best at your job? Isn't that our part of the hiring bargain? This NYTimes article examines many of the issues surrounding this movement. What do you think? Click the photo below to read the article.
Please leave a comment, thoughtfully.
Thoughtful Stewardship
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