How to Stand Out During Year-End Fundraising Asks
Let’s talk today about how you can stand out from the crowd and prepare for the giving season ahead.
The fall season is going to be filled with Giving Tuesday messages, year end appeals, and fundraising events. Nonprofits can get lost in the shuffle of all the noise that donors see online, through social media and in emails.
So how do you make yourself stand out from the crowd?
First is having a comprehensive fundraising plan for the entire quarter. Many nonprofits piecemeal things as they come up: throwing up some Giving Tuesday posts, maybe sending an email blast with your year-end appeal story, mailing an appeal letter in December. All of those things going out and hitting your supporters at different times with different messages can be confusing to your donors and your message can get lost.
When you have a comprehensive year end giving campaign with the same images, the same messaging, and the same ask; the repeat messaging and images are what your supporters are going to see and notice - a campaign that's going to actually help you stand out from the crowd.
The second thing that I would recommend is customizing your messages to your donors. This is where having accurate information in your donor database is really important. Reach out to your donors on a personal level. You want to stand out? Call them by name, talk to them, send a quick five or ten second video saying:
“Hey Donor, we really appreciate all of the support that you've given us over the past year. These are the things that we've done with your gifts, and this is what we have planned ahead. Would you be willing to support us once again during our year-end campaign?”
This is just one small example, but finding different ways to customize your messaging to your donors is going to make your nonprofit completely standout from the crowd.
The third thing that I want to mention is having a really compelling reason to give and a great story to go with it. You don't have to send out a fundraising ask just because everyone else is doing it. And you certainly don't have to participate in Giving Tuesday when there are a million other nonprofits doing it.
Make sure you have a really good ask and a reason for people to give before you even pursue these opportunities.
Perhaps your program is going to be more focused on a really robust giving opportunity in the spring. Make the spring your quarter for a fundraising frenzy!
Figure out what works best for your organization, but just know that you do, in fact, need a really compelling reason. Don't do it just for the sake of doing it.
The fourth and last tip that I'm going to suggest, is being consistent. I know that is really hard with nonprofits because you're wearing 10 different hats and time tends to fly up on you. Next thing you know, you have a week to get everything out and posted. So you do it in a hurry. If you don't have that plan laid out in advance and you're rushing to get something done; well, you can typically see a rush job when you're looking at other social media posts and emails that are coming through (sorry - tough love here).
Don't forget that you are unfortunately being compared to the 20 other messages that your donor is seeing from their other favorite nonprofit organizations.
So make sure you're consistent with the look, the feel of you're branding, the things you want to say and the image you want to project to your donors. That way, you're putting your best foot forward when you're being compared with all of the other solicitations going out.
I know it can be difficult, but laying the groundwork in advance and setting up all of your donor activities and information in a good system, is really going to help you prepare for this quarter.
If you need some help talking about the process of how to get prepared, pulling the right information, and how to organize that information, let's talk.
Want more tips on how to make your organization thrive?