Nonprofit Answers

034 - How Do We Use an Email Welcome Series to Reduce Donor Attrition?

A key to success for your fundraising efforts is to decrease donor attrition - the percentage of people who give and then stop giving - and get multiple gifts after you acquire a new donor. You need to build relationships with donors, have them feel valued and appreciated for their donations, and demonstrate impact. You can accomplish these things with a new donor email welcome series.

In this episode, you will learn a four part email series that will help retain more donors and get that second gift.

033 - How Will the Election Season Impact Fundraising?

The election season is upon us in the US. How will this impact fundraising? 

There are a couple of factors to consider during the election season. First, donors will be distracted. There will be uncertainty and likely half the population will be upset about whoever is elected. There will be debates and rallies that will draw the donor's attention away from what we're doing. Second, there is a lot of money that will be given to candidates, parties, and other entities and this will impact nonprofit giving.

We have a bit to worry about. Let's explore what to do about the election season.

032 - Should We Move All of Our Communications Into the Digital Channel?

Digital marketing has been a boon for many nonprofits. Digital communications offers many benefits: easy to communicate with people, reach a massive (and potentially new) audience, testing, quick access to results. There can also be some lack of clarity about the best uses for digital and whether or not you should abandon other channels and move certain communications to digital-only. Learn about which communications make sense for digital and how other channels still have a place in your communications plan.

031 - Setting Annual Fundraising Goals to Meet Your Strategy

Your nonprofit organization’s strategy determines the direction of where your organization is headed and the scope of what you’ll do. It is the thing that determines what your limited resources will accomplish for your beneficiaries, donors, and other stakeholders. A simple definition of strategy is “defining how we’re going to win in the period ahead.” In this episode, Kevin asks about how to set his goals and develop a strategy to contribute to the corporate strategy for 2022. We explore creating your goals, what to do if you don't have an organizational strategy, and how to get your team focused on these goals.

030 - How to Say Thanks to Your Donors

Demonstrating gratitude to your donors may be your most important job as a fundraiser. Why? A happy donor gives a second, third, and fourth time. A well thanked donor tells their friends. A donor that feels appreciated happily continues to support your organization, your cause, and the people you serve. If nothing else, say thanks because without your donor, your nonprofit ceases to exist. 

Donor acquisition is expensive and thanking donors has shown to increase the chance they stick around. In this episode, you'll learn creative ways to thank your donors.

029 - Secrets to Effective Event Fundraising

At Food for the Hungry, we acquire tens of thousands of monthly donors each year from events. In this episode, you'll learn how we structure a sponsored event for the best possible outcome: a new monthly donor. Learn the format for the event, how to do an effective fundraising, and how to integrate volunteers. If you're looking to increase event fundraising at your nonprofit, this is the episode for you

028 - How Do I Move Affinity from a Staff Member to the Organization?

What do you do if the affinity the donor has isn't for your organization but for a staff member? In this really intriguing question, Karen has a long-time staff member who is connected to donors and she'd like to explore ways to move the donors from connecting to the employee to the nonprofit. This can happen with major donor reps, or even a donor connecting to a beneficiary and not to your organization. Learn how to identify donors who have an affinity for your organization or cause instead of the person and how to move them into supporting the organization in this episode of Nonprofit Answers. 

027 - How to Acquire Digital Donors for Your Nonprofit

You need healthy donor acquisition to maintain or grow your nonprofit's revenue. In this episode of Nonprofit Answers, Jeremy teaches how to turn social media followers into donors through the A+B+C+D formula for new donor acquisition. You'll learn how to define an audience, develop your lead generation asset (the bribe), capture a lead, and develop the lead into a donor.

026 - How to Get More Attendees for Your Fundraising Gala

The annual fundraising gala. For many nonprofits, this special event is a crucial part of their fundraising plan. If you do fundraising events, you know part of the struggle is getting the right people to show up. In this episode, Jeremy answers a question from a new Christian high school fundraiser. He is worried because only about the half the normal number of people have RSVPed to their annual fundraising dinner. Jeremy discusses how to find out if there is a problem, how you can find new people to attend, what changes you might want to make to the event, and how to ask past attendees for a commitment even if they aren't attending this year.

025 - Predictions for Fundraising in 2019

2019 may be the most impactful year yet for the fundraising industry. Many nonprofits haven't fully embraced technology and marketing techniques that are commonplace in corporate marketing - but that will change in 2019. In this episode, you'll learn 19 predictions Jeremy has for fundraising and nonprofit innovation in 2019.