A question for nonprofits right now is what we can do as marketers to shore up our organization’s financial position as we weather this prolonged crisis. 

One option is to seek out new donors, but that can be an expensive way to go - about 10 times more expensive than retaining a current donor. But you’ve probably reached out to your current donor base (possibly more than once) during this challenging time. 

Where else can you turn? 

Well, there is a group that...

Convincing you that monthly giving programs are worth doing isn’t that hard. Report after report shows that recurring donation programs have great ROI, provide a steady, predictable flow of funds for your organization and are a powerful tool in donor retention. 

But it has to be done right.

Launching a recurring donation program is more than adding a monthly giving button, announcing the option exists and hoping for the best.  

Launching a recurring donation...

Do you ever find yourself in this situation?

You’ve sent out a killer fundraising email, and you know you’re on the right track because there’s a lot of opens. Even better, people are clicking through to your donation page.

But then the numbers take a dive and your potential donors just disappear. The conversions just aren’t there.

If that’s happening to you, it might be that your donation page is letting you down. 

Today’s episode is about the...

Beyond good manners, why is it important to thank people for their donations? 

In addition to the practical reason of acknowledging the gift and sending a receipt, saying thank you can be the start - or continuation - of a beautiful partnership with your benefactor.

It’s your chance to educate them about the impact their gift will have; to make them more aware of how they, by donating to you, are helping to change the world. And every time you do - because you should thank...

When thinking of nonprofit fundraising, our minds typically go towards the classics: major events with all the bells and whistles (venue, food, drinks, live and silent auctions, raffle prizes); annual campaigns with their letters, postcards and endless followup; maybe peer-to-peer drives, either through a walk-a-thon or social media effort.

But what about an effort that could quickly (two weeks) infuse a substantial amount of money ($2,000 to $10,000) into your nonprofit’s...

Here’s an eye-popping number - 40%.

That’s how much nonprofit monthly giving programs increased last year, and there’s no signs of this trend slowing down in 2019.

It’s easy to understand why everyone loves recurring gift programs: small donations that automatically renew make giving more manageable and convenient for your nonprofit’s supporters. Meanwhile, they provide more predictable funding and higher retention rates for heart-centered...

You work way too hard to lose 81% of your new donors.

That’s the average today, and I say no way!

In today’s podcast episode I’m sharing three very specific new donor communication strategies that I’ve used to help nonprofits keep between 45%-60% of their new donors.

It’s a three step communication process that includes:

• How to best welcome and thank new donors
• Share the impact of your organization
• Get them connected to your larger community of...

Email is a mighty marketing machine, indeed!

As more and more nonprofit marketers embrace email marketing (which is awesome by the way!), there seems to be a great deal more focus on what goes into those emails instead of what can be done to get those emails opened.

And let’s face it. If no one opens your emails, it doesn’t much matter what’s inside, does it?

It’s your email subject lines that need marketing love first and foremost!  

In today’s podcast...

Have you ever wondered how thanking donors really adds up?

Like how does thanking donors factor into how often and how much a donor might give?

If so, you’re not alone.

In fact, just recently a powerhouse group of philanthropic experts from The Philanthropy Centre conducted a study on the impacts of an acknowledgment plan that includes how thank-you’s can contribute to donor retention, frequency of giving and even how much someone contributes - in some cases doubling...