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Dec
05
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Here’s What To Tell Your Prospects in January…
Sure — somebody somewhere always thinks the world is coming to an end. But when the government starts playing around with the philanthropic benefits that donors can take to the bank, fundraisers tend to take it personally. Should we be concerned that there may be some unwelcome taxes or other legislation in our future? Our take is: Fundraisers with their hair on fire don’t close gifts. We have better alternatives. Read more » 
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Nov
19
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Learn to Love Work — or Else“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”Thomas Edison Have you got a problem with work? If so, you can cancel your career right now. Because without commitment and activity and shoe leather, you’ll miss every opportunity.
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Nov
08
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Year-End Giving 2012With the presidential election behind us and the status quo retained, what does this mean for charitable giving as we approach year-end?Over the last three months, this was the number one question on people’s minds – “What happens if after the election, we have the same parties in control of the House, Senate and Presidency? After all, there were lots of tax reform proposals out there during the campaign and we are about to go over the ‘Fiscal Cliff.’” While we don’t have a crystal ball, we are certain about three things which should shape how you approach year-end 2012 and the start of 2013. Read more »
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Nov
08
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Upcoming Tax Law Changes — What to Do?QUESTION: What message should I send to my donors regarding the upcoming tax law changes?ANSWER: Read more »
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Nov
07
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Can Your Prospects Find You?by Viken Mikaelian Let’s say one of your constituents wants to know more about planned giving. Where do they start?
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Nov
06
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Postal Mail or Email?Today, paper mail beats most email marketing.By Viken MikaelianIf my postal mailbox in front of my house resembled my inbox in Microsoft Outlook, it would be the size of a house trailer. And don’t even ask about the number of items in my trash folder. I hear it all the time from nonprofits: electronic mail delivery is it… it is cheaper and faster and the wave of the future. Flood prospects with enough messaging and they will get your point, right? Wrong. Read more »
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Nov
04
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Comfort Zone TreadmillAre You Sure You’re Ready to Excel?by Dennis Haber, Esq. If you continue to do things in the same manner you have always done them, your results are not going to change. Continuing to do things the same old way basically puts you on a treadmill where continuous, ineffective effort and lackluster results flow in a endless loop. It is time to re-examine your belief system. This article offers some ideas guaranteed to get you off that treadmill, to put money in your organization’s pocket, and help you become the consummate professional you want to be. As 2011 came to an end, you promised yourself that 2012 would be better. It would be a year of accomplishment; a year of achievement both for you and your organization. However, as you now review 2012 to date, are you finding your results mirror those of 2011? Let’s start with some brutal facts: Read more »
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Nov
02
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“Inoffensive” is the Wrong Star to Wish OnIf You’re Not Getting Complaints… You’re Not Communicating. By Tom AhernIt had arrived: an email from a new client. And I trembled. The subject line: “Responses to the appeal letter.” Lily was reporting in. Lily is the manager of annual fund and membership. She is gung-ho star material, ready to scale walls and shoot threads from her wrists, totally dedicated to her organization’s success.
I’d written an appeal for her agency. She had taken a big risk on it. And we all had our fingers so tightly crossed that our nails were turning blue.
I closed my eyes … wrapped my arms around a really deep breath … clicked the email “open”…and I read….
“The appeal has had a huge impact!”
My breathing began again. Well, OK then. “Huge impact.” I can cling to that. I guess I’m not a totally incompetent nincompoop.
But her next statement raised an issue. “We are starting to get in responses to the appeal — some very positive … and some very angry.”
But let me set some context.
I work under something called The Verbatim Rule. I ask my new direct mail clients to agree that they will send out what I write for them exactly as I write it, without fiddling. Verbatim. Not a word changed, unless I made a factual error.
The Verbatim Rule exists for one reason: to sanctify the intensity of professionally crafted direct mail.
Direct mail is not a medium that rewards meekness. Clients who want to tone it down, who judge it “too sales-y,” who second-guess the mechanics (“…a P.S. is so undignified…”) will undermine a full and healthy response.
The Verbatim Rule is good for me (less cursing under my breath). And it’s good for the client (more income).
But there is a footnote to the Verbatim Rule.
Expect complaints
Replacing inoffensive direct mail with real direct mail, filled with black arts and emotional triggers, is like replacing ordinary fences with electric fences. Expect reactions.
Strong direct mail will touch nerves. And not every nerve you touch will enjoy the experience.
Are complaints a problem? Not really. Unpleasant, maybe. But, handled properly, I think they’re pretty much the definition of an opportunity to have a great conversation with a supporter. First, though, be sure to read Jeff Brooks’ note below on who the “complainers” typically are.
In direct mail, ALL response is indicative of something worth knowing. Complaints are as good as praise in that regard.
Negative response means your appeal went far enough emotionally. Complaints mean your appeal was upsetting enough to get noticed. It’s a weird measure, I know. But it’s accurate to the penny.
Lily was okay with a few complaints, because we’d discussed that phenomenon in advance. Still, she was concerned. What she really wanted to know was this:
“How many angry responses is too many?”
There’s no industry measure I’m aware of that answers the question. Certainly, none is mentioned in “bibles” like Mal Warwick’s How to Raise
Successful Fundraising Letters or Alan Sharpe’s Mail Superiority.
Jeff Brooks (www.futurefundraisingnow.com; www.truesense.com) knows a heck of a lot more about this stuff than I do, so I asked his opinion. Here’s Jeff Brooks on “complaint metrics”:
“I’ve never heard of a standard metric for complaints. Twenty-five per 10,000 does strike me as unusually high.”[That was the number I’d suggested]. “But even then, I’d hesitate to worry; that number is statistically equal to zero. And most complainers turn out to be lapsed and/or low-dollar donors. The paranoid fantasy of some orgs — that our fundraising will cause everybody to up and leave — wouldn’t be measured by complaints, but by a serious drop in retention. The only fundraising tactic I’ve seen do anything like that is rebranding. Strong fundraising, never. It increases response and retention.”
Tom Ahern writes fundraising materials for some of America’s leading nonprofits. His specialties include audits, donor newsletters, direct mail, and case statements.
401-397-8104 | www.aherncomm.com
The subject line: “Responses to the appeal letter.” Lily was reporting in. Lily is the manager of annual fund and membership. She is gung-ho star material, ready to scale walls and shoot threads from her wrists, totally dedicated to her organization’s success. I’d written an appeal for her agency. She had taken a big risk on it. And we all had our fingers so tightly crossed that our nails were turning blue. I closed my eyes … wrapped my arms around a really deep breath … clicked the email “open”…and I read…. Read more »
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Nov
01
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SEX. Would you do it to get the gift?If you’re sitting on a bar stool in a big city hotel, stirring your Mojito, you might expect the person next to you to strike up a conversation. If the repartee is entertaining, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if the person next to you extended an offer to move the party to a room upstairs. At that point, you have a decision to make. If you are on that bar stool in the first place, this scenario is not unexpected or surprising.
But what if it
happens when you’re at work?
A prospective donor for a major gift asked a fund raiser to visit him. He sent his limousine to pick her up and bring her to his penthouse. Dinner and champagne awaited. As the evening progressed, out came a pair of diamond earrings. The expected outcome was obvious.
Here we pause to consider the options. Seemingly on the table (or in the bedroom) is the potential of a substantial gift for the fund raiser’s organization. Let’s say that it was a large enough gift to be a “game changer” for the organization, an amount that would allow the nonprofit to take its program to the next level, serving more people, solving more problems, achieving more good. Does any of this matter in the fund raiser’s decision making process?
What really happened?
She politely refused and left. The gift never happened.
What would have happened if she did sleep with him? Would the gift have been made? It’s an interesting question, but beside the point.
Gifts with ulterior
motives usually go sour.
A donor decides to establish a trust and skews the numbers in order to beat the IRS. And you, as the gift officer, know about it. What is your responsibility to your institution? This time it’s not just an ethics question, but one with legal ramifications. Although sex is not involved, this gift falls into the same category. Gifts with ulterior motives without the charity’s well-being in mind can go wrong in so many ways.
Even when there doesn’t seem to be an ulterior motive, fund raisers need clear direction on how to handle potential situations when the lines of appropriate ethical behavior may not be as clear as not having sex with a donor.
Early in her career, Chicago-based nonprofit consultant Lisa M. Dietlin was playing golf with a major donor at a country club. She commented on some pretty roses, so he bought her one. Innocuous enough, right? During a break in the pro shop, she admired what turned out to be quite an expensive sweater. He picked it up and moved towards the cashier. Despite her protestations that she would prefer to buy it herself, he bought it. She felt very uncomfortable and didn’t know how to refuse the gift without offending him. She even tried to “forget” the sweater in the golf cart, but he saw it and returned it to her.
It wasn’t diamond earrings, or an expectation of sexual favors, it was just a sweater. So what’s the big deal? It’s that any time it appears that there is a quid pro quo in exchange for a charitable donation, organizations risk running afoul of the IRS and you run the risk of losing your job.
As soon as the golf outing was over, Dietlin immediately called her boss who had her document what happened in writing and put it in the donor file. “The incident caused us to set a policy that gift officers couldn’t accept anything that had a value greater than $25,” Dietlin said. The policy included meals. She continued, “If the donor chose a really expensive restaurant, the organization was prepared to pay the price of picking up the tab in order to keep the lines of ethics clear.”
Today, Dietlin recommends that nonprofits address these types of situations before they arise by including clear guidance in gift acceptance and personnel policies. This is an important tool for gift officers to have to be able to respond professionally to potentially sticky situations. Have a policy in place before the diamond earrings are offered.
Valerie Ingram is the Development Director at SITE Santa Fe and also consults with nonprofits on applying best business practices to their organizations.By va
By Valerie Ingram If you’re sitting on a bar stool in a big city hotel, stirring your Mojito, you might expect the person next to you to strike up a conversation. If the repartee is entertaining, it wouldn’t be at all surprising if the person next to you extended an offer to move the party to a room upstairs. At that point, you have a decision to make. If you are on that bar stool in the first place, this scenario is not unexpected or surprising. Read more »
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Oct
26
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Rate Tables and Hard Numbers in CGA Ads?
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