Category: Planned Giving Marketing

Clients and friends often ask if including a reply mechanism on their planned giving postcards is worth the added expense. It depends on the circumstances, but generally, I do not feel it’s worth it. As we all know, planned giving is a low-response business. So even with the most successful direct mail programs, we see very few reply cards actually filled out and returned. However, this does not mean your information is not getting read. It’s just that most people are not going to take the time to respond, on a whim, to questions about a subject that requires some in-depth thought and planning. Remember: You are not selling sweepstakes. You’re educating. You’re reminding. And you’re building relationships. Focus on Frequency What does this mean for you? You’ll have additional opportunities to reach your prospects. Marketing 101 says the more touches the better. So nix the expensive response card and use the savings to send out more touches. Mail your marketing materials more often instead of including a reply mechanism. After one or two postcards, you’ll have piqued some of your prospects’ interest. Card #3 might go on the fridge as a reminder to discuss it with the hubby. After card 4 or 5, maybe some of them will even call. Or you’ll call them to say “thank you” for a past annual gift, and they’ll remember those postcards and say, “What is this about some gift that pays me retirement income for life…?” Bingo. A door just opened. Now’s your chance (have you practiced your elevator pitch?). Two Caveats Disclaimer #1: If your mailing quantity is quite high—say 30,000 pieces or more—then it’s a different ballgame. At those quantities, the pricing between the two products becomes essentially the same because of the volume. Disclaimer #2:  I do believe there is a time and place for a response card. When and where? Well, for starters, solicitation letters are a good opportunity to enclose a reply vehicle. There is usually no extra cost, and a reader who has made it through an entire letter (as opposed to a postcard, which is just a 10-second read) is already more engaged, and therefore more likely to respond. Category: Planned Giving Marketing

Did you know that the average American in a major city is bombarded with over 3000 messages a day? Each day the Web grows by millions of pages. Wherever you travel, satellites are beaming endless messages a minute to every corner of the globe. We see rotating billboards on expressways, take calls from telemarketers, and get marketing materials in our mailboxes. A survey as long ago as 2009 revealed that a child is exposed to over 150,000 commercials by the time he or she is 18. I could go on. As a fundraiser, you are in the business of sales and marketing. You have an overwhelming amount of noise to cut through. If you want to be heard, you must differentiate. Your differentiating idea should be simple and visible and delivered over and over again in a variety of formats. Confusion Causes Procrastination Some time ago I went into a Best Buy to purchase a cordless phone. There were so many brands! So many options. I analyzed, over analyzed, and could not make up my mind. I left not buying anything. This happens to fundraisers, too. In fact, we all know non-profits are plagued by a disease called indecivitis. We meet, and discuss via email, and meet again. Then we call in specialists to help. Decisions are almost made. Then nothing happens. Half the team changes jobs, and the process of indecision starts all over again. Am I being harsh? I don’t intend to be. I’m just stating it as it is. I have made enemies and lost clients because of addressing serious issues within non-profits that no one wants to address. In fact, Jeff Comfort (Planned Giving, Oregon State) and I did a webinar on this topic. It was not for the faint of heart and our least popular webinar as it included some truth people did not want to swallow. The Power Of Simplicity. In 2002 we “created” the planned giving postcard. One of our competitors, who was heavily invested in printing newsletters, placed an ad on their website that read something like, “Many of you have been considering a planned giving postcard. But the fact is that the complex features of planned gifts can’t be related with less than 150 words.” We milked that statement all the way to the bank because we had something that worked, and we knew it. Now that competitor is producing postcards. Almost 15 years later. Your Donor’s Are Not Different. And if you think they are, you’re focusing on one or two who may be somewhat “sophisticated”. People’s minds can’t handle complexity and confusion. The only way to enter their mind is to oversimplify your message. Oversimplify. Simple words. Fewer words. Powerful words. Be ruthless about how you edit your message. Any language that requires analysis or a second reading… nix it. And please… do not have an academic edit or write your copy. They may be smart, but not when it comes to marketing.   Category: Planned Giving Marketing

You can play it vanilla, or you can be heard. What will you choose? Edgy planned giving marketing gets results.

The classic cry of the binge marketer is “Oops… business is slow. I guess I’d better do some marketing and send out a mailing.” If you find yourself in the middle of a quiet spell, thinking that a few actions, a couple of phone calls and a mailing here and there will get things moving again, you need to rethink your strategy.

You’d never guess by looking at Thomas Chandler Cruikshank Bond, III, that he battled drug addiction for two decades, that he was jailed half a dozen times, or that he spent four years living in abandoned houses in East Baltimore. In fact, even if you had met him during most of those dark years, you never would have guessed what was really going on under his façade. He had a good job with an expense account, wore a suit and tie and drove a nice car. But, he says, “inside I was a wreck, miserable.” By 2002, Tom had been homeless or jailed for the past four years. He was injecting heroine and cocaine and had wasted away to 150 pounds. “I really thought I’d end up dying in the projects of Baltimore,” he says. Then, during yet another stint in jail, Tom heard (for the third time) about the Helping Up Mission, an organization that helps men break the grip of homelessness, poverty, addiction and mental illness. This time, Tom was finally ready to seek help. He entered the mission, and after graduating from their one-year spiritual recovery program, he was hired on staff. He continued moving around to different positions within the organization, and now he is Director of Programs and Services and oversees a team of 40 staff and eight programs serving 500 men. What a difference a year can make Tom Bond is a face and a story to a problem. He breaks the stereotype of the greasy-haired bum on the street. “The picture of homelessness and addiction that most people have isn’t accurate. The larger picture is the kid that breaks his leg and gets hooked on oxycodone and within a year or two goes to heroine. It’s a gigantic, terrible mess.” So Tom tells his story over and over and over. In his role at Helping Up Mission, he often gives tours to donors and foundation representatives. “Invariably my story pops out during the conversation. They’ll look at me in my suit and they’ll say ‘No way man. No way were you homeless.’” So who’s your organization’s Tom Bond? Who has a story that will compel your donors to give generously? Who can speak with emotion to represent the reality of what you are trying to accomplish? The story doesn’t have to be dramatic with drugs and jail time. It just needs to make people feel something— compassion, anger, excitement, or even guilt. If you’re a university, maybe your storyteller is a graduate doing breakthrough technology research. If you’re a Food Bank, perhaps it’s the blue-collar family who swears they would have starved that one tough year if not for your assistance. If you’re an elderly care facility, maybe it’s the 89-year old woman living with dignity and comfort and playing poker with her girlfriends on Thursday afternoons. But please don’t talk generically about all the residents; talk about this one. Tell her story. Here’s a quick mental marketing exercise to do. Envision all of your marketing materials, all your website copy, all the verbiage you use when talking to prospects, every PowerPoint presentation you’ve ever done. Imagine it all typed out on a multi-page document. Now imagine you have a bright orange highlighter in your hand. Go through all those words, highlighting only the ones that tell a story or convey real emotion. Most non-profits would see a lot of black and white staring back at them. Now, go find your Tom Bond. Tell stories. Make people feel.   Category: Planned Giving Marketing

  Don’t Keep Them Bottled Up! Some of you who never read Forbes Magazine might think it’s just a stuffy business periodical, but how stuffy can a magazine really be when it runs an article celebrating “investment-grade” Scotch whiskey, as Forbes recently did? Sounds whimsical, but it’s for real. And with dollar values per fifth reaching five and six figures, what nonprofit wouldn’t appreciate a gift of such a very special bottle of booze? When canny marketers seek to pull the cork on high-end snob appeal, the sky’s the limit – but not for me. My personal Scotch budget is $45 a bottle. But the players in this new savory game usually tack on a few more zeroes to so miniscule an amount. Padlock Your Wetbar How’s this for value-added? The $2,750 entry-level price you pay to purchase a bottle from the Annie Liebovitz Scotch Collection, for example (yes, it’s that Annie Liebovitz), also includes a limited edition Liebovitz print to hang on the wall – right next to your flashing neon Miller sign. Other stratospheric examples: Macallan 1926 Fine and Rare: $75,000 Dalmore ‘64 Trinitas: $160,100 Glenfiddich 1937: $71,700 2012 traffic in such tasty trifles was up 550% over 2008, and Whiskey Highland founder Andy Simpson says an index fund of the top 250 bottles shows they delivered 206% appreciation from Q3 2008 to Q3 2012. Interested? To get closer to this action you might choose to join New York’s “1494” whiskey club (collector’s membership: $25,000). Forbes seems bullish on investment-grade Scotch: “And if the rare-whiskey market should collapse? Just drink your losses. Try that with social media stock.” A Toast to Fundraising Relevance Gifts of personal property – appreciated “stuff” – are a great way donors can make a difference for your nonprofit. And who wouldn’t appreciate a bottle of that Glenfiddich ’37? But let’s also imagine other, perhaps less exotic possibilities: How about a 1955 Corvette? A piece of original artwork? The world’s second-largest collection of porcelain frogs? A vintage sailboat? I asked Brian Sagrestano to give us his rundown on the benefits and requirements of such gifts: “Any asset can be donated. The question is whether it can be deducted. But I work on gifts of highly appreciated collectibles all the time. Say the donor has an asset, like a bottle of wine, which is highly appreciated. The donor has it appraised and then donates it. The deduction is based on a qualified appraisal unless the charity cannot use the asset for a purpose related to its charitable mission (this is called the “related use rule”). But in positive-speak, if the charity can use it for a purpose related to its mission, deduction is based on the appraisal. If the charity cannot, deduction is limited to the donor’s cost basis (what donor paid for it).” Whether it’s a whiskey, a classic car, artwork, whatever – this kind of giving represents a significant opportunity for donors, nonprofits and for you.   Category: Planned Giving Marketing

  With 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.

Are You Sure You’re Ready to Excel? 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: