Well, the worst part of the year is behind most of us. Here’s what a recent Super-Scientific Poll showed. When asked In which month do you get the least revenue from fundraising? participants responded this way:
No matter what you do, you’re going to have a worst month. And that month can have painful impacts on cash flow and the psychology of your organization. Here are some things you can do with your fundraising during your bad months:
- Reality check. To what extent do you have a bad month because you expect it to be bad? It’s entirely possible your results are self-imposed. You “know” the month is going to suck, so you don’t try to make it not suck. That may be the case. Be sure the problem is real and not only attitudinal.
- Cut your losses. If your fundraising isn’t working, do less of it. You don’t have to send stuff just because the calendar says it’s time. You’d be much better off canceling weak-season impacts and moving them into your strong season.
- Tighten up your selects. Scale back your fundraising to your strongest supporters: Those who’ve been with you the longest, those whose giving is highest, those who’ve given most recently. These folks are most likely to respond, even out of season. When you focus on them, you can get revenue at an acceptable cost.
- Sweeten your offer. Give donors an additional reason to give: Offer to double their dollars with matching funds. Or offer better-than-usual benefits. These things can boost response from poor at least to fair.
Doing these things won’t turn July and August into November and December. But they can lessen the pain.
Jeff Brooks has been serving the nonprofit community for more than 35 years and blogging about it since 2005. He considers fundraising the most noble of pursuits and hopes you’ll join him in that opinion. You can reach him at jeff [at] jeff-brooks [dot] com.
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