The most important thing you do in, any fundraising situation is the call to action. If the call to action is weak (or non-existent), you’re wasting everyone’s time — your own, your donors’, and the poor trees who gave their lives for the paper you’re misusing.
Here’s some help on your call to action, from Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog: Five Ways to Sabotage Your Call to Action.
- Assuming One Size Fits All. Don’t send the same message to everyone. Prospects are different from donors. Long-time donors who’ve supported you for years are different from brand-new donors. Know what kind of people you’re communicating with and aim and them.
- Being Too Vague. Fundraising is about action. Make it clear what the action is and what you want the donor to do.
- Failing to Make It Relevant. It’s not about you. It’s about the donor. Bragging is irrelevant.
- Not Making It Super Easy to Do It. This is especially important online. Is your form easy, or full of conundrums?
- Asking Sheepishly. Ask clearly, boldly and repeatedly. If your ask is vague, many won’t notice that it’s there.
Most ineffective fundraising could easily do better than it does by avoiding these common errors.
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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