Yikes. Here are some scary ways nonprofits are keeping away from the giving they want to do, from Clairification, at Are You SCARING Nonprofit Donors Away?:
- Your website isn’t donor-friendly. They can’t find what they need to know in order to donate. Lots of talk about your organization, but not much about what they can do. Giving pages are hard to find. And hard to use.
- Your mailings aren’t easy to read and understand – quickly. Tiny type. Over-complex writing. Stats instead of stories. Fancy design that’s hard to read.
- Your thank you’s aren’t prompt, personal, or impactful. Or even non-existent.
- Your communication style is ego-centric. You seem to think if you brag well enough about your organization, you’ll buffalo donors into giving.
- Your offer fails to consider what’s in this for your donors – how they might benefit. They’re looking for reasons they should give. Are you making the case in their world?
- Your major donor qualification and cultivation process lacks a thoughtful plan. People are getting the major donor treatment with no evidence that they should. Others with the capacity and possible the passion to be major donors, are ignored.
- Your ongoing communication is sporadic — donors don’t receive regular updates on the impact of their philanthropy. Are you helping them believe their giving is a worthwhile investment?
- Your focus is on money, not impact. They need to know — before they give and after — that they make a difference.
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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