By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

How many times a year should you solicit your donors?

The answer is - it depends on what kind of annual renewal rate you want.

According to the 2021 Blackbaud Institute Charitable Giving Report, the current first-year, offline donor retention rate is 29% (which translates into 71% attrition). If you're happy with 71%, then solicit your donors once or twice a year. But you shouldn't be happy with 71% attrition. That's a terrible number.

Instead, you should be renewing 60% - 80% of donors annually. To accomplish this, you'll need to "touch" them more frequently.

(By the way - do you even KNOW what your annual retention and attrition rates are? If not, let us know. We can help!)

Blackbaud says…

"Your organization should calculate your overall donor retention rate annually to assess who chooses to stay in your donor circle every year.

"While organizations with a high retention rate keep or renew many donors from year to year, those with a low rate must acquire new donors to keep their bottom lines above water.

"This reinforces the significance of calculating retention to benchmark your internal progress from year to year."

Setting donor renewal goals

Let’s say you have 5,000 donors who currently receive four solicitations annually. On average, your annual yield from these appeals might be at least one gift per year from 2,000 of them, or 40%.

If you want to hit 60% annual renewal, how many more solicitations do you need to achieve your goal? If your response rate is 10% from each appeal, the answer is 2. If your response rate is 5%, the answer is 4.

Admittedly, this is a quick and dirty calculation. Some donors won't give again, and some will give more than once. But multiple annual gifts from donors are highly desirable, are they not?

Mail as often as necessary to achieve peak retention

Determining your "optimum organizational exposure rate" is a lot like determining the number of times a TV or radio ad must be seen or heard before it becomes effective. If a person is exposed to it only once, it may not sink in at first. But if they encounter it multiple times, they're more likely to remember the message and respond to it.

If you're currently soliciting your donors only once or twice a year, consider doubling your frequency. If you're sending out 4 appeals, consider 6.

Years ago, I worked with a ministry in Texas. They solicited certain segments of their file every two weeks - 26 times per year. Sound excessive? Not when you consider most of these folks were quite accustomed to putting something in the collection plate every Sunday morning.

There's no "magic" number for soliciting, other than what it may take to achieve your retention goals. Your budget also plays a role. If your budget is too small, lobby for more money so you can reach your goals. It'll be worth it in the long run.

Your donors aren't "your donors."

Don’t be afraid to ask donors for their support. And don't make the decision for them as to how many times a year they're going to give by limiting the number of opportunities you provide.

Let them tell you how much they care (or don't care) by their response. On average, your donors are already giving to 7-10 different charities, and yours is just one of them.

Another way to put it: Your donors are not “your donors.” They spread their money around.

If you’re not asking your donors regularly or if you are protecting them for some reason by not asking, you can be sure some other nonprofit IS asking them.

Always keep in mind - your lapsed donors are some other organization's active donors.

© 2022 Allegiant Direct, Inc.

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

Here’s something you may not know…

There are lists that work BETTER for hospitals than Grateful Patients.

I’m talking Rented Names - otherwise known as “Serial Donors.”

The search for "Serial Donors."

Donors on Rented Lists - like March of Dimes, Easter Seals, and others - have made contributions to nonprofit organizations in your area.

You may not have these people on your radar when you think of Rented Names. Likely, your idea of a rented list is wealthy people who live in fashionable zip codes with sky-high home values.

The truth is, zip code lists are some of the WORST names you can rent. I highly recommend AGAINST using these types of names.

Instead, you want “Serial Donors.”

People on Rented Lists give to many different organizations. It’s estimated they support between 7-10 different nonprofits. As such, they are prime candidates for successful fundraising appeals.

Believe it or not, most of the donors in YOUR database are Serial Donors. They give to multiple nonprofits, too. And they don't support your organization exclusively.

Why Rented Names work better than Grateful Patients…

I can hear you saying, “This doesn’t make sense. Why would a person who hasn't been a patient at my hospital respond better than someone who has?"

There are several reasons…

With Grateful Patients, we know two things...

1.   We know they’ve been in your hospital.
2.   We know they are the correct age.

(If you've selected your Grateful Patients properly, the best age group for fundraising is 60+. If you mail to younger donors, this reliable age characteristic is off the table. According to The Blackbaud 2020 Charitable Giving Report, the average age of a U.S. donor is 64.)

There are two things we DON’T know about Grateful Patients…

 1.   We don’t know if they are philanthropic.
2.   We don’t know if they are direct mail responsive. (Some people aren’t.)

 With Rented Names, we know three things...

 1.   We know they are philanthropic because they’ve demonstrated generosity by supporting multiple organizations.
2.   We know they are direct mail responsive. Nearly 100% of the lists you can rent have been built via direct mail.
3.   We know they are the correct age because they are existing donors to other nonprofits, and those folks are typically older donors.

How much better are Rented Names than Grateful Patients?

Three recent mailings from one of our clients produced these results…

MAILING #1:
Grateful Patients – 1.35% response
Rented Names – 1.98% response.

MAILING #2:
Grateful Patients – 1.79% response
Rented Names – 2.75% response.

MAILING #3:
Grateful Patients – 1.23% response
Rented Names – 4.36% response. (That’s not a typo…it really was 4.36%!)

Bottom line - with the right copy approach, Rented Lists can make HUGE difference when you want to increase the size of your donor base.

How can we help?

For more info on how Allegiant Direct, Inc., can help your organization improve its fundraising results, write Shannon Russell at: shannon@allegiantdirect.com

© 2021 Allegiant Direct, Inc.

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

Some “experts" say you should stop using direct mail altogether and convert all fundraising to email and other digital channels.

A few organizations have stopped using direct mail for acquisition and are acquiring new donors solely via email every month. They say, "it's cheaper and more timely." I agree you can get an email out quickly, and it's also cheap.

• But it is more productive?

• Do you get a better response?

• Does email excel at doing what postal mail does?

For some organizations, the answers to these questions may be “yes.” But for many others - and I might say MOST others - the answers are "NO."

Here are some important facts to consider before you abandon direct mail completely...

Survey says…

In a recent post by Roger Craver at "The Agitator" ("Update on the Cost of Embalming An Elephant)," he harkens to an earlier post called "Missing Out: Smaller Organizations and Direct Mail."

Craver concludes that...

• Smaller organizations are not taking advantage of the power of postal mail, and...

• 20% of respondents felt that most organizations are unaware of the difference in response rates between digital and postal mail.

The reasons?

1. “Too expensive.”

2. “Management believes we can do it all online.”

3. “Too much hassle with the logistics of printing and mailing”

4. “Don’t have time.”

5. “Don’t know enough about how to use direct mail.”

The power of postal mail

Craver goes on to say that according to the latest Direct Marketing Association (DMA) study...

"...average response rates from direct mail at 4.4% are a whopping 37 times higher than average email marketing rates at a mere 0.12%. Other studies show the same disparity, although open, click-thru, and response rates vary slightly."

One of these studies is the 2021 M+R Benchmarks Report which puts the national average email response at 0.29% from donors and 0.05% from prospects.

This compares unfavorably to what we see from the postal response in healthcare philanthropy, which is 5% - 15% AND OFTEN HIGHER from donors, and anywhere from 0.5% - 2% OR MORE from prospects. 

Craver provides his own explanation of the economics of email vs. postal mail…

"If an email to donors has, on average, a 20% chance of being opened and a postal mail letter a 50% chance…and if the response rates average about 0.05% for an email while a printed letter delivered to the donor’s home enjoys a 4% response rate…that’s quite a difference in results.

"Assume the average gift for both channels is $30. An email to 1,000 donors, assuming no cost, but a 0.5 percent response rate will produce $150 from those thousand donors.

"The direct mail letter, assuming it costs $750 to reach those 1,000 donors with a response rate of 4%, will produce a total of $1,200 minus the $750 cost of the mailing for a net income of $450. 

"For a group with 10,000 donors, that’s a $2,000 difference in favor of postal mail. It seems obvious to me which channel is preferable."

What the real experts say…

Several fundraising consultants and direct mail practitioners from both the U.S. and U.K. weighed in on "The Agitator" survey.

(Below are some condensed comments. (You can read all of the responses HERE. They are found at the end of the post.)

From consultant Pamela Grow…

"One of my subscribers wrote recently to say they’d dropped direct mail three years ago and gone solely digital. The result? They lost 2/3 of their donor base."

From Ken Burnett, a U.K. fundraising consultant…

"Roger, while undoubtedly alarming, everything you say resonates with what we see over here in the U.K., too. The dazzle of digital seems to have blinded fundraisers to the workhorse of their trade."

From someone wanting to remain anonymous…

"Direct mail is being systematically choked-off by a combination of rumor/opinion (NOT FACTS) that goes like this: 'It’s too expensive (hmmm…maybe if you are producing a 4-color piece on 100 lb. stock); cumbersome (too much lead time required); email is easier and cheaper; no one reads or responds to DM anymore (um, especially if you don’t send it!); everyone does everything online nowadays;' and don’t get me started on the ridiculous millennial argument.

“To make matters even worse, we have painted ourselves into a corner by deciding that since DM is 'so expensive, we will only send it to our top prospects (LYBUNTS, SYBUNTS) and cast everyone else into the email pool. Thus, we have an ever-larger swath of our file that hasn’t had a piece of DM from us in over TWO YEARS;

"Lost in all this is any focus, AT ALL, on the message and the ask. They have become secondary to the delivery system. Suffice it to say we never measure response rates; no one ever asks (!)

“…Our focus is almost EXCLUSIVELY on major gift fundraising, and we’ve had some success. It’s just not dawning on anyone that we aren’t building the pipeline anymore. We are systematically drying it up."

The final word.

Don't misunderstand - there's nothing wrong with email if used properly and as one of the many tools in your fundraising toolbox.

It's also true some people don't respond to email, while others don't respond to direct mail. The trick is providing opportunities for everyone to choose their own giving channel.

That's why I have no problem sending the same ask through multiple channels and letting the donor decide how they want to respond. 

I like using email as an alert to a letter arriving at a donor's mailbox, then again as a follow-up - or sending an email with the same ask at the same time you mail a letter.

Email is very effective when used at the end of the calendar year around December 29-31. Response during other times of the year is not as strong.

Very often an offline message is why someone makes an online gift. So they work well together. 

The problem I have is when an organization totally abandons a technique that's been used successfully for decades and replaces it with a less effective, anemic technique.

How can we help?

For more info on how Allegiant Direct, Inc., can help your organization improve its fundraising results, write Shannon Russell at: shannon@allegiantdirect.com

© 2021 Allegiant Direct, Inc.

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

Some experts say focus on inpatients and leave outpatients alone. 

But we heartily disagree with this strategy.

In most audience splits we've done, outpatients typically work better than inpatients.

We'll look at two appeals - one before Covid and another sent out during Covid…

Pre-Covid appeal

In the pre-Covid appeal, inpatients produced a 1.59% response with a $1.79 cost per dollar raised (CP$R).

Outpatients from the same appeal had a 2.1% response and CP$R of $1.24.

Outpatients generated 114 new donors vs. 33 from inpatients.

(There are always more outpatients to mail, so if they work well, you end up with many more new donors.)

Covid appeal

Response was much higher from the Covid appeal, so results from in and outpatients were strong.

In this appeal, inpatients produced a 2.77% response with a better-than-break-even CP$R of $.70.

But outpatients beat the socks off that with a 5.61% response - or a 102.5% increase - and a $.43 CP$R.

Best of all, 710 new donors were acquired from both groups (142 from inpatients and 568 from outpatients).

Give us a shout!

For more info on how Allegiant Direct, Inc., can help your organization improve its fundraising results, write Shannon Russell at: shannon@allegiantdirect.com

© 2021 Allegiant Direct, Inc.

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

For a few years now, we've been using something called "OPTIMIZED GIFT ASK" to increase the amount of money donors contribute to a direct mail solicitation.

Simply put, “OPTIMIZED GIFT ASK” combines predictive analysis with proven fundraising tactics to build an appropriate, personalized ask strategy for each donor. Amounts are calculated to upgrade donors and improve retention.

Results have been extraordinary in generating more donors and dollars for our clients.

"OPTIMIZED GIFT ASK" results...

A recent test of "OGA" produced a stunning outcome...

A small number of donors (1,231) were split with segment A receiving OGA and segment B receiving a standard gift upgrade starting with the donors' most recent gift. Here's what happened...

OPTIMIZED GIFT ASK: 25.81% response with $14,086 income.

REGULAR GIFT ASK: 5.93% response with $4,325 income.

The difference in response was a whopping 335%. Total difference in income was $9,761 - or a 225.6% improvement!

This increase was achieved due to a MORE APPROPRIATE ASK - neither too high nor too low, but a perfectly targeted amount the donor could achieve.

Although this particular test had the effect of significantly increasing response and income, it did not necessarily affect average gift.

The difference in average gift was $62.88 (with OGA) vs. $59.25 (without OGA), a slight increase of 6%. However, the use of OGA improved cost per dollar raised with the OGA group coming in at $0.08, as compared to $0.19 with the NON-OGA group. This was a 60% improvement.

(The lower number is better than the higher number since it's a reflection of the cost to raise one dollar.)

Interested in generating more donors and dollars?

If you're interested in learning more about how "OPTIMIZED GIFT ASK" can improve your direct mail income, email Shannon Russell: shannon@allegiantdirect.com

Or send questions to: wayne@allegiantdirect.com

© 2021 Allegiant Direct, Inc.

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

Have you ever been to a restaurant called The Cheesecake Factory?

It serves delicious cheesecakes, obviously, in various flavors and toppings.

But it also serves burgers, sandwiches, steaks, chops, seafood, salads and brunch items on Saturdays and Sundays.

The menu is huge. In fact, it's the size of a small city telephone book (if you remember what those used to look like).

The times I've visited the Cheesecake factory, I've spent way too much time going through the menu trying to decide what to order. 

It's overwhelming. And I've often wished they had a smaller menu. There's just too much to look at.

Which brings me to the topic of my post today...

Is your direct mail menu too big?

I'm not talking about the list of gift designation funds you might include on your reply slip (though this can be a problem if there are too many of them). 

I'm mainly talking about the way your direct mail package looks. Is it loaded up with photos and graphics...boxes and charts? If so, you've probably overwhelmed your reader with way too much information to process efficiently. 

Reader interest in a direct mail package boils down to mere seconds. If it takes someone too long (in their mind) to figure out what you want them to do, they will drop your package in the trash. 

Admit it - you open your mail over or near a trash can, don't you? There's a reason for that. Even for mail you want to keep, you're scanning it rapidly because you're busy.

You toss extraneous envelopes and inserts quickly because you want to get on with your life.

If your package has too much to look at or comprehend, your recipient won't spend MORE time with it. Instead, they'll become annoyed and trash it.

You want your reader to read your letter, right? And send a gift, too. Then make it easy.

Don't force them to spend extra time wading through what I call "STOP SIGN GRAPHICS AND PHOTOS" so they lose interest before they even get to your letter.

Don't just take my word for it...

One of the top direct mail experts in the nation is Jeff Brooks. Jeff's post - "Fundraising is good, not bad, when it's ugly" - is a short, excellent read on this topic.

Jeff says "Sometimes beauty can be your worst enemy in fundraising - when it gets in the way of your real goals."

Questions or comments? Contact me at: wayne@allegiantdirect.com 

© 2021 Allegiant Direct, Inc.

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

When a nonprofit organization contacts us to see if we can help them get better results with their direct mail program, we always ask to see samples of what they've been doing.

Invariably, we see the same mistakes being made.

Here's a discussion of the TOP 3 MISTAKES we see most frequently...

Mistake #1: Audience

More often than not, the organization is using a prospect file that is too young.

It's wishful thinking on the part of many development professionals that a younger audience OUGHT to be giving and one day perhaps magically WILL give.

In a sense, they're right. They will start giving SOME day. But that day is a long way off. When these younger prospects begin to amass more discretionary income that can be earmarked for philanthropy, they'll start giving.

Until then, you should focus on prospects that are ready to give NOW, and that age group is usually 65 years of age and older. Otherwise, you are wasting time and money.

Mistake #2: Copy

We also see mistakes with copy. Either it's thematically poor or written from the institutional "we to you" point of view, not "I to you." As a result, the copy isn't donor-focused and will not be successful.

Donors like to solve problems, so give them something to solve. Don't ask them to support your organization because "you've been around a long time" or you do "good work." Both may be true, but you won't get many folks to support that kind of case statement.

Poorly written copy with long paragraphs and no indentions that's very difficult to understand likely will be trashed in short order.

Mistake #3: Artwork

Flashy and splashy artwork with lots of color and photos can be a big problem. I realize this is counter-intuitive, but most things about direct mail ARE counter-intuitive. Usually what you think will work won’t work. So get used to that idea and you'll be more successful.

The overuse of color and photos simply distracts your reader from the main event of your letter - that being the message and its ask.

Generally, if a package screams "this is fundraising" or "this is junk mail," it's easily trashed.

You want to maintain a sense of mystery as to what's inside. If you remove that mystery, the reader has an excuse to quickly drop your package in the round file.

Bottom line…

Make your packages compelling and easy for your prospect or donor to comprehend so they will be more likely to give you a vote of confidence with their dollars.

© 2021 Allegiant Direct, Inc.

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

Recently, I was watching a pro football kicker attempt a field goal from about 50 yards.

The camera was behind the kicker. From that vantage point, the goalposts looked like a couple of yellow toothpicks in the distance.

I thought, “Field goal kicking has an extremely narrow margin for success.”

Then it occurred to me, "direct mail has an extremely narrow margin for success, too."

There are three main components to a direct mail appeal. As long as you remain "inside the goalposts” and don’t go wide on either side, your chances for success are good.

• Your mailing list - Certain lists work and others don’t. If you’re an adult hospital, you’ll be using former patients or outside rented lists. Strangely, rented lists often work better than folks who’ve actually been in the hospital. Age also is important. If you mail to people who are too young, your mailing likely will fail.

• Your copy - Like lists, certain themes work better than others. If you get outside a narrow range of topics, you won’t be successful. For example, adult hospitals generally can’t raise money for behavioral medicine or orthopedics, even if they have the best programs in the world. Donors don’t support these items. Your copy needs to relevant to the donor…something meaningful…something that offers a selfish motivation for giving. If your donors can’t relate to what you’re asking them to support, they won’t respond.

• Your graphics - Again, there’s a very narrow range of what you can do. If you’re too flashy and put too many things in your package that distract your donor, you won’t be successful. Donors won’t spend unlimited time with your package before they trash it. We’re talking seconds! If it’s too complex, or if donors perceive it’s going to take too long figure out, you’ve lost them.

The next time you're contemplating a direct mail appeal, think about the field goal kicker and aim for the narrow space between the goalposts. Your chances for success will be enhanced.

Not “wide right” or “wide left” - but right down the middle!

© 2020 Allegiant Direct, Inc.

By Joshua Meyer
Director of Marketing - OneCause
Guest Blogger

Due to the ongoing disruptions that 2020 has thrown our way, the nonprofit sector has had a challenging year so far. The COVID-19 pandemic and its broader effects have forced organizations of all sizes to approach fundraising using new tech and outreach strategies.

As many have already noted over recent months, simply pausing your fundraising and engagement efforts for the foreseeable future is not feasible for most nonprofits. But how do you keep donors engaged and supportive when meeting in person isn’t an option? The overwhelming consensus for the nonprofit sector has been to turn to virtual fundraising events.

At OneCause, we’re experts in planning and running charity auctions, but the COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the need for broader virtual strategies across the board in addition to engaging event plans. We’ve helped hundreds of nonprofits effectively pivot their tactics, whether through online auctions, virtual gala events, or peer-to-peer and online fundraising campaigns.

By now, your organization has likely already explored and implemented at least a few new ways to virtually interact with your community and ask for support online, but are you making the most of your new strategies?

To strengthen any of your organization’s strategies, look to your data.

One major benefit of leaning into digital fundraising and engagement is that it’s easier than ever to use data to enhance your strategies. With data-driven tactics, you can better focus your efforts to target and engage with specific donors in more specific ways, boosting relationships and fundraising effectiveness.

We’ll walk through the essentials of how to deliberately incorporate data into your virtual fundraising and engagement strategies, including:

1. Tie data into your virtual events.

2. Guide your marketing and outreach with data.

With more data guiding your new tactics, you’re sure to secure more support from your virtual audiences and build stronger relationships in the process. Let’s get started.

1. Tie data into your virtual events.

You already know that virtual fundraising and engagement events have quickly become the new norm for nonprofits everywhere. Dedicated supporters have been eager to stay engaged with the missions that matter to them, so the transition has been relatively smooth for many organizations. If your own nonprofit hasn’t yet explored its virtual event options, it’s not too late to get started.

If you are planning an upcoming virtual event, make sure your data plays an active role in shaping your strategy and planning process.

Specifically, dig into your database to look for key metrics about past event performance, attendee retention between events, average event ROI, and more. For example, use information in your database to answer questions like:

• What have been our most successful events in both revenue and donor engagement?

• What have been our least successful events?

• How many attendees do we retain from one event to the next? Can this number be improved?

• How many new attendees or donors do we attract to our organization for the first time through events?

• What is the average cost-per-dollar-raised at our events, or revenue divided by expenses? Can we break this number down by revenue source or type of event?

By working through questions like these and finding the answers in your database or CRM platform, you’ll be on your way to generating more data-driven strategies for your events. For example, if your data reveals that attendee retention can be improved, securing more registrations from past supporters will be a great goal to set moving forward.

Putting this data to work

Your data can be an extremely useful resource when setting goals for your virtual events, but you’ll need to dig deeper once it’s time to start planning the event specifics.

For instance, let’s say your team is planning a virtual auction. How can you use data about your donors and past events to strengthen your engagement strategy? Effective item procurement and pricing is essential for any successful auction, so we’ll walk through examples of how data can help focus your efforts in this critical area.

Use your data to procure the perfect items that will engage your audience. The main draw of an auction (virtual or in-person) is the range of items offered. By using your donor data to learn more about your audience, you can build a more targeted item catalog. For instance, how old is your average event attendee? Do they have young children? What draws them to your mission?

A smaller but more focused catalog of items and packages will save your team’s time during the procurement process, generate more bids, and ultimately drive more revenue. Explore our complete list of charity auction item ideas to start brainstorming once you’ve studied your audience.

Guide the item pricing process with data from past events. For example, it can be difficult to determine a fair market value for intangible auction items like unique experience packages. Use your data to see what similar packages sold for during your last auction, or study audience demographics like age and income to make an educated estimate. Demographics and past auction data are invaluable for setting minimum bid amounts, as well.

How you price the items in your virtual auction will directly determine how much revenue your event can generate, so backing up your strategy with data is a smart move. The OneCause guide to pricing auction items walks through the process in detail.

2. Guide your marketing and outreach with data

As you’re already well aware, promoting your events and campaigns to your audience plays a huge role in determining your success.

Competition for your donors’ attention online can be fierce because every other nonprofit and business has quickly shifted their own strategies to generate more digital engagement, too. This makes effective marketing and outreach more important than ever to back up your new virtual efforts.

When promoting your virtual fundraising events and campaigns, analyze your data to find metrics like:

• Email open rates and clickthrough rates

• Engagement on your social media profiles

• Traffic growth and most-visited pages on your website

• Your donation page’s or event registration pages’ conversion rates

• Cost-per-acquisition for your marketing campaigns, or a campaign’s total marketing costs divided by the number of new donors or attendees acquired

Ideally, marketing metrics like these will be readily available in your CRM if you have integrations set up between your various marketing platforms or software. Otherwise, you’ll need to examine your email, social media, and website engagement data separately.

Putting this data to work

Data can guide your marketing strategies in a variety of ways when promoting an upcoming virtual event or campaign. Here are a few recommendations:

• Track engagement history. Whenever possible, tracking how each supporter in your database engages with your marketing campaigns is invaluable information for strengthening all your future tactics. It gives you fine-tuned insights into which fundraising appeals or event invitations have been the most successful, laying the groundwork for you to continue building on those strategies (and avoiding those that don’t generate much interest). Tracking engagement is essential for modern digital marketing.

• Segment your audience. Blasting the same email or sending the same letter to every contact in your database is rarely a good idea. In today’s virtual fundraising world, tailored and targeted communications are key. While everyone should be invited, targeting your outreach with additional, more specific messaging is a good way to secure supporters and stand out in an online world. Donors who have already engaged with a past virtual campaign or event are a great starting point to begin segmenting your audience. Think specifically about who you want to reach and what message will attract them.

• Choose the right channels. Once you understand which segments of your audience you want to target, take a look at which marketing channels they’re most engaged with, and focus your efforts there. If your target audience is highly receptive to email and direct mail, anchor your marketing strategy with those methods. If your audience is very engaged on social media, invest time in developing promotional content for Facebook and Instagram.

• Identify and recruit social donors. If social media is a part of your marketing strategy (and it should be), tap into the peer-to-peer power of these platforms by recruiting social fundraisers or ambassadors. Use your donor data to identify individuals who are highly engaged with your organization online or who are well-connected in your community. Then, empower them to fundraise for your upcoming virtual event or campaign. This can be an extremely effective way to grow your online audience and raise more support in the process.

Amid all the disruptions and distractions of the past several months, doubling down on digital and direct mail marketing is a smart move. It increases the visibility of your events and campaigns, generating more donations, registrations, and engagement. Plus, it keeps your mission and your organization on the minds of supporters!

Reinforcing your connections with donors starts with simply staying in touch, so any data that can help support and strengthen your outreach efforts is worth paying attention to. Investing in dedicated marketing software that can integrate with your nonprofit CRM platform is a great way to start building a stronger data foundation for your organization.

The nonprofit sector was already broadly shifting towards increasingly digital strategies before the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing guidelines. In many ways, the events of 2020 have only served to (dramatically) accelerate that shift.

As virtual engagement becomes a more central part of organizations’ strategies moving forward, shaping those strategies with data is the best way to ensure maximum impact. Take a look at your own donor data and try to come up with new insights that can help direct your virtual event planning or marketing efforts. There are sure to be plenty of new ideas and strategies hiding in your database!

About the author…

Joshua Meyer brings over 14 years of fundraising, volunteer management, and marketing experience to his current role as the Director of Marketing for OneCause. Currently, as a member of the OneCause sales and marketing team, Josh manages all of the firm’s marketing efforts. He has a passion for helping to create positive change and loves that his current role allows him to help nonprofits engage new donors and achieve their fundraising goals.

By Wayne Gurley
President & Creative Director

Myth # 10: Make your packages colorful, creative and splashy, using as many photos as possible.

Most fundraisers think they have to use bunches of photos and lots of color in their direct mail packages.

These kinds of packages are prettier and more interesting, they say.

But in reality, if you make a package look “too busy,” it can distract a donor or prospect from your message. Consequently, it can keep them from making a gift, which is what you want them to do.

If used judiciously, photos can be helpful. But too many pictures - or having too many things for a person to focus on - can keep your donors from getting your message.

People have a “timer” in their heads, and it’s set for just a few seconds. When they first see your package, they don’t even know how much time they’re going to spend with it.

But when that internal “buzzer” goes off, that’s when your envelope and its contents go into the trash. If your readers can’t quickly discern what you want them to do, they won’t take the time to figure it out. They’ll just move to the next thing on their mental “to do” list.

© 2020 Allegiant Direct, Inc.