Fundraising Check-Up - Are You Ready for the Second Half of 2023?

Tim Barnes: 0:07

Welcome to episode 96 of the Practice of Nonprofit Leadership. I'm Tim Barnes and I'm Nathan Ruby.

Nathan Ruby: 0:15

Well, good morning. Oh wait a minute, Tim, it's afternoon. Good afternoon, Tim. How the heck are you today?

Tim Barnes: 0:22

Hey, I'm doing well. We're really messed up.

Nathan Ruby: 0:26

You know, usually we record this first thing in the morning, but not today. We're in the afternoon, so it's we're well beyond halfway in the afternoon. It's like we're getting right up to a quittin' time here, tim. Well, today we are going to talk about four concrete things that you could do to give yourself and your organization a fundraising checkup. We are halfway through the year and for many organizations, the last six months are extremely important when it comes to fundraising, because that's when the majority of your revenue actually comes in. So to get us in the kind of the fundraising mood, tim, I've got some fundraising trivia. Are you ready to play? Let's give it a shot? Okay, here we go. Question number one Now, this is as a percentage. So, as a percentage of the population, who gives the most using Facebook? Okay, so as a percentage of population, who gives the most using Facebook? Is it Baby Boomers, gen X or Millennials?

Tim Barnes: 1:39

I'm going to go on a limb and I think with Facebook I would think it's maybe Baby Boomers.

Nathan Ruby: 1:45

Ding, ding, ding ding ding. Good job, tim, that is correct. So Baby Boomers 21% of Baby Boomers use Facebook to give. What's interesting, though, is Gen X at 19%, so right behind them. And then Millennials and this might actually kind of surprise me 16% of Millennials, because I've got three Millennials, and I don't think any three of those they couldn't get into their Facebook account if I'd offer them $1,000 to do it. I don't think they know where their passwords are.

Tim Barnes: 2:21

I think I dispute that, but I get your point Okay.

Nathan Ruby: 2:27

Question number two, same question as a percentage of population, who has attended the most fundraising events? So, fundraising events Is it Baby Boomers, gen X or Millennials?

Tim Barnes: 2:42

Well, I got to say I'm going to go with Baby Boomers again.

Nathan Ruby: 2:46

Tim, you are two for two and I did not tell Tim these questions ahead of time, so he's actually answering this live on the air. Yes, you are correct, it is Baby Boomers. 58% of the Baby Boomer population attends fundraising events, followed by those Gen Xers they're hanging in there 56%, and again right behind them, the Millennials 55% of Millennials will attend a fundraising event. So all right, here we go. Last question let's see if we can go with a clean sweep here Tim Monthly giving program. Which of those same three groups, as a percentage, which one is the most in monthly giving programs? Baby Boomers, gen X, millennials.

Tim Barnes: 3:38

Well, I'm going to go three for three. I think it's Baby Boomers.

Nathan Ruby: 3:42

Ding ding, ding, ding ding ding. Great job, tim. I should have a prize, a prize for you. Well, I'll take you something, I'll get you something. Baby Boomers 49%. So half of Baby Boomers are in somebody's monthly giving program. So if you don't have a monthly giving program, that might be something you want to look at. Monthly giving program Baby Boomer 49%, gen X 49% and Millennials 40%. So just a little fundraising trivia there. I was kind of surprised about the monthly giving program. Obviously, I knew it was popular, but I didn't realize half Half of Baby Boomers and Gen X, which is a pretty large percentage of the overall population, are in somebody's monthly giving program. So let's get on. Today we are going to do four points. Before we roll into that, I'm going to give you the TLDL version. That is too long, didn't listen. And now I'm not giving you permission to not listen to the rest of the show, but this one might be a little bit longer than some of our other shows, and so I just want you to get what it is that we're talking about up in front. And if you are trying to lead your organization with little to no staff, very few volunteers, and you're desperately trying to keep everything running and you're trying to financially to keep the organization kind of the proverbial nose above water. So you're still breathing and if you, if you have no other time to do anything else, spend your fundraising time building relationships with your donors who care about the organization the most, and that that's fundraising in a nutshell. Spend your fundraising time building relationships with your donors who care about the organization the most. So if you don't get anything else today, remember that and you and you'll do okay.

Tim Barnes: 5:51

So well, that makes sense, nathan, and I'm kind of interested to hear how you're gonna play this out then. So give me, give me the good stuff. How do I, how do I do that?

Nathan Ruby: 6:00

All right, let's roll with it. All right. Number one check your engagement. Now you are. Now we are talking about, just as a reminder, this is that we're mid-year, we're halfway through July, so we're we're a midpoint in the year and there are things that you could do between now and the end of the year to make your total revenue numbers a little bit better. So that's what we're talking about. So number one is check your engagement and the your most likely donors are people who have already Actively engaged with your, with your organization. So these are people that are already engaged, already giving. So what? How do you, how do you define an engaged donor? Well, an engaged donor will show up at events, they will comment on social media, they will call you back when you call them. They're consistently giving, even in small amounts. It doesn't. It doesn't. An engaged donor doesn't have to necessarily be a major donor. If they're consistently giving even smaller amounts, they're engaged. Now, do we need to be worried about increasing your donor base right now through new donors in the long run? Yes, every organization, no matter where you are in the in the life cycle of a nonprofit. We all need to be concerned about growing the database over the long period, over the long term through new donors, and that is very important. However, starting to focus on new donors between now and the end of this year will not help you with this year's revenue numbers. By all means, create a strategy and tactics for new donors for next year, but from now until the end of the year, your biggest bang for the for the time spent is going to be focusing On existing donors if you want to impact revenue numbers for this year.

Tim Barnes: 8:01

I think we hear all the time how important retention is. We often, we often get in a cycle that we got a, we got to get new people all the time. But retention is so important for that consistent, consistent revenue.

Nathan Ruby: 8:14

Well it is, and it's so much, it is so much easier to retain a current donor than to go out and and find and earn the first gift of a new donor. It's just, it's so much easier. I mean, think of it. They've, they've already written you a check. Some of some donors have written you mini checks, so they've already done it. So it's a lot easier for them to do it again. It's, it's I don't want to say it's elementary, but it just it's way easier to retain a donor than to try to find a new one.

Tim Barnes: 8:47

So I guess, to kick off your, your, challenge. We need to sit down and make a list of those people who are actively engaged with us, our consistent, our consistent group right.

Nathan Ruby: 8:56

Yes, absolutely Absolutely. So check engagement. That is, that's number one, right off the bat. Number two I Would look for your three year consistent donors. That's that if you can find a donor who has given three years consistently Now this is, this is similar to your engaged donors so if they've given three years, that they're, they're definitely an engaged donor. And and if you, if you don't have three years worth of data and you only have two years of data, well then find your donors that have given both years. If you don't have a database and you you have an Excel spreadsheet, you know, just do a name search for you know, for repeated, repeated names. Or if you don't have that, if you don't have any database at all, tim, I would take a legal pad, a blank legal pad. I would sit down Somewhere and I would just start thinking through donors and I would try to list out Five or ten or fifteen or twenty, whatever the number is, however it it's it. However you're able to do this, find those, those donors that have given consistently over time, treat and find that out as a group, all right. And then what we want to do with them Is what you're looking to do is to find out when they normally give. So let's say you have, you have a three-year donor and they have given every year for the last three years. They give in November when you send out an appeal letter. Well, if they've if they've given in November or December, then I'm not as worried about them yet, because this is not their normal time to give. And If you've got somebody that has given in November each year for three years Unless you stop communicating with them or something's dramatically happened in their lives, you can pretty much count that they're going to give in November of this year. So I'm not too worried if they haven't given yet this year. Now that doesn't mean that you, you know, maybe you can reach out and you know, send a little note card or a text or something and do a do a soft touch on them, but I wouldn't get too worried about it now. What you should be Aware of is if they are the first six months of the year, if they should have already given this year and they haven't given, then that's a little bit more of a concern. And so when you have a donor who gave last year so let's say they gave in 2022, but they haven't given yet this year in 2023, that is called a libut list, l-y-b-u-n-t, and that stands for last year, but unfortunately not this year Kind of a tricky little acronym there, tim, and I didn't make that up. That's like a fundraising term. I just like to say it though. So if your donor is given in the front half of the year and they haven't given this year, all right now, that's something that maybe you should reach out to. So send a postcard, send a text, phone, call some type of a touch, and if you have one or two or three or four, well that's easy, you could just pick up the phone and call them. But if you have 20 or 25 or 30 or 100 or whatever it is, maybe think of a little postcard. And if you send a postcard, it's they're an engaged donor, so they have been giving, so they're likely to give again, and I don't wanna go through the expense of maybe a full. I'm not doing an appeal letter with an envelope where they have to open the envelope and pull it out. I just want a little postcard where I know that they're gonna look at it and the postcard says thank you for your great support of XYZ organization. I love to have you back this year, or here's what we're doing. You know, it's just a little postcard, just a little touch to help them jog their memory oh gosh, yeah, I haven't given to them yet. I need to write that check. It doesn't have to be a lot, just a just a little, a little nudge. So so, first of all is check your engagement. Look for those folks that are that are engaged with the organization. Next is go find your three year, two year consistent donors. See if they and and make a decision Yep, they're, they haven't given yet. They're gonna give in the back half the year or no. They typically give a march. Something's wrong. I need to, I need to make a touch. Number three is major donors. For every organization that I've always worked for, tim, I call it the holy smoke test, and that is if I get a gift that comes in and I open the envelope and I pull out the check and I look at it. If, instinctively, I say holy smokes, well, that's the definition of a major gift. So so, as an executive director, you get to decide what that is is for your own, for your own organization. But take your major, your major donors. And Now I'm gonna make an assumption here. That's a pretty fair assumption. That is in your major gifts. Most of those are gonna come on the back half of the year, not always, but probably most of them. So I'm gonna make that assumption. And and so that means that those gifts are have yet to come for 2023. And so my question to you then is have you been communicating with those donors? So, have you been sending newsletters? Have you? Have you sent them appeal letters? And yes, your major donors get your appeal letters. If you have, let's say that you have a donor that sent in a three thousand dollar, a three thousand dollar gift, and you're sending out Appeal letters, that you're looking for twenty five dollar gifts, yes, send that to those major gift owners. And a couple of reasons for that. One is don't dictate to your donors when they can give to you and when they can't. If your donors want to give, for gosh sakes If, give them the opportunity to give, tim, don't. Don't say no, no, no, no, your fifty dollars is not. I'm saving you for three thousand. I don't want your fifty. That's that's. That's wrong. Don't do that. And secondly, your appeal letters are also. They're informational, even if they don't respond to the appeal letter. If they're a major gift donor, chances are they're gonna open it up and read it so they'll find out something about the organization and get some education about the organization, even if they didn't respond, Nathan, let me just ask you, and maybe it's a no-brainer, but I'm curious can you just quickly define newsletter and appeal letter?

Tim Barnes: 15:53

How are those different?

Nathan Ruby: 15:55

Yeah, good question, tim. Typically the newsletter is much more educational and it has either a soft ask or no ask at all. Now, some people will push back on me on that, but that's how I do my newsletters. My newsletters will be picture heavy, graphic heavy. There may be four pictures and three sentences. That could be one section of the newsletter. And for a soft ask, we may include here's a wish list. Here are the things that we yield of medical supplies or other supplies that we need, and so by putting a wish list up there, that's saying hey, if you would like to supply these things, these are the things that we need With our newsletters. Another form of a soft ask, we always include a response device, which is an envelope, and so that newsletter goes out. Our donors will read the newsletter and if they're so inclined, they'll grab that envelope, the return envelope, write their check, put it in and send it back. So we gave them basically a soft ask as the opportunity to give maybe a little nudge, but we're not asking for $25 or $50 or $100 or $1,000. A direct mail piece, on the other hand, while it does educate on what's going on in the organization because we always include a story about one of our patients who's come. So that's an education piece. But the direct mail piece is a hard ask. It is your gift of will help us to do X, y and Z. Your generous gift will help us do this. And then at the end there's always a PS your generous gift, a generous gift of X, will do this. So that is, we're giving suggestions, dollar suggestions, and we are. There's no doubt when you read that appeal letter that you're being asked to make a gift. So that's kind of the difference between newsletter and appeal letter. So the point here is is with your major donors, if they haven't heard from you, if you haven't been sending them newsletters, you haven't been sending appeal letters, you haven't been sending emails, you haven't been communicating with them. Now is the time to get on that, and especially with your top five, six, seven, 10 donors, your top 10% donors, whatever it is, if they've not heard from you consistently and by consistently you know anywhere from once a month, once every other month and you haven't done that yet. You got to get on that. Now is the time to. I would, as soon as this podcast is over, I would make a list of the seven or eight or nine people, you need to call and start dialing the phone. It's that important, because if you don't communicate with those top donors throughout the year, then why would you expect them to write you a check at the end of the year if they haven't heard from you, if they don't know what's going on, if they're not up to speed of how their money is being spent, they'll go write that check somewhere else. Tim, so you got to communicate with your major gift donors, and if you haven't been doing it, now is the time to start to get back in the game again.

Tim Barnes: 19:23

Nathan, I know we probably laughed together because we know a number of organizations. This is really good, but a lot of organizations get to November go. Oh, it's almost the end of the year. We should probably think about doing something right. Yes. But, I think you're going to talk about that. Yeah, I am.

Nathan Ruby: 19:44

And then when that happens, tim, they call us and they say help us. And it's like, yeah, we can help, we'll get ready for next year, because I can't pull a rabbit out of a hat. And so that segues very nicely, thank you, tim into year-end appeal planning. And for a lot of organizations there's kind of two pieces of that. One is Giving Tuesday, and that is the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving. If you're not aware of that, it's a national philanthropic push and Piggyback's on Retail's Black Friday. What helped me, tim, it's Saturday is small business. And then Monday is Cyber Monday, yeah, ok. And then Tuesday, us philanthropy people have got it. We've got to have our day too, tim, that's right. And now some organizations do this, some don't, and I have in my notes here it says you don't have to and don't be bullied. And I think some organizations, some executive directors, tim, that we talked to their hearts not really in Giving Tuesday, but they feel like everybody else is doing it. So I'm missing something if I don't. Or they'll have a board member come to them and say well, last year this other organization I'm part of, they fundraised $72,000 on Giving Tuesday. We've got to do that. Now, what the board member didn't tell you is they have a fundraising staff of 10, and they've got three communications people and they've been working on that all year, because all the board member knows is that there are $72,000 raised. So if you're going to do Giving Tuesday, you've got to start now. You've got to be starting now and there's a couple of reasons to do it, and one is you can piggyback on larger organizations communications budget. So if you are an active, if you're active in philanthropy, probably somewhere in your social media some organization you're connected to is doing Giving Tuesday and they are running ads and they're running posts and they're having this conversation and this Giving Tuesdays in the Twitter sphere and it's on Facebook and LinkedIn and it's in all of those places. And so if your donor is saying, oh, look, my favorite organization over here, they're doing it too. So there's a little bit of a you could kind of play off of the communication spend from larger organizations. So that's a positive. But if you're going to do it, if you're going to do a Giving Tuesday initiative, four quick things to do. One, pick something small. If you are a $50,000 budget, don't pick a $5,000 goal. Pick a $500 goal, something very small, something that you feel confident that you can hit All right. So don't have a high goal. That's first thing. Second is something concrete, something that is a. I was working with an organization that serves youth the other day and we were talking about some options for this and one of the things I mentioned was they had a room where the kids will come in and kind of a waiting room for kids and it's like, okay, maybe a new TV or maybe a I don't know something that would be that would benefit those kids, but in a concrete way. So something you put your hands on. So something small, small goal, something concrete. Get a match, if you can. That'd be number three, if you could. Everybody loves a match, tim, and it works virtually every single time you try it. Everybody loves a match. So if your goal is 500, and you could get a $100 match or $150 match, it will go a long way in helping you to hit that goal. And then the fourth piece for Giving Tuesday is make sure you're out in front talking about this. Giving Tuesday is the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, so it's the week between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So I would, by the first week in November, you need to be hitting your social media. Maybe it goes out into your fall newsletter. So if you're going to be talking about this in November and even late October, then that means you better have it planned out in August or September, which and this is July, so you better be thinking about it now.

Tim Barnes: 24:39

So that's Giving Tuesday, but plays out true for end of the year appeals. Yeah, I tell you.

Nathan Ruby: 24:47

I tell you what these year end appeals. I, when I'm sitting here talking about getting out in front of these things I don't have a mirror in front of me, but I should, because I'm talking to myself here it's really easy for me to get into mid-October and be thinking oh no, what are we going to do about the year end appeal? So, but now, just same thing. Now's the time to be making decisions on that. What is the topic of the letter going to be? What's the theme of the letter going to be? What are your graphics? What story are you going to use? Those are the main pieces of those direct mail pieces and it's so much easier if you've got that planned out months in advance. So use this time as kind of a time trigger. Okay, it's time for me to go spend a Friday morning for 45 minutes or an hour and I'm going to go plan this out and sketch this out. So use that as a trigger point that it's time to go do this planning.

Tim Barnes: 25:50

Well, nathan, you've given us a lot of really helpful information and challenge. Maybe you can so just give me a final summary. What are the things I need to be remembering out of this podcast?

Nathan Ruby: 26:02

Gotcha All right. Four last thoughts. One track your consistent donors. These are the lifeblood of your financial organization and you've got to know who they are, when they give, how much they're giving. So make a list, pull it out of the database. If you have a database, if not, spend some time. Get them down on a piece of paper Are they giving when they're supposed to give and are they giving at normal levels? If you have five donors, who are typically $250 donors, and they've all come in at 50, that's a trend you need to be paying attention to. So track your consistent donors. When are they giving and are they giving at the same level? That's one. Two for gosh sakes, increase communications between now and the end of the year. Don't decrease. Your donors want to hear from you Now. I'm not saying send them a mail piece every week, but consistent, ongoing communication through the mail, through email, on social media, consistent communication. Do not pull back on your communication. I don't know what number, but I would say 96.2% of the time. The answer is not to decrease communication, the answer is to increase it. All right, so increase communication. Third default action step If you don't know what else to do, spend time and focus on deepening the relationship with your donors. If you do nothing else, deepen the relationship. That should always be your default action. Step and fourth and lastly, start planning now for your year-end campaigns. Whether it's Giving Tuesday or year-end drug mail, or you've got an event coming up in the fall, whatever it is, start your planning now so that it's well thought out and you have a good plan in place long before you need to implement it.

Tim Barnes: 28:11

As always, if you have questions or you'd like to engage Nathan and more of these conversations around fundraising, we'd always love to hear from you and feel free to reach out to us. So thank you for listening today and we appreciate you joining us on this podcast. If what is being shared is helpful to you, would you take some time and give us a review? Let us know how it's benefiting you and, as I just mentioned, if you'd like to get in touch with us, our contact information is in the show notes. That's all for today, until next time.