Thank you to the subscriber who asked us about what we are seeing as common missed fundraising opportunities. What a great question! Among the first things that came to mind, two stood out as being quite easy to change or implement yet have a significant effect on increased giving. For today, let’s talk about some low hanging fruit often left unharvested.
Event Follow-Up
If you went through all the effort of having an event, be sure you follow up with everyone afterward. I cannot tell you how many organizations miss this opportunity. Sure, you are exhausted after your event and things are busy, but skipping this is leaving money and relationships on the counter.
Following up promptly after an event shows that you’re organized, and that you care about the person and their presence/involvement matter to your organization. (Because it does!) Solicit feedback, send a video or replay, list the highlights, outline how the funds raised will be used, and illustrate the impact of each gift.
It’s especially important to follow up after fundraising events. If someone intended to donate the night of the event but did not, they are unlikely to go through the process of making a gift unless you make it easy for them or remind them.
Level up your follow-ups by making them specific to the donor’s behavior. For example, one communication to those who registered and did not come, those who came but did not donate, and those who came and donated, etc.
Lapsed Donors
A second often missed opportunity is reaching out to lapsed donors. Lapsed donors are either LYBUNT or SYBUNT. That is, they either gave Last Year But Unfortunately Not This or Some Year But Unfortunately Not This. Being disciplined about reaching out to donors and following up with them when they go at least a year without giving is a great way to remind those whose minds it slipped, recapture donors who may have otherwise left, and learn about your donors giving (they only give in December or they why some donors choose not to give to your organization anymore. It’s unfortunately common for organizations to lose 80+ percent of first-time givers before they make their second gift. Yikes! Don’t let this be your organization!
Organizations that employ these two strategies will always (yes, ALWAYS) find that they are attracting more net-new donors and recapturing lapsed donors - resulting in increased giving.
Comments