This is your donor. Your average donor is a woman over the age of 60.
She can’t read the tiny writing you put on your appeal letter.
She may not even open emails from your nonprofit.
How do you reach her?
This is your typical donor! She is lifting! Hard! She is giving to you.
But she doesn’t feel like you see her or hear her!
WTF nonprofit? What can you do to help her feel like you care?
That means, have you ever given your donor a gift? Have you called her just because?
Have you sent her a thank you note recently?
Have you invited her to your next open house?
Have you given her a pen from your nonprofit?
When I worked at a small social justice nonprofit, we gave fans with our logo and an inspirational quote to our donors.
Is there something else that you could give that would be appropriate?
Recently I went to a meeting of government procurement specialists. They wanted more people to apply to their opportunities on their website. I asked them, Do you have an FAQ? How are you marketing to these small businesses? And they said, “I never thought of it as marketing before, but that’s what it is!”
The same is true for you and your donors.
How have you made them feel special lately? Have you even given your donor a gift, like, ever?
What about a phone call, just because?
If you don’t know what to do, if you don’t know which donors to thank, if you have no timeline and no plan to do this, then think of 10 donors off the top of your head, right now, and write them a thank you note. Enclose a little giftcard for a coffeeshop, and ask if you could go to coffee with them. If you don’t have any thank you notes, give them a call.
This will make your year end fundraising more successful.
Just watch.
