🤔 Year-End Support Push - Did I Get This Right?

I know, another “let’s make sure we’re thinking this over correctly” note surrounding the super-duper important end-of-year appeal campaign.

The problem with end-of-year appeals is that everyone in your organization, the Board especially, expects them to land BIG.

Don’t get me wrong - some of them land BIG. But at this time of the year, everyone is extremely busy, and I can guarantee nobody in your database is waiting for your campaign communication on pins and needles …

Common Mistake #1

You have not segmented your database correctly. Mature organizations have dozens of segments:

1. Never donated

2. Attended an event and never donated

3. Already donated in Q1, Q2, etc..

4. Nascent, Mid-level, High donor

5. Donated last year, but not this year

You then have the demographic segments, but let’s leave that for another day.

If you haven’t segmented, before pressing send, make sure you at least segment your database into two camps:

1. Never donated

2. Donated

A “never donated” contact likely won’t donate if you’re sending them an email thanking them for previous support. The “never donated” folks need one version of your campaign, and the “donated” folks require another.

Common Mistake #2

Text messaging is a must. 90% of texts are opened within 3 minutes. Visual GIFs or images deliver 25% higher conversions and perform really well at the end of November (Giving Tuesday) and into December.

The best times, days, and frequencies for fundraising texts:

* 4 to 5 PM is the highest ROI

* Saturday is the best, Wednesday is the worst

* Texts on Giving Tuesday and then Dec 29, 30, and 31.

NOTE - You should be mixing emails and texts, not one or the other. Texts that arrive 1 to 3 days after an appeal have been shown to boost conversions by 53%.

Moving forward, I have some great AI tools to share that will make personalization and automation of texting a breeze.

Common Mistake #3

Be upfront with what you want. DO NOT leave the donation box “open” for the donor to fill in their amount. Provide options.
For example, if you provide services to previously homeless individuals:

* $500 - provides someone with food and shelter for 10 days.

* $1,000 - provides someone with a life-skills bootcamp course.

Regardless of where you work, you can break down what the donation equates to. The last couple of options should be MAJOR, such as funding X participants for a year. Publish that BIG HAIRY AUDACIOUS NUMBER. It’ll feel great knowing that it’s out there.

Let your database know that you can accept non-cash donations - stocks, bonds, crypto, real estate, etc. This is becoming increasingly attractive for the Baby Boomer segment. It is not hard to set up, schedule a call, and I’ll walk you through it.

No appeal is perfect, you’ll always have a missing piece.

But the above three mistakes can be easily fixed. You’ve got time …