The following are typical questions that senior managers and board members of nonprofit organizations ask about direct mail fundraising packages. The answers, gleaned from Tom Keller’s personal experience and from the experience shared by other professionals in nonprofit fundraising, are based upon live-market testing done by a broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations over a long period of years.
It should be noted that much of the following information is counterintuitive; it seems to go against common sense. It is important to remember that what matters is people’s actual behavior when they receive an e-mail or letter from a charitable cause. Their beliefs about their own behavior are frequently inaccurate and can therefore actually be harmful in making decisions about how to handle certain tactical decisions in direct marketing.
Shouldn't both the chair and the executive director sign the letter?
Use of more than one signature makes your fundraising letter or e-mail look like business correspondence, not a personal communication from one person to another. It's not always possible to avoid the two-signature trap, but do it if you can.
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Nonprofit organizations often fret over who should sign fundraising letters, but donors care only about the credibility of the signer. The board chair and executive director have that credibility, certainly, but so do others. Clients of social service agencies can offer powerful testimonials. So can long-term subscribers to a symphony orchestra or students on scholarship at a university.
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As a general rule, two-page letters do better than one-page letters. Even longer letters have been performing well lately too. While busy people aren't likely to read every word of a two- or four-page letter, they usually respond better, and response is what matters. Remember, this is only a general rule.
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Electronic fundraising is rapidly evolving, so it’s tough to nail down best practices. Shorter is better, that’s the rule of thumb. Most pros try to keep the text of an e-appeal shorter than 250 words, but you’ll find wide variance in successful e-mails.
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It's PR's job to bolster an organization's image. The goal of fundraising is to get people to write checks or punch the “Donate Now” button. Therefore, the question of continuing need is paramount. Stay focused on the work your organization still needs to do.
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Decisions about charitable gifts are made in the heart, not the head. While the intellect must come into agreement with the heart before a donor picks up a checkbook or clicks a donation button, the initial decision is emotional and, often, spiritual as well. Test after test proves that highly emotional copy works best. And if the doctor, the teacher or the symphony director complains that “this just doesn’t sound like me,” offer to find someone else to sign the piece.
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"People give to people, not to institutions." When people give to your organization, they're supporting what it does for people. They're not giving to the institutional structure. Therefore, it's best to stay focused on how you will use the donor's gift to make life better for others.
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Unless you have research showing that brochure enclosures work for your organization, leave the darn things out of the envelopes. In direct mail, brochures almost always depress response rates.
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A transaction occurs when you ask for and receive a charitable gift. The donor seeks to do something good for others and hopes to achieve that good through your organization. Keep this "philanthropic transaction" in mind and you stay focused on what's important to donors.
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As your letters and e-mails initiate the philanthropic transaction, it's important to stay on track. The objective is to "close the transaction." In short, don't forget to ask the donor for money.
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No one asks this question about e-mail. In the electronic market, everyone automatically just gets it. However, that doesn’t seem so obvious when people ask about direct mail, where market research really does show that “a picture is worth a thousand words." Photos generally demonstrate greater power than drawings. While pictures should evoke emotion, they must also convey meaning. They should portray the need as powerfully as possible. But avoid the temptation to dress up your direct mail piece to the point that it no longer looks like a personal letter. Finally, you should incur very little expense when including a photo in a direct mail letter. If your printer has a high charge to include a photo, go shopping.
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Sometimes donors complain about suggested gift amounts, but testing shows that these suggestions consistently bring in donors at acceptable gift levels and encourage them to upgrade their gifts to higher amounts.
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Testing by nonprofit organizations of all types shows that mention of the donor's gift history works, whether it's a reference to the most recent gift or to total cumulative giving.
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Wide use of gift clubs demonstrates their power in upgrading donors to higher levels of giving. They offer charities the ability to successively raise the bar, continually challenging donors to stretch just a little more in their support.
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Habitat for Humanity has the unique ability to equate a gift of a specific size with anything from a box of nails to a completely constructed home. Few organizations enjoy Habitat's ability to graphically quantify the impact of specific gift amounts. But hey, if you got it, flaunt it!
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© Thomas K. Keller, CFRE