Give & Take

A friend once relayed an interesting anecdote about simple, effective messaging that just so happens to be a perfect teaching moment for those of us in the fundraising world. It seems she was helping out an elderly couple who live down the hall of her apartment complex. The wife had a health problem that had just become acutely symptomatic. My friend was assisting by trying to find a hospital-type bed for the lady to use. Clear Communication In describing the want-ad that she ran on Craigslist, my friend said, “I didn’t really lay it on thick. I just said it was an older couple and the lady had a health condition and they needed the bed and they didn’t have a lot of money, and could anybody donate one?” Talk about effective messaging. My friend quickly discovered that she didn’t really need to “lay it on thick,” because the solicitation,

Breaking the Myth: You Don’t Need a Law Degree Let’s dispel one of the biggest myths in fundraising: that planned giving is only for experts with a Harvard Law degree—preferably the kind who believe every problem needs a 20-page policy paper and a new government subcommittee. If you’re a development officer with a strong background in annual or major gifts, and someone has just tapped you to “start a planned giving program,” you might feel the urge to panic. Or worse—you dive into the deep end by attending advanced seminars on charitable lead trusts, gift annuities, and other exotic instruments you’ve never dealt with before. While these technical concepts have their place, they represent only a fraction of what you need to build a successful planned giving program. And too often, this approach leads to “majoring in minors.” We see it all the time: smart, capable fundraisers get overwhelmed by

Is Altruism an Endangered Attribute? What if the “I” in “iPad” turned out to be Gordon “Greed is good” Gekko from the movie WALL STREET? While we don’t know if Gordon really has an iPad, we’re sure he’s out there, at least in spirit, because results from a recent survey of iPad owners by MyType seem to show that his real-world confreres make up a hefty proportion of those who have purchased this trendy new tech toy. Specifically, as reported by Eliot Van Buskirk in the 7/27/2010 edition of Wired.Com, the survey conducted this spring by MyType (a consumer research firm specializing in personality inventories) indicated that: “iPad owners tend to be wealthy, sophisticated, highly educated and disproportionately interested in business and finance, while they scored terribly in the areas of altruism and kindness. In other words, ‘selfish elites.’” The Opposite of a Donor Presumably individuals who self-report in such

Practice thinking like your prospect. Who are they? What do they care about? What are their hopes, fears, dreams? What are their deepest desires?

Age-Based Marketing isn’t just outdated—it’s brain-dead. Today’s 60-year-olds are launching businesses, not shuffling off to Florida in a golf cart. If you’re still segmenting donors by age, you’re marketing like it’s 1985. Planned giving requires intelligence, nuance, and relevance. Want real results? Stop guessing based on birthdates. Start targeting based on behavior, mindset, and motivation. Because nothing says “lazy fundraiser” like treating a 45-year-old entrepreneur like a retiree.

Many development officers are wondering where to focus their efforts during these uncertain times. Whether times are good or bad, the answer may surprise you: It's planned giving.

“Response rates from newsletters are down! Attendance at my annual seminar is way off...” fundraisers tell us.

It’s my experience that your audience is the single most powerful and most important element in the mix. If your marketing campaign is to get results, whether you use direct mail, print pieces, or e-mail, you must first make certain that the right audience is getting your message.  As I see it, finding the right audience determines 60 percent of the outcome.

In planned giving marketing, it's virtually impossible to guess direct mail response rates unless you've had a control group you've been experimenting with for years.

Your organization helps teenagers with substance abuse. One of your board members announces he’s received a large inheritance from his grandfather and is going to donate $250,000 in his grandfather’s name. The local paper discovers granddad made his money from the sale and distribution of alcohol.

Using spam for planned giving marketing? Think again.

Measuring website metrics (stats) is not an easy task. It's also a science the very few can do. Unless you have someone who specializes in metrics, you are not going to get reliable data. This post explains why and how.