As the end of the year comes barreling toward us, it becomes increasingly important to a) continue to breathe, and b) get our fundraising priorities organized-to get our metaphorical "ducks in a row."
Starting now, your ducks should be:
- Quacking their way to fall and holiday fundraising success for your nonprofit.
- Playing games like "Duck, Duck, Email Marketing Campaign."
- Making way for donations great and small to cross the street to your organization. (Make way for donation-lings?... Too much of a stretch?)
- Doing regular button audits on your home page to make sure your link to give is prominent. (C'mon, I dare you to determine a duck equivalent for home-page audits.)
Stepping away from our ducky donation euphemisms for a moment, let's get down to business. When we say "get our ducks in row" as it relates to fundraising, we mean that nonprofits have to cover the basics first. Here are the five most important first steps you can take to make the most of the upcoming two and a half months:
- Put out the online welcome mat: Collect online donations, and ask for them front and center. We're not advocating for you to can your direct-mail plans. Or to lock the front door of your fundraising event. But because we hold online fundraising near and dear to our hearts, we want to make sure you're being bold (and dare we say, aggressive?) in your online presence. Not sure where to start?
Download "25 Steps to Fall and Holiday Fundraising Success" for pointers and pay particular attention to steps 4-8 >> - Stay in touch (or get the communication ball rolling): Get in the email marketing game, or step up the game you've already got. Your organization has needs this holiday season. Generous donors in all their generosity are looking to make a difference and they need to hear what tangible impact they can make. Build your email list. Send a couple of killer appeals. Thank over and over. Feeling writer's block?
Download "7 Steps to Better Email Fundraising & Communications" >> - Plan like you've never planned before: Develop your campaign plan. The holidays and year-end fundraising lend themselves to resulting in great fundraising results. All of the basics are right there: a sense of urgency, natural deadlines and a captive audience in the spirit to act. Need to dust off your campaign-planning hat?
Download "Fundraising Campaign in a Box" >> - Ensure people know how to find you: Update your "contact us" page. One of the hardest-working but most underrated pages of any Web site is the "Contact Us" page. It hangs in the background, behind more glamorous pages, ready to impart the most basic but essential of information about a nonprofit. As you continue to send email works of art and engage your supporter base, make sure donors know there are real people on the other side of your marketing. Looking for a few pointers?
Read "Tips for an Effective Contact Us Page" >> - And, last but not least, get social online: Engage your supporters who are using social media. We love social networking, too. We do. But, you'll notice this is Step 5 instead of Step 1. This is your bonus duck-the one you engage when the rest of your basic presence is set and ready to go. If your supporters are rocking Twitter and Facebook, by all means you should go meet with them there. Just keep in mind that social networking for social networking's sake is not strategic. What is strategic? Utilizing the new functions and features of Causes!
Learn more by downloading the training materials from this Nonprofit 911 call led by Matthew Mahan of Causes >>
Follow these steps and we're sure your donors won't be flying south for the winter.
