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Donor Communications in Uncertain Times

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This year, nonprofits are facing challenges that they have never seen before. However, even in the midst of all of the uncertainty, we have hope. Nonprofits, more than most organizations, are used to having to do more with less and adapt and evolve to best accomplish their missions. Organizations who are strong in these skills and are open to looking for creative opportunities to best serve their clients during this time will survive and be able to eventually thrive again. One important key in this is to have clear and consistent communication with donors and prospects that you have been cultivating in order to sustain support.

Get your nonprofit in order

Before you can communicate with donors, you need to be very clear about how your organization is shifting operationally, staying true to its mission by adjusting to your client’s needs and what plan or plans need to be in place for sustainability. These plans must demonstrate an understanding of the current nonprofit landscape and how your cause fits within that landscape. Strong leadership is needed and some difficult decisions may need to be made during this time to move forward in the most responsible way. Some nonprofits are seeing a need to go into hibernation for a time or reduce staff or services. 

Once your organization has clear plans in place, they need to be sure that those plans can continue to be supported financially. Communication to donors is vital to nonprofits surviving this time. Because crises tend to bring clarity to what is really important, nonprofits have the opportunity to present and plead a very clear case to donors for support. 

When to use enewsletters and mailers

There are a variety of channels for communication that can and should be utilized to maximize outreach during this time. For a wider donor base, nonprofits should be using social media, enewsletters and mailers. We discussed social media platforms in last week’s blog, A Nonprofit’s Guide to Online Communication, and those channels are best used for brief updates on what your organization is accomplishing during this time to keep your audiences informed and engaged.

Enewsletters and mailers can be effective tools if you are very intentional with communication and understand what your audience is feeling and what will resonate with them. Many people are reporting currently feeling overwhelmed by the amount of information and updates they receive in their email inboxes during this time. Because of that, many nonprofits are turning to more traditional mailers to reach their donors. Both methods can be effective if the content is relevant and cuts through high volumes of communications. Enewsletters should be used for consistent concise communication with a clear purpose and relevant information. They can also be used for special announcements or to share stories. Mailers can also be effective when used to announce something important or tell a story and can be exciting for an audience that is feeling stuck at home. Mailers are more of an investment so it is important to look at what return you can realistically expect to receive back compared to the cost to ensure that it is a good investment for your nonprofit.

Tips on messaging

When designing content messaging for either newsletters or maileres, nonprofits must first identify what their objective is for each specific communication. Understand who you are trying to reach, what they care about and what you want them to do in response to your message. 

Messaging that will cut through the noise and stand out will be focused on establishing a human connection. People want to feel strongly about what you are doing in order to support your cause. An example of this could be to tell stories about donor impact rather than just reporting your fundraising metrics being met. 

Many nonprofits aren’t sure what length will work best for their communications. It is important not to include irrelevant or unorganized content. This can overwhelm the readers and cause them to stop reading. Only include a message that is related to your objective. On the other hand, when trying to be concise in your message, it is also important not to just boil content down to the top three bulleted points and miss out on telling the story that will result in establishing a human connection with the audience. 

Communications with major donors

Nonprofits must connect with their major donors during this time. Rather than relying on mass communication channels, calls should be made or personal letters sent. It is important to remember that relationships can become stronger when you face difficult times together so this is an opportunity to build even stronger relationships. Your donors haven’t forgotten you and still care about your cause. 

Remember also that a relationship goes both ways and you need to be sure that you are there for your donors and understand where they are and how they feel. What are their current needs or concerns? Are they still able to support your organization? 

With donors who have capacity there could be opportunities for you to work together to brainstorm innovative new ways to serve your clients. Some donors may not have the capacity to be faced with more challenges so it would be important to focus on communicating about what you can do and solutions rather than problems. 

Remember, they know you need money. Let them know you need them. Each relationship is unique so be sensitive to what each donor is dealing with and continue to build these vital relationships during this time.

A Nonprofit’s Guide to Online Communication

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When you’re part of a nonprofit, the ability to communicate online with your donors, volunteers, staff members, and the general community is integral. More people than ever before are turning to social networking sites while sheltering-in-place. Below is a brief overview of the benefits and drawbacks as well as the tips and features of each of the three major social media platforms. Understanding these platforms will help you make an informed decision about how to use these tools to support you achieving your nonprofit’s goals. Email newsletters are another opportunity for online communication that we will explore. 

Facebook

Facebook has the largest number of active users worldwide which will allow you to reach a large range of audiences. The age of Facebook users also trends a little higher than other platforms so it is often where organizations are able to connect with donor audiences, which can fluctuate depending on your donor demographics. If your nonprofit serves clients or members through events or holds fundraising events, even virtual events, Facebook can be a useful tool. Users are able to live stream videos so followers can participate in events from the comfort of their home. Special event listings can be created to invite people and collect RSVPs.

Facebook also offers a very user-friendly and cost effective advertisement feature. It allows you to choose a goal (such as more engagement) and create your ideal audience for your ad. For as little as $1 a day, you can reach hundreds of Facebook users every day. It is important to note that the copy and visuals of your ad should be created in a thoughtful way to ensure it will resonate with your target audiences for the best results. 

To gain more organic engagement and interest, you can also create ongoing Facebook stories that will be available at the top of your followers’ pages for 24 hours. Creative content in stories is a way to keep your donors, volunteers and clients informed on what is happening in your organization and can help you stay top of mind. 

Instagram

Because Facebook owns Instagram, users are able to post to both of accounts simultaneously and any ads that run on Facebook can run on Instagram too. Instagram also has a similar ‘story’ feature to Facebook, though it has the additional functionality of creating ‘story highlights’ from stories you’ve posted in the past and make it even easier for people to find the information they need. Story highlights are linked to your profile and are often grouped under a similar theme, like FAQs, Wellness Tips, Member Stories, and any other themes that are relevant to your organization. Like Facebook, you can go ‘live’ on Instagram as well. 

A drawback of Instagram is that you cannot add links to your posts. The only place you can add a link to a website is in your bio. This can make it more challenging to advertise events (without a ticket link) and make posts about donating to your cause. 

Organizations who will most benefit from using Instagram are those who are focused heavily on reaching the millennial generation. It is important to note that to succeed in this platform, images shared must be engaging and high quality so it is important to evaluate your capacity for producing images before committing to using this platform.

Twitter 

While Twitter only has about ⅓ of the monthly active users as Instagram, tweeting is still a very quick and efficient way to get information out. It is easy to post and repost other tweets and its profile/bio feature looks similar to Instagram’s. 

The main benefit of Twitter is, while Facebook and Instagram allow you to add hashtags to your post, adding hashtags to a tweet allows it to be easily discovered by accounts that don’t follow you. This is the easiest way to gain more followers on Twitter and educate more people about your nonprofit’s goal. A quick tip for hashtags is to make them short and sweet and try to find popularly used ones if possible. 

Email Newsletters 

Before creating your email newsletter, it’s important to decide on your goal. Newsletters can highlight many things, including relevant articles, upcoming events, testimonials, links to resources, call for volunteers or donations, etc. You can create incentives on social media to encourage followers to sign up for your newsletter and make sure that the sign up feature is prominent on your website. 

If you have under 2,000 subscribers, using a website like MailChimp is free to create a newsletter template, link to your social media accounts and import your enewsletter mailing list. MailChimp also offers tools that will allow you to measure how many people are reading your newsletter and interacting with links to see what content is resonating with your audiences and which content could be adjusted. For more tips about how to make your newsletter stand out and some premade templates, visit this blog post. 

In using these different online channels, it is important to note that you must be able to create engaging content in order to build an engaged audience. The quality of content matters. Determine what messages and types of content will represent your nonprofit well. Keep the interest of your followers with a majority of engaging (fun, motivating cause strong feelings of affection or compassion, shareable and likeable), and the remaining about 16% of your posts should be practical tips and promotional for your organization. Free photos can be found on sites like Unsplash or Pexels. If you need to create a more custom designed image, free sites like Canva are a great resource. If you’re creating your organization’s first social media account, it is often recommended to start with Facebook and then expand to Instagram and/or Twitter depending on your specific goals. 

Now that we have explored outward facing communication channels, don’t miss out on our next workshop in our free Technology series focused on Zoom, Slack and Microsoft Teams. To register, visit our workshop page. 

Three Ways to Increase Productivity During Online Meetings

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Here at Spokes, we know that people are going through challenging times. As we all try to settle into the new, virtual workplace, there are bound to be some missteps and your online meetings may not be as productive as they once were in-person. Being in front of a video camera can feel impersonal and can cause many distractions as well. But the work you do is important so it is also important to make sure that your meetings are as productive as they can be. Three ways to do this include creating a clear agenda, keeping the meetings engaging and fun, and decreasing other distractions as much as possible.

Create a Clear Agenda 

Sometimes it’s difficult to stay on track during online meetings. This can be alleviated with a clear, effecting meeting agenda. The agenda should include participant introductions (if necessary) and welcome greetings as well. However, the most important part of the agenda is the topics that are to be discussed. You can make sure the meeting stays on track by seeking input about what topics you cover from other staff members to ensure they are all relevant. You should also phrase the topics as a clear question to be answered. This will help dissipate any confusion about what the discussion is about and will allow participants to make contributions that are on topic because they must answer the given question. Once you have your agenda, it is important to stick to it. This can be done by adding estimated time intervals to each agenda topic. For example, 

12:30 Introductions 

12:35 How can we redesign the website to encourage more donations through our link? 

It’s not imperative that you stick to the exact minute that is on the agenda, but it creates some accountability and other members will know they can speak up if the group has been discussing the same topic and getting nowhere for thirty minutes. Finally, it can be useful to send out your completed agenda a few hours/the day before the meeting so participants can go over it on their own and start generating ideas. 

Keep Meetings Engaging and Fun 

Some structure, like a clear agenda, is necessary, but so is thinking outside the box! In 2012, the Harvard Business Review analyzed hundreds of studies and found what we’ve known all along to be true, that happier employees really are more productive. With the toll that COVID-19 has taken on everyone, it is important now more than ever to make sure your team members stay happy. On a surface level, this can look like changing up the “theme” of each meeting and encouraging everyone to participate. Some ideas include tea time, funky hat day, bring your pets to work day, etc. Just remember that you have to participate as well so others will follow suit! No one wants to log in to the meeting on funky hat day and be the only one wearing their bedazzled cowboy hat. However, it is arguably more important to foster happiness by checking in with your team members and fostering a psychologically safe environment during your meetings. You can offer yourself as someone to talk to and empathize with when being in quarantine gets too overwhelming. When team members are worried, they aren’t very focused. Keeping your meetings engaging and fun can eliminate some of that internal distraction, but what about other environmental factors? 

Decrease Distractions as Much as Possible 

Attending a meeting in your home office or your bedroom is a much different experience than attending one in a conference room. Other devices may pull your attention away from the task at hand and make it much more difficult to follow along. Making an effort to decrease the prevalence of other devices as much as possible is something that can really help. This includes silencing your phone (maybe putting it in a different room), deleting the other tabs open on your computer, and turning off any television or music playing. However, it can be impossible to eliminate all distractions when some team members are working from a house that has other people and pets living there as well. The attention-grabbing effects of these other distractions can be minimized by encouraging active listening and note taking. This allows you  to really focus on what the speaker is saying and it gives you something other than the agenda to look back on if you have a question after the meeting ends. 

With these tips, you can take a boring, off-track meeting and turn it into a productive one with happier team members. Sometimes, creating a clear agenda, keeping your meetings engaging and fun, and decreasing other distractions is all it takes to see a boost in productivity. Remember, Spokes is here to support you so please contact us if you’d like any more information about increasing productivity during your online meetings.

Tools to Engage Volunteers While Sheltering-in-place

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The situation due to COVID-19 has led all of us to make a great amount of changes in a very short amount of time. While sheltering-in-place is necessary to keep us all safe, it is proving to make running a nonprofit more challenging than usual. Luckily, there are ways to combat some of the difficulties presented by this new reality and keep your nonprofit functioning while sheltering-in-place.

Because of these difficulties, those working with volunteers may find that they are unable to put in as many hours as they normally do. Not all work can be completed from home and volunteers who deliver direct services are unable to do so due to sheltering and distancing. You might find yourself in need of additional volunteers or new volunteers with different skill sets are needed to navigate the next few months. While in-person training has been suspended until further notice, we’d like to highlight other ways to safely and effectively provide prospective volunteers with necessary information and training. For example, one alternative would be to create a training video to send via email or post on your website. The goal is not to create a professional quality video – just a recording of the presentation you normally make at an in-person training. Another option is using an application like Powtoon to create animated training videos that are fun to both make and watch! 

A second alternative to in-person training is using a video communications platform like Zoom or Google Hangouts to conduct your training virtually. Visit this Business Insider article for a comparison of the two platforms. One of these options will look the most similar to your normal training sessions and will only require that you invite prospective volunteers to the training, providing them with the information they will need to join the meeting. If recruiting new volunteers is too challenging and yet more help in certain areas is needed, consider cross-training current staff and volunteers to perform key duties within your nonprofit. Now is the time to really utilize the diverse skill sets of your wonderful staff and volunteers! This training can be virtual, as discussed above, or can be delivered in-person to employees who are deemed essential workers under the shelter-in-place order.

Though some counties are exploring plans to reopen, there is no set date for lifting the shelter-at-home mandate and no guarantee that life will return to normal anytime soon. Consequently, it’s imperative to innovate and identify new technologies and solutions to sustain meaningful engagement with your organization’s stakeholders, including volunteers, donors, and employees working remotely. This can be done by hosting virtual social gatherings, creating/maintaining an email newsletter, and establishing a strong social media presence for your organization. A small reminder about your organization’s mission, highlighting a shared love for service, and expressing a desire to continue helping your community can go a long way with your organization’s extended community.

Remember, you’re not alone. Spokes is working alongside you to find new ways to safely and virtually provide the management support and resources you need. Please contact us if you would like more specific assistance managing volunteers and sustaining stakeholder relationships remotely.

2020 Trends in Nonprofit Fundraising

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It’s time for planning year-end appeals as well as your 2020 fundraising strategies. Raising money for nonprofits is never easy, but it’s a perpetual necessity for survival. As 2019 comes to an end, it’s important to take the time to learn about new fundraising trends for 2020.

A report from Giving USA 2019 revealed a decline in donation from mid-level donors who make gifts less than $250 and between $250 and $999 respectively. This was expected due to the 2018 tax reforms that allowed a standard tax deduction for individuals and couples without having to itemize donations. That’s why nonprofits will need to become even more proficient at engaging donors by highlighting their good works and relevancy of their missions.

Take Advantage of the “Election Effect”
Many nonprofit leaders are surprised that an election year can have an impact on philanthropy, especially if the focus of your nonprofit mission has been in the news. For instance, research showed the 2016 elections resulted in a flood of donations to issues and causes related to civil rights, social action, and advocacy organizations. Donors acquired during election periods prove to stay with a cause for around 18 months or more. Just be sure you avoid getting involved with politics and focus on advocating for your mission and educating the public about what you do to avoid jeopardizing your nonprofit status. Are there ways you could take advantage of this election season to find people who are passionate about your mission? 
 
Put Effort into Building Donor Loyalty
Donors are developing a new attitude about giving as they don’t want to be just a “number” to a nonprofit. Instead, donors want to develop a special connection with a nonprofit’s cause through personalized attention and communications. That means taking time to build relationships with current and potential donors. What are their cares and concerns? Get to know what donors are really concerned about and keep them informed about how your nonprofit addresses those issues. Share examples of how supporting your mission has made an impact on a cause they care about via newsletters, emails, articles on your website, social media posts, and individualized thank you-letters.
 
Make Giving Easy
Donors might want to donate to your nonprofit but it might be difficult to give a lump sum all at once. Some nonprofits are seeing an increase in giving by providing recurring subscription donation opportunities. This is another area that was found to be particularly relevant following the 2016 election when awareness of certain social causes was high. In 2018, it was found that donor membership programs accounted for 77% of total online revenue for nonprofits who offered them. These programs boosted donor loyalty as well as total revenue. Establishing opportunities to give smaller amounts on a regular basis can help expand the donor base. Consider creating a membership program that offers benefits related to your mission for regular donors. 

Also consider promoting the option of corporate matching gift programs to your supporters. Many employers have programs to match funds their employees donate to nonprofit causes. In fact, according to Double the Donation, an estimated $4-$7 billion in matching gift funds goes unclaimed each year. If donors make a gift to their nonprofit and then apply to their employers to match those funds, the the donor can essentially double their contribution to their favorite nonprofit!
 
Keeping fundraising trends in mind can be very helpful as you plan your 2020 giving strategy. Check out the additional resources for more ideas.
 
Additional Resources

Top Five Fundraising trends in 2020 


12 Nonprofit Trends We’re Likely to See In 2020, According To Experts 


 

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