My favourite mid value pack

Recently Sean Triner asked me about the best mid-value pack I had ever seen.  You can read all about my favourite pack on his blog. 

If you want to learn more about more about mid value donors, be sure to register for Sean's FREE webinar Tuesday 26 April 2016/Wednesday 27 April 2016.  He and Roger Craver will be chatting all things major donors - including sending direct mail to this wonderful group of people.  You can register here.

4 basic principles for direct mail letters

Writing a letter.  It feels, instinctively, like something that should be fairly easy to do.  Writing is one of the first things we learn to do when we start school, and from then, we never stop.  And while letter writing itself may be a bit of a lost art form, we all write emails, reports, papers, or notes daily. 

But there is a real science to writing a direct mail letter.  It needs to be a carefully constructed communication that takes the reader on an emotional journey.  It needs to tell a story that makes the donor feel something.  It must be engaging, and offer a problem as well as provide an easy way for the donor to play a part in the solution. 

The letter structure is arguably as important to the success of the letter, as the story itself.  Here is a reminder of four basic principles for structuring your direct mail letters.

1. The start of the letter beneath the salutation must immediately engage the donor’s emotions and contain a call to action. It should continue on from any header paragraphs.

2. There are a series of asks, which describe how specific needs must be met – whether through equipment or action – throughout the letter, but reiterated again right at the end of the letter. The end of the letter is the best place to include your ask string. The donor has read this far, so are obviously keen, and this is where we should tell them what their gift can do, and offer opportunity to give more than they might normally

3. The call to action at the end of the appeal must be strong and urgent – with specific instructions on how to respond (the mechanics).

4. The PS should repeat the basic message of the appeal and the main case story – and also give specific instructions on how to get your gift to the charity.

Event Donors - Finding the right language

I should probably be open by saying I love events.  Despite the fact that I know they are hard work, that they carry a lot of hidden costs, particularly in staff time, and they don't traditionally generate long term donors - I love them.  I think there is so much potential and opportunity within the peer-2-peer fundraising and event space, and I'm really excited about what is happening here.

One of the biggest criticisms I hear about events is that participants, and even more so, donors to those participants, don't go on to give again.  They don't necessarily have any connection to your cause, and they aren't really supporting you... They are participating because of their own desire to complete the challenge, or they are donating to their friend who asked them too - the cause is irrelevant.

I believe there is opportunity here - we just haven't cracked it.  And this blog post doesn't contain the answers to this problem, but it is something I'll be exploring - and I'd LOVE to hear what challenges, and what successes you've found.

This weekend was the two year anniversary since I undertook one of the greatest challenges of my life, as an event participant.  I walked 100km in support of Oxfam as part of Oxfam Trailwalker.  It was the hardest, and most amazing thing I have ever done, and I have so much respect for anyone who has, or who will, participate.  It is an event I am unlikely to do again (although you never say never), so I know Oxfam has the challenge of trying to keep me engaged and ultimately to convert me from participant to donor. 

Last year, I had a colleague who was crazy enough to sign up.  And so I donated to her.  It would have been the last donation I made to Oxfam - which means I now sit on their database as an event donor... that group of people that no one knows what to do with.

Well, and with full credit to them, this year I received an email from them reminding me of the contribution I made to my friend last year, and asking if I would encourage and support another team with a donation.  I thought it was a great effort.  I have no idea if it generated a response, but I really thought it was a clever, relatable way to communicate with this group.

I would have loved to have seen them take that one step further though - and to email me as an event participant.  Two years have passed, and I remember the pain, the exhaustion and the tears like it was yesterday.  I'll never forget how hard it was to keep going, and I'll never forget how much the encouragement from our friends and family helped and how responsible I felt to the dozens of amazing people who had donated to our team.  I had to keep going... for myself, for my team, and for our donors. 

An email reminding me of how it felt to be out on the trail... reminding me of the physical and mental exhaustion... reminding me of the importance of the group of people supporting me and encouraging me along the way... and asking me to be that encouragement and support for another team who needs the strength to keep going - that absolutely would have motivated me to give.

I think as we look at how to best cultivate this extraordinary group of people... both participants and donors... we really consider what will best motivate and inspire them.  They are different to the traditional donor that makes up most of our databases, but if we can speak to them in the right language I think they can be come just valuable to our organisations.

One Photo Can Change the World

It's been nearly six weeks since the powerful image of Aylan Kurdi made the news.  This incredible image showed his small lifeless body, which had been washed up on a beach in Turkey.  It was an image that stopped us all in our tracks. 

This heart wrenching image tells a tragic story.  His parents, who had fled from the conflict in their home in Syria, had been struggling to make ends meet in Turkey.  They decided to risk everything to give their children a better chance at life.  They took their two young sons on a midnight dinghy ride from Turkey to Greece.  But the powerful waves were too strong and swamped the boat, tossing its passengers into the sea a mile offshore.  Aylan, his brother, his mother, all lost their lives that night.

Their story is not a new one.  More than 3,000 refugees have died crossing the Mediterranean to Europe already this year.   Many have drowned.  Some of been crushed by stampedes, others asphyxiated by boat engine fumes. And this has been going on for years.  And for years the media have published photos of Syrian refugees - dead, wounded, and distressed.  But none of them have moved us the way this one has. This photo broke through the clutter - and it hit people not in the head - but in the heart.  It is impossible to say why this one photo has had such an impact - it is not the first image of an innocent young victim of this crisis - but it is an image that has changed the world.

In the wake of this photo, the world is reacting.  The New York times is reporting that in America donations for refugees are surging, and nations are demanding more from their leaders.  More financial support, but also by opening their boarders to accept more refugees.  Donations in the UK have been pouring in, when at the end of August it was being reported that trust in charity was at an 8 year low.

As a sector - its our job to bring these real stories to the world. It is our responsibility to tell the stories of individuals, like Aylan, and so many others, and to give people the opportunity to respond.  While the impact of this photo seems unrepeatable, I don't believe that it is.  I have been incredibly moved by the stories of refugees that have been shared over the past few weeks not by the news, not by charities supporting refugees, but by Brandon, the amazing photographer who is Humans of New York.  Humans of New York went to Europe to see the Refugee Crisis firsthand, and the stories and images he shared are some of the most powerful I have ever seen. 

Please - if your cause works with refugees - share the stories of the victims of this crisis.  The real, horrible stories.  The ones that once herd, people can't forget.  The ones that disrupt someone's day.  The ones that will inspire action. 

And no matter what cause you fundraise for - remember the impact of a single image, and the powerful way a photo can  tell a complex story. 

What we can learn from Olive

Last week, I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the F&P Forum here in Sydney.  This years keynote, Mark Phillips, is someone I have been following for quite some time.  He's a brilliant fundraiser, and CEO and founder of Bluefrog - an agency based in England, and doing amazing work around the world.

Mark spoke a lot about what is happening in the UK, following the tragic death of Olive Cook, a beautiful 92 year old woman from Bristol, who ended her life in May when she jumped from a bridge.  Olive was a volunteer and donated to a large number of charities, and the newspaper picked up on the amount of requests she was getting to give more, both through the mail and over the phone, and cited this pressure to be the reason she chose to end her life. 

You can read some of what is being said in these articles from the Daily Mail, the Telegraph, and the Guardian.  British daytime television show This Morning even created the hashtag #charityonslaught and ran a special feature on the fact that kind people are being bombarded with unwanted mail from charities asking for money. 

The truth is, we will never know what caused Olive to jump from that bridge.  And while I believe it is a pretty big stretch to assume that it was because of the requests that she was receiving from charities, I do think Olive's death should be a reminder to all of us to look at the ways we are asking for donations.

There is no doubt that aggressive fundraising techniques will raise money for charity.  Money that is desperately needed, and money that is being used to make our world a better place.  However, when these techniques are then used by multiple charities, a small number of our most generous donors are being put under an overwhelming amount of pressure. And many of these beautiful, incredible people find it difficult to say no. 

I know, as a sector, we have to be cautious not to react too quickly or drastically when we hear a story like Olives. If we stop asking for money, we won't be able to accomplish our mission and to serve the beneficiaries who are relying on our support. 

However, I do think we should pay attention to what is happening.  And I think that as a sector we need to constantly strive to be better.  I think we can start by looking at our current communications and the relationships we have with our donors.  What are we giving them, that they would miss if that relationship didn't exist?  Are we thanking them? Really genuinely thanking them?  Are we telling them about the impact that their donation is making, and explaining to them how it is making this world a better place to live?  Are we giving donors a reason to connect to our cause and our mission, or are they giving because they are good people who just can't say no? And are we confident in the fundraising tactics that we are using - and willing and prepared to explain those tactics to our donors? To the press? To our critics?

There was an opinion article in the guardian this week, A Message to Big Charities, which urged charities to stop groveling and sand up for themselves, and I think it is on point in so many ways.  We are incredibly lucky to do what we do.  We get the incredible opportunity to connect beautiful people with opportunities to change our world.  We need to ensure that our fundraising is responsible.  And if it is, we need to stop apologizing for what we do, and start telling the world why our charity matters. It is our responsibility to raise money for the causes and people who are relying on us.  And there is no shame in that. 

The importance of authenticity

I have been really fortunate to be going through leadership development coaching over the last few months, and in a recent session, I was given an exercise to help uncover what values were most important to me.  All the usual suspects were there, honesty, effectiveness, accuracy.  But as I worked through the exercise the value that came out on top of all others for me, was authenticity.

Authenticity... the quality of being authentic.  

Dictionary dot com defines authentic as not false or copied; genuine; real.

When I stop and think about it - it makes sense to me that authenticity would be at the top of my values list.  I do try (and admittedly sometimes fail) to live an authentic life.  To be true to who I am, to be transparent to those around me, and to be trustworthy.  I try to surround myself with authentic people and I expect my team and my colleagues to be authentic in the workplace and with our clients.

But in the last few weeks, I've become aware how easy it is to move away from authenticity in the work that we do.  Stories become a bit more dramatic in an attempt to create the friction we believe is needed to raise money.  We manage to ignore really beautiful, personal pieces that a person has created on their journey - wether that be a trip to the field, a battle with cancer, or the loss of a loved one - pieces that while perhaps not 'perfect' capture a moment in time - and instead design something that we think works better. We make a signatory, or a support person a bit more emotional, when in reality, they may be very rational, because we 'think' that will generate a better response.  I see it time and time again in the mail I open in my mailbox.

While none of these things are done to be untruthful, or misleading in anyway, they are missing authenticity... and in doing so, I think are missing the mark.

One of the best performing packs I ever worked on, and one of the packs I am most proud of having been a part of, was for a children's hospital in Sydney. The AMAZING staff in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit make a beautiful scrapbook for every child who is in their care for more than two weeks.  They include photographs, record milestones and have notes from the doctors and nurses who are caring for them.  These books are an incredible gift to the parents of these children and I know from having talked to several mum's of children who have been through this NICU how appreciated they are.  Two years ago we were privileged to tell the story of a little boy who had spent a few weeks in Hospital and  we knew there was no better way to tell his story but through the words and images of the people who were part of it.  Instead of recreating that booklet in InDesign, we did nothing but photocopy every single page of it, and reproduce it to send to High Value Donors.  Response rate from that segment doubled from the previous year and I am confident that piece had a lot to do with it.  

As you dive deep into your Christmas campaigns, be mindful of how authentic your copy and creative is, and keep your eyes open for those authentic pieces that already exist, and that tell a story better than you or I ever could.            

Donor Care Done Right

I have been fortunate enough to work in fundraising in Canada, the US and Australia.  The best thing about that is the fact I have had the opportunity to meet and to work with some incredibly smart, creative, passionate and inspirational people who are changing the world.  I was so excited to hear that an email one of them wrote to their Regular Givers this past February was highlighted in a post on 101 Fundraising today.  Below is this beautiful example of donor care, written by my friend Libby Lang at Unicef Australia.  We could all learn something from this one.

Subject line: “You’ve got a secret admirer.”