1. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Stephen Mally
Principal Client Partner
30 Ideas in 60 Minutes
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2. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Agenda
• Admissions
• Goals
• 30 Ideas in 60 Minutes
• Questions and Answers
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3. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Admissions
• Aggressive American fundraiser
• Not all my ideas will make you comfortable
• Some may make you uncomfortable
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4. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Goals
• You walk away with 1-2 ideas
• These ideas make you think of additional new ideas
I did not offer you!
• You twist some of these ideas to make them work
for your organisation!
• You talk amongst each other and brainstorm
additional ideas
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5. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Let’s Get Started
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6. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #1
• Make an additional ask in the acknowledgement or
thank you letter
• Soft ask: on a giving envelope enclosed
• Direct ask: in the actual acknowledgement letter
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7. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #2
• When a person calls, writes or otherwise
requests an opt-out, ask to contact them just
1 time per year
• Change a negative into a positive
• Include these 1 time per year constituents
around a religious or celebratory holiday
mailing
• Even more donor-centric -- ask them when that
one time a year is that they wish to be
contacted
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8. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #3
• Call to thank every donor
• If volume prevents, scale to level possible
• Peer-to-peer thank you calls work best
• Educational institution – student callers
• Non profit organisation – client callers,
volunteer callers (who are donors!)
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9. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #4
• Conduct an annual constituent survey
• Ask the detail you need to know to fundraise in
a smarter way
• Age
• Household make up
• Employer/Position
• Reasons for support
• Philanthropic interests
• Other things you would want to know
• Track in your database to use in segmentation
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10. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #5
• New donor welcome packages are an
essential part of donor care
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14. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #6
• Inform constituents how
funds are used/impact
on mission
• Take pride if your cost of
fundraising and
administration is below
25%
• Promote it!
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15. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #7
• Promote, Solicit and Acquire Matching Gifts
• Track employers as relationships in individual
record
• Track matching detail in corporate record
• Include matching gift information in every
appeal
• Include information on organisation Web site
• Include information in every acknowledgement
letter
• Do not leave money on the table
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19. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #8
• Giving envelopes should be placed in each
communication vehicle
• Code each envelope
• Compare and track envelope revenue
• Do not publish any publication without a giving
envelope
• Do not miss an opportunity for someone to
give
• Do not leave money on the table
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23. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #9
• Create an organisational postage stamp with
your postal service
• Not an easy task to complete
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24. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #10
• “Hand written”
envelopes work
• Test them
• Bring back the past
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25. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #11
• Create ask strategies based on average gift
not last gift
• Gordon Yon gives $500 in February to the X
Fund at organisation Y
• Gordon gives a $25 gift in honor or memory of
someone to Y organisation in March
• If we base the ask on the last gift, this person
will fall into a segment other than the one
appropriate (average of both gifts!)
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26. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #11
• Create ask strategies based on average gift
not last gift
• Ask should be the average of the person's
giving
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27. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #12
• Create variable ask ladders
• Variable ask ladders help drive up the average
gift for an appeal
• Drive giving behavior based the order you ask
$75
$50
$100
$125
Other
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28. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #13
• SMS – more than just a way to communicate
with friends
• Breakthrough announcements
• Birthday greetings
• Holiday greetings
• Thank you/recognition
• Event reminders/confirmation
• Not applicable for all audiences, i.e. major giving
prospects
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29. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #14
• Call high level constituents on their birthday
and/or send a birthday card
• Consider both channels for high level constituents
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30. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #15
• Challenges work!
• Ask a board member, high level donor to challenge
donors or prospects to give to a campaign
• The board member, high level donor will give a
large sum of money if…
oNew donors give to the campaign
oCurrent donors increase giving
oLapsed donors renew their giving
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31. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #15
• Challenge causes increased enthusiasm,
increased investment, and new support
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35. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #17
• How many appeals do you send per year?
4?
• Add an additional ask to your strategy this
year
• And, additional ask next year
• And, an additional ask for the following year
• Push the envelope as far as possible
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36. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #18
• Remind constituents of opportunity
to leave bequest
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37. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #19
• Track philanthropic interests of constituent
and tailor your communications/asks around
those interests
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39. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #20
• Ask your employees to give
• Goal should be 100% participation
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40. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #21
• Keep your data clean
• Confirm
• Point of contact
• Edit
• Day to day
• Data hygiene
• Enhance
• Lifestyle or behavioral indicators
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41. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #22
• Ask smarter
• Segment data
• Cease mailing to segments that no longer work
• Test
• Save money for your organisation
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42. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #23
• Include long lapsed in appeals strategy at
least once per year
• Donors who last gave 48-60+ months ago
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43. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #24
• Track all relationships
• Create a relationship tree
• Track Each Relationship,
i.e. Parents, siblings, business
partners, golf partners, etc.
• Six degrees of separation
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44. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #25
• Focus on the second gift
• Remember major donors often times give
many gifts overtime before they commit to a
major gift
• According to a study from Target Analytics, more
than 75% of $10,000+ donors gave six or more
annual gifts before their first $10,000+ gift
• This highlights that annual giving cultivates
donors for even greater support in future
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45. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #26
• Some ideas are good, but they nearly get us
fired
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46. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #26
• Use teaser copy on carriers/envelopes
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47. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #26
• Use teaser copy on carriers/envelopes
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48. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #26
• Use teaser copy on carriers/envelopes
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49. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #26
• Use teaser copy on carriers/envelopes
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50. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #26
• Use teaser copy on carriers/envelopes
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51. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #26
• Use teaser copy on carriers/envelopes
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52. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #26
• Use teaser copy on carriers/envelopes
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53. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #27
• Refer to previous giving
in letter
• Prompt
• Remind
• Guilt
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54. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #28
• Write a hand written
note to your donor in
acknowledgement
• Note will impress...
• ...maybe even puzzle the
donor!
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Idea #29
• Photo Books – An easy way to document a
donor’s journey with your organisation!
• Do not require specialised skills nor software
or equipment. Do not require new staffing
resources
• Donor Care/Stewardship
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58. 30 IDEAS IN 60 MINUTES
Idea #30
• Offer unique and one of a kind or behind the
scenes opportunities to your top donors
• Hospital – tours of operating rooms
• Cultural institutions – previews of exhibits or
access to collections never before seen
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