Guest Post by Jamie Finney, LeadPup
Jamie works to grow the LeadPup brand and find product solutions for clients. He is dedicated to helping those who are building a world we all want to live in. Outside of LeadPup, he helps run a venture fund and chases good dirt, rock, or snow. Before finding nonprofit digital marketing, he led many community initiatives within the Boulder startup community.
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It’s no secret that year-end giving is the backbone of the fundraising sector. Last year, 33.5% of all giving occurred in the last three months, and witht in December alone, according to the 2015 Charitable Giving Report. This puts the majority of the nonprofit sector in a fundraising frenzy from October until the New Year, which begs the question:
First, let’s think about how we identify strong donor leads.
By looking at your supporter-base through the lens of these three variables, you can identify your most valuable leads and conclude how to best cultivate them. This includes those who have already donated, or, looking forward, to convert supporters into monetary supporters. Let’s take a look at how you can analyze your nonprofit’s potential donors through recency, frequency, and monetary value.
Many organizations assume their audience is only receptive to their email appeals after many months of well-crafted cultivation. While this certainly primes leads to become donors, it isn’t the only way.
When you add a name to your email list, it means you have successfully convinced someone that your cause is a worthy one. This newcomer has given you his/hers sacred contact information in exchange for information about your cause and how your organization is making a difference.
In our experience, the most important part of RFM, in regards to donor conversion, is recency (in this case, it’s recency of last communication, not donation). From a donor perspective, it was just a couple of months ago that they learned of the issue you’re tackling.
The welcome series is 3-5 initial emails that walk new leads from “mildly curious,” to “enthusiastic supporters.” These messages start with a friendly “hello, thanks for joining,” and, over the next few messages, warm the audience member to your organization with more information and a few small asks to test the waters.
“Every supporter who gives you his/her email address should receive a well thought out welcome series of emails.”
Now imagine this conveniently happened leading up to Thanksgiving. Your new lead is at the peak of his/her curiosity, and it’s about to be prime giving season.
While there are many places to turn for new leads, you have a short runway to cultivate them. For this reason, we suggest looking to the ones that have already self-identified as supporters.
What’s more, less than 25% of Facebook fans are actually receiving your email appeals.
At LeadPup, we have analyzed hundreds of email files, and 25% is the highest overlap between Facebook fans and an organization’s email file (4% on Twitter). This is not bad news, but rather, a HUGE OPPORTUNITY. By prospecting your social audience, you will likely get 80-90% new-to-file emails. These are folks that have never gotten your well-crafted email asks, or direct mail.
Don’t post another “Save the walruses, give to Walrus Protectors” type appeal. Simply highlighting your organization and your cause can foster awareness, but it will not convince users to provide you with their email address for more information.
You want your audience to join your email file now, so give them something of value now.
Understand who your audience is, and think about the knowledge or resources your organization can provide to solve a problem in their lives. For example, rather than promising to bring the recycling revolution (your mission), offer your audience a guide to setting up composting at home with the kids.
There are a lot of nuances to identifying opportunities for immediate audience value, but the results can be astounding. Not only does this Value-First approach convert new supporters, but, in our LeadPup experience, they tend to be highly valuable donors once cultivated.
You have converted vaguely curious social media followers into members of your email audience. What’s more, your welcome series helped cultivate these new leads by regularly informing them about your organization and how they can be a part of your mission. And all of this happened between September and #GivingTuesday (Nov. 29 this year).
You have created the ideal recency and frequency amongst your new leads. Now apply your year-end campaign to gain monetary value, and make this your best year-end fundraise yet!
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