happy donors

How many of the following describe your organization and your mail and electronic communications:

–Flat response to house-file appeal?

–Flat or declining response to acquisition off proven lists?

–You have identified groups/types of people who you think should be supporting your organization but who have not yet responded to the current streams?

–You admire your competitors appeals/aquisition/emails/web site?  (You don’t know if they’re working, but they sure look good!)

–You’d like to get more out of interactive/electronic media, but aren’t sure it’s worth the investment?

–You’re preparing for (aspiring to) significant growth in your programs, but aren’t confident resources can keep up?

–You wish you could get (and think you deserve) more attention from the media?

Any or all of these are symptoms that your creative strategies are going out of date.  Many groups plug away with these sad conditions for months or years because they don’t have the time or money to change things.  An answer can be a Creative Tune-Up … starting with an audit of all your communications to donors and prospects … every current and potential touchpoint.

Hiring a consultant is one way to go.  (And yes, I’m shamelessly available.)  Yet you can accomplish a whole lot simply with a serious self-analysis.

This requires a break from daily doings.  A retreat.  And participation by everyone from your board to your volunteers.

You’re best off starting with your CEO, because this won’t do squat unless overlaid with a level of seriousness, even emergency.  Without corner-office buy-in, it can easily be a combination of futile finger pointing and financial frustration.

But buy-in won’t be tough when the powers that be realize what you have to gain:

–New donors.

–New KINDS of donors.

–Greater frequency of gifts.

–Larger gifts.

Perhaps most important:  New energy in your staff and volunteers.  And if done right, in your CEO and board, too.

More to follow.

This entry was posted on Monday, September 8th, 2008 at 4:53 am and is filed under "happy donors". You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.