Nonprofit marketing - a primer

Over the years, I've worked for and with several non-profits. A common refrain among the fundraising team is frustration with "the people who don't give."

"Why don't people give? Don't they know you don't get something for nothing?"

People are not ungrateful. They are not, as a rule stingy. The primary reason people don't give is because they are not asked. You may think you have asked, but if they did not hear the request, or they did not realize it was for them, you have not, in fact, asked in any useful way. You have a communication problem, not an "other people are bad" problem.

So, if you have asked but they have not responded, review your communications. We'll publish tips over the next few weeks on ways to increase giving by amplifying your message, connecting the reasons people want to give with what you want to accomplish, and making it easy to give. Let's start with that last one.

Eight tips for making it easy to give - and two things to avoid.

1. Investigate Paypal and, if possible, provide an online donation option.
   
2. Accept credit cards and publicize that you do so.
   
3. Provide a return envelope when sending direct mail or enclosures in your children's folders for school fundraising.
   
4. If you're raising money for a church, make sure your pledge cards and donations cards highly visible and accessible throughout popular gathering places on your campus.
   
5. Have clearly marked, secure donation boxes available around your community.
   
6. Collect donations at every event - not necessarily actively, sometimes a simple jar is enough - but give people an opportunity to give at the time they are feeling the most connected to your cause.
7. Selling items or trying to get a scrip program off the ground? Put a personable team together to staff an ongoing table.
8. Identify a point of contact to answer all questions related to fundraising and make that person regularly visible.
9. One don't? Don't underestimate the time, talent, mutual support and commitment it takes to get a solid fundraising effort off the ground - nor the number of man hours it will take to sustain it.
   
10. The most important don't? Don't be ashamed of asking for money. Make your case passionately, clearly and forthrightly - and often enough to get the results you need. If you are timid about asking for the resources to make the change you want to make, people will pick up on your ambivalence. They will not support your programs because your reluctance to ask for funding makes it look as if, perhaps, your entire heart is not in the effort. Since that is not the case, be confident in your fund raising.
    

Next - What's the big idea? That is, do you have a big idea to wrap around your fund-raising effort? Why should people support your cause? (Subscribe to be notified when the next post goes live)