Best Practices Fundraising Holiday Campaigns for Today’s Nonprofit

Ken Miller – Denali Fundraising ConsultantsMAP Presentation

Thursday October 13

2016 Nonprofit Holiday CampaignGo

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Goals (What)• Set goal for number of unique donors• Set goal for number of transactions• Set goal for amount in donations

Calendar (When) & Plan (Who & How)• Budget• Offline (direct mail) calendar• Online (digital & social media) calendar• Marketing plan & calendar• PCG plan & calendar• End of year plan & calendar

Calendar October –

Set goals & budget with staff & Executive Director Create plan & calendar Meet w staff, volunteers and vendors (contracts in place) Update Facebook, Guidestar & Moz Local Test all digital platforms Order envelopes for direct mail Find corporate match for all mailers Clean up appeal and affinity lists

November – Misc. corporate requests for funding (11/5) 1st holiday mailers appeal/affinity & acquisition drops (11/10) Begin online fundraising campaigns (11/15) Begin marketing campaigns (11/15)

Calendar December –

2nd holiday mailer appeal/affinity & acquisition drops (12/1) Misc. corporate requests for funding (12/1) Marketing campaigns (12/1)

PSAs NCM Valpak

Pick.Click.Give plan & checklist (12/5) 3rd holiday appeal mailer drops (12/15) optional End of Year plan & checklist (12/15) PCG marketing campaign begins (12/26) End of Year online marketing campaign & eblast (12/30 & 12/31)

Corporate, Foundation & Organizational Requests for Funding Attempt to do 20-30 during November & December Create a template in MS Word for offline requests sent by email

Cover Sheet & Letter Request – what we are asking for History, Services Provided, Beneficiaries Recognition & Benefit to funder, Program Cost, Geographic At least 2 photos, EIN and Thank You

Do at least 5 online requests done at organizations website Find appropriate ask amount and month Track results - dashboard Thank and acknowledge appropriately

Corporate, Foundation & Organizational Requests for Funding Do at least 5 online requests done at organizations website At least 47 online funders in Alaska

AK Business Monthly Power List 1,000 BP, GCI, FNBA, Tesoro, TOTE etc.

Find appropriate ask amount and month Track results - dashboard Thank and acknowledge appropriately

Direct Mail Goals, Schedule & PlanDrop Month Name Type Match Amount Cost Count $ Amount % Avg. $ Goal

11/20 Nov Holiday Ask 1st Appeal/Affinity BP 12,000 $ 9,600  

      175

11/20 Nov Holiday Ask 1st Acquistion Conoco 10,000 $ 8,000  

      40

12/5 Dec Holiday Ask 2nd Appeal/Affinity Tubular 11,000 $ 8,800  

      60

12/5 Dec Holiday Ask 2nd Acquisition ExxonMobil 9,000 $ 7,200         15

12/5 Dec Valpak Coupon Fairweather 90,000 $ 2,500         5

12/18 Dec Holiday Ask 3rd Appeal/Affinity Wells Fargo 10,000 $ 8,000         30

52,000* $ 44,100 325

36,000 28,800 1,464 $ 180,000 4.0% $ 123

50,000 40,000 1,748 $ 275,000 3.5% $ 157

Direct Mail Best Practices – List, list, list!

Clean up donor list – September or October Find all missing addresses Remove all dups National Change of Address thru mail house

Create affinity (connected/like organization but have not donated) list Email names Facebook names Event signups Volunteer lists

Purchase best acquisition list possible Demographics – older local women with wealth

Autocalls #10’s and remits

Make sure you have nonprofit status & mailer ID Start horizontal string with $50 But in bulk and spray 5K or 10K

Direct Mail Best Practices – Donor centric letter

Always ask yourself “who is my donor?” “Because” – shown to be very effective

We need your support because… The power of “You”

With your help… With your support… Without you…

Make the donor the hero (Google Jeff Brooks and Tom Ahern) A picture tells a thousand stories… Always have a match! The power of the PS (always offer online giving) Signed by ED or Board Chair

Online Calendar, Budget & GoalsMedia Start End Budget Actual Goal Actual Inc Notes

Facebook - Fine Point 12/2 12/31 $ 3,000 $ 3,000 $ 4,000 $ 2,418  

Web Retargeting 12/2 12/31 $ 500 $ 500 $ -

$ -

 Pandora 12/2 12/31 $ 1,500 $ 1,500 $ 1,500 $ 220  

TV PSA 11/22 12/31 $ -

$ -

$ -

$ -  

Radio PSA 12/16 12/31 $ -

$ -

$ -

$ -  

YouTube Advertising 12/2 12/31 $ -

$ -

$ -

$ -

Twitter targeted ads 12/2 12/31 $ -

$ -

$ -

$ -

LinkedIn ads 12/2 12/31 $ -

$ -

$ -

$ -

Amazon Wish List 11/22 12/31 $ -

$ -

$ -

$ -

Facebook - BC promoted posts 12/15 12/31 $ 250 $ 234 $ 300 $ 275 need to do more next year

eBlast 1st 12/23 12/31 $ -

$ - $ 1,000 $ 1,930  

eBlast 2nd 12/30 12/31 $ -

$ - $ 2,000 $ 1,220  

eBlast 3rd 12/31 12/31 $ -

$ - $ 4,000 $ 3,900  

NCM 11/29 12/29 $ 1,920 $ 1,252 $ -

$ -

 

NCM Mobile Ads 11/29 12/29 $ -

$ - $ 500

$ - 147 clicks last year

NCM Box Office 11/29 1/2 $ 2,580 $ 2,580 $ 5,000 $ 4,000 18,375 envelopes to theaters

NCM Tabling 11/29 1/2 $ 1,650 $ 678 $ -

$ -

 Valpak 12/5 1/2 $ 1,800 $ 1,800 $ 2,000 $ 2,475  

Online Donations (other) 12/2 12/31 $ -

$ - $ 80,000 $ 106,588  

Total     $ 13,200 $ 11,544 $ 100,300 $ 111,588  

Online Checklist for NonprofitsName Promotion & Exposure

  Google Display Network (pd)   superpages.com  Google+ Nonprofits   younewstv.com   Google One Today   Townsquare49  Google+ Local   yellowbook.com  Google Places for Business   Bing Places   Google Grants   YP.com  Google Adwords Express   Yahoo Localworks  Facebook Promoted Page   getlisted.org  Facebook Custom & Lookalike Audiences Rating & Online Portal Organizations  Soundcloud (FB mp3's)   BBB  Twitter   Guidestar  Twitter Ads   Charity Navigator  LinkedIn Company Page   Great Nonprofits  LinkedIn Ads   Nonprofitlist  Groupon Grassroots   Charitymap.org  Paypal Local   Just Give  Paypal Here   Charity Vault  YouTube One Channel   Global Giving  Vimeo   Charity Choice  Amazon Wishlist & Pin it   http://mycharitymap.org/index/login  Amazon Smile  ebay Giving Works  Pinterest  Fundly  Bitly  Hootsuite  Constant Contact Social Share  Autocalls

“The Big 4” Online Best Practices – Website, Google, Facebook & Email Website is the key to all online donations

Moz Local - https://moz.com/local Audit website: check all links and look at on mobile platform – October

Email signup Donate button is large and thumbable

Create best practices landing page and donation page – October Does donation page have trust marks? Do dummy donation for $10, track process

Google Analytics for website – in place in October Tag donation page Look at where website traffic is coming from – invest more there

Google Google for Nonprofits – signup in October Google My Business - https://www.google.com/business Google Ads: Adwords and Display Network Google Grants for nonprofits - https://www.google.com/grants/

“The Big 4” Online Best Practices – Facebook

Facebook “About Us” – fill out completely - October Facebook donate button in header Message in Facebook header for support/giving

“Please support us this holiday season” click on header sends to website donate page Boost posts and Ads Manager - https://www.facebook.com/business Custom audiences FB Donations from Page - https://www.facebook.com/donate/signup

Email Best online channel for donations Check all links and buttons before sending out Check how email looks on mobile phone – 50-60% List – clean up unsubscribes and bounces Subject line –

Numbers, Please support…, “This Holiday Season”

Make sure email has social share links

Online Best Practices – Other Twitter

Connect to Facebook Couple of twitter ads - $20

Picture Offer Send to website

LinkedIn One or two online ads - $20 Different demographic

YouTube Video is very powerful YouTube nonprofit program - https://www.youtube.com/nonprofits

Marketing Public Service Announcements - PSAs

Radio – Cut in October/November 30 sec general & 30 sec holiday specific ask – drop approx Nov 15 Create written version for DJs Send to radio stations by email Direct to website or phone

TV – Produce in October/November 30 sec holiday specific ask Name in intro and outro Direct to website or phone Put on website Use for FB, Twitter and all social media

National CineMedia - First look in movie theaters 200K impressions for $2500

Marketing Valpak – Coupon

Approx. 90,000 households for $2,200 Acquisition donations – all new donors 3-10K during holiday season Great exposure and marketing for online

Spenard Builders Supply Signup now – Holiday ask for support and send to website

Press Release – announce accomplishments and goals met announce future campaign goals – “XYZ nonprofit expects to raise… this holiday

season” Incoming phone message –

Thank you for calling… we would be very appreciative of your support this holiday season

change to PCG on Dec 26 All email signatures have holiday ask –

change to PCG on Dec 26

End of Year Campaign – December 30-31 Incoming phone message – Dec 26-31 Website splash page – Dec 26-31 Eblast – Dec 30

Scheduled with link to website donation page Eblast – Dec 31

Scheduled with link Facebook promoted post - Dec 30/31 Google AdWords or Grant – Dec 30/31 Twitter Ad – Dec 30/31

Pick.Click.Give. – December 26 Start planning in October with holiday campaign

Goals, calendar & plan Online

Dec 26 is kickoff of online Google grants Eblasts

Offline Holiday mailers All remits Postcards Phone message – also use for holiday season starting November

Pick.Click.Give. Sample Check list Postcard mailer to 10,000 names – Lesley Dec 28 PSA radio – Ken/Fine Point Jan 2 PSA TV – Ken/Fine Point Dec 31 Email eblast thru Constant Contact – Lesley Dec 31 for Jan 1 to 5,500 names Press Release – “Bean’s Café foresees an increase…” Ken (60 names in media) Winter eNewsletter mention – Lesley Facebook w link – Lesley Dec 31 Facebook event page – Fine Point/Lesley Dec 31 Google Adwords – Ken/Alaska Search Marketing Dec 31 Email signature for all employees – Ken/Terra/Lesley Dec 31 Incoming phone message – Lesley Jan 3 PCG Card in all thank yous – Lesley Jan 3 Sticky labels of Bean’s Café & Pick Click Give for envelopes – Lesley Jan 4 Pick Click Give on website move to top location or splash page – Chris Jan 2 Pick.Click.Give own landing page on website – Chris Jan 2 Have clients do Permanent Fund and PCG – Kathy Facebook sponsored ads – Fine Point Dec 31 Spenard Builder Supply reader board – Lesley Feb 25 Info with year-end receipt 3,500 names – Lesley Jan 25 GCI channel 1 – Fine Point/Lesley Jan 2 Tweet – Lesley Dec 31 Need to ask churches to put in church bulletin Picture upload upon donation on Facebook – Fine Point/Ken (2014) Year-end mailers with PCG card – 3,350 names Jan 23 Twitter hash tag

Final Thoughts & Questions Thank promptly Facilitate the relationship between the donor and mission Try something new! Enjoy the process and the journey Ask for suggestions or help Encourage others in the field

Questions?

Presenter’s Contact Information Ken Miller – Denali FSP Fundraising Consultants - 250-8488 –

ken@denalifsp.com

Blogs and websites to favoriteJeff Brooks – “Future Fundraising Now”

Roger Craver – “The Agitator”Sean Triner – “Pareto Fundraising”Jon Loomer – “Jon Loomer Digital”

Tom Ahern – “Donor Communications”