8 Ways to Sabotage Your End of Year Appeal
It’s that time of year again. And if you haven’t already planned, executed, sent your end of the year campaign, sorry—it really is too late. Now is the moment when organizations reach out, asking for money. It is the right time—most charitable giving happens in December.
But just asking is not enough. Nor is crafting the world’s most perfect appeal, which—let’s be honest—few of those receiving it will read. But it is a great time to consider what you need to do to make the end of year—or any time of year—appeal successful.
There are a few important steps:
Though most should be able to identify if I am a donor and if so, what my last gift was, few use this truly important information. Indeed, most of the time, I wonder if these organizations have any clue of who I am. And I think that few of them care.
Too often I am told: Thank you for your generosity. A noble thought. But too often these letters are from organizations to whom I have never given a thought let alone a dime.
Equally as often, I don’t get thanked for past generosity, even when I have been pretty generous indeed.
Then there are the letter that are packed with much information on the impact the organization has had over the year—and it is not until the very last paragraph that it becomes clear they are asking me for support. Given that most people won’t read the whole letter—remember, this is the sort of stuff I do for a living—the request never gets seen and therefore, is never acted upon.
Last year, at this precise time, I received last year’s end of year appeal. It was undoubtedly equally unappealing. But for some reason, I gave. Then I got a form thank you. The next time I heard from the organization—yep, NOW, when it is that time again. But I am done. I will be one of the 55% of donors who don’t make a second gift.
Or I did hear—via newsletters that crowed about the good works the organization was doing; or cried about how hard things are these days for nonprofits. And if I read any of those correspondences it was accompanied by my thinking, “Things are hard for everyone.” As indeed they are. Or I might have thought, great-you are doing all these terrific things. Why does it matter? Aside from patting yourselves on the back, what are you actually accomplishing?
And if you spent your time telling me about your gala, golf tournament, walk/run or any other type of special event, forgive me if I wonder why you spent all that time and energy and yes, money, on something that probably didn’t add one ounce of value to your organization..
Well, if you read this far, you will have figured out that I am feeling curmudgeonly about this core exercise of fundraising. And I am wondering how organizations have managed to miss the most important aspect of fund development: It is about relationships. And relationships take effort, cultivation, reaching out and talking with your donors rather than just at them.