^^My mom, Judy, and sister, Ellie, at a fundraising event for The Seasons Performance Hall, where my mother is the volunteer coordinator and Ellie is the director of operations. 

Well, I meant to post this in time for Mother’s Day, but as with everything this month, I’m running a couple of days behind.  Recently, I asked my mother if she had any insight on volunteer management she could share with me, as I was planning an upcoming post on the topic.  Though my mom, Judy, is amazingly good at dispensing advice (wanted or, ahem, not) on all subjects, she is uniquely qualified to advise on the proper care and feeding of your organization’s volunteers.   My mom has been a volunteer manager in many capacities: professional volunteer coordinator for my elementary school, as a school librarian responsible for the wrangling of event and daily volunteers, and, for the past four years, the volunteer manager for The Seasons Performance Hall, a non-profit event and music venue in Yakima, Washington.  The Seasons has substantial volunteer staffing needs, with each performance (multiple shows per month, plus a week long festival once a year with back-to-back programming and educational events) requiring a hardy team of volunteer ushers, food servers, merchandise sellers and ticket-takers.  My mother coordinates the volunteer staffing for the Seasons and is nearly always doing something to thank them- making cookies, sending hand-written cards, planning a fun thank-you event just for them, etc.  Having worked many an evening as a Seasons volunteer (every time I visit my family, in fact), I can say from personal experience that she gives very thorough direction and has a warm, enviable relationship with her volunteer base that many non-profits would love to emulate.  Her volunteer advice was so good and thorough that I’m presenting it below without further comment or even very much editing:

Top 6 Non-Profit Volunteer Management Tips 

Their call to action is clear, symbolic and directly related to their organizational mission; I hope this will be a very successful fundraising campaign for them- they deserve it!

Every Mother Counts has a well-thought-out, vital mission and I think their site is a great example of how to make a content-rich website accessible and understandable.  There is tons of information on the EMC website, but it’s broken down into palatable chunks and does not interfere with the donation funnel.  I’m particularly impressed by the way they set up their ‘Issue’ page; they’ve given each of the five Barriers to Care it’s own tab, each of which details a primary factor that prevents poverty-stricken women from receiving proper and thorough maternal health care.  They’re a really lovely organization and we’re so happy to be working with them, especially with Mother’s Day  No Mother’s Day right around the corner.

Donate To Every Mother Counts

Get Connected with Every Mother Counts on Facebook

-AJ

Am I happy with my current donation processor?

‘Happy’ is actually a poor choice of word here; you can be  happy with your donation processing provider but still have outgrown them.  You can be happy with the customer service you get from your provider and be unhappy with the technical features they offer.  ’Happy’ also doesn’t mean ‘affordable’ (though of course it’s a factor)- if you feel ‘happy’ with PayPal because it’s inexpensive, consider the number of lost donations caused by having a user-alienating, outdated payment collection system.  Having a professional-looking payment page(s) goes a long way toward not only making donors more comfortable giving to your organization online, but letting them know that you see your website as a crucial instrument in your fundraising toolkit.  Having a donation page that’s integrated seamlessly (or close to it!) in your site lets your donors know that your website as a whole is a polished and highly functional arm of your fundraising efforts.  In my opinion, having a service like PayPal or Just Give- both of which have processes that are completely branded to the company, not your organization, and which make donors go through multiple steps before even arriving at the payment form- lets donors know that fundraising just isn’t a priority on your website and thus, for your organization.

How much do I want to spend?

This question really isn’t just about the monthly cost of service; it’s about the administrative time that goes along with any donation collection service.  There can be lots of costs associated with online payment processing, most of which I’ve broken down below:

Set-Up Fee: this fee is variable, but is usually a one-time fee to get your organization set up with a particular service or software.  Most standard services have some type of set-up fee

Transaction Fees: typically, these fees are under 50¢ and are charged at the same rate for transactions of any amount.  Also, because of changing debit card regulations, there will shortly be specific transaction fees associated with debit or pre-paid card processing (with our banking partner, it’s coming up in April, but may already be implemented with some service providers).

Discount Rate:  Definitely not an actual discount.  The discount rate refers to the percentage of your payments retained by your processing provider.

Gateway Fee: If you have a Merchant Account,  you likely need to also purchase the use of an online payment gateway or virtual terminal.  These fees are typically monthly and are variable from company to company.

PCI-Compliance Fees:  Because the Payment Card Industry has stringent and extremely extensive security requirements (rightfully so), if you have a merchant account from a provider, you may be subject to monthly or yearly compliance fees, which go toward your provider or banking entities PCI-compliance requirements.

Variable Rate Structure Fees:  This isn’t really an additional fee, but I thought it bears some explanation, as our service is structured this way.  All transactions are not created equal in the eyes of the credit card companies and banking entities- different card types cost different amounts to process.  Some providers simply start with a higher transaction fee, monthly fee, or discount rate to cover the variable cost in processing different types of transactions and some will set different rates for different types of transactions.  For instance, we charge 3% on standard transactions and 4.8% on ‘non-qualified’ transactions- those that carry a greater cost to us and our banking partner, typically transactions made with international cards or corporate rewards cards.  Again, sometimes the transaction processing cost spectrum is rolled into one flat rate or compensated for with higher monthly fees, but many providers of individual merchant accounts, like us, set different discount rates for different types of transactions.

Annual or Monthly Fees:  Many providers charge monthly or yearly fees.  Monthly fees are much more common for mid-range service providers like us and Network for Good.

You can also find, in a very handy chart format, a breakdown of most major online donation processors here.  It’s important to consider all the associated costs and make sure you understand your service provider’s rate structure before signing up.

Who will be managing the accounting and reconciliation of donations and donor info?

Accountant, development or  membership director, intern- whoever will be doing the lions share of account reconciliation and donor acknowledgement, make sure to incorporate their feedback in your organization’s decision to select a service provider, if they’re not the one managing the process.

How much information on donors do I need to collect?

Some providers have a database or donor info management tool that comes with their service- our service, for instance, offers one-click Excel spreadsheets and extensive options for donor info collection, but we don’t offer additional database options at this time.  If you have complex donor information management needs that are being met by outside database or CRM software, be sure to ask your prospective service provider about options and if they integrate with your software of choice.  If they don’t have an official integration, it doesn’t need to be a dealbreaker, but be sure you have some sort of workable option.

Is it important that my organization’s name appears on my donor’s card statements?

This may sound like a trivial question, but it’s another one that implicitly addresses donor comfort level and preference.  Are your donors going to be okay with seeing another company’s name on their statements?  Will they be reassured seeing the name of a company like PayPal or Network for Good, rather than the name of your organization- or confused and put off?  Typically, with ‘one-pot’ donation processors like the aforementioned, your donors will see the company name on their bank statements and with an individual merchant account, they’ll see the name and phone number of your organization.

Who are my sustaining donors?  What type of system would they be most comfortable using?  What type of system might encourage them to donate more or with greater frequency?

You know your donors best, so think hard about them while you’re choosing a provider.  Starting with the Perfect Support Worksheet is a great place to start putting yourself in your ideal donor’s shoes.  Do some serious brainstorming about what works with your current online fundraising platform and what doesn’t.  If you’re committing to making your website an effective fundraising tool, be sure you aim for the most user-friendly and intuitive system you can get at your price point.

Will most of our donations be coming from fundraising events, membership or standard individual donations?

Many of our clients do not raise the bulk of their donated funds through their primary donation page- their fundraising revenue comes from educational programs, fundraising events, or memberships.  If you want your donation processing service to support multi-pronged fundraising efforts, be sure that your service provider  can do so at the price point you’re expecting.

Do I need my donation processing service to integrate with my database software?

I covered this briefly earlier, but it bears it’s own mention: some services integrate automatically with various database software, like SalesForce, Raisers Edge and Salsa.  Some do not.  If this is a must-have, be sure you speak with the development staff to confirm in advance of signing up.  Many companies that don’t integrate with particular database or management software do offer suitable workarounds.

Do I need my donation processing service to replace my database software?

If you’re looking at services at a mid-range price-poin, this is generally an unrealistic expectation, but I’m sure there are some that do.

Will I need multiple fundraising pages?

Most of our clients run between 3 and 7 fundraising pages on their sites, with extras put up for events, campaigns and other fundraising drives.  Will you want to combine multiple fundraising tactics on one page or run a variety of pages that offer different options for donors to contribute to your organization?  A strong suggestion, which I’ve made many times before: do not try to cram everything under the sun into your donation page- your donors will thank you for an easy process and you’ll see a greater volume of donations if you don’t offer a confusing array of options.  Segment your fundraising efforts thoughtfully and mindfully.  That said, if you’re really only needing one general donation page or your organization doesn’t have extensive multi-channel needs, your search for a service provider will look a lot different than an organization searching for a service provider that can cover their membership, event, program and donation processing needs.

Are there specific functionalities I need?

Here’s where you should be sure to get on the same page with the staff that will be doing your donation processing and management.  If you have a development director, a fundraising team, and an accountant, I’d suggest meeting with all of them and coming to a consensus about which functionalities you’ll need to fundraise effectively.  Dealbreaker functionalities sometimes include: automated recurring payments, honorarium gifts, non-payment contact forms, registration systems for events, store functionality and many more.  Once you’ve decided on all the absolutely critical fundraising functionalities, you’ll know you can eliminate the service providers that don’t offer them.

What are my expectations of customer service?

What type of response time is acceptable to you?  Do you need 24-hour free and available support?  Do you want a dedicated rep or are you happy with calling the company and speaking with whoever picks up the phone?  Most company reps should be able to answer your questions about what the customer service process looks like- be sure to be specific about what your needs might be and be sure to listen when they answer!  Don’t sign up for a service who says you can be online in two weeks and expect your to be up and running in three days.  In fact, many other expectations-related factors from our article on How To Be A Good Web Design Client apply here too.

Do I like their work?

This is really one of the most important questions to ask yourself and your staff when you’re deciding on a provider- do you like their work?  Be sure to thoroughly look over examples, so you can see how various functionalities- like the honorarium section, recurring payment options, and payment form- are formatted using your potential service providers system.

I think this covers all the bases I’d want to cover if I were in process of selecting a donation processor- the bottom line is that to know exactly what you’re looking for and understand exactly what you’ll get out of a particular service, you probably have to do some fairly extensive due diligence.  Hopefully, this can be a fun process, not a daunting one and will lead you to deeper knowledge and understanding of your organization’s fundraising trajectory.  How does your organization choose a service provider?

Happy Fundraising,

AJ

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The credit card and payment processing industry can seem needlessly complicated and impossible to navigate, especially to non-profit organizations, who generally have more important stuff on their minds.  There are two basic types of payment processing your organization can do on your website and I thought it would be helpful to draw some clear distinctions between them and explain why we chose to structure DonationPay’s service in the way we did.

There are lots of different options for fundraising and donor information management in the industry and for the purposes of this post, I’m going to focus strictly on the payment processing and data component of online fundraising, not the attendant options for donor info management, engagement and cultivation (which would include CRM’s, database tools and the like).

There are basically two schools of service providers: those that operate with ‘one big pot’ of all funds collected by their clients (PayPal, Network for Good) and those that operate by giving individual merchant accounts to each of their clients (us, Authorize.net).  There are some key differences in these methods of collecting funds for non-profit organizations and I thought it would be useful to break down the pros and cons of each and explain a little bit about why we chose to structure DonationPay around the latter option (individual merchant accounts).

The ‘One Big Pot’ Approach

Examples: PayPal, Network for Good

Pros:

- Can make for simpler accounting.  Generally services like PayPal or Network for Good send monthly checks.

-Can be less expensive

-Donor familiarity with organization.  Many organizations think that their donors will be comforted and reassured by a familiar organization name and many of the larger ‘one-pot’ payment processors have excellent name recognition in the industry (though not always great reputations, of course).

Cons:

-Long delay between when a donor makes a donation and when you receive it.  Typically, service providers that operate this way send out checks once a month or every six weeks.  With PayPal, individuals can withdraw money from their accounts at any time, but non-profit’s typically have to wait 4-6 weeks to see their donated funds.

-Donors often have to sign in using an account with the service provider.  See: PayPal, JustGive.

-Cardholder descriptor on donor bank statements says the name of the service provider, not the name of the organization.

-Less access to donor data.

-Less control and oversight of funds.

- Usually less options for customized payment processes.

Individual Merchant Accounts

Examples: Us, Authorize.net

An individual merchant account means that your organization has an account of your own, directly with a bank or payment processor and that your account can process payments or donations, which will then be funneled directly into your bank account.  Most individual Merchant Accounts can also come with a virtual terminal or online payment gateway where you’ll manage your incoming funds through a dashboard-type system.  In our case, our clients Merchant Accounts, processing and payment gateway is provided by Meritus Payment Solutions, our banking partner and we, DonationPay, provide the online payment pages.

Pros:

-You get your money faster

-On your donors credit card statement, your organization’s name will appear.

-Greater degree of control over your funds and donor information

-Great degree of accounting oversight

Cons:

-Accounting necessary.

-Application process for a merchant account is more intensive than signing up with a service that uses one merchant account for all clients.

- This option can be more expensive, as you’ll often have to buy each component of your system separately (though not with our service).

Why we chose to give our clients individual merchant accounts:

As we were conceiving and planning DonationPay as an online fundraising platform, we gave a lot of thought to how we’d like the service to function.  Our guiding principles were as follows:

-give non-profits greater control and more immediate access to their money.

-provide a multi-channel fundraising resource.  We want our clients to use our service to accomplish their fundraising goals any way they can- events, auctions, memberships, personal fundraising campaigns; all these and more are supported by our service.

-Keep pricing affordable for non-profits of all sizes.  We designed DonationPay to be adaptable for non-profits with extremely complex needs or simple ones- and affordable for all.

Once we really reviewed what we wanted DonationPay to be, we realized that individual merchant accounts were the way to go.  Through a carefully negotiated relationship with our banking partner, we’re able to offer a full-featured virtual terminal and donor information management system at no cost- this is the system our clients use to keep track of their their various streams of funds raised, as well as their donor information.  Through their merchant accounts, they get their money on the day it was donated, direct deposited into the bank account of their choice.

Another reason I’m personally opposed to the ‘one pot’ approach is because it allows companies to retain funds meant for the organization and draw interest on them.  Network For Good (a non-profit, though pretty much in name only) and PayPal both count interest drawn on payments made to their clients as a significant revenue source.  This is totally reasonable and expected in business, but it rubs me the wrong way, when it comes to funds that were meant for non-profits.

I honestly believe that complete oversight of money and donor information is crucial for fundraising success and engagement with your donor base, but every non-profit’s needs are different.  In choosing a donation processing service, it’s extremely important to carefully review your candidates and pick the one that meets all or most of the specific criteria your organization needs to achieve your fundraising goals.  I’ll be posting the second half of this post, on how to actually select an donation and payment processor, next week, so for now, happy fundraising!

-AJ

I’m not proud of this, but I’m obsessed with the Proust Questionnaire feature on the back page of Vanity Fair.  Made famous by the responses from Proust at various ages throughout his life (I prefer age 20 to age 13, for the record), the questionnaire is a smart little treat.  It’s a perfect coda to enjoy after reading the magazine’s take on the whole Colzine travesty, Christopher Hitchen’s last piece (on Dicken’s, with customary affectionate but unsentimental tartness) or, say, a long piece on the lavish life of Valentino (possibly one of my favorite magazine articles- and movies- of all time, if only for the bits about the pugs).  I like the questionnaire not only because it provides essential (read: non-essential) information- Ralph Fiennes and I have the same greatest fear- being eaten by a shark- and the same greatest joy- swimming in the sea- quelle surprise!- but because it makes me reflect on what my own answers to the questions, which are simple but telling, might be.

While the extravagant preposterousness of this feature and of Vanity Fair itself is clear, I started wondering if the questionnaire could be a potentially unifying and clarifying tool for non-profits trying to find their own spirit and voice.  I think that often the most useful tools are the roughest and that’s why I decided to create a new version of The Questionnaire, for non-profits, to take a brief measure of their organizational character.

As with the original questionnaire, this one is designed to help your organization get to know yourself a little better- not just in terms of measuring metrics or creating long-or-short term goals- but in getting a holistic picture of what your organizational values are, how you operate in the world and, yes, what animal you’d be if your organization were one.  The trick here is to think of your organization as one living, breathing entity; your staff, mission, values, and practical work are now one dynamic and vibrant whole and your answers to the questionnaire should be, if nothing else, in the spirit of this unified organizational force.

I’ve linked to a PDF of this questionnaire below, so jump over to it, print and answer away!  To more thoroughly illuminate the intended spirit of this exercise, I’ve also included DonationPay’s responses to the questionnaire  (and adjusted it in two spots to make it relevant to our growing business, rather than organizational status)- we took some time to get feedback from our team on all these questions and the answers are included below.

Faux-Proust Questionnaire For Non-Profits:

What do you regard as the lowest depth of organizational misery?

An unhappy client or an uncorrectable mistake.

What do you regard as the greatest peak of organizational joy?

Helping an organization exceed their internal fundraising expectations, saying yes when other services say no.

What is the greatest flaw in your organization’s leadership?

Disorganization and chronic silliness.

What is the greatest strength in your organization’s leadership?

Love of the work, diligence.

How does your organization define success?

Having happy clients that are effectively fundraising online, happy staff members that are motivated and enthusiastic, and providing an agile service that adapts and innovates.  Also: learning, constantly.

What is your greatest fundraising success, to date?

N/A

What is your greatest fundraising failure, to date?

N/A

What qualities do you most desire in a prospective employee?

Adaptability, humor, boundless capability.

What qualities do you most admire in a prospective donor investor?

Flexibility, an innovative and strategic mind.

If your organization could be represented by the work of one artist, living or dead, who would it be?

Chuck Close.  Each tiny square and moving part has an enormous impact on the whole.

What are the guiding principles of employees of your organization?

Consummate friendliness, fairness and thoroughness.

What are the guiding principles of your mission?

Collaboration, innovation, fairness, support of progressive causes.

What is your organization’s biggest fault?

Impatience.

What is your organization’s greatest expenditure of resources?

Staff energy.

What is your organization’s greatest expenditure of capital?

Staffing.

What qualities do you most admire/desire in a volunteer?

Willingness to stuff envelopes until 3 AM.  Lots of creative energy and ideas, but no mania.

What animal would your organization be if you had to choose one?

A sea otter.  Agile but solid,  playful but potentially fierce!

Who is your organization’s greatest hero of literature?

This was a hard one to agree on, but we are all quite admiring of the tenacious, moral rabbits in Watership Down.  Building a happy and functional community through hardship and adversity is something we really admire.

Who is your organization’s greatest hero in real life?

We have lots!

We truly are lucky to work with so many organizations that are heroic and inspiring to us.  Also teachers (hi, Mom!) and all committed advocates and activists for equality, peace and change.  Also, we think Mimi Silbert (and the Delancey Street Foundation) is freaking awesome.

What historical figure does your organization most strongly identify with?

 August Escoffier (1846-1935).  Everyone here is an avid foodie and we were all in agreement that Escoffier was a total badass whose spirit and verve we’d like to emulate.   He cooked inventive yet basic meals for both the nobility and the poor in London and improved kitchen basics in a revolutionary way (he invented the Soyer field stove for the Army, heightening the chances of embattled soldiers getting proper nutrition and created ovens with adjustable temperatures and refrigerators cooled by water).  He also created soup kitchens for the stricken public during the Irish potato famine and was a generally democratic and creative person.

Your most marked characteristic?

Energy, curiosity.

Where would your organization like to live?

We’d love to have offices in San Francisco, New York, Seattle, and Austin.

What is your organization’s present state of mind?

Preoccupied with forward motion.

What is your motto?

Agility, affordability and adaptability FTW.

If your organization were to die today, what would you most want people to remember about you?

That we provided a terrific service, at a fair price point, and that we positively impacted the online fundraising trajectory of our client organizations.

Where do your see your organization in 5 years?

Giving Network for Good, PayPal, and Convio Blackbaud a run for their money.

If you’d like us to publish your organization’s Faux-Proust Questionnaire For Non-Profit’s on our blog, take a few minutes to fill it out and send it in to us at info@donationpay.org.  With your questionnaire, send in your a brief description of your organization’s mission and practical work and any other info you’d like us to print.

DonationPay Non-Profit Questionnaire

Being an extremely avid reader, I spend much of my time out of the office with my nose firmly planted in a book.  While my recreational reading tastes run toward contemporary fiction (in case you’re curious, this year my favorites were Freedom, Swamplandia!, A Visit From The Goon Squad, The Marriage Plot, The Tiger’s Wife and The Uncoupling, as well as a few others I can’t bring to mind off the top of my head), I will read almost anything (though not the egregiously terrible and overtly offensive Twilight series, for the record).  Though I am usually a fiction-or-memoir-reading fiend, I do manage to occasionally sneak in some work-related stuff as well.  I’ve been meaning to write some reviews on this blog of the most useful and interesting NPO-related texts I’ve come across this year, but being almost pathologically busy, I haven’t really made good on many of my best-laid-plans for the blog.  So, instead of doing regular book reviews, as I’d planned, I will instead be condensing the best reading, non-profit-related material into a handy top ten list, though organized in no particular order.  It’s a top 8, not a top 10- give me a break, it’s a half day today.

1.) Guerilla Marketing For Non Profits, by Jay Conrad Levinson and some other folks.  This book is a very quick read and is broken down into management suggestions, tasks and chapters of essential info on building a marketing and media presence on the cheap and in a way that effectively communicates your non-profit’s brand and message.  There are some cutesy flourishes about the writing that I don’t appreciate, but the information contained within is totally solid and I’d highly recommend it, especially to folks that are trying to stretch a tiny budget a very long way.

2.) Social Media for Social Good, by Heather Mansfield.  I have pretty much become a groupie for this book and for the great Heather Mansfield- this book is an agile distillation of many of the most conceptually and practically useful of social media strategy.  It contains not only practical tips, but a very, very persuasive argument for why social media is the tool to use to expand the mission, work and community engagement for your organization.  I really loved this book and I think it’s well on it’s way to becoming an indispensable text for NPO’s looking to make an impact on the web and beyond.

3.) Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard, by Chip and Dad Heath.  This book is not strictly for non-profits and I’m usually firmly opposed to self-help books of any kind.  This book doesn’t have a lot of self-helpy language and it’s message about making changes when there are actual circumstantial complications that make things difficult could easily apply to most non-profits I know.  It’s good and no-nonsense and full of very practical advice.  I’d recommend it to anyone looking to make significant changes in their organization in 2012- staff, board, work, mission, anything.

4.) Engage, Revised and Updated: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web, by Brian Solis.  This is great.  Full of interesting concepts, information and good writing- just try to ignore the foreword by professional dunce Ashton Kutcher.

5.) Viral Loop: From Facebook to Twitter, How Today’s Smartest Businesses Grow Themselves, by Adam Penenberg. This one is full of real-life examples, case studies and tips on how to emulate the most successful businesses and organizations, in terms of marketing and social media.  Looking back at my reading list for the year, I realized that I read a lot of books about corporate social media and marketing growth and have been ruminating about how to apply good business principles to help grow non-profits.  This is a very good example of this ongoing trend in my reading habits- lots of good information about how corporations grow, much of which is very applicable to the non-profit world as well.

6.) The New Community Rules: Marketing on the Social Web, by Tamar Weinberg.  This is a very persuasive guide that details why it’s pretty much essential for all companies (and non-profits) to join the social web.  Many, many, many amazing tips and stories here and the writing is first-rate.  I read this book in about two settings and afterward felt inspired, motivated and really, really impressed.

7.) The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility, Generate Buzz, and Increase Revenue , by Shama Kabani and Chris Brogan.  Substitute the word ‘Revenue’ for ‘Donations’ and you’ve got yourself a winner here.  More along the same lines, but one of the best of the bunch.

8.) The Networked Non-Profit, by Beth Kanter and Allison Fine.  This is not super new and most of our readers here are likely already devotees of Beth Kanter of their own accord, but just a reminder: if you’re not reading Beth’s blog, you should be.  If you haven’t read this book, you need to abandon whatever you’re doing this lovely New Year’s weekend and get started on it, right away.  Seriously, you’ll thank me.

Happy New Year and Happy Reading!

-AJ

(photo credit: TheMiddleShelf.com)

As we’re all headed off for the annual collective pig-out, I thought I’d send you off for the long weekend with 5 quick ways to really make your donors feel appreciated.

1.) Make it Personal

No ‘Dear Donor’ or ‘Dear Giver’ or ‘Dear Friend’- use their name, the specific amount and time of their gift.  In my opinion, as long as you have an automatic receipt going out that acknowledges the donors initial gift and gives them a quick ‘Thanks for your donation’ immediately after their payment is made, it’s a better idea to wait until you have time to write up a personalized thank-you email than to send out a form letter accompanying the receipt.  Organizational staff is fraught at the height of fundraising season and as a donor, I’m well aware of that.  I’d rather wait a few weeks or a month to get a handcrafted acknowledgement letter than get something half-assed right off the bat. My point is, if you have to choose, I’d favor personalization over immediacy.  Donors know you’re in the thick of fundraising season, so my recommendation is to send one form email or receipt immediately when the donor gives, then a follow-up after the new year.  If you don’t have time to do it right immediately, do it right as soon as you can.

2.) Make It Exciting

Another way of saying exciting, to donors, is ‘specific’.  Tell your donor what their gift did and be specific, and fun.  Heifer International is an incredible successful organization, with great longevity and a powerful ongoing fundraising plan that’s been effective year after year; much of this, I believe, is because of the specificity of their concept:  pick an animal, let it change a families life.

Specificity does not equal an exhaustive level of detail; don’t be boring, for the love of god!  It’s just much easier, as a donor, for me to visualize one family raising a goat or flock of chicks than to visualize what my $50 did to ‘help stop the world hunger crisis’.  The wording in your personalized thank you letter is important: you want the donor to know they had an appreciable and tangible impact on your cause, but you also want them to feel like they’re part of an ongoing movement.

3.) Everyone Loves Free $hit

Everyone.  No exceptions.  Seriously.  It’s crazy and senseless but I get super excited about branded pencil erasers, t-shirts, bumper stickers and the like.  And I love those NPR totebags.  Not that your organization’s great work isn’t enough to encourage donors to contribute. . . . but, a travel coffee mug branded with your organizations logo certainly doesn’t hurt.

4.) Add Media, and stir!

Charity Water has been much-ballyhooed for their personalized thank-you videos.  And rightly so.  It’s a really cool idea to add media components to your acknowledgements and appeals in particular to younger donors.  If you can find a way to embed a video or give donors access to an MP3 or something similar, do it!  It’s a way to dress up traditional acknowledgement and make your donors feel extra special enough to contribute in the future as well.

5.) Build The Relationship

It’s also important to let donors know what they can do to help moving forward; the assistance a long-term supporter of your organization can provide is not limited to financial contribution.  If your organization utilizes volunteers, letter-writing campaigns, personal fundraising for events or similar, let your donor know that they can be a part of your organization in a variety of ways.  Basically, you want the acknowledgement to bring your donors further into the fold, not give them a brusque thank-you and send them on their way.  Building a sense of community and responsibility with donors will go a long way toward building a sustaining donor and volunteer base that will generously serve and contribute to your organization for years to come.

Happy Thanksgiving!

All that is happening in the social media sphere, every 60 seconds.  Seriously.

Rachel was kind enough to let me pick her brain a little bit for some ideas about how non-profits can modify business social media practices to strengthen their donor bases, engage their community and advance their organization’s position as a creative leader in the industry.  Rachel’s answers to my questions are in italics below and our conversation has been edited a bit, to omit my ‘ums’, ‘likes’ and nervous chatterboxing (gad, how horrible is it to hear your own voice on tape, amirite?!).

Me: What are five basic things you’d tell an organization to do to begin getting started with social media from scratch?

Rachel:  What I would tell them is to look at different non-profits and charities they admire and they wished they were more like and see what they’re doing.  The problem is, a lot of organizations just don’t do that great a job with social media, so a good strategy is to look at the ones that are really strong, like CharityWater, UNICEF, the ASPCA-they do an awesome job with their social media- so I would check out first organizations that are well respected in the social media sphere. Also, Mashable is a really excellent blog that’s all about social media and they spend a lot of time on public good and they just had a conference for non-profits.  Get a ton of ideas and inspiration of organizations that are doing it right.  Start with a presence on either Twitter or Facebook first.

Which one is typically better to start with, for organizations that are just making their first foray into social media?

It depends- if you’re trying to build thought-leadership and build your brand and get more people to know about your organization, then I’d start with Twitter.  If you feel like you already have a lot of people involved and you need to focus on fundraising and engaging folks you’ve already developed relationships with, I’d go to Facebook.

How do you recommend organizations use their limited staff resources to focus on social media?

I think that having a process to manage it and making sure that everyone knows it’s an organizational priority and if they can somehow create a framework so that anyone in the organization can participate and give ideas, but there’s one person who’s managing the editorial calendar.  You need to set a process for social media management like any other function within the organization- kind of like how with traditional PR, you have one regular PR person but they don’t know everything that’s going on in the organization.  They need to interact with other people to tell them what’s happening- same thing needs to happen with social media: it can’t be an island off on it’s own.  In order for it to be really successful, there needs to be a controlled way for everyone to give input.  

What are some social media mistakes that you see from organizations that put you off?

 People who only use it to sell, sell, sell, or for constant ‘Donate Now!’.  It’s important to use social media to build relationships, connect with people, and give them a behind-the-scenes look into your organization in terms of the good work that you do.  You need to tell stories and show pictures and post videos and then you can soft sell people to participate with your organization.  

What are some of your suggestions for organizations looking to make revisions to their social media campaigns without being too disruptive to their ‘voice’ in social media?  What if their social media presence isn’t as effective as they’d like it to be? 

It really depends; I think that a lot of organizations don’t use pictures and videos enough.  I think, though, recently on Facebook, one of the Facebook blogs showed that single posted photographs get a lot of response and interaction, so I’d have to know the specific situation to make correct recommendations.  I always recommend having more specific calls to action and asking people questions to get them involved.

What companies or organizations do you think are doing a great job with social media?

Virgin America does a great job with their social media and branding and tying it in with their customer service.  They have a special dedicated area of their social media for customer service.  It’s important to have, for instance, one Twitter feed that’s for branding and one that’s for customer service issues.  You don’t want to mix customer or donor complaints with all of the positive things you’re trying to do.  That stuff needs to go into it’s own bucket.

Major thanks, again, to Rachel Masters for gamely answering all my rudimentary questions and for agreeing to a follow up interview early in 2012, when we’ll dig a little deeper into what makes social media so essential for non-profits.  Learn more about Rachel Masters and Red Magnet Media here.

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