5 more likely reasons than the economy your fundraising doesn’t work

By Jeff Brooks

If your website and traditional media don't say the same thing, look the same and feel the same, you're losing more donations every day.

5. You don't thank your donors enough

If someone gives to your organization, does he get proof that the world is a better place because of his gift?

It's easy to forget that when we raise funds, we are selling something. Unlike Amazon and Zappos, the thing we sell doesn't show up on the porch via FedEx. It's a sense of making a difference. And that's completely intangible.

There are two especially good ways to make that intangible sense as real as possible:

Relevant, timely receipts connected to the thing that motivated the gift in the first place. Same topic, same flavor, same feeling as the ask. And soon enough that donors can remember the gifts they sent.
Donor-focused newsletter. Sent quarterly or more, and it should be full of story after story of the great things your donors make possible — a celebration of how donors have changed the world through your organization.

By most accounts, the hard times aren't over yet. But you control your destiny. If you can turn your fundraising solidly in the direction of donors, you can laugh at the economy. FS

Jeff Brooks is creative director at TrueSense Marketing and author of the Future Fundraising Now blog. Reach him at jeff.brooks@truesense.com