In the last couple of years, every meeting I attended with any non-profit organization where we talked about fundraising, marketing, or donor engagement, without fail, the subject of marketing to a younger audience was a point of discussion. It was a time of trying to figure out how to get them engaged, because we all agreed that financially they do not or could not support a cause. We all agreed that they could possibly volunteer to start, then, eventually, become financial supporters. Well, the research shows that “twenty something’s” do make monetary donations, but give in their own very distinct way.

Everything I read says that the Millennials are going to be the best-educated generation. According to Pew Research, the three most important things for Millennials in life are: to have a good marriage, to be good parents, and to help others. Helping others is one of their top priorities. They are engaged, they are connected and they care deeply. They are willing to spend a few dollars more on cause related food, drinks and even beauty products. They use portals like Crowdrise, and not only donate themselves, but also engage their friends to do the same. They want to make a difference but on their own terms. There is an immense opportunity with the Millennials but most organizations do not make a true effort to approach them, in fact most ignore them.

Organizations should really consider their approach. We all need to make an effort to understand, listen and engage the Millennials because they are ready to hear the message of need and help. However, if the message we send does not speak to them, we are in danger of losing a whole generation to indifference.

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It’s easier to say, “You have to communicate with donors,” than it is to do it right.
I’ve been posting recently about the importance of communicating with donors, and I don’t mean talking at them. I mean talking with them. Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of testing, measuring, making changes based on what we learn, and then re-testing. Today, I want to expand on that.

Do nonprofits too often bet the farm on every campaign?

Okay, “bet the farm” might be a bit of hyperbole, but bear with me here. Let’s lay the groundwork. Whenever I refer to testing, I really mean changing the wording of something, the imagery, the layout, etc and measuring whether the difference between the standard and the “test” versions are measurably different in terms of requested response: donations, sign ups, calls, etc.

The last time you sent out a direct mail piece, did you do any content testing? What about envelope testing? In your email, do you send a test version with different graphics or layout to a small percentage of recipients? How about subject line testing? The list of do-yous could go on forever.

No testing –> Little, to no, idea of what might work better.

If we don’t test, we can’t know what might work better next time. Instead of budgeting $X for this month’s single message direct mail campaign, let’s budget 90% of that for Message 1, 5% for Message 2, and 5% for the follow up research. Yes, the total amount you’ve put into your outgoing direct mail campaign decreased 5%, but that 5% investment in testing and 5% investment in follow up research is an investment in the future.

If we test, we can change – for the better.

The more we focus on what works based on the data rather than what we think works, the more chances we have to communicate with donors how they want to be communicated with. By testing, we can learn that there is a group that responds best to stories about work we’re doing, another that responds best to outright solicitations, and another that really wants to contribute its own stories.

Learning helps us do our nonprofit work better.

The priority list for nonprofits tends to look something like this:

1. Serving our constituents
2. Raising money to serve our constituents
3. Everything else

Testing helps us understand what donors respond best to. Leveraging this learning helps us increase contact with them. Increased contact with donors strengthens our relationship with them. Strong donor relationships increases giving, and increased giving improves our ability to serve our constituents.

But, we can’t improve ourselves if we don’t test our communications and learn from them.

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When I was a child, I recall my mom and her friends having Tupperware parties. At the time, this seemed really silly to me. Why have a party with the only point being to buy something?

Only later did I realize that the party was not about selling Tupperware. It was about the experience and the influence. Each of the (generally) women there talked about what they liked and did not, and the pieces that were bought most were the ones that were recommended most.

Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, Jafra, and a number of other brands have leveraged the power of small circles and been successful, and nonprofits can too.

In fact, using the influence of people in small circles is more effective in the nonprofit world than it is in the for-profit world, because what are small groups likely to care more about:

• food containers or faith-based poverty relief?
• make up or cancer research?
• hair products or animal shelters?

You donate to animal care groups or third world poverty relief organizations, but have you been taught by your chosen nonprofits how you can best help them do their work? Have you been asked to talk to your circle of influence about these groups? Have you been taught how?

As the saying goes, birds of a feather flock together. If I care about cancer research, why would a nonprofit not incentivize and empower me to talk to my circle of friends about that organization? If I care about something, the likelihood of them caring too is high.

We might not always have money to donate, but we always make time for our friends, right? And, I’m willing to bet that they can help you out when I can’t.

As always, please subscribe to our blog, tweet us, or simply say hi on Facebook and give us your thoughts. And, please share this with your friends.

This is a video book review of The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz. It was a lot less directly applicable to nonprofit marketing than I thought it would be. That being said, I believe there is a lot of valuable information in the book for nonprofit marketers. I would just recommend it as a secondary or tertiary book choice because I believe there are more applicable books that one could start with.

As always, please subscribe to our blog, tweet us, or simply say hi on Facebook and give us your thoughts. And, please share this with your friends.

Everyone says social media is all about relationships, interaction, engagement, and transparency, but I would widen that out and say that the donor relationship has to be a real relationship. Nonprofit marketing dollars cannot only be focused on acquiring new donors and asking donors in the database for additional money. There must be a focus on building a meaningful relationship on the donor’s terms.

Some donors want you to acknowledge their stories. Do you have a process for receiving and acknowledging them? Try a personal phone call, 2 sentence email, tweet, or another channel that that specific donor prefers…not just the channel you prefer.

Some donors want to contribute by sharing their stories, pictures, or videos. Do they know how to get them to you and are you able to share them with your other donors?

Some donors want to hear a heartfelt thank you and find out how their $50 is being used.

Whatever the case may be, the donor has given you something – a donation. At the very least, they have bought a little recognition. If you take the time to give them a response they value through a channel they prefer (email, phone, etc), you have a much better chance of them being a repeat donor than you do the donor is made to feel like an ATM.

Really, seriously, take a moment to think. Do we have donors that want something more from us? Are we giving it to them? How can we make them feel like they are partners in this and not just enablers, ATMs, or something else that might just make them feel used?

As always, please subscribe to our blog, tweet us, or simply say hi on Facebook and give us your thoughts. And, please share this with your friends.

Grizzard’s Mission Team has served Rescue Missions across the United States for decades. In the battle to end homelessness, we have helped with nonprofit marketing, fundraising, direct mail, digital, social media, and more.

To find a short case study, visit the Rescue Missions case study page.

This is a video book review of Sarah Durham’s Brandraising, which covers nonprofit marketing and fundraising. It would be a valuable book for someone founding a nonprofit or reorganizing one. Otherwise, I would probably skip it. I just found it to be too dry.

As always, please subscribe to our blog, tweet us, or simply say hi on Facebook and give us your thoughts. And, please share this with your friends.

I would suggest that many people (online marketers, marketing managers, etc) buy this book and at least have it on their shelves for reference. I would especially recommend this book for nonprofit marketers, who often need to be a jack-of-all-trades in their marketing efforts.

As always, please subscribe to our blog, tweet us, or simply say hi on Facebook and give us your thoughts. And, please share this with your friends.

Next week, we will review Chris Brogan‘s & Julien Smith‘s Trust Agents, as well as Social by Social which has a whole host of authors: Andy Gibson, Nigel Courtney, Amy Sample Ward, David Wilcox, & Professor Clive Holtham.

The books, we have up after that are:

• The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Expanded and Updated, With Over 100 New Pages of Cutting-Edge Content. The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Expanded and Updated, With Over 100 New Pages of Cutting-Edge Content by Timothy Ferriss
• Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk
• Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment (New Rules Social Media Series) Social Media Metrics: How to Measure and Optimize Your Marketing Investment (New Rules Social Media Series) by Jim Sterne
• The Cluetrain Manifesto: 10th Anniversary Edition by Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, David Weinberger, Jake McKee
• The Social Media Marketing Book by Dan Zarrella
• Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies by Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff

Recommendations for which of those books to read first would be much appreciated.

As always, please consider subscribing to our blog, tweeting us, or just saying hi on Facebook and give us your thoughts. And, please share this with your friends.

Most every industry whitepaper, blog post, and trends report points to a similar conclusion.  Single channel direct mail is on the decline and digital fundraising is rapidly increasing. While most seem to point to similar recommendations, there is wide disagreement on how fast this change is going to take place.  I have heard ranges from direct mail will be dead in 5 years to direct mail will never die.

Based on current trends as reported by Target Analytics and Convio, I think the typical organization will (or should) be raising at least 50% of its  revenue from individuals via channels other than direct mail by 2016.  Today, most organizations are less than 10%.   But this takes a commitment and focus to integrating your message across traditional and digital channels.

For organizations that are not investing outside of traditional mail, they are sure to experience a funding gap.  Their direct mail revenue will begin to decline and it will not be offset by online giving fast enough.  The internet’s impact on other industries has not shown to be a linear impact.  As adoption increases, the decline accelerates.

Over the past 10 years, the entire purchase model for catalogers flipped from mailing back an order card to receiving a catalog and placing orders by web or phone.  The exact same thing is happening in fundraising.  Direct mail will still be used as a communication tool, but the method donors choose to respond is and will continue to change.

If your organization is slow to adjust to these new realities, don’t panic.  There is time, but take action now.  It’s an exciting time to be in fundraising, but only for those willing to change their approach.