Hosting live events is a crucial part of the success of your organization. Events can be important for a variety of reasons including fundraising, outreach, and raising awareness. There are so many moving pieces involved in creating a great event, but perhaps one of the most important is marketing your event to prospective attendees. After all, an event is nothing without attendees!

Luckily, event technology is capable of aiding and streamlining all of your event marketing. Bring in more attendees by letting your event technology help you:

1. Promote your event online
2. Track and use your attendee data
3. Communicate with attendees early and often
4. Use configurable marketing software
5. Raise awareness for your organization’s mission

Don’t shy away from adopting new technology trends as you plan and execute your next event. Marketing tools will ensure you see your attendee numbers growing steadily.

Let’s get started!

1. Promote your event online

The majority of people get their news straight from their phones. It’s a huge part of how we interact with the world today. Therefore, your organization should take advantage of any and all opportunities to promote your event online. Your organization’s website and social media pages, in particular, are crucial to the success of your event marketing.

To ensure everyone has easy access to information about your event, create a dedicated page on your website for it, including:

• The time/date of the event
• The event’s location
• The purpose of your event
• Why your event is important

If your events require a significant investment of time and resources to plan, it’s probably a good idea to use event-specific tools. Using digital marketing platforms designed for nonprofits will let you easily create campaign and event microsites that include embedded donation tools.

Remember, an effective website is only useful if people actually visit the site. Approximately 25% of traffic to your site’s ticketing and registration sites comes from social media. This avenue cannot be overlooked, so your organization should plan an effective social media strategy and track its engagement to ensure your online promotion is a success.

2. Track and use your attendee data

The complexities of data management have been known to be the downfall of many event planning teams. The data can easily become overwhelming if not properly maintained and managed. Make sure you are tracking and recording key attendee data so that you can more accurately appeal to individuals for future events.

People in your community or space attend your events because they support your cause, want to learn from your insights, or are simply interested in the event for personal reasons. If you want to guarantee that your invitees will actually be interested in attending your next event, the best place to start is in your list of past attendees.

Foster deeper engagement by establishing relationships with existing supporters or contacts and encouraging them to maintain their involvement in your organization. You can track your data in a constituent relationship manager, or CRM, to ensure the volume of your data does not result in an administrative slow-down at your organization.

3. Communicate with attendees early and often

As is the case with any fundraising or promotional effort, communication is key! Your organization should start contacting potential attendees well in advance of the event itself to increase the likelihood that your event gains traction. The best way to communicate with your attendees is via email— around 78% of event coordinators credit email marketing as their most effective marketing tactic.

Use your organization’s digital marketing tools to design an email campaign. You should be able to:

• Create and schedule your email campaign
• Segment your recipient list
• Receive detailed analytics reports about your campaign

Don’t let your nonprofit be held back by short-sighted communication strategies. Reach out to attendees frequently to remind them about your event. Motivate your attendees by impressing upon them the importance of supporting your organization.

4. Use configurable marketing software

If you want more people to come to your event, your organization needs to be organized and prepared to take tackle it from all sides. This means you should be equipped with all the tools you need to host and market your event beforehand.

Use configurable marketing software that is specifically tailored to the needs of your organization to ensure you are well-prepared.

At DNL OmniMedia, our experience is mostly in offering Blackbaud consulting services to nonprofits that need customized tech solutions. We recommend to clients (and to any organization!) to always look for configurable software or integrations. Adding capabilities in a way that won’t complicate your data management is the key to growing your toolkit sustainably.

5. Raise awareness for your organization’s mission

The best way to appeal to attendees is to spread the word about your organization’s mission and vision for your community. With all the moving parts of event planning, it can be easy to forget about simply communicating your organization’s mission or the core purpose of the event.

However, don’t forget the importance of personal endorsements from community members. Peer-to-peer fundraising allows individuals to share your organization’s information with their personal networks. Most people will be more likely to support an event or fundraiser if a friend or family member personally recommends it to them.

In the for-profit space, this is analogous to ‘social proof’, like online reviews and social media engagement. Look for ways to get actual customers, supporters, and industry experts involved online in organic ways. This will help to seriously increase your visibility.

Not only can these strategies provide a great boost for your broader efforts, but it will expose more people to your organization and as a result, help you promote your particular event.

Marketing an event successfully can often seem like an insurmountable obstacle, but it doesn’t have to be! Marketing technology has the power to greatly enhance the success of your organization’s event and entice more attendees. By following these tips, you’ll be well on your way to drawing a crowd.

The post Marketing Your Nonprofit Event: 5 Tech Tips to Draw a Crowd appeared first on Method.

What’s the biggest trend in the nonprofit space in recent years? Peer-to-peer fundraising!

Your organization has likely already tapped into the power of peer-to-peer fundraising strategies in the past, possibly without even realizing it. This fundraising style has become incredibly popular as a result of a few different technological and social forces, and it reliably engages donors for all different types of missions.

If your organization wants to learn more about peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, it can be tricky to know where to begin; peer-to-peer fundraising is itself a fairly broad fundraising approach.

We’ve put together a quick Q&A guide to help get your team started. We’ll walk through the basics of this fundraising style and provide a few of our own pro tips and resources along the way.

Jump to:

1. What is peer-to-peer fundraising?
2. How do these campaigns work?
3. Are there different types of peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns?
4. What are the benefits and drawbacks of these campaigns?
5. What do I need to conduct a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign?
6. What features should I look for in peer-to-peer software?
7. How should I structure my peer-to-peer campaign?
8. What types of events work well with these campaigns?
9. How can I promote my peer-to-peer campaign?
10. How can I boost the impact of my peer-to-peer campaign?

What is peer-to-peer fundraising?

Peer-to-peer fundraising is any style of nonprofit fundraising in which volunteers leverage their social networks to raise money on behalf of your organization.

This fundraising style is incredibly flexible and adaptable. From crafting a campaign strategy to planning effective fundraising events to managing volunteers, a large-scale peer-to-peer fundraising campaign takes a lot of work but yields high rewards.

How do these campaigns work?

In a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign, your volunteer fundraisers ask their friends, family, and coworkers to contribute to the campaign, and your organization receives the donations.

While your nonprofit is at the center of this network of supporters, you don’t need to micromanage every interaction and donation solicitation the way you might in a more traditional fundraising campaign. It’s a decentralized style of fundraising that gives your team the flexibility to focus more on engaging donors than on soliciting them.

The main idea behind peer-to-peer fundraising is to draw on your community’s extended network of contacts in an organic way.

It’s a particularly effective strategy due to both the huge influence of social media in our daily lives and the rise of social giving patterns among donors of all demographics. Download the 2018 OneCause Social Donor Study to learn more.

Are there different types of peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns?

Yes, since peer-to-peer fundraising is such a flexible style, campaigns will vary in intensity. Here are a few examples to give you a rough idea of the range:

• High-intensity: A national nonprofit organization plans an extensive peer-to-peer fundraising campaign or large scale on-the-ground event (run, walk or ride) to lead up to its annual gala. Detailed plans, schedules, marketing strategies, logistics, and volunteer training courses are developed months ahead of time.
• Mid-intensity: A mid-sized or small nonprofit sets up a campaign ahead of a local 5K event. Fundraising teams can create their own pages to share among friends and collect pledges before the day of the big race.
• Low-intensity: A nonprofit configures an option on its website or social media profile for supporters to create their own mini-campaigns, typically around a special occasion, awareness day, or supporter-driven fundraiser. One common example is a supporter raising money on their birthday and asking for donations instead of gifts.

From complex multichannel campaigns to casual mini-campaigns, peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns can be conducted across a range of intensities. Remember, though, that proper planning and strategy are necessary for the success of any campaign, no matter how casual or low-intensity.

What are the benefits and drawbacks of these campaigns?

As with any type of fundraising campaign, there are pros and cons to choosing to conduct a peer-to-peer style campaign over a more traditional one. Consider these benefits:

• The nature of peer-to-peer fundraising makes them very useful for reaching new audiences and expanding your network of online supporters.
• These campaigns can be highly engaging for large segments of your support base when planned effectively, which can help to significantly boost donor retention.
• Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns can generate a ton of donor engagement data, which, when properly recorded and analyzed, helps you continually improve your fundraising and marketing strategies in the future.

However, peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns might not always be the best choice for every nonprofit. There are two main drawbacks:

• Effective peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns require dedicated software designed to host individual donation pages, manage the campaign as a whole, and track the performance of each volunteer. Depending on your budget, this investment might need to wait until you’ve had time to prepare.
• These campaigns typically require significant amounts of planning and marketing to stay on track and meet their goals on time. Don’t commit to a peer-to-peer campaign unless your team is able to develop a top-to-bottom plan for its execution.

Even with these drawbacks, peer-to-peer fundraising remains a highly effective choice for nonprofits of all sizes. The main point is to not rush into one; the most successful peer-to-peer campaigns are the centerpiece of that nonprofit’s fundraising year and the result of careful planning and investment.

What do I need to conduct a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign?

We’ve already touched on a few of the tools and team members you’ll need to help organize an effective peer-to-peer campaign. Here’s a rough checklist to keep in mind as you begin planning your campaign:

• A team of volunteers to host and promote their individual campaign pages
• Active social media followings on multiple platforms
• Peer-to-peer fundraising software that can track and manage the performance of each campaign page
• Marketing and engagement tools and strategies to keep your community fully engaged with the campaign

If you’re investing in peer-to-peer fundraising software for the first time, take your time choosing the perfect set of tools for your needs. Additional engagement tools like gamification and marketing features will be included in leading software options.

Study up on a few peer-to-peer fundraising best practices for more information on how to begin preparing for your campaign.

What features should I look for in peer-to-peer software?

Chances are your organization has already made other significant investments in software in the past. If you’ve already been through the process of choosing a CRM platform or other database, for example, you know how important it is to think about the features you want and need before diving into making a purchase.

Strong peer-to-peer fundraising software should include features like:

• CRM integration capabilities
• Gamification tools, like leaderboards and thermometers
• Plenty of page customization options
• Social media sharing tools
• Comprehensive reporting features
• Robust reporting and admin functionality

Remember, too, that new software is an important investment. Your new peer-to-peer platform should be scalable, able to handle as many volunteers as you might need for future campaigns down the line. Explore our P2P buyer’s guide to learn more about the features to look for.

How should I structure my peer-to-peer campaign?

Most mid- to high-intensity peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns follow a structure or schedule similar to this:

• Campaign planning, volunteer recruitment, and training several months in advance. These are done in tandem with event planning if the campaign will culminate in a major annual event.
• Pre-campaign marketing efforts to raise awareness within your extended network and get volunteers excited to begin.
• Campaign kick-off, typically marked by an announcement or community event.
• The main fundraising period, broken up by one or two benchmark or check-in events. Smaller-scale fundraising events with competitive elements work well to boost energy throughout campaigns.
• Wrap-up period of fundraising, the perfect time to ratchet up the energy and help your volunteers reach their goals using additional fundraising event ideas and creative incentives.
• The campaign’s conclusion, typically ending in a public event or celebration.

This is a general framework for how most peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns are structured, but it’s important to develop a campaign that is will excite your nonprofit’s particular community of support.

Implementing additional fundraising ideas and incentives throughout the campaign is a great way to make it your own. Explore Bonfire’s exhaustive list of fundraising ideas to start brainstorming.

What types of events work well with these campaigns?

As mentioned above, many peer-to-peer campaigns are structured with one or more community engagement or fundraising events at the beginning, middle, or end. The scale of these events will depend on the scale of the campaign itself, but effective peer-to-peer events often share a few characteristics.

The best peer-to-peer events are typically active and participant-centered, like walkathons and 5Ks. Other annual events, like galas and auctions, can also work well as grand finales, but take extra effort to maintain a sense of community during the campaign, focusing on your mission that brings all of your supporters together.

For any large or small-scale events you plan for your campaign, remember that their main purpose is to create and sustain the campaign’s momentum while also helping your volunteers to reach their fundraising goals.

How can I promote my peer-to-peer campaign?

Peer-to-peer campaigns should be promoted with multichannel strategies. That is, use all of the marketing outlets at your disposal in strategic and coordinated ways to attract and engage supporters wherever they might encounter your campaign.

Providing your volunteers with effective customization and social sharing tools on their fundraising pages goes a long way to simplify the marketing process. Encourage them to heavily engage their networks on social media.

Your organization should also take an active role in directing everyone’s social media efforts. Creating a unique hashtag for volunteers and donors to use or developing unique viral challenges are great ways to grow your campaign’s visibility online.

Don’t forget to conduct some traditional outbound marketing, like an email campaign, as well. These are useful in the lead-up to your campaign and for promoting your grand finale events that can attract even more members of the wider community. Just make sure to put as much thought into your messaging and segmentation strategies here as you do in your social media efforts.

How can I boost the impact of my peer-to-peer campaign?

Always be on the lookout for additional ways to boost the impact of your campaign, remembering that there are more benefits to peer-to-peer campaigns than just raising money. A strong campaign can seriously improve your donor engagement and retention rates. Consider these strategies:

• Take extra care to thank all the donors who give to your campaign or attend an event. Thank you letters and emails are always a good idea for improving retention; encourage your volunteer fundraisers to thank all of their friends who donated, too
• Creating timed fundraising contests and offering incentives to top fundraisers is a great strategy for pumping up the energy and motivating donors at crucial times in your campaign.
• Promote matching gifts to donors when possible. 1 in 3 donors says they’d be willing to give more if they know it’ll be matched by their employer. Plus, helping donors boost the impact of their gifts is great for deepening your relationships with them.

As a flexible style of fundraising, it’s easy to incorporate other techniques and elements into peer-to-peer campaigns. Make the most of yours by thinking outside the box!

Peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns and social fundraising techniques are extremely effective and popular with donors across all demographics. However, if you’ve never conducted one before, it can feel overwhelming to jump right in.

Take your time getting started! Careful strategy always pays off when it comes to peer-to-peer campaigns, no matter how large or small your goals.

The post Nonprofit Peer-to-Peer Fundraising: A Guide in 10 Questions appeared first on Method.

For nonprofits, raising the necessary funds on time is clearly an essential aspect of making sure your fundraising campaign is successful. Since your fundraisers are the ones battling it out to solicit funds for your cause, it’s likely that their motivation levels will dip after a period of time. And this is natural — they’re humans, after all, and constantly trying to raise money can get pretty exhausting after a while.

This is why it’s up to organizations themselves to motivate their fundraisers and ensure they remain inspired throughout your fundraising campaign. While encouraging your fundraisers may seem like a difficult task, rest assured that it’s not. The following tips will show you how to motivate them in creative ways to keep them excited about fundraising.

Fundraising Games

You should definitely consider setting up some fundraising games to keep things fun and light. We’ve all heard the old adage All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Well, let’s modify the quote a little: All fundraising and no play makes Jack and Jill dull fundraisers! The reason games work is because they give fundraisers just that little something extra to look forward to while working. At the same time, these games help to build a bond among volunteers, which ultimately helps your cause.

But what games can they play, you ask? Well, there are so many simple yet fun ones to choose from.

The Banned Word Game

Your team chooses a word that everyone is banned from saying throughout the day, whether it’s while fundraising on the phone or talking to each other. Each time someone says the culpable word, a count is kept on a large whiteboard for everyone to see. The person with the highest score at the end is deemed the loser and has to take everyone out for lunch. (Pro Tip: make the game even more fun by ensuring that the word is something unavoidable, such as “fundraising” or “donation”!)

Shoot the Hoop

Each volunteer is assigned a fixed number of sponge balls, and a basket is placed in front of each person. After a volunteer gets someone to make a donation, they get to throw three balls into the basket. A leadership board is maintained and at the end of the day, the volunteer with the highest number of balls in their basket wins a prize.

Misplacement

When a volunteer goes for a bathroom break or simply to stretch their legs, the other volunteers either:

• Misplace an item on the missing person’s desk,
• Add a new item to the desk, or
• Leave the desk unchanged.

When the volunteer returns, they have to figure out if anything is different and what it is that is different. At the end of the day, the person with the most accurate guesses gets to be taken out for ice cream by the others.

Keep Them Informed

As a fundraiser, knowing the impact of the hard work you’re doing should be a great boost as opposed to being in the dark. Nonprofits can and should leverage this simple fact to generate motivation among your fundraising volunteers. Use different channels like text messages or email to get the word out and highlight your progress.

By knowing that your campaign is on an upward trend, your fundraisers are sure to be enthusiastic. An effective tactic here is to mention how close you are to your goal. When they’re close enough to reach that magic number, volunteers are likely to double their efforts. After all, no one quits when the finishing line is in sight, right? Send out texts like, “Hey Rodrigo, guess what? We’re almost there! We’ve raised $100,000 so far and just need another $10,000 to reach our goal.”

With tools like CallHub, these tasks become even easier since you can simply schedule your text messages in advance and send them once you reach your milestones.

To keep things fun and creative, use compelling images to show your progress on your website or social media. A fundraising thermometer is a good way of motivating fundraisers for one final push towards reaching your goal.

Communicate Regularly

Interacting with fundraisers regularly, right from when they join to when they start fundraising, is key to keeping momentum and motivation levels on the rise. Make it clear to them what their roles and responsibilities are and how the funds they raise will be used towards impacting a cause.

Give volunteers a way of getting in touch with you in case they have any concerns or queries they’d like addressed. CallHub helps you do this by letting you rent a phone number that you can publish on your website, which fundraisers can text. By making sure to respond to their messages, you’re showing that you care about them and are prepared to listen and act upon their suggestions. This goes a long way in actually motivating them to work towards your cause and also ensures that you retain them in the long run.

There are different channels you can utilize for communicating:

• Text messages: To send campaign updates and motivational messages. Tools like collective texting are great for maintaining conversations with your fundraisers.
• Phone calls: To personally thank fundraisers for their efforts or wish them well on their birthday or fundraising anniversary.
• Email: To demonstrate campaign impact and goals reached.
• Webinars: To indicate the do’s and don’ts that fundraisers should follow.

Use Leaderboards

A little bit of friendly competition never hurts anyone and is a great way of keeping enthusiasm levels high. Infuse a sense of competitiveness among your fundraisers by making use of leaderboards, with the top fundraiser (or fundraising team) winning a prize for their efforts. You can give out prizes or badges every couple of weeks or months to ensure motivation levels don’t waver.

The best part of maintaining a leaderboard is that it also helps to foster a sense of community around your team and cause, which keeps the drive to fundraise up and running. If you’re making fundraising calls, CallHub lets you maintain leaderboards that show fundraiser ranks based on the number of calls they’ve made. This helps you assess the fundraising “race” and determining who is closest to winning the prize.

Celebrate!

What’s one good way of recognizing hard work? Celebrating your efforts, of course! As you reach important milestones in your fundraising journey, make sure to acknowledge them. Celebrating every little step of the way keeps the zest alive within your group and gives them a reason to continue fundraising on a regular basis for your cause.

Recognizing your volunteers’ work by hosting fun events will increase enthusiasm levels among your fundraisers. You could even scale up the level of your celebration as you get closer to your goal:

• On reaching 25% of your goal: Send an email or text message congratulating fundraisers on their work and reminding them how important they are.
• On reaching 50% of your goal: Host a barbecue party in one of the organizers’ backyards. Make it a costume party to see who can dress up in the goofiest costume.
• On reaching 75% of your goal: Organize a team dinner in a nice restaurant.
• On reaching 100% of your goal: Rent an auditorium and have a grand party with fundraisers and their families. Alternatively, you can organize a team outing.

As author J.D, Crighton said, “You have the power to motivate and inspire. Let your enthusiasm shine.”  Keep this quote in mind and use the above tips when galvanizing your troops to fundraise!

Image credit – unsplash.com

The post How to Creatively Motivate Your Fundraisers appeared first on Method.

In today’s competitive philanthropic environment, these events must be well-executed to produce maximum results.

The right planning, marketing, and event management tools help ensure event success, but the right strategies must be in place for the plan to go off without a hitch. Here are three foolproof strategies for planning top-notch fundraising events.

1. For best results, start planning early

The phrase ‘plan early and often’ rings true in the nonprofit world for good reason. When it comes to planning charity events and fundraisers, there are so many moving parts that it can be hard to keep everything straight.

Start planning your fundraising event at least 3-6 months out to give you and your team enough time to get organized and excel. This also gives your donors time to plan for your event.

To get ahead of crunch time, complete as many tasks as possible as early as possible, including:

• Identifying and segmenting your donor and supporter list
• Dealing with event logistics and planning for the day of the event
• Organizing employees and volunteers
• Running your financial and non-financial event goals by your board

While planning early is a best practice for any kind of fundraising event, it’s especially critical for success when events and campaigns are centered around specific days, like Giving Tuesday.

2. Know how to connect with your target audience

Everyone loves a fundraiser, but the only way to get people there is to invite them — preferably with a creative and unique invitation idea. In the world of fundraising events, marketing effectively to your supporters and donors is important for two reasons:

1. It ensures that people register for and attend your event.
2. It drives attendees to donate time or resources to your cause.

Let’s look at these communication channels a little further.

Registering and engaging with attendees

Registering people for an event can be a nightmare without the right tools. However, there are countless event registration platforms out there with endless features.

To take the guesswork out of event registration, look for a few baseline must-haves in your registration technology:

• The ability for attendees to customize ticket sales, packages, and individual donations with ease
• A sponsor-specific registration page that can be easily customized
• Easy check-in functionality for your event team and attendees
• Back-end organization capabilities for seating arrangements, promotional activities, financial data, and more

Reaching out and engaging with attendees also requires a strong donor management platform to hold all relevant donor contact and outreach details. Your team can leverage a nonprofit CRM solution to easily contact new and returning donors and spread the word about your upcoming event.

Encouraging donations

Once the event is in motion, it’s time to maximize donations. Carefully explain to your supporters how your online auction site works. Additionally, you should keep your supporters updated on the status of auction items throughout the entire auction time period. Explore the OneCause online charity auction guide for more information about the steps you should take to ensure a smooth user experience.

When hosting a fundraising event, the best way to attract donations is to have clear call-to-actions (CTAs) on your website and in your social and email communications, as well as clear call-outs on your event registration page and even on the tables at your event. This way, people can easily add a donation during registration, or donate in real-time during your event with a Text2Give solution.

3. Create a seamless omnichannel experience

The best fundraising events are the ones attendees reminisce about for days or weeks after the event concludes. This means creating a true omnichannel campaign around your event instead of a simple one-and-done approach.

While the word ‘omnichannel’ is most closely associated with marketing campaigns, the concept also rings true for nonprofit teams looking to spread their message to a wider audience.

For your next fundraising event, create an omnichannel experience for attendees before, during, and after your event.

Before:

• Set up social media accounts specific to your event, as well as an event microsite with all relevant information.
• Include these social and web links in every single promotional email or direct mail communication you send.
• If you are hosting a charity auction, open up your online auction site a week or two in advance so attendees can start bidding on items early.

During:

• Ask event attendees to include your event hashtag in any social posts they share from your event.
• Hire a videographer or professional photographer to capture content for a post-event production.
• Provide instructions for text donations during your event to truly intertwine the in-person and online elements of a modern fundraiser.

After:

• Send a thoughtful follow-up email to all attendees and single out high-profile donors or sponsors.
• Include some videos or pictures from your event for a personal touch.
• Think about extending the time period on some high-ticket auction items for even more impact down the road.
• Include CTAs to donate on all follow-up communication to keep your charity top-of-mind.

Elevate your fundraising with technology

From nonprofit-specific CRM platforms to innovative text-to-donate solutions, the incredible growth in technology has opened doors to nonprofits that were previously reserved for other forward-thinking organizations.

To truly take your next fundraising event to the next level, you must be willing to invest the time and resources necessary into taking your event online, at all stages of the planning process.

The post 3 Strategies to Plan Top-Notch Fundraising Events appeared first on Method.

While personalized letters to your donors are highly meaningful, it takes a lot of time to write and send them. During busy periods like the holiday fundraising season, it can be challenging to keep up with these thank you letters alongside your other activities. Anything you can do to improve the efficiency of your letter writing process (while still maintaining a personal touch) will help to ensure the success of your current and future fundraising efforts.

Here are nine tips to help nonprofit organizations write and send great donor thank you letters.

1. Integrate a CRM for nonprofits into your operations

During busy fundraising seasons, your team can quickly become overwhelmed by administrative tasks. This makes it impractical to write and send each thank you letter manually. Thankfully, you can streamline this process from start to finish with the tools in a CRM designed for nonprofits. A good CRM system not only helps you organize your donor and donation data, but it can also automate the process of sending a thank you letter to each donor. As a result, you’ll save time and effort without compromising on the quality of your donor communications.

2. Mind the time

In an age of instant gratification, it’s important to send your thank you letters within 48 hours of receiving donations. This quick turnaround time ensures that your donors feel their contributions were acknowledged and appreciated by your nonprofit. Rapid responses also demonstrate that your organization intends to use the funds promptly. In the end, when you mind the time in sending out your thank you letters, you keep your donors engaged with your nonprofit and its mission to help.

3. Set reminders

Upon receiving a donation, the clock quickly starts ticking down, demanding that you act fast in sending out your letter. To make sure you stay within the optimal window, set reminders to keep you on track. This is another great opportunity to make use of your CRM: as soon as you log a donation, schedule a related task to send the thank you letter. You can then refer back to your to-do list at convenient points during the day. This system will help you create and send your thank you letters well within the 48-hour period.

4. Make your letters specific

As you diversify your fundraising efforts, avoid sending generic “thank you for your donation” letters to all donors. Instead, your thank you letters should always refer to the specific initiative supported or event attended. These detailed letters will remind your donors of their personal involvement in your community. As part of this process, make sure to also highlight the impact that each donor will have on your organization’s work. You can do so by explaining how the money will be used to directly fulfill the mission of the specific fundraising campaign.

5. Create reusable templates

As the fundraising season ramps up, your team will have little time left in the day for crafting and sending the engaging letters described above. Streamline the process and make sure everything gets done in a timely manner by creating reusable thank you letter templates. You’ll want to create a template for each fundraising campaign and event you run. Download and modify free templates available online or build on those available in your CRM system. As time goes on, you can work even more efficiently by basing new templates off of old ones.

6. Personalize every message

When you use templates to create your thank you letters, it’s important to personalize each letter with the donor’s name. Include details about their donation as well, especially if you can describe the impact the donation will have on your nonprofit’s operations. When you include these personal touches in your thank you letters, your donors feel more connected to your mission and more invested in the results you achieve with your fundraising campaigns.

7. Track donor history

The way your donors interact with your nonprofit offers key information that you can incorporate into your fundraising strategy. Beyond name and donation amount, personalize your thank you letters further by referencing individual donor history. You might personally thank new donors for taking an interest in your mission, for example, or applaud existing donors for their long track record of support. The key is to track as much donor data as possible using your CRM or favorite spreadsheet program. These details can strengthen the success of your fundraising campaigns by helping you speak directly to your donors.

8. Send tax receipts

Since you need to send tax receipts anyway, make them an integral part of your thank you letter process. Within your thank you letter template, include a message to explain that the donation is tax deductible (if applicable). Then, use the automation tools in your CRM to print or email your letters and tax receipts simultaneously. Your donors will appreciate the streamlined correspondence, especially if they’re in the habit of making regular donations.

9. Include an invitation

It costs more to attract new donors than retain existing ones — so don’t let your generous supporters lose interest in your mission. Your thank you letters should always encourage ongoing engagement with your nonprofit. Within each template, include an invitation to attend an event, follow your social media channels, or support an upcoming fundraiser. You can also encourage donors to share these invitations with family and friends to increase awareness and support for your nonprofit.

Support your fundraising campaigns with superb thank you letter practices

Your donors will be more likely to support your future fundraising campaigns if you acknowledge their current support. If you’re struggling to keep up with sending thank you letters, consider adopting some of the tips described above. In particular, using a CRM designed for nonprofits can help with many aspects of preparing these letters, from templates to timing to tax receipts. By sending heartfelt notes of gratitude in a timely manner, you’ll strengthen the bonds between your nonprofit and its donors for years to come.

The post 9 Tips to Help Nonprofits Send Excellent Donor Thank You Letters appeared first on Method.

Conversely, the months following the holidays tend to bring in fewer donations as people tighten their purse strings and balance their budgets. This means it’s important for your nonprofit to put plenty of thought into the fundraising campaigns you run during the busy season.

Luckily, the holiday season offers a wealth of great ways to attract new supporters to your nonprofit. And since the holidays are fast approaching — the time to start planning is now! Whether you want to throw one massive gala or run a variety of smaller events, the following list of fundraising campaigns has something to suit every nonprofit this holiday season.

1. Charity or silent auction

Everyone loves an auction, and there’s a great reason for any nonprofit to try this fundraiser – it’s all profit! Ideally, items are donated to the cause by local businesses in exchange for free publicity.

On the day of the event, the auction structure is flexible. You might arrange a traditional “live” affair with an auctioneer or a silent auction where attendees can add their bids to a list until a pre-determined end time. In either scenario, you can streamline the event logistics using mobile bidding software. Beyond the auction itself, you can even combine this fundraiser with a dinner or cocktail party, making it a large-scale event that your donors and volunteers can look forward to and enjoy.

2. Holiday gala

A formal holiday gala allows your nonprofit to make the most of the giving season while celebrating the past year’s accomplishments. Such an event typically includes dress attire, elegant dining, and a beautiful location. In addition to the money raised through ticket sales, you might incorporate an auction, a raffle, or live entertainment to bring in additional funds. Beyond the fundraising potential of the event, a gala can also provide an excellent opportunity to publicly thank long-time supporters or volunteers for their hard work and generosity.

3. Casual dinner party

If a fancy gala is too extravagant for your nonprofit, a smaller dinner party can also be an excellent fundraiser. The guest list for this more intimate event might include your board members, biggest donors, and most dedicated volunteers. You can also use low-budget advertising methods like email and social media to promote the event in your community. By keeping the event smaller and more low-key, it can be as much a holiday celebration for your inner circle as it is a fundraiser.

4. Good old-fashioned benefit event

There are about a million ways to run a benefit event. Often these events have several types of fundraising happening at the same time. You might include a silent auction, split-the-pot raffle tickets, and various holiday-themed competitions (like snowman building, gingerbread house decorating, or an ugly sweater showdown). Rather than culminating in a fancy dinner like a gala does, your benefit might center around a performance or artist showcase.

5. Holiday-themed sales

The various holidays in November and December offer plenty of options for holiday-themed fundraiser sales. Baked goods and candy sales are well-loved, but don’t forget about inedible items! Ideas might include wrapping paper, decorations, wreaths, Christmas trees, or fresh garland and mistletoe.

These sales can run for several weeks leading up to the holidays, with volunteers taking orders at in-person events. You can also leverage your online donation pages to run the sales 24/7.

6. Holiday-themed services

Rather than focusing on material goods, the holiday season is a great chance to offer helpful services to your community. This can be a one-day, multi-day, or even multi-week event, depending on the size of your volunteer roster.

The services you offer will depend on the weather in your area at this time of year. For instance, you may not want to plan an outdoor car wash in a location where the temperatures typically dip below freezing! Seasonally-appropriate services might include gift wrapping, holiday decorating, and even snow removal.

7. Polar bear plunge

Jumping into a freezing cold body of water in the middle of winter is probably one of the more eccentric ways to raise money. In spite of the hypothermia risk, these events have become popular and well-liked liked fundraisers for many nonprofits.

Much like a walk-a-thon or charity run, donors sponsor the individuals who plan to leap into the lake or river. To raise additional funds, you can also sell promotional apparel for the event. Participants will surely appreciate having a toasty new sweater to throw on when they emerge from the water!

8. Host a charity run

The type of run you host will again depend on the seasonal temperatures in your area. Some organizations find that hosting a shorter outdoor run in lower temperatures can still attract quite a good turn-out. Others may opt to host their running or walking events at an indoor arena. In either case, adding a holiday costume component to the event can help to entice individuals who may not think they’re “athletic” enough to participate.

9. Sporting events

There are a wide variety of sporting competitions that can serve as good fundraising opportunities. These can include classic team sports like basketball or baseball or indoor sports from your gym class days, like dodgeball or floor hockey. You could also take a cue from the winter weather and invite your community to participate in a skating, sledding, or cross-country skiing event.

Sporting fundraisers often feature prizes for the winners, which helps to draw a crowd. You might also include food and drink sales as well as a raffle to supplement the funds from registration fees.

10. Bake/cook-offs

Sports aren’t the only activity that brings out healthy competition! Hosting a bake-off or cook-off can be a delicious way to raise funds for your nonprofit. Participants can pay a fee to compete while community members can buy tickets for the taste-test. The food in question can be a holiday classic like pies or cookies, or something more unique to your local culture and traditions.

Making the most of your holiday fundraising campaigns

Hosting an end-of-the-year event gives you a great opportunity to get the word out about your nonprofit while also raising valuable funds. To attract generous donations, your fundraiser should offer something fun for those who participate. You should also share all of the event details, photos, and acknowledgments on your social media channels to encourage repeat attendance in future years.

In the slower months following the holiday season, take advantage of the downtime to assess how well your holiday fundraising campaigns performed. Using a CRM for nonprofits is a great way to keep track of your new and returning donors along with their donations. It also speeds up the process of creating thank-you letters and tax receipts, which you’re sure to be sending a lot of! By taking an organized approach to donor management, you can develop an annual holiday fundraising strategy that will benefit your nonprofit for years to come.

The post 10 Great Holiday Fundraising Campaigns for Nonprofits appeared first on Method.

In this article, we’ll look at six guidelines for creating effective online donation pages. By following these tips, you’ll set your nonprofit up to secure the funding it needs to thrive.

1. Make Your Online Donation Page Easy to Find

Donating to your nonprofit needs to be nearly effortless for your website’s visitors. A big part of making it easy for visitors to donate is making your donation page easy to find.

Start by including a highly visible, brightly-colored button with text such as “Donate Now” on your homepage. Similar buttons should appear on every other page of your website. At various points throughout the text of your site, you can also include calls-to-action that link to your donation page.

Of course, you don’t want to overdo it and overwhelm your visitors with donation requests. However, visitors should be well aware that your donation page exists and it should be easy for them to navigate to it from any page on your website.

2. Provide Pre-Selected Donation Amounts

In addition to giving visitors the ability to enter a custom amount that they want to donate, your online donation page should offer the option to check off and donate a pre-selected amount. Allowing visitors to choose from pre-defined options streamlines the donation process by removing the obstacle of making a decision.

For this reason, most large nonprofit organizations include a number of common donation amounts on their online donation pages. On average, these pre-selected amounts range from $25-50 at the lower end to $250-$5000 at the higher end. Based on your organization’s historical donation data, you can identify the amounts that make the most sense for your donors.

3. Use a CRM for Nonprofits

To simplify the process of creating an online donation page, look for customer relationship management software that offers this functionality. CRM software for nonprofits is designed to simplify the fundraising process, making life easier for both donors and employees.

Method:Donor is a CRM for nonprofits that lets you embed an online donation page in your website. All donations made through this page are automatically synced to your QuickBooks file, eliminating the need for manual data entry. When a donation is entered, Method:Donor also sends a personalized “thank you” note to the donor and schedules a follow-up for your team.

For organizations that rely largely on volunteers, this type of automation is invaluable. This is because it makes the donation process simple enough for new users to learn quickly, with minimal training. If you want to set up an online donation page that practically runs itself, using a CRM for nonprofits is an excellent option.

4. Offer a Variety of Payment Options

The more payment methods your website accepts, the more likely it is that a visitor will be able to find an option that’s convenient for them. You’ll want to consider accepting a wide range of debit and credit cards, as well as other online payment options such as PayPal and Stripe.

One large benefit of including PayPal as a payment option on your online donation page is that many PayPal users are automatically signed into their account no matter which website they visit. This means they can complete their online donation in just a few clicks without having to type in all of their credit card information.

5. Limit Your Form to One Page

Ideally, the form you use to collect information from your donors should only be one page long. Requiring donors to go through multiple pages to complete the donation process simply gives them more opportunities to click away.

Naturally, limiting your donation form to a single page may mean that you aren’t able to collect as much information from your donors. While donor data is valuable, you have to weigh the value of this data against the value of successfully securing a donation. In the end, making it as easy as possible for visitors to donate should take priority over collecting large amounts of information from them.

6. Remind Visitors Why They’re Donating

Ideally, the homepage of your nonprofit’s website should thoroughly explain what the organization’s mission is. It should also provide details about the good things you’re doing with the online donations you receive. However, that doesn’t mean your online donation page should jump right to the payment form. Instead, take the opportunity to remind your visitors once again why it is that they should donate. Include a couple of touching photographs if possible, as well as a few lines of heartfelt text describing the positive difference their donation will make.

Remember, people want to feel good about making a donation, and it’s your job to provide them with that feeling. Just be sure to keep it short and sweet — you want to remind people why they’re donating without distracting them from actually doing so.

Conclusion

A well-structured online donation page can very easily tip the balance between your nonprofit having all of the funds it needs versus struggling to stay above water. By following the tips outlined above, you can create an online donation page that speaks powerfully to your donors. And when it’s easy for your donors to give, it becomes easier for your nonprofit to make a positive difference in the world.

The post How to Create Effective Online Donation Pages appeared first on Method.

What made you organize a team of riders for this fundraising event?

Methoders are active people. We’ve got runners, obstacle course racers, squash players, and now almost the whole company is participating in the Method:Walks competition this month!

So, when I heard about the ride I thought it would be a great challenge for the team. It also aligns so well with 3 of our core values:

1. Win & Celebrate Together – Nothing motivates people (to win) better than sweat, adrenaline, and screaming spectators near the finish line!
2. Believe Impossible –  Riding distance can start at 25km to 75km! Though some may think this can’t be achieved in their lifetime, 14,000 riders have proved these are possible goals (and some do it yearly!)
3. Own It! – Our impact may not feel immediate, but our fundraising and commitment to champion this “hill” is significant.

How did you find about the Ride for Heart and what is it?

I discovered the Ride for Heart through Aner. One day while chatting with Aner, who’s more of a cycling enthusiast than I am, he mentioned the ride, and I made it my mission to participate this year.

The Ride for Heart is an annual event where over 16,000 cyclists take over the two major highways in Toronto to raise awareness about heart disease and strokes.

What do the funds raised go towards?

The funds raised go towards research, AEDs (automated external defibrillators), and treatments for heart disease and stroke survivors.

Have you done this kind of ride before? Are you nervous?

This is my first time participating in the Ride for Heart but I am more excited than nervous. The only nervousness I feel is not having taken my bike out of the garage yet. I should do that and make sure everything is intact, right?

Who have you recruited to ride with you from Method? Was it difficult getting people to sign up?

Currently the registered riders for team Method:Blueberries includes: Nelson, Nelson’s wife Augi, Adam Lyons, Marwan, Paul J., Diana, Barb, and myself. I am super happy with the number of registered riders, given this is the first Method:Gives event.

Our participation was planned less than a month before the event is taking place, and not everyone has a bike. Some Methoders on the team went out to get a bike while others got helmets, so altogether, the number of those participating is very encouraging.

Thanks for chatting Phuong and good luck to the team!
 

The post Methoders Ride for Heart appeared first on Method.