How Can You “Touch”
Your Donors More Often?
Mailed and “E”
Cards Are Easy and Inexpensive
Summer is the time many organizations use
to plan for the next 12-month development
cycle. Calendars are set for major meetings,
target dates agreed to for mailings and
annual appeals, project assignments are
made, and volunteer leadership is recruited.
Often there is repetitiveness and lack of
creativity in this planning cycle resulting
from using the previous year’s calendar
as the source basis. Most nonprofits face
staff and financial shortages that appear
to limit the ability to communicate or touch
donors more often.
However if your organization has built
a good donor database and has effectively
captured e-mail addresses, you can touch
your donors and prospects in creative, educational
and fun ways that will be memorable for
the recipient.
Begin by considering all the special holidays
and special days on the calendar. Begin
by selecting 6 holidays that in some way
can be connected to your mission. For example
a Red Cross chapter might select the Fourth
of July and Memorial Day. The chapter can
create an e-mail card for that date and
incorporate a message that is appropriate
for the day and relevant to the Red Cross.
A 4th of July message might include a “Have
a Happy 4th” message celebrating freedom
in our country, carrying safety tips and
warnings about using fireworks and a quick
note about upcoming blood donation sites.
For greater impact, use large graphics (if
you wish, animation can be incorporated)
and as few words as possible. Donors will
appreciate that fact that the Red Cross
remembered them.
A Memorial Day card would be presented
in a more somber way and perhaps carry a
message on how the Red Cross is serving
our men and women in the military that are
stationed overseas. Maybe your Red Cross
has a special fund to assist families who
are financially strapped and you can incorporate
a “Donate Here” button.
A word of caution, however: Take care not
to make each “touch” a solicitation.
This will render your communications insincere
and ineffective.
For a greater investment, this same strategy
can be employed using printed cards. And
until your e-mail capture strategies and
e-mail lists are up to speed, the printed
card may be your only option. This is still
a relatively inexpensive, yet unique, way
to touch a donor which they are sure to
remember.
