OntheWilderSide

2007 Nonprofit Technology Conference

Join us April 4-6, 2007 in Washington, DC! Each year the Nonprofit Technology Conferencebrings together over 1,000 people for three days of connecting, learning, educating, and fun. Collaborators in the nonprofit and technology sectors will have the opportunity to share resources and learn about what works, what doesn’t work, and what new technology will help make the world a better place.The conference will address common issues faced by nonprofit leaders, program staff, development professionals, IT staff and technology support providers. The agenda will span a broad range of technology expertise and topics. Anyone who is interested in how technology can be used to help nonprofit organizations go farther, faster, or be more user-friendly should participate.Register before Jan 15th for special rates!

Become your Donor’s Best Friend

Building long-lasting relationships with people is the heart of individual donor fundraising. But how can we build genuine relationships that last a life-time? Follow these few simple rules for gift thank-you and follow-up.

• Your Organization’s Top Priority is to Honor your Supporters
  When a donor makes a gift to your organization they have done something very special – they have moved their relationship from casual interest to financial commitment. Everyone within your organization needs to understand the significance of that relationship shift – in years to come your bottom line – and their jobs – could depend on it. All donors, no matter the size of their donations, are important. Fundraising expert Kim Klein says “If you don’t have time to thank your donors, you don’t have time to have donors”. For more fundraising insight from this guru of small-nonprofit fundraising, check out Kim’s advice on the The 10 Most Important Things You Can Know About Fundraising.
• Send Thank You Letters Within 24-72 Hours of the Gift Receipt.
  To do this consistently means setting up a system for managing the gifts as they come through the door. This system called “gift processing” – every check or online donation is identified with the fund it is deposited into, the overall fundraising strategy used to garner the gift (such as a direct mail campaign), and the specific way in which the money was raised (December 06 Email Appeal). If your organization does not have a system in place to manage your gifts, it will be much harder to respond to a donor’s gift quickly.For more information about making your gift processing more efficient, check out the excellent white paper “Finding and Fixing your Top 10 Gift Processing Problems” Charity Navigator from Jacobson Consulting.
• Include a Personalized Note on the Thank-You
  Your goal is to make a personal connection with all of your donors. Although your workload may prevent a lengthy handwritten note, it is possible to say thank-you personally on each and every gift. How? Create a standard set of simple one-line thank-you’s that build an inspiring connection between the donor and their contribution to your mission — then sign your first name only, to personalize the message.”Your gift has allowed Philadelphia Arts Council to provide art therapy to children living in Philly’s battered women’s shelters– thank you so much for building a world where art heals hearts. ” Suzy
• Once a Year, Conduct a Thank-A-Thon & Survey
  Who doesn’t appreciate a “just because” gift? You can warm your donors’ hearts by a simple phone call saying “thank you for your support” — especially when the thank you is not a tricky way of soliciting gifts by phone. Thank-a-Thons are great board/staff team builders, and can also be an excellent way of highlighting your programs and driving traffic to your site, by ending the phone call with an invitation to visit your site and share more of their thoughts via an online survey tool like Zoomerang, SurveyMonkey, or a Salesforce web-to-lead form. Later this information can be used to further segment and optimize your fundraising efforts as well as provide important analytical data to improve your program effectiveness.

For more ideas and techniques, visit our Learning Center.

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