5 ways to drive away donors

FromFundraising is Beautiful

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5 ways to drive away donors

FromFundraising is Beautiful

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15 minutes

Released:

May 14, 2014

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Podcast episode

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Are you getting too much fundraising revenue? Do you need fewer donors to support your work? Here's how you can help solve that problem: Write and design for your coworkers (or yourself). Change the subject between your acquisition and cultivation messages. Educate your donors. Develop your website differently from your offline messages. Have sloppy donor data.

Released:

May 14, 2014

Format:

Podcast episode

Titles in the series (100)

In this podcast, Steven Screen & Jeff Brooks give you super-actionable information for how you can make your next fundraising effort raise more money.

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Recession fundraising: Interview with Mal Warwick: Don't miss this interview with fundraising legend Mal Warwick, author of the recent book (as well as many other books on fundraising). Find out how to survive the recession -- including the biggest mistake you can make. by Fundraising is Beautiful
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What to cut when the budget is tight: Okay, you've cried, you've pleaded, you've made your case. But there's no way around it: You have to cut your fundraising budget. Find out the area you can cut with little damage to your program, the areas where cuts would be devastating, and areas... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Program vs. Fundraising: How to Break the Tension: In almost every nonprofit organization there's tension between program people (those who do the organization's mission) and fundraising people (those who raise the money to make the work possible). This podcast reveals some things you can do to ease... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Donor-Centric Newsletters, Part 2: How to Make it Work: Now that you believe in producing a newsletter for donors, here are some of the little-known and seldom-done best practices for making your newsletter bring in net revenue even while it improves the health of your file. by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Beauty is overrated: Are you creating fundraising that looks great or that gets results? Often, you can do one or the other, not both. In this look at the power of the odd, unattractive, and unfashionable in direct mail, broadcast, and online, we'll show you how the quest... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Our Holiday wishes for you: The entire Fundraising Is Beautiful staff gathers for a holiday party and to wish our listeners and friends (especially those who are both) some good things for the coming year. by Fundraising is Beautiful
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How to learn when you can't test: Everyone knows that direct-response testing is the path to the truth in fundraising. There's just one problem: The large majority of nonprofit organizations cannot do direct-response testing. Their quantities are too small and/or they don't have the... by Fundraising is Beautiful
13 min listen
How to Tell If Your Fundraising Is Good (Part 3: Packaging): Direct mail, the life-blood of most fundraising programs, has different design conventions from other types of design. It's less pretty, more old-fashioned, and almost messy. Here's a look at direct mail design and packaging: Everything you need to... by Fundraising is Beautiful
16 min listen
Partnership (not marketing) with donors: An interview with Troy Stremler, CEO of , a company that helps nonprofits measure and report the impact of their programs. Troy sees a big change in the new generation of donors: They don't want to be "marketed to" -- they want to be partners with the... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Haiti and Non-Haiti Fundraising: A look at what's going well, what's not, and what we need to know as the nonprofit world responds to the catastrophic January 12 Haiti Earthquake. Includes ideas for fundraisers who are not connected to the disaster. by Fundraising is Beautiful
20 min listen
Donor-Centric Newsletters, Part 1: Why You Should Have One: Did you know that many donors ask for newsletters from the charities they support? A great newsletter can improve donor retention and upgrading and bring in revenue while it does it. Find out how you can benefit from the power of a donor-centric... by Fundraising is Beautiful
15 min listen
It's Not Too Late to Boost Your 2008 Revenue: The year is nearly over, but there's still time to do a go to your donors online -- in fact, the next couple of week are prime time for online fundraising. We'll lay out a basic schedule and give some tips for the last, crucial impacts of the year. by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Your E-Z 30-minute fundraising review plan: We're back -- after a delay we're attributing to the economy and a house-fire -- with practical hints for planning your upcoming fundraising campaigns in a way that will help keep you out of trouble in these hard times. by Fundraising is Beautiful
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The power of relevance in fundraising: It's pretty simple, really: Fundraising works when it's relevant to donors. When it's not relevant, people ignore it. Using the recent Haiti earthquake as an example, we look at what makes a situation relevant, and what you can do to increase that... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Branding and Fundraising, Part 1: How does the discipline of branding help your efforts to raise revenue for your cause? How does it hurt? How do you decide how to spend your marketing dollars? Get ready for a feather-ruffling, controversial look at this difficult topic. by Fundraising is Beautiful
17 min listen
Things to do that will make you a better fundraiser: Here are ten practical things you can do -- starting today -- that will make you into a better fundraiser: Donate. Send and receive snail-mail. Sign up for lots of email from other nonprofits. Participate in online social networking sites. Hang... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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What you need to know about online fundraising: For the third installment of our State of Fundraising series of podcasts, we interview Katya Andresen, Chief Operating Officer at , who speaks frequently about online fundraising and blogs at . She touches on many aspects of fundraising on the web,... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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How to Tell If Your Fundraising Is Good (Part 1: Writing Style): Fundraising is a specialized form of communication. It's just plain odd in many ways. In this first part of a three-part series on the conventions and norms of fundraising, we look at the the way fundraising copy is written, and why it contains so... by Fundraising is Beautiful
18 min listen
Put your heart into fundraising: An interview with Cass Wheeler, former CEO of the and author of the new book You've Gotta Have Heart: Achieving Purpose Beyond Profit in the Social Sector (available at and at ). Don't miss what this wise CEO has to say about people who are good at... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Is direct mail dead?: For the first installment of our new State of Fundraising series of podcasts, we interview Jon Van Wyk of and blogger at . Jon enlightens us about some of the generational and technology changes we must pay attention to if we're going to keep raising... by Fundraising is Beautiful
19 min listen
Fundraising in a bad economy: There's really only one thing you need to be afraid of during this economic crisis. Find out what it is, and discover many other tips for surviving hard times -- and maybe even turning it to your fundraising and long-term advantage. by Fundraising is Beautiful
17 min listen
How to Work with a Fundraising Consultant: Working with the right fundraising consultant or agency can take your organization to undreamed-of heights. Having the wrong partner can be as rewarding as a long afternoon with a hungry, sleep-deprived two-year-old. In this podcast we share the three... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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It's all about editing: The good fundraiser knows that not everything you do makes good fundraising. We bring donors on board with the stuff that makes their heart sing. We don't insist that they fully get it before we'll accept their donations. If you've been paying... by Fundraising is Beautiful
2 min listen
Donor acquisition vs donor cultivation -- know the difference to succeed in both: Donor acquisition -- in any medium -- has a fundamentally different "ecosystem" form donor cultivation. Knowing the difference will make you far more effective in both. We discuss the differences in response numbers, cost, messaging, and long-term... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Back from the Brink: How a Sick Organization Got Better: In this episode we interview Chris Doyle, President and CEO of , an organization that's leading the fight against leprosy around the world. Back in the mid-90s, when Doyle joined, the organization was in an accelerating downward slide. Learn about the... by Fundraising is Beautiful
26 min listen
How to destroy your year-end letter: Two years ago, they had a great year-end letter that raised a lot of money for the cause. Last year, the committee was full of ideas for improving the letter. The result: a 50% drop in giving. Using two real year-end fundraising letters from a real... by Fundraising is Beautiful
12 min listen
Branding and Fundraising, Part 2: We continue the discussion on how your brand can help or hurt your fundraising and reveal the top branding error that torpedoes so many nonprofits. And don't miss a rare disagreement between Steven and Jeff -- tensions rise over dueling analogies.... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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Why donors go away, Part 1: Why do your donors leave? Here's the bad news: It's mostly your fault. The good news: There's lot you can do to keep them engaged and giving. We look at some of those smart fundraising moves in this podcast and the next one. We are looking at donor... by Fundraising is Beautiful
13 min listen
How to deal with the next big thing in fundraising: For the sixth installment of our State of Fundraising series, we look at steady stream of innovations for nonprofits that happen all the time. How do you deal with it all? How do you know what to ignore and what to get involved with? Here's a... by Fundraising is Beautiful
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How to Tell If Your Fundraising Is Good (Part 2: Content): Effective fundraising has some characteristics that you might find odd or off-putting: It's simple. It's about only one thing. There's an obsessive call to action. It's built around stories. It suggests specific amounts for donors to give. It's all... by Fundraising is Beautiful
14 min listen

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5 ways to drive away donors

5 ways to drive away donors

Description

Titles in the series (100)

More Episodes from Fundraising is Beautiful

Related podcast episodes