Well stated Sarah. I agree with everything your wrote. I do, however,
have a question (or a series of short questions):
Have you ever donated to your school (the one with the "community" feel)?
If you did, was it a result of someone calling and asking for money?
If you have not given, have they ever called and asked?
The point is simple - we can talk about email and snail mail but we also
need direct contact and specific requests for money.
Zvi Friedman
----
zvifriedman@xxxxxxxxx
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 11:11 AM Sarah Landman <sarah@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Something bothers me about most of the responses here. A lot of what I am
reading is talking about whether snail mail is good or bad, and the same
about email. So often I find a real obstacle to good fundraising is too
much fixation on the content and not enough of the people with whom we are
connecting.
From my perspective, the most important things to be asking around the
phenomenon of donor communications that are not achieving the engagement
you'd like are not which medium is better, but:
1. Whom are you engaging, and how do they interact with the kind of
information I'm sending them?
2. What value am I offering them?
Regarding #1, it is not a simple hard and fast rule of old donors = snail
mail; young donors = email. Ask yourself *who is reading, why they're
reading, when they're reading, etc.* For example, when I was a high
school student, my school would send print newsletters on a regular basis
to all of the school families, alumni, and donors. In my home, these
newsletters would often get dumped on the coffee table upon arrival,
wouldn't get read immediately, but without fail, all of us in my family
would at some point throughout Shabbat pick it up and give it a read. It
was fun to see ourselves and friends in the pictures, recognize names in
the Mazal Tov section, show off when our accomplishments were highlighted.
Whenever I would walk into another house in my community, I'd see their
newsletter on a table somewhere in their house - not always front and
center, not always getting immediate attention, but always there and ready
to be seen and engaged with. And when my friends and I were showcased for
our academic achievements, you can be sure other school families who saw me
would comment, "I read about you in the newsletter!" - there was no doubt
that it was reaching its intended audience. Can I tell you how many dollars
of donations that converted to? No. Firstly, I can't because I wasn't privy
to such information, but secondly, because that's simply not how we should
be understanding the purpose of the newsletter. At some point while I was
in college, the school decided to switch to email newsletters. BAD IDEA. I
get it - they were trying to engage the younger generation; their long-time
older donors were continuing to donate but the 25-45 year olds who were
sending more of their second- and third-generation kids back to the school
were not giving. But the school wasn't thinking about how the people had
been engaging with their content, how it created a sense of community, and
how email would work entirely differently. The emails came and everyone I
know - myself included - deleted them. Just like when they would come in
hard copy form, we simply didn't have time to read through it all in the
middle of a busy day, so we'd leave it for another time. But eventually it
would just pile with other junk mail in our inboxes, and as just another
line in a list on our screens, we would delete it during periodic email
purges. The print newsletter had vibrant colors and attractive pictures of
people we knew on the cover, so though it would remain on the table for a
week before getting read, it wouldn't make it to the trash can with other
junk mail. But with email that couldn't happen. I'm not saying email
doesn't work. Just like snail mail, it sometimes does and it sometimes
doesn't. First ask yourself whom you are targeting and how they will most
likely receive the medium.
#2 - Give people *value*. Why do we expect everyone to run to read our
content when it's only about tooting our horns? If we frame things around
ourselves, the organizations, we are doomed to failure. If we think about
value for the donors, we will be driven in the right direction in a number
of ways. 1 - Very simple - Looking for a light memento of the organization
that doesn't report on the organization's activity at all but merely gives
them a reminder of you every time they use it? Scrap the magnet idea and go
for something that they'll actually want to use, like a USB flash drive
("disk on key") or power bank with the organization's logo on it. 2 - *Make
the newsletter all about the reader*. Use the word YOU as much as
possible. Why did the donor donate to your organization in the past? Was it
to help your organization, or was it to give THE DONOR a sense of meaning,
taking part in an important cause? The latter. So when reporting to them on
what you've been doing, focus on showing them what they've accomplished
through their donations, NOT what you've been doing since they last heard
from you. Remember why everyone in the example above about my school -
donors or just engaged community members - liked reading the newsletter?
They were trained to know that if they read through it, they'd find
information about themselves. It is so much more enjoyable to read about
yourself than it is about some organization doing work without you. This
was a community-based school, building a sense of community among the
audience. But even when you're an organization in Israel speaking to donors
far overseas, when you remind them of their involvement, you give them so
much value. "Thanks to you, 200 families had food on their holiday tables"
is so much more satisfying to a reader than , "Last Pesach, we put food on
the tables of 200 families."
Lastly, in response to the original email from Shmuel at Shapell's - have
you considered that perhaps in this case less is more? (Yes, I appreciate
the irony of such a statement after writing such a long-winded email
myself...) Looking at your list of emails that go out, I can imagine
recipients' inboxes getting filled up really quickly, leading them to
delete without ever considering the contents. If you kept it instead to a
monthly update, with perhaps a weekly shiur only sent to those who opt in,
I could imagine that the recipients might be more interested in opening. I
would need to know your audience better to say that confidently, but as I
try to consider their experience, I imagine that would make it far more
manageable for them, making them more open to receive the value you give
them, rather than deleting it before they even get a chance to discover it.
Congratulations for making it this far in my email! :)
Sarah
=============
*Sarah Landman*
Principal Consultant and Owner
050-578-6742 / 917-993-9932
sarah@xxxxxxxxx
=============
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 3:03 PM Dan Rosenstein <rabbirosenstein@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
My 2 cents. It’s very costly to NOT mail them. It’s hard to cement a
virtual relationship with donors.
Also if you send a gift maybe they will share it with their spouse and
they maintain the relationship.
Also if you are involved in planned giving that’s the older generation.
Also turning on a computer uses electricity..
There are services that could find many of the addresses for you. It’s
worth the small investment and reinvest the dividends.
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 5:33 AM Kate Hallgren <kate@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
ha! then I would have to give everyone a gift! LOL
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 12:17 PM Dan Rosenstein <
rabbirosenstein@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Suggestion. Consider contacting them that you are sending a gift to all
your supporters and you noticed we don’t have your snail mail address.
On Sun, Sep 15, 2019 at 2:04 AM Kate Hallgren <kate@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I was thinking about this and realized that a lot of nonprofits
probably don't have as many street addresses as they used to. We have
street addresses for our donors, but we have a much bigger audience that
subscribes to our newsletters which come out via email. We don't have
their
street addresses because when they sign up, they only have to enter their
email address. We could ask them for their street address too, but most
people are reluctant to do that and don't want to be bothered with phone
calls or getting stuff in the mail. The only way we can reach them is via
an email campaign.
On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 1:20 PM Dan Rosenstein <
rabbirosenstein@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well I understand the hesitancy to avoid direct mail. It’s cheaper,
quicker and less costly to email. And easier!
But different donors respond differently. And you have many more
options when physically mailing. An email may go to spam or an old email
address.
With direct mail you can change packaging. You can get change of
mailing address. And the envelope might be sitting around when the donor
has time to focus on it as opposed to someone getting an email at an
inconvenient time and they don’t go back to refer to it. You can also
physical gifts etc
Nevertheless, direct mail only works when done right. And it needs to
be done often.
The answer is a successful organization does BOTH. And does both
well. Can not rely on email alone and can’t only mail once a year. Both
are crucial.
I’ve never used him, but Jerry is from what I hear a good partner in
this effort.
Shabbat shalom
Dan Rosenstein
Executive Director
The Hebron Fund
Hebronfund.org
On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 12:22 PM Kate Hallgren <kate@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
I'm not convinced. I throw all direct mail right into the recycle
bin. Many of my friends do too. Maybe older generations will open direct
mail. I doubt tthat younger generations do and they will be our target
population as they age.
Once people realize they are missing out on things, they will start
reading your emails. Make your emails short, attractive and easy to
read.
Write something catchy in the subject line. I scan my shul's newsletter
every week just to see if anything special is going on, plus they
include
Shabbat times which is nice for me and the Torah portion of the week.
I don't think there is a magic formula for getting people to open
emails. Videos and photos seem to help. Maybe try other communication
channels like Facebook and Twitter.
I don't know what is considered an average open rate for emails.
Could be that 20% is pretty good.
Good luck!
On Mon, Sep 9, 2019, 17:31 arnie draiman <ajdraiman@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
one suggestion I can make is to think about "old school"
Direct Mail is back! if you want ideas even for upcoming rosh
hashana campaigns, contact gerry - he is someone i have worked with
for 15+
years. honest, trustworthy, and knows his stuff. the link to his pdf
letter
of explanation, what he offers, and his contact info is here:
http://draimanconsulting.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Porath-USA-Fundraising-Letter.pdf
arnie draiman
050-515-6776
www.draimanconsulting.com
On Mon, Sep 9, 2019, 16:24 FreeLists Mailing List Manager <
ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
frforum Digest Mon, 09 Sep 2019 Volume: 05 Issue: 061
In This Issue:
[Fundraisers Forum] email advice question
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Jablon, Shmuel" <sjablon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2019 16:24:07 +0300
Subject: [Fundraisers Forum] email advice question
Shalom to all!
Here's a practical question that I'm hoping some people can advise
me on.
At Shapell's/Darche Noam (We are a 41 year old Yeshiva/Midrasha in
Yerushalayim for students in their 20's and 30's), we are trying
to figure
out how to get more people to open our emails. Typically we have
about a 20
percent open rate. And we often hear, “I didn’t know about....”
Right now we send:
1 a weekly ebulletin to alumni, donors and parents that includes
links to
shiurim, Mazal Tov announcements, news and other announcements.
2 a weekly 5 minute video shiur
3. Any special announcements (eg- programs, Rabbis visiting
specific
communities, urgent lifecycle items, the occasional request for
funds).
We are able to segment by location, as well as category (alumni,
donors,
Rabbis/mekarvim, etc)
There are weeks when people could get 3-4 emails from us.
Our overall list has about 5,000 people. About 25% live in Israel.
We do have separate WhatsApp groups for alumni in Yerushalayim and
Bet
Shemesh, as well as for people who get a weekly WhatsApp shiur
from the
Rosh Yeshiva.
I would love advice on how we can get more people to read/view
what we
send.
Thanks
Shmuel Jablon
*Shapell's/Darch*é
*Noam*
02-545-0808
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End of frforum Digest V5 #61
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Director of External Relations
Palestinian Media Watch
Office: +972 2 625 4140 <+972%202-625-4140>
Mobile: +972 50 9874343
Website: http://www.palwatch.org
Follow PMW on Facebook
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