Thursday, January 19, 2012

Get a Second Gift

Step 90.

Up until now, by implementing the various steps contain within this blog book, you’ve been successful at inspiring and capturing a person’s first gift to your organization. Now what?

Let me give you a proven strategy designed to compel people to donate a second gift to your charity.

Many organizations refer to this strategy as either a “Second Gift” or “Welcome Series” strategy. I’ve provided a step-by-step process on what to do after a donor gives your nonprofit a gift via your Web site.

Step 1. Send an instant auto reply thank you email to the donor that confirms their full name, donation amount and designation of gift. For example, Thank you Mr. Todd Baker for your gift of $50 for school supplies.
Step 2. Within 72 hours of the donation, send via postal mail a receipt to the donor that specifies the donation amount along with the gift designation.
Step 3. For donations $100 or above, call the donor to personally say “Thank you” from the organization. On the call, reaffirm that their money is going to the specific program that they designated it towards and provide an update of the success of program itself. You may want to invite the donor to your Web site to read more updates in the future.
Step 4. Two weeks later, send a “Third-Party Endorsement” letter via postal mail. This is a letter from a well-known spokesperson of your organization (celebrity / political figure) simply letting the donor that they have done a good thing by donating to your organization. Inside the mailing you can encourage the donor to go online and see a video of this spokesperson stating how effective and efficient your nonprofits is at doing its mission.
Step 5. One week later from Step 4., send an email letting the donor know that a special update is coming in the mail.
Step 6. One week later from Step 5., send via postal mail, the special update mailing. The mailing can be one of two things, first, it can be your charity’s strongest appeal in regards to return on investment (ROI) or second, it can be a similar offer that they gave toward initially. For example, if a donor is acquired via “feeding of hungry children offer,” then the best way to get them to give again is to provide the same exact offer at your next appeal (online or offline).

Some of you may be thinking, “Why do we want to cultivate an online donor with offline tactics, such as direct mail?” Because there is a direct correlation with the number of associations a donor has with your organization and their overall financial value to your nonprofit.

Therefore, the more you engage a donor through different media, the more money they will donate to your charity.

Givers Take Image, I give my donation online so it gets to work faster.

Step 91. Understand Your Constituent's Voice
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