Thursday May 15- Asking amounts

Hi !

😄  Happy: What’s cookin this week

In this week’s enews…

• I made a mistake

• How to make a small ask when the need is huge

• Learn from the good: A video turning things upside down 🙃 

• Great post: Raise more from your online donation page

• Strategy Insider: Platforming

• Going back in time

The solution to last week’s Triple E (enews easter egg): The contents of my chicken soup recipe. When served I like to have noodles, soup croutons and turnip with it. Yum!

Last week I shared something which prompted a subscriber to respond and point out a mistake I made. I’m using that to share this week’s pain point and how to solve it: Asking small amounts for large projects.

👨‍⚕️ Doc: My bad 

Last week I shared this image in the enews:

I used it as an example of a good ask. But as a subscriber pointed out, how does $50 help? How can such a small amount help a kid with a disability learn to walk? It costs way more than that!

They’re right. My bad. I should’ve used a better example.

Truth is the subscriber’s response prompted me to focus on this issue this week and use it to help your fundraising efforts.

For the three items above, the suggested donation is nowhere near what it actually costs. How did Easterseals choose those amounts?

1. They picked numbers out of a hat (I can’t tell you if this is true. What I do know is that this happens more often than you think).

2. They have a large donor giving the bulk of the cost of the items and now they need to raise a small sum. So they use a small number and if enough people collectively donate they’ll hit the target amount.

3. They break it down into tiny pieces. $50 = 15 minutes of help. Does it help the kid walk? Yes, because without those 15 minutes the kid won’t walk. Is it the most transparent? No.

Which leads to the question: How should your organization choose donation amounts for projects/items which cost a lot? In an email you’re not going to ask everyone to contribute $15,000 to pay for service X.

Think organizations that are trying to fund a cure for a disease. It costs millions in research, trials and more to get to the finish line. How do you break that down into small parts that are easily digestible for donors and they’re happy to help out? How do you determine the right donation amount?

Let’s talk about making a small ask for a large project.

🤒 Sneezy: The story of one

Using big numbers to solicit donations may work well. What do I mean? Watch fundraising expert Cherian Koshy discuss big numbers vs. the story of one. (At the 5:35 mark)

Which of these would work better in a solicitation email?

A) 30,000 people face hunger daily in our city. Please donate $25 to help feed them.
B) Your donation of $25 helps ensure that Dana has food today for her and her daughter Ruth.

In A, the number of people facing hunger is large. I may feel that my $25 is only a drop in the ocean and won’t really help solve the problem. So I won’t give.

B has broken a large problem into a small piece and shared the story of one person (or in this case, one family). As a donor I can clearly see how my donation will solve a problem and who will be helped. I’m more likely to give.

Take a look at this ask from Feed the Children:

The picture? Attention grabbing. The ask amount? Works. The problem being solved? Easy to understand. The impact? Clear.

Keep in mind that food banks have a similar problem like the Easterseals example above. When I see an email which says “$25 feeds a family of four for a week” my immediate thought is: Is that true? Even with food rescue and purchasing in bulk, that’s 21 meals for four people for a little over a buck per meal.

If the copy said “helps” feed, that’s true. $25 is part of what’s needed to help feed them. It’s not the most transparent but they’re not lying. If you say “feeds,” then you might get people questioning the math. That’s not what you want with a fundraising ask.

So how can you decide small ask amounts for a big problem you’re trying to solve? There’s no easy fix.

One potential solution is to consider dynamic ask strings. Know what each donor gave last year and personalize the ask so they give more this year. Now you don’t have to decide for them- they made a decision in the past and you build off of that.

For new donors, share the problem and let them decide a gift amount. I’m not a fan of this approach, as I like to post some giving amounts (with corresponding impact) to move them towards giving.

A second solution is considering something like this ask from the American Diabetes Association (ADA):

They took a large problem- research to find a cure for diabetes which costs millions- and they broke it up into small chunks. That allows them to make a small ask that shows impact.

Each 90 minutes of research can bring the ADA closer to a cure.

Obviously, a large volume of donations is needed. They need thousands of these small gifts to help fund the cure. And donors know that.

But it gives people a problem to solve. Breaking up a large sum into a digestible amount can be helpful. If all I can give is $50, at least I know I am donating to the overall fight against diabetes.

Is the above example perfect? No. But if you work for an organization where the mission cost is high, you can’t send a letter to everyone on your list asking for $100,000.

When possible, break things down. Tell the story of one. Make the ask, the giving and the impact digestible.

You’ll raise more from more people which will allow you to have more impact. That’s one way to go from survival to thrival.

🙃 Dopey: Learn from the good- Turn things upside down

In this section I will share with you something good being done by a nonprofit that you can learn from.

I love a good video. Something that causes me to pay attention, think and consider what I’m watching. I especially like when things get turned on their head! Clever and creative. I’m all for it.

A huge thanks to my friend, fundraising expert Jemima who shared this video with me. They use a different tactic to explain the need and what they do.

Enjoy!

🫣 Bashful: A little of this and that

In this section I’m going to share with you great content I’ve picked out that you can learn from.

1. Raise more from your online donation page (A Direct Solution)

2. 4 benefits of sharing impact data (Windmill Hill Consulting)

3. What content should be in your website footer (Digital Ink)

4. How to prepare for successful donor meetings (Greater Giving)

5. The Board and your organization’s financial oversight (Nonpofit Hub)

😴  Sleepy: Strategy Insider- Deep Dive

In this section I’m going to share with you how I build strategies for nonprofits. Each week I’ll share another piece and over the coming months you’ll see how everything fits together.

To evaluate an organization’s fundraising and marketing efforts, I need to see which platforms they’re using and how they use them.

✅ A nonprofit’s website is its window to the world. I’ll be looking at the design and user experience, content, mobile version, landing pages, online donation form. I make a list of proposed changes and improvements while also outlining possible content additions. I’ll also do a deep dive into Analytics to see how people are using the site.

The goal? A user friendly website which provides the content, data, stories and information users are seeking.

✅ I of course do a full review of the organization’s email program. I’ll check 6-12 months worth of emails and enewsletters they’ve sent. Are they maximizing the benefits email offers?

My evaluation includes design, content, images, CTAs, subject lines and all relevant data. My report will include a comprehensive audit of the current email program and how it could be boosted.

✅ If the organization uses text messaging to help its fundraising and marketing, I will analyze how they’re using text, are they reaching their goals and how could the organization better utilize text to grow and thrive. (Unfortunately too few nonprofits use text as a platform for growth.)

✅ Although it has changed and isn’t producing the ROI it used to, social media is still a platform where relationships can be built and money raised. I will dive into an organization’s socmed presence- what platforms they’re using, the content they’re pushing out, how they engage their audience, review the data (includes which metrics they’re using- and which ones they should be checking!), analyze ads if they’re using them and make sure they’re spending time wisely on the social media platforms they’re on.

The above gives me a good idea of how the organization uses the individual platforms but just as important- are they connecting the platforms? Does email lead to the website and more text signups? Does social media help build the email subscriber list? Does the website push the different ways people can connect with the organization?

Next week my deep dive continues and I’ll be discussing interviews, one of the most important parts of any strategy.

🤬  Grumpy: Let me off the planet

But why?! Do we not have enough problems? There’s also talk about bringing back the woolly mammoth. Can velociraptors be far back?

Back at it next Thursday. Have a great weekend!

P.S. I listened to Eric Carmen’s “Make Me Lose Control” on an endless loop while working on the enews. Turn the radio up!