Posted on Tue, Sep 07, 2010
By Shawn Henderson, Graphic Designer
Since most of us are not mind readers, communication between two people can often be challenging. And taking the time to walk to an office down the hall or pick up the phone for a quick chat seems to have become “old fashioned”, with so much of our attention fixated on using emails and texting.
While in many respects these forms of quick communication do make our lives easier, in certain instances—namely, the communication between a designer and the client or team — they can cause unneeded complications.
With that in mind, here are a few tips on working with the designer.
1. Get the full story on the job.
“Make the logo bigger” Sometimes a direction like this is not enough information. Bigger than what? Is the visual goal to have the logo overshadow everything else on the envelope or page or do you just want it bumped up a point or two. As a designer, my job is to devise a plan based on the directions provided by the account team, and then create a visual solution to carry out that plan. Doing this requires that I have a complete understanding of what the plan is and what the overall design is meant to convey.
Valuable time can be wasted if the designer is not clear on what needs to be accomplished.
2. Reach out and touch someone: pick up the phone, or come pay a visit.
“Say whaaaaat!” Even though modern day technology has blessed us with email, texting and socializing online, person-to-person conversations are still the best form of communication when it comes to clarifying specific directions. Whether you walk down to my office for a quick face-to-face or make a phone call, either option is faster and usually easier than sending a string of emails back and forth.
3. Include the designer from the beginning.
Touchdown! What is a kick-off? At first, I thought it was an invitation to be part of a Fantasy Football league. Since then I have obviously learned that a kick-off is a meeting to discuss the particulars of a project—including the design and ultimate final concept.
I have come to realize just how valuable kick-offs are in ensuring that the designer understands the visual goal from stage one. This helps the project runs smoothly from the beginning and can be a great time saver.
What are your top tips for creating a successful working relationship with designers or other team members? All these tips are applicable with all your team members!
Posted on Tue, Jun 01, 2010
No one wants to listen to complaints every day. Whether the complainer is a spouse (“Put your dirty dishes in the dishwasher!”), one of your kids (“Why can't you take me to the mall?”) or a donor (“Stop sending me so much mail!”), it might seem easier to ignore the situation than to do something about it.
But just as you don't want your spouse to file for divorce or your child to hitch a ride to the mall from a stranger, you also don't want a valuable donor to say goodbye to you.
Too many nonprofit organizations don’t deal with complaints in the best manner, and many complaints end up in the garbage can with no response. What’s the best way to deal with them? Your strategy should first depend on whether the complainer is a donor or non-donor.
If the complainer is a donor, you need to pay extra-special attention to what the person is saying - and to how you respond. Probably the most frequent complaint from donors concerns the frequency of solicitations. Too often, organizations respond to such complaints by automatically suspending most solicitations to the donor. This is a major mistake.
Morris Dees, founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center and one of the early innovators of direct-response fundraising, once told me about an analysis he conducted into the giving histories of SPLC's most frequent donor complainers. He surprisingly determined that these complainers actually were the most valuable contributors on his donor list, with higher retention rates and longer donor histories than other contributors.
Dees realized that instead of suppressing these donors from his mail schedule, which effectively would lower a donor's likelihood of responding again, he should pursue another strategy. Instead, he developed a sophisticated response system to directly address complaints. In the case of a complaint about the frequency of solicitation, he would send a thorough letter explaining the necessity of frequent solicitations, while also explaining the benefits of SPLC's sustainer program, which would allow the donor to contribute on a regular, pre-determined basis.
Dees’ strategy resulted in increased donor bonding, with many donors joining the sustainer program and pledging regular contributions. As he explained, donors just want to know they have been heard. A personal and quick explanation on the organization’s part often will be rewarded with even more loyalty by the complaining donor.
This strategy also will work for other types of complaints.
- If a donor complains about the use of telemarketing, tell her why your organization uses it.
- If a donor complains about a stance your group has taken on an issue, send a thorough reply explaining why the organization did what it did.
You'll be surprised by positive responses from donors who are grateful to know that their opinions are important.If the complainer is someone who’s never donated to your organization before, and who probably is responding to an acquisition effort, there are other considerations to incorporate into your response.
For organizations that address politically sensitive issues, complainers might disagree with your stance. If this is the case, a response generally isn’t needed, although do yourself and the complainer a favor by including the individual on a do-not-solicit suppression file, which you should use with each merge/purge.
What if the complainer is belligerent? Calls you names? Thankfully, the days when such characters attach your BRE to a brick and mail it back are long gone. But such individuals still gladly will send you letters filled with vitriol. While it might give you temporary enjoyment to answer these people in kind, such a letter could find its way back to your boss or, worse, the press. Avoid the temptation and just add the complainer to your suppression file.
Any advice on how to deal with complaining donors or supporters? Please share your thoughts with us!
Posted on Tue, May 25, 2010
By Jim Hussey, President
Today, our nation and our world face a lot of "big picture" problems. The Gulf of Mexico is flooding with oil. Haiti is in ruins from a shattering earthquake. Global warming is melting our polar ice caps. Major wars rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and numerous other spots around the world. The fear of terrorism is higher yet. AIDS and other epidemics threaten to kill millions. And thousands of people across the world die every day from starvation.
Nonprofit organizations are rising to the challenge by educating the public, organizing support and raising revenue to address these major problems. And while these organizations need to focus on the “big picture” in most of their public-education efforts, often they should do the opposite in their fundraising campaigns. In other words, and in a reversal of an often used phrase they need to “see the trees, rather than the forest!”
Huh?
“What is he blabbering about?” you might be asking right about now. Here’s what I'm trying to say:
Often, nonprofit organizations focus their fundraising communications on such massively big problems that the potential donor believes that no amount of his support could possibly help. This is what I refer to as a “drop in a bucket” scenario.
Here’s a fictional example of how an environmental group addressing global warming might, in fact, create this kind of situation:
Dear Friend,
Global warming is rapidly heating our planet. A huge hole has opened in our ozone layer. Polar ice caps are melting away. Chunks of ice the size of Texas have split away from Antarctica. Current coastlines will begin to disappear as water from the melting ice drowns our coastal cities. Millions of people will be displaced or die from the resulting change in weather patterns.
Please send us $15 to stop this catastrophe.
See what I mean? A recipient who reads this literally could envision a drop of water plopping into a huge bucket… because that's how he’ll view his relatively small contribution in comparison to the problem it’s supposed to address. It will discourage many potential supporters from even addressing the subject.
OK, that example may be somewhat of an exaggeration, but it's not so far off of the mark.
Some fundraisers attempt to fix this problem by changing the ask to something like, “Please send us $15 to stop this catastrophe, and we'll send you this really cute teddy bear.”
In other words, they overcome the donor’s hesitance by offering a bribe for a contribution. I’m not condemning those who use premiums to overcome the reluctance of potential donors. A few of my clients will testify that, in some cases, I’ve urged them to do just that.
Bring it home
But before succumbing to the easy solution of premiums, you should try another method when addressing “big picture” issues such as global warming, war, world hunger or deadly diseases. First, you should attempt to bring the issue down to a level that the potential donor can more easily understand, and can more easily visualize how his $15 contribution will make a difference.
Child-sponsorship organizations understand this strategy better than anyone. Can one person stop world hunger? No way. But can one person, feed one child in a Third World country? Yes... that is a manageable goal. And can a single person stop global warming? No- But one person can support lobbying efforts in Congress to pass higher automobile mileage standards or other regulations that stem emissions that cause global warming.
The next time you attempt to communicate with potential donors about the “forest” of challenges that your organization wants to address, remember to take the time to point out a few of the trees.
How are you successfully showing the "trees" in your appeals?
Posted on Thu, May 06, 2010
The Abigail Van Buren of fundraising gives it away for free.
By Jim Hussey
I’ve decided to offer my advice to all of you out there with questions about your fundraising troubles - a sort of “Dear Abby” column for the fundraising forlorn. I'm even willing to dole out this advice free of charge. Those with questions need not fear a monthly retainer bill or any other type of charge. Just please don’t tell any of my clients I'm giving it away for nothing! :-D
Since this is a new idea, I have no letters to answer — yet (though I expect my inbox to swell soon!) — so to start the ball rolling, I’ve simply forged some on my own, based on questions I frequently hear. I'm hoping it’ll inspire you to comment with your own queries.
Dear Jim,
I come to you with an urgent problem. My boss has told me that I need to conduct “regression analysis” concerning previous fundraising campaigns for my organization. I hate to admit it, but I don’t even know what regression analysis is. I don’t want to appear stupid to my boss … can you please help me by explaining this term?
Sincerely, Unanalyzed
Dear Unanalyzed,
This term is a catch-all phrase for any type of analysis that utilizes previously gathered information. For example, if you want to figure out if men or women are more likely to respond to one of your fundraising solicitations, you can take the response data of previous campaigns and compare these results to the initial audience. Let’s say the results show that 50 percent of the original audience was male, yet 75 percent of your respondents are female … then you've figured out that women are your best prospects. Regression analysis also can be used to determine a multitude of other factors, such as seasonality, and retention and attrition rates.
Dear Jim,
My nonprofit organization is about to celebrate an important anniversary, and my boss wants me to develop a fundraising campaign around this date. Is this a smart thing to do?
Sincerely, Perplexed
Dear Perplexed,
Anniversaries can serve as an indicator to potential donors that your organization has stamina and isn't a fly-by-night operation. However, it’s always critical to remember that donors never provide you with a reward for past service. Donors always contribute toward a current or pending situation. A sense of urgency almost always is a requirement to any successful fundraising campaign. So proceed with your anniversary campaign … but put most of your focus on the present and future.
Comment with your Dear Jim questions and I'll answer a few each month!
Posted on Tue, Apr 06, 2010
Here are some tips to break out of that writing rut.
By Jim Hussey, President
Whether professional writers generating grant applications, direct-mail copy and annual reports or just authors of everyday memos, all of us have been plagued by writer’s block.
Writer’s block is something that I consistently battle. As a copywriter, the author of frequent memos and proposals, and, in this case, a blog, I constantly find myself facing the mental brick wall that brings the flow of writing to an abrupt halt.
Great authors such as Faulkner, Fitzgerald and Hemingway often turned to alcohol as their remedy. However, drunkenness generally is frowned upon by clients, colleagues, family members and family doctors. As a result, I have attempted to avoid this route.
Instead, I’ve developed other tactics and queried fellow writers about their own strategies. Maybe some of these ideas can help you.
Plow on through
The most common strategy is just to start writing and push through the mental barrier that’s blocking you. In this case, it doesn’t matter what you write, just write it. You can go back and edit later. Chances are you’ll find yourself on a roll within a couple of minutes.
I also find it helpful to occasionally walk away from the computer and do it “old school” style by getting a pen and paper and just writing longhand. I often find that while writing on a computer, I edit my work as I go along instead of concentrating on the idea I’m writing about. Writing by hand breaks me out of that habit.
You also don’t have to write in a coherent order. When I'm writing a four-page direct-mail package, I often will skip from the first page to the last page. Or if I hit a wall, I’ll skip away from the letter altogether and begin writing another component, such as the reply form or an informational insert.
Look at the competition
All of us have hundreds of seed packages from other organizations laying around our offices. Grab a handful and start reading. You probably will learn a few new techniques that will open your mind to new possibilities.
Such methods not only will help you break out of writer’s block, but they also will help you expand your arsenal of writing styles.
Avoid distractions
A ringing telephone and the quiet “ding” heralding the arrival of new e-mails often will prevent you from getting into the flow of writing. When I’m under a tight deadline in such situations, I often grab my laptop or a pen and some paper and head out of the office to a local coffee shop to find some peace, quiet and inspiration. A latte and a dose of Muzak can work miracles.
As one of my colleagues told me, “Never underestimate the power of caffeine."
Start again in the morning
My business partner, Greg Adams, refuses to start a project late in the afternoon.
“When you've reached a point of frustration, it’s OK to leave and come back to it the next day,” he adds. “Then, in a moment of relaxation, the idea hits you. Your subconscious keeps gnawing on it until a solution is found.”
How have you overcome writers block? I'd love to hear your tricks and techniques!
Posted on Tue, Feb 27, 2007
It’s trending up, not down.
By Jim Hussey
I recently attended a parent's meeting at my church to discuss future activities for my teenage son’s youth group. Now stick with me — this actually addresses an important issue for all fundraisers.
The youth minister in charge of the group was outlining what would be happening and casually said, “The kids want the annual calendar and notices about events sent to them by (snail) mail. So please look out for any church envelopes addressed to your son or daughter, and please pass them on.”
I, the bored parent who was struggling to keep my eyes open, was instantly awakened by the direct marketer within that usually tries not to think about such matters on the weekend.
“Whoa!” I said to the group. “You mean these text message-crazy Internet addicts want to use old-fashioned mail? Why?”
“Because they fear the messages will be lost in the mass of information they receive,” he said. “And they want a hard copy of the schedule.”
“Wow!” I thought. I didn't think that kids today knew what “hard copy” means.
This tidbit of information had a profound effect on me. I had been hearing all of the predictions that the new technology of the Internet will replace the older technology of snail mail. But then I witnessed an example of the newest generation — which is incredibly Web-savvy and greatly dependent upon it for communication and information — actually backsliding into the use of the centuries-old medium of mail.
With so many cynics preaching about the end of direct mail, while advocating Internet-exclusive strategies, we need to take notice of what is actually happening out in the world around us.
If you look around, not just at my son’s youth group but also at what the major commercial marketers are doing, you quickly will learn that the two mediums of direct mail and the Internet actually complement one another. Instead of clashing in a life-or-death struggle, the Internet and direct mail are actually proving to be quite chummy bedfellows.
As a case in point, in recent years, one of the top mailers in the nation also is our nation’s largest Internet provider, America Online, which mails hundreds of millions of its disks annually.
USA TODAY recently quoted respected advertising forecaster Robert Coen’s estimate that marketers’ spending on direct mail will increase by 7.5 percent in 2007, after growing by 8.5 percent in 2006. This compares to a growth of only 4.8 percent for all forms of ad spending.
The United States Postal Service, while reporting decreases in First Class mail in fiscal year 2006, also estimated that the quantity of Standard mail (which is chiefly used for commercial and marketing purposes) increased by almost 3 percent. They also are predicting further growth for the 2007 and 2008 fiscal years … despite higher postage rates.
So what does this information tell fundraisers that use direct marketing? It tells us that the commercial world has rejected a “one or the other” attitude about the Internet and direct mail. It has learned through the past decade of experience that the best marketing strategies mix the two mediums.
And the same rule applies to fundraisers. Just as any fundraiser today is crazy to think about fundraising efforts without the use of the Internet, you'd be just as crazy to consider fundraising efforts without the use of direct mail.