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We're Lewis Kennedy Associates.

Happy reading! -Becky

Holiday clutter

Trees... lights... snowflakes... bows... glitter... sparkle... with holiday decorating in full swing, it's tempting to give your year-end appeals a similar treatment. 

Yet your dusting of holiday cheer runs the risk of hiding your important, urgent, passionate message, and distracting people from the task at hand - their contribution to your organization. 

The greatest revenue is almost always delivered through bold, simple design, accompanied by direct, clear, action-oriented messages.

Go crazy decorating the world... but keep your fundraising streamlined and targeted.

Emails: Not too many... not too few...

Year-end e-appeals are already appearing. While we know at minimum, you want to send two emails before Christmas and two after, we also know that some organizations will send 10+ e-appeals before the New Year begins.

What's right for you organization? Consider your limits.

Your limit = the tolerance of the people on your list. Exceed your limit, they will unsubscribe, and you will lose your ability to communicate with them through e-mail. Your limit is based on two things:

1) The strength of your brand. The more valued and beloved your organization is in the community it serves, and the more passionate people feel, the more they will be willing to accept (and respond to) multiple appeals from you.

2) Your own online generosity. In the online space, you want to give more than you ask. Organizations that also deliver communications that add value to people's lives, can send more fundraising emails because people will be less likely to want to disconnect from the value they receive year-round.

Go edgy or go with the crowd?

While you might think that Cyber Monday is built for retailers, and Giving Tuesday is built for nonprofits... these are simply fake constructs created to drive action - now.  

While Giving Tuesday will be the clear choice for most organizations, "It's Giving Tuesday, and today is the perfect day to support our cause...." we offer an alternate option.

Send your email out today, get ahead of the crowd, and build even greater feelings of pride and connection through a subtle anti-consumerism message. "Let us suggest a different way to use your credit card today - to create a whole world of good...." or "Wrap up Cyber Monday with a gift that keeps on giving... a contribution...."

People feel pleasure no matter when or how they give. But your communications are responsible for setting up the strength and leaning of these emotions. For some, it will be a far more memorable experience to contribute today, when they aren't supposed to, than to contribute tomorrow when they are.

To delve a little further... 

Cyber Monday is ubiquitous, recognized as a "thing" by most Americans. Giving Tuesday, not so much - yet. 

Cyber Monday boasts increased online activity all day long (fish where the fish are), PLUS credit cards already out of wallets, ready to be used - overcoming a huge barrier to giving - the simple hassle of getting the credit card out. 

Cyber Monday is about spending money - what's another $50 or $100 for a good cause when you're already shopping, shopping, shopping. Giving Tuesday is the morning after, when you've had time to realize how much you actually spent yesterday.

Give it a whirl. By now, your organization should be able to turn around a fundraising email in less than a day. If you can't, you'll want to put that at the top of your Santa Wish List for the year to come.

The tax deduction case

What's your best lead for year-end giving? A reminder about tax deductions? 

We don't think so. While there's no real hard evidence to prove it, this is our thinking.

Consider first, the fact that less than fifty percent of Americans itemize their taxes. Of course, the itemization rate increases as income goes up, but it's not wise to assume that all of your donors have large incomes. People in lower income brackets actually tend to contribute  a greater percentage of their income to charity than people in higher brackets.

Then consider the people you are likely to reach at this time of the year.

The procrastinator: This person is well aware of your organization... they are aware of tax deadlines... they may even already have a list of organizations they plan to contribute to at year-end. Yet they haven't found their perfect moment to sit down and take action. Your regular presence in their mailbox or in-box is the best way to win them over to action. But they need to be reminded not of the pesky stuff like taxes, but rather about why your organization is important and deserving of action.

The planner: This person does care about tax deductions and probably already has a plan in their head about how much they intend to contribute at year-end. Your goal here is to convince them that your organization belongs on the list. Possibly your goal is to be even more convincing, and get them to give more than they had originally planned. The tax deduction case then, is also not your best lead here. 

The lover: This person loves what your organization does, probably supports you already, and feels great about the world in this "season of giving." They're walking around with a do-good spirit, just waiting to make a difference. Your powerful, passionate, and emotional case can inspire them to do more. Your reminder about tax deductions will probably leave them feeling flat. 

The tester: This person knows about your organization, maybe follows you on social media and receives your emails. But they have yet to support your organization. They still need to be convinced, which means that you need to make a strong case for the power of their gift, and the importance of your goals and deadlines, then follow with the tax reminder as an added benefit.

Successful year-end campaigns

Now is a good time to double-check your year-end efforts before they hit mailboxes and in-boxes in the weeks ahead.

ARE YOU PERSONAL? People connect with and contribute to people. "You's" and "I's" should fill your communications rather than the more formal "our supporters" and "we's."

ARE YOU TARGETED? This isn't the time for an "everything but the kitchen sink" story about all you do. Build your communication around one key message. Stick close to your theme and develop it well. 

DO YOU ASK FOR THE MONEY? Ask directly, succinctly and with power. Ask more than once. Don't ask questions (will you consider a gift?) or be less than assured (we hope you will contribute). Be bold: Your support right now is vital to the future. Make your important contribution today.

Up next: Your hook. How heavy should you go with tax and deadline messages?

The end

Successful fundraising, marketing and PR pitches have one thing in common: FOCUS.

Here's a simple trick to help you build a focused story.

1) Get out a piece of paper. 
2) Write "The End" on it.
3) Just above "The End," write your final sentence - your story's defining idea.

Now, begin your story, and point everything you write towards that end.Stay focused!

Platform Power

Consider the platforms available on which to raise funds.

On-air has power because it involves human faces and voices making a direct, heartfelt appeal. Direct mail has power because it is personal, and has a physical presence. And then there's online - with our ubiquitous "Donate Now" buttons in the top corner - that nut we can't quite seem to crack. 

Here's what we know: On the average day, the vast majority of people who come to your site do not come with the intent to donate - just as the person who turns on their TV or radio in the morning is not expecting to be persuaded by a fundraising pitch, and the person who opens the mailbox is not expecting a letter from your organization. 

And yet they give.

So why aren't we converting more people to donors online? 

Perhaps we haven't caught up with the power of the online platform to inspire action.   

Think about it like this: You wouldn't ever simply put a "donate now" button up in the corner of the TV screen and actually expect it to deliver results.  And you wouldn't simply send a reply form in an envelope without taking the opportunity to enclose a personal letter sharing why support is important.

Yet this is what the vast majority of our online fundraising does. 

What's there to catch attention? What's there to inspire? Where's the human pitch? Where's the personal appeal?

• What if you started simple, and made more of your donate button real estate. Add a short, powerful slogan like, "You keep this alive" or "Your support is critical" for example.

• What if you added a video of a recognizable person from your organization making a powerful appeal for why funds matter -- and you linked to it from multiple pages.

• What if you created your own set of bold advertising buttons and banners and changed their content to match each section of your site. 

• What if you built and launched an actual online campaign that uses many of these techniques and more, and lasts for a week or two.

It can be done with imagination and bold action..

Your performance

He was raised in the theater, sitting in boxes at the ballet. Being a restless child, he quickly grew bored with the familiarity of the dances and chose instead to watch the audiences. To see when they smiled and gasped, when the women sighed and when the men began to nod off. 

So perhaps it is not terribly surprising that now, many years later, he still has more interest in the audience than in the performance itself. Though the performance must be spectacular in order to coerce the best reactions.

And because he is incapable of observing the faces of every audience member at every performance of every show, he relies on the reviews.

--From The Night Circus by Erin Morganstern

Reviews = results. This is our reality. What kind of performance are you putting on?

10 Tips for Effective Direct Mail

1) Clean, readable copy with short paragraphs.

2) Simple, crisp design. (Photos often depress response. Know how they perform for you.)

3) One focused theme and message. This isn't about everything your organization does.

4) More than one ask on each page. Always an ask at the bottom.

5) A P.S. with a strong ask.

6) Strong use of indents, underline and bold to move the reader's eye to key messages.

7) A readable font that says "important."

8) The appropriate signer (always one signer only.)

9) Make it personal. Use "I" and "you" often.

10) A clean reply form that's simple to fill out, with proper coding to record your responses.

Great job!

This week's model of awesomeness is KYUK Public Media from Bethel, Alaska, a tiny station that serves 56 villages on the edge of the tundra, 300 miles from the nearest road. It truly is a place like no other, and the station is a lifeline to the the world for the people of the region.

So why the awesomeness?

For their fall fundraiser, they dared to set one of the largest goals in their history and they went for it all out, with 100% enthusiasm. Incredibly, they reached their stretch goal of $20,000 ahead of schedule.

How did they do it? They made their fundraiser completely theirs. They made it about their community. They made it passionate and fun, and it worked.

It started with their first ever "Village Showdown" - won by the people of Kwethluk - that pitted village against village for total donations, for the chance to win live coverage of a men's and women's high school basketball game, a big thing in Alaska.

And then there was the grand prize - Alaska Airlines tickets and miles, of course, plus a half cord of pre-split wood donated by the village of Napaimute, already drying and waiting for pick-up by the lucky winner. As one of their facebook fans noted, "that's better than money in the dead of winter!"

Would this work anywhere else in the country? Probably not. But that's the brilliance of it. 

It only had to work for them. And it did.

Here's general manager Mike Martz's heartfelt post-drive note to the community. 

Bravo for thinking big KYUK!

Things we wonder

Earlier this week, we shared a Freakonomics podcast, that for fundraisers, is 30 minutes of time well spent. Find it here.

For us, it inspired this:

We ask for money because it works. Why do we spend so much time trying to figure out how to ask less?

We work in a business that's largely based on conventional wisdom, habits and tradition. How can we get out of this box more often?

Giving isn't pure altruism. It's about enlightened self-interest... the warm glow... sometimes even guilt, social pressure and benefits. Why do we fight this?

Think about it.

Your mind's eye

One of my favorite places is a small wildlife refuge not far from my home. 

It's closed because of the government shutdown. 

While I'm certainly disappointed that I can't be out there during these final glorious days before the weather turns, of interest to this conversation, is what's happening in my mind's eye.

I can't stop picturing how no one is peeking up into the secret branch where the little owl naps... no one is reaching down to pick up the fuzzy caterpillars that venture onto the paths this time of year... that the eagles, egrets and wide-eyed deer remain unspotted amongst the grass and trees.

While we wouldn't wish this scenario on any organization, it's a good time to step back and think about how - without the drama of actually closing up shop - you can assure that what people see in their mind's eye are images that allow them to take ownership of who you are and what you stand for. 

It's about delivering experiences that resonate... communicating in a way that's personal and compelling... telling the human story of why this matters to people. 

It's mostly about helping people find their way towards the place where they truly believe "this is mine," and they're willing to foster and protect it.

Branding 1 - 2 - 3

1) BEGIN WITH COMMUNITY

Speak directly to your community. It could be a place, or it could be a state of mind. Find the elements of your community that rise to the surface and meet most powerfully with the values and sensibility of your organization.

2) FIND THE BIG IDEA

Commit to the one overarching idea that your work represents. This is not what you do, this is WHY you do it.Can you put it in one sentence? Can you say it in five words? Drill down to the essence.

3) EXECUTE PRECISELY

Words... ideas... images... personality. As you build out your big idea and engage with your community, everyone who touches communications inside your organization (this is most everyone), must speak and act with one cohesive voice.

Drinking your own Kool-Aid

It's the easiest thing in the world to do... to convince ourselves that we have all the answers because of our own life experiences. When it comes to communications, this is a dangerous place to be. Here's why:

• You are not your target audience. 

• The knowledge you think you have is not as valuable as actual evidence of human behavior and results. 

• You can't change things effectively without understanding how they got to be this way in the first place.

 Listen... learn... understand... then act.

Think big

Here in the community where we live, Nike founder Phil Knight caused quite a stir over the weekend with a very public and dramatic announcement of a $500 million challenge gift for cancer research. 

A news article can be found here.

This is not only an incredible statement on how he and his wife value the work of the organization they've chosen to support with such a groundbreaking gift... but it also speaks to the power of an organization with a vision... an organization that isn't afraid to dream big... an organization that is confident and unfailingly honest about what it will take to successfully accomplish the work it has set out to do. 

Sure, $500 million isn't what every organization needs to fulfill it's potential. But what amount would transform your organization's ability to do more? What steps can you take to put a value on the impact your organization can create? And what steps will you take to set about making it happen?

Walk the line

To build a great marketing or fundraising program is to balance two competing sensibilities:

1) Question everything. Constantly.
2) Move forward. Confidently.  

You need both, but one will always want to prevail.

Too much questioning - you risk becoming frozen.
Too much confidence - you risk missing the mark.

Be aware. Embrace the conflict. Walk the line.

What your supporters really think

One of the best things you can do before you begin to craft your next campaign is pick up the phone and call five or ten of your supporters.

Thank them for what they do, ask them what they most appreciate, treasure, or love about your organization, and engage them in an actual conversation.

Your job: LISTEN.  

Listen to what they say. Listen to how they say it. Hear what's most important to them.

Write it down. In their words.

Chances are, the way they speak is the way you should sound in your campaigns to build a greater connection and deeper sense of meaning that will inspire greater giving.

Incentives V. Mission

There's no doubt that incentives (t-shirts, tote bags, bookmarks, benefit events...) are an important fundraising tool.

However, when incentives automatically become your "go-to" technique every time you launch a campaign, it's an indication that:

A) Your organization has become addicted to the boost in results an incentive can provide, or 

B) You've run out of compelling messages.

In the case of the former, overuse of incentives will stop working over time and will negatively impact your retention rate. However, this situation can be difficult to unwind on your own. 

In the case of the latter- get busy!

Start making lists to refresh your thinking:

10 awesome things your organization does
10 reasons someone should care
10 ways your organization makes a difference
Etc.

Then bring these fresh, important ideas into your campaigns. 

Incentives may get you that extra point, but mission is what will get you across the goal line consistently time after time.

Who are you?

"Who" is your organization?

The scrappy startup? The underdog? A major force? A champion?

Are you under threat? Or leading the charge?

Are you for something? Or against something?

While your organization can be all of these things in different times and circumstances, when it comes to campaign development, a keen focus on bringing out just one element of your personality can deliver powerful results.