Philanthropic eharmony

How many times has one of your Board Members said, ‘The problem is we’re the best kept secret’!

I’ve heard this and so have my colleagues. The problem with that is, it’s not really the problem. Not EVERYONE needs to know about what you do and should be your donor. Everyone in your community doesn’t have a passion for what you do. Everyone in your community doesn’t need your services. And everyone in your community doesn’t need to be on your community / marketing / stewardship list. If they are, you’re likely watering down your message so much that it doesn’t really speak to anyone and it feels like a robot mailed it. That dreaded mail that I get every week in my mailbox addressed to ‘or current resident’ just doesn’t speak to the height of respect that we have for our donors. My guess is that you feel that same way.

Luckily, there is both a left brain marketing method and some right brain marketing moxie that you can execute that will make sure that your best kept secret is revealed to the people who can and want to do something about it.

Left Brain Marketing Method: Did you know there is a difference between brand marketing and conversion marketing? There is! And as soon as you learn the difference, you can begin acting accordingly. The trick here is finding the people you need to covert—local professional advisors can help you do this.

Right Brain Marketing Moxie: I just read the book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat, Pray, Love. It was inspiring. One quote in the books says, “It’s a simple and generous rule of life that whatever you practice, you will improve at.” Sometimes it’s hard to come up with an idea. I can speak from experience that writer’s block is a very real thing. But I also know that the more I write, the easier it becomes.

That’s another reason I publish this blog—Knowledge Generosity. Sometimes the best way to prime the idea pump is to grab an idea from someone else. About this, Twist says, “It might have been done before, but it hasn’t been done by you!” So, today you’ll be able to take my most asked about idea and claim it as your own—for your most viable audience…your new BFF, professional advisors.

Want to learn more?

Left Brain Marketing Method: Many people in the nonprofit world are there because they have a passion for the mission of the organization. Yet here you are trying to figure out how to raise money to keep that mission afloat. That must have been in the fine print! Heck, even if you do have a marketing degree, nonprofit marketing is a different animal.

Yes, we have all heard that our nonprofit is the best kept secret. Well, that would indeed be a problem if we were Tide or Crest. Those are big brands that most everyone knows because the people marketing them are brand marketers. If you try to function as a brand marketer you could be wasting time and money with little return on investment. Why bother!?

Brand marketers want their name to be synonymous with their product—think Kleenex. I remember living in Texas where the go-to word for all pop (soda, as some say) was Coke. People would order a Coke and when further asked what kind, they’d reply by specifying Dr. Pepper. It was crazy! But Coke has enough money to add brand marketing to their conversion marketing toolbox. Brand marketing is all about building awareness. But when you’re a fundraiser, your job is more about getting your donors to act—that’s conversion marketing.

Conversion marketing takes place when you intentionally place your ‘ask’ to the donor concisely and the donor performs the desired action. For best results, this action will take place because the recipient of your communication had an affinity for what you do and the capacity to do something about it. That’s much more than bringing awareness like brand marketing might. That’s verb territory—action!

Once your left brain gets this logical difference, it’s not too far of a leap to ask yourself, ‘Where can I find these people that will act on my ask?’ While there are many answers to this question, today I’ll focus on your new BFF…professional advisors.

Professional Advisors should be seriously considered as one of your donor segments that you communicate with steadily. Why? Well, because you may be the best kept secret to someone who has an affinity for your cause and the capacity to do something about it—however, they don’t know about your specific organization just yet. But who do they know? They know, and trust, their professional advisors! The clients of your local professional advisors could very well be your next donors—if only they knew you existed.

But have no fear—if you communicate readily and consistently with your professional advisors and tell them all about your mission, stories, goals, strategies, successes, and how to contribute to your organization, they can play matchmaker and introduce you to their clients. It’s like philanthropic e-Harmony! This helps you out by meeting the perfect new donor and it helps the PA out by proving to their client that they have the exact knowledge the donor needed at just the right time. You make them look smart because they were able to provide a philanthropic solution to their client. That’s why it’s a worthy use of time to begin courting your PA’s. Besides, donor gifts initiated by a PA relationship are typically those in the will, estate plan, IRA rollover, retirement or insurance plan beneficiary designation territory—and therefore, quite lucrative. There is enormous ROI potential with an audience like this.

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Right Brain Marketing Moxie: Because your professional advisor audience leads to much larger gifts than average, you can spend a bit more on stewarding them than you might spend on other donor segments. Additionally, when looking at your professional advisor audience, the numbers that you will steward won’t be huge. So, when you’re embarking on right brain marketing moxie, you can spend a bit more time and money. My experience has proven that this investment has paid off in big ways.

I’ve shared our pizza party idea at many events where I’ve spoken in the past—it's a fan favorite. Once upon a time, we made a pact to never send our local accountants any direct mail in the month of April because it’s tax time! But we soon realized that our accountants are the most overworked in April, so maybe they’d appreciate a break—and a mini-pizza party on us! This idea was borrowed from my wildly creative friend, September, and has been customized in a variety of different forms since the first mailing we did years ago.

This idea is as simple as it is ingenious. Just buy a pizza gift card and ask for the box to go with it. We had fewer than 25 local accountants, so we bought $15 gifts cards and mailed them a pizza party.

Yes, you can literally mail a pizza box--it’s true.  I mailed one or two just last month! Grab your pizza box, affix your letter of gratitude inside along with their pizza gift card, tape closed, address, add postage, and mail! Wait a few days and the over-the-top return thank-you’s will come back to you--and it’s joyous! We couldn’t believe it! We're sure there were some late night pizza deliveries. But we're also sure that we were top of mind when their clients needed a philanthropic solution!

While this is only one idea, there are many more to create or borrow. One year we had a Superhero theme…as in, not all heroes wear capes—and mailed our local attorneys Superman socks with capes! It was hilarious and apropos since estate attorneys don’t wear capes, but they should.

All this to say, for best results you should pay some much-needed attention to your new BFFs—local professional advisors. Show them gratitude, educate them on what you do and how you do it, and wait for them to contact you as they introduce you to your next big donor. It happens all the time—if you’re intentional about stewarding your professional advisors--because this relationship is the real best kept secret.

All My Best,
 
Dawn
[email protected]
dawn brown creative llc.