Defy the Summer Slump
Submitted by webmaster on Mon, 05/21/2012 - 13:56
The summer slump.
For most charities, summer months tend to be a more difficult time to enlist the support of donors through direct marketing. The kids are out of school and families are distracted by vacations and summer activities.
However, it is important for your organization to engage your donors year round. Your donors want to know what’s happening with your organization and how they can help. You will honor them by keeping them informed and demonstrating meaningful opportunities to invest and make a difference.
One way to maximize your return on investment during this slow season is to use at hree-month commitment format, providing three response forms and three reply envelopes for the donor to use over the summer.
This format also allows you to easily highlight more than one program or giving initiative.
As donors continue to give throughout the summer, your response rate increases. At the same time, you’ve realized a savings on print and postage costs.
Start Planning Now
Summer is also the perfect time to fine-tune your new donor acquisition strategies for fall and winter.
A few tips to keep in mind:
• Don’t overlook lapsed donors.
Your inactive multi-donors will likely perform better than people with no gift history to your organization. Make sure you don’t leave them out of your select.
• Negotiate exchanges.
Many organizations may be willing to exchange names with you. Just remember to provide your donors with an opportunity to opt-out of having their names exchanged.
• House audiences.
Do you have other people on your database that are good candidates for becoming donors? Have you asked your volunteers or subscribers to give to your organization?
• Always test.
Don’t forget that the best practice in new donor acquisition is to work with a control package — your winning package to-date — and test strategically in an attempt to beat your control.
Start planning now to make your fall a success!