What Do We Do Now?
As a little behind-the-scenes, I make a marketing schedule for my emails. I have a plan, and then I work that plan (sound familiar? See # 6).
I was originally going to share an article about how to combat the grossly unfair sentiment so many have that “fundraising is a necessary evil.” Stay tuned on this though, because this subject really gets me going.
But let’s be honest. There was an election in the United States.
And it may have shocked you.
It may make you concerned.
Or maybe you’re happy about it.
(Hey, over 70 million people voted for the President-Elect, so maybe a few of them are reading this now?)
But regardless of all the distractions happening, regardless of the noise, regardless of what grabs the attention, you still have a job to do.
You still have to raise money for your nonprofit and probably have goals before year-end.
So what can you do?
Here are six areas for you to focus on now:
1) Highlight your strengths
Talk about what is truly special about your nonprofit organization. Remind people that your nonprofit does outstanding work and exactly what that is. Tell them to put their faith in your organization because you know what you’re doing. You’re here for the long-run, and you have the strategy to solve the problems.
2) Share story examples
With all the noise going around, make your message easy to understand, easy to remember, and easy to get someone to act. What’s the best way to do that? Tell a great story that explains the power of your work and that you’ll be successful again, because of their financial support.
3) Remind your donors why they have supported you in the past
If something was important to your donor prior to the 2024 Presidential Election, why wouldn’t it matter to them now? Remind them about what you’ve achieved in the past, who you have helped, and the progress you have made.
4) Be honest about the uncertainty of the future, and that the goals your mission seeks to achieve have not yet been met
If your donors feel uncertainty, encourage them to invest in your work to support the issues they care about. And be honest. It is ok to say to donors, we don’t know exactly what new public policies will come into fruition, but what we do know is that we will need the financial resources to be ready.
5) Ask your donors what they think
If there was ever a time to learn what your donors are thinking, now is that time. Work to genuinely strengthen the relationships with your donors to ask what they’re worried about, what their priorities are, and where they see your nonprofit fitting into their values.
6) Write another email to your donors asking for their support
You have a schedule of emails (hopefully) to share before the end of the year. You have your major donors who have not yet committed and you plan to reach out. But what is one more thing you can do? Try sending an extra email (or two) to encourage your donors to show their values through their charitable support. And encourage them to share their support publicly to get others to do so too.
Look, I get it. This may feel overwhelming. This may feel impossible.
Something that helps me is to consider the obstacles and challenges by generations before us. As the wise Gloria Steinem once said:
“The future depends entirely on what each of us does every day. After all, a movement is only people moving.”
So let’s keep moving. Completely and total cheering you on.