Welcome back to Ask a Responsive Fundraiser, where we tackle some of the most pressing questions nonprofit organizations face in their quest to make a difference. This week, we welcome Nicholas Kristock, Founder and CEO of KindKatch, with another video edition! Whether you’re re-evaluating your donor follow-up, trying to understand how to use video, or reaching your donors through all the digital noise, we’ve got you covered.
Be sure to check out past editions of Ask a Responsive Fundraiser and leave us a comment on LinkedIn so we can answer your questions!
Letโs dive in and see how you can transform these common hurdles into opportunities for growth!
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: We’re struggling to reach our donors in the current digital landscape. Admittedly, we’ve relied on traditional communication methods like direct mail, written communication, and a little bit of email. So, how can we better connect with our donors and communicate in a method that actually reaches them?
โTech Unsavvy
Dear Tech: This question is about the attention game, right? We’re in such a battle for attention, and it’s so real. I hear this question loud and clearโthat to get our donors’ attention has never been harder. And one of the first questions we go to is, โAm I using the wrong channels?โ But I believe that even before you look at your channels, looking at how intentional and proactive you are in your outreach can actually make a tremendous difference to how the channels you’re already using get received. From my side of things at the nonprofit I’m running, we have some donor journeys mapped out.
And we kind of know when Scott comes to us, regardless of how he comes to us, what type of communication, when, and how we’re going to Scott along the way. And because we’re intentional and proactive, we like to say that our fundraising doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because we’re very strategic, intentional with how we’re talking and when, and that to us then translates to, okay, now we can start to actually look at our channels because we know we’ve got Scott’s attention and we’ve earned the right to communicate with him. And now maybe we’re saying, okay, he’s opted out of text. So we’re going email or he never answers or opens an email, but every time we call, he seems to answer the phone call. And we’re like evaluating the channels at that point. But if we’re not intentional proactive, we’re probably just missing that first checkpoint to really understand how we win attention.
Cause I do think channels are secondary. To the intentionality and proactive nature of our whole communication journey with the donor.
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: We want to start using video messaging to connect with donors, but we’re not sure how to do it in a way that feels authentic and less transactional. How can we best accomplish this?
โAll for Authenticity
Dear Authenticity: Two things stick out to me for the best way to accomplish more authenticity in video messaging.
The first is going to tie it a little bit with that first response of the proactive and intentional nature of how we use video, which can mean everything. That’s paired with this concept of giving value at least three times before we ask. When it comes to video, that value has to be engaging.
So look at the journey of somebody supporting youโmaybe supporters attended a recent event. They’ve never given a gift. Well, let’s use video to educate them a little more on the mission before they even come to that event. Let’s use video to thank them for coming to that event. Maybe a couple of weeks after, let’s use video to show them what the proceeds from that event helped make possible. And then, maybe we can use video to do an ask. Obviously, if you flip that around and it’s, โI attended an event, maybe I didn’t give, and a couple weeks later I get a video asking me for a donation. I don’t know you.โ
There’s no relationship yet. It’s very transactional. So, I think the proactive, intentional nature of the journey and that โgive, give, giveโ before you ask can make all the difference.
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: With year-end approaching, our board is encouraging us to rethink our current donor follow-up. What are some practical ways with limited resources that we can incorporate video content into this plan?
โFlipping the Follow-Up
Dear Flipping: This is one of my best-kept secrets, and I’m happy for anyone to use it: the donor SWAT outreach team.
If your board is asking this, I think that’s great because we want our board to be more engaged all the time.
This donor SWOT outreach team, for me, is a group of 10 to 12 people within the organization. Most are board members. There are one or two key volunteers and then some staff, but most are board members. Every Friday, I pull a report of anyone who has made a donation that week. I know from each of my donor SWOT outreach members how many calls they’d like to make on a weekly basis. For some, it’s one. For others, it’s, โGive me as many as you need.โ Then, I produce that report and share it with the donor SWOT outreach team. It has life-to-date giving, the most recent gift amount, and any donor notes I have about that donor’s history. Then, the team goes out and makes those thank-you phone calls.
They compile their follow-up notes. From there, I used the follow-up notes from the call to create a video as another follow-up. So, if you think about the first-time donor journey or a repeat donor journey there, it’s: They’ve made that donation, and they’re getting a phone call sometime within seven days. From there, seven to 14 days after that video is sent, it has contextual relevance to maybe what they mentioned on the phone call.
Your board is going to be highly engaged in being a part of that. I have board members who call me weekly and thank me for allowing them to be part of the donor SWOT outreach team.
And I’m like, โYou’re thanking me. I should be thanking you.โ And that’s a great situation.
(Nicholasโs answers have been lightly edited for readability and clarity.)
