{"id":47960,"date":"2020-01-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-05T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/?p=11006"},"modified":"2024-05-08T21:44:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T21:44:12","slug":"fundraiser-weaknesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.causevox.com\/blog\/fundraiser-weaknesses\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Mixtape 026: Fundraiser Weaknesses, Fundraising Appeals, & More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monday Mixtape 026: Effective Fundraising, Fundraising Appeals, & More<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Here’s your Monday Mixtape, a weekly newsletter from CauseVox<\/a> designed to jumpstart your week, challenge your thinking, and inspire you to keep at it.<\/em><\/p>\n

Each week, we’ll hand-pick must-read articles, thinking, resources, and stories for nonprofit fundraisers and leaders and drop it in your inbox. Have suggestions or questions? Let us know at blog@causevox.com<\/a>. Enjoy this week’s Mixtape!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your fundraising superpower?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You know, that one thing you hit out the park every time? Maybe it\u2019s donor engagement<\/a>, or running a peer-to-peer<\/a> campaign, or direct mail. Something that you can definitely say, \u201cThat is in my wheelhouse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, so what\u2019s your fundraising kryptonite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mine is events<\/a>. Nothing about them comes naturally to me. Every minute I spend planning a fundraising event probably shortens my life, they stress me out so much. What kind of sandwiches do people like and how many do we need? I DON\u2019T KNOW, can I please go back to writing appeals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not fun to sit around thinking, \u201cWhat are my biggest weaknesses?\u201d but it is how you improve as a fundraiser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This isn\u2019t an invitation to be mean to yourself. Fundraising professionally requires a broad range of skills and no one\u2019s uniformly strong in every area of the job. Everybody can learn and improve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, unlike certain superheroes, we don\u2019t have to succumb to our personal kryptonite. We can learn how to manage it, overpower it, or work around it. This week, I\u2019m looking at weaknesses and ways to work with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s this week\u2019s mix:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” \u2014Mark Twain<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track #1: How the Most Effective Leaders Turn Weaknesses Into Strengths<\/a> by Miranda Zetlin at Inc.com<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is aimed at entrepreneurs but applies much more universally. Miranda has a down-to-earth approach that I like: \u201cYou\u2019re not good at everything, and neither is anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her recommendations are to recognize and accept your weaknesses, ask trusted people for guidance, over-prepare in your weak spots, hire or outsource your weak areas, get \u201cgood enough,\u201d and to look for ways to help other people having the same problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I especially like that the solutions are focused on improvement, rather than perfection, and reaching a workable competency, rather than devoting your life to mastering the thing you\u2019re not great at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track #2: Fundraising Appeal Best Practices: 5 Ways To Improve Your Next Appeal<\/a> by Me \ud83d\ude42 at CauseVox<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you feel like your fundraising appeals are a weak spot, you\u2019re not alone. Those little pieces of communication have to do a lot, and writing them isn\u2019t always easy. Still, the stronger your appeal, the stronger your fundraising will be. In this post, I offer five ways to boost your next fundraising appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It probably won\u2019t surprise you that storytelling is the first point on the list; telling a story immediately strengthens an appeal and helps donors connect with your cause. Getting personal, using an appropriately conversational tone, demonstrating impact, and keeping things brief, all build your appeal\u2019s fundraising \u201cmuscle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"VisArts<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Weekly Wow: VisArts Raises $150,000 With Peer-to-Peer at Year-End<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Over the last four years, VisArts has seen success by focusing not on new donor acquisition, but rather activating their current supporters through peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we recently interviewed Ginger Webber, VisArts’ director for individual giving, to dig into their success and find out how they activate their supporters through peer-to-peer during the busy year-end season. We’ve put together a summary of the learnings and insights for you here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track #3: A Proven Way To Get Better At Anything<\/a> by Christopher Sowers at Better Humans<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We know \u201cpractice makes perfect,\u201d but how, exactly, do we practice effectively? This post gets into the nitty-gritty details of \u201cdeep\u201d or \u201cdeliberate\u201d  practice to improve skills. This is the kind of practice you see in movie montages: the determined athlete shoots the ball or the ballerina falls out of the pirouette over and over, getting slightly better each time until finally achieving the skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Christopher, to improve at a skill, we should focus on a small, repeatable action that provides instant pass\/fail feedback. Think about shooting a basketball: you know immediately if you made the basket or not. To improve, choose a target that is just beyond your current skill level, and then work towards it. To continue to improve, keep moving your target just a little beyond what you can already do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At first, this seems like it would only apply to physical skills, like playing the piano or juggling. However, upon further thought, I can see how it would work for less tangible things, like improving writing, small talk, public speaking, or other fundraising-related skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track #4: Why Donors Don\u2019t Give Second Gifts (And How You Can Improve Your Chances)<\/a> by Tina Jepson at CauseVox<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Donor retention is everybody\u2019s kryptonite. Unless you\u2019re operating at 100% donor retention (and if you are, please tell us what you\u2019re doing!), you probably want to improve your retention rate. Here Tina investigates the reasons donors don\u2019t give again, and what we can do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve heard it before, but it bears repeating: the number one reason donors don\u2019t give again is that they\u2019re not asked. Some donors also drop off when they\u2019re not thanked, they don\u2019t feel special, or they\u2019re not engaged by the organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So what\u2019s the key to stronger donor retention? Keeping up the communication, cultivating the donor relationship, demonstrating donor impact, and continually engaging people. Improving in these areas will improve donor retention overall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bonus Tracks:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For your personal montage …<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A deeper dive …<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way\u2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"#GT_logo2013-final<\/a><\/figure><\/center>\n\n\n\n

It is not too soon to plan for #GivingTuesday. Strengthen your campaign with our free educational webinar<\/a> on August 26 at 1PM (EST).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll break down how you can plan and promote a successful #GivingTuesday campaign, talk about best practices, and give tips that other fundraisers have used to drive success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can learn more and register here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Megan<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sign up to have the Monday Mixtape delivered to your inbox.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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