Year-End: Intention Into Action

It’s year-end time, for all good nonprofits…

Just about every group I know (including Cause Effective) is readying its year-end appeal. Many letters are already in the mail, sent off on a wing and a prayer…

But is that the end?

Better not be.

Last year at this time, it felt like the economy was still sinking (and indeed it still was). But this year the struggle is time. Attention. Intention vs. action.

How can we get people to pay attention long enough to write that check or click that link?

One way is to be in their face (nicely, of course). Groups that never emailed are emailing. Groups that never phoned are phoning. Or both.

What’s the key to fundraising success?

Follow-Up, Follow-Up, Follow-Up.

The idea is that letters hit. They get saved. They get lost. They get covered in a pile of good intentions, climbing out in February when it seems too late to act.

So we want to provide a nudge, a push over the cliff to commitment, to folks who were thinking about it anyways. That’s what follow-up phone calls are all about, and those ubiquitous e-appeals. It’s not that that many people are convinced to give by an email alone; they’re reminded of their intention to give (arrived at previously), at a moment when they’re a mouse click away from action.

People are busy. There’s a lot going on in the world at large that bares watching, let alone what’s happening with their families, their friends and their jobs.

People want to change the world, feed children, save neighborhoods, prevent elder abuse. But there’s a lot of dreck, a lot of forest, in the way.

We have to help make it easy for them to be the best person they can be.

Follow-Up, Follow-Up, Follow-Up.