For most nonprofits, the best ways to raise money online is with a fundraising email strategy (email revenue grew by 25% in 2015).

Yes, your donation page is absolutely important in terms of converting donors, but email is the most effective way to send qualified prospects to your donation page.

Email subscribers, by definition, have given you permission to tell them about your cause. Many times, they are waiting to be asked.

But are you asking effectively?

Here are four common fundraising email mistakes you should definitely avoid:

1. Blasting your list

All subscribers are not created equal.

When you blast your entire list with the same fundraising email, you risk alienating some of your most important supporters. For example, monthly donors and prospective donors should receive very different fundraising messages.

Tailoring your message for each audience will increase engagement and donations. This all starts, of course, with proper email segmentation.

2. Making it about you

Bragging about your nonprofit is not fundraising.

It’s easy to assume that people want to hear about your nonprofit since they joined your email list. But your nonprofit is simply an agent of change.

What supporters really want is to change the world in ways they care about. They want to be an active participant, not a sideliner.

Connect your donor to the impact by telling them what they did, not what your nonprofit did. Check out this example from ALS Worldwide:

3. Not welcoming new donors

Every time someone makes a donation, it’s the beginning of a relationship. You have to set the tone. You have to make a good first impression.

When someone gives, you should immediately thank them and reinforce the impact they just made. For example, check out this email from the Community Music Center of Boston:

4. Sending only one email

Email is very different from direct mail.

Direct mail is effective, quite frankly, because it sits around the house – on the kitchen counter, on the coffee table, in the bathroom. In other words, it creates a constant presence in the mind of the potential donor.

But email is very different. A single email is often deleted, ignored, or even unnoticed by potential donors. To create a constant presence about an appeal, you need to send multiple emails.

What else? What do you think?

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Whether face to face, by email, or with trained carrier pigeons, how you ask for donations makes or breaks your fundraising campaign (note: carrier pigeons are a guaranteed attention-getter).

Your message, and how it makes your potential donor feel is mission-critical. If they feel nothing, they will give nothing.

But let’s face it, writing effective fundraising emails is not easy. But it can be done, if you follow a process to develop your own email messages. And if you’re patient.

8 steps to writing a good fundraising email

Here are eight steps you can follow to write or even rewrite fundraising emails for your next campaign:

STEP 1: Tell a good story

A good story is the foundation of any effective fundraising appeal.

Begin your fundraising appeal with a story that pulls at the reader’s heartstrings. Talk about a real person who benefited from your work.

Make the donor the hero, not your organization.

For example, charity:water talks about a woman who fell down into a well with her baby. And she was stuck in the well for over 2 days! See? Doesn’t that grab your attention?

STEP 2: Make it about them

Fundraising works best when it’s one to one, between to people who share a common passion.

E-mail is always one-to-one (no one gathers their friends around a computer to read their e-mails). View your fundraising email as a unique opportunity to develop a relationship with someone who wants to receive your emails, and is possibly open to making a donation.

Start by imagining a specific supporter that you’ve met a few times. Write your e-mail as if you’re writing a personal appeal this person.

Tell them why their support is invaluable. Connect their support to the outcome. Use their first name, And write the e-mail in second person narrative (use the word “you”instead of “we” or “I”).

STEP 3: Talk about the money

Gain the trust of potential donors by being transparent about your funding gap (the gap between funds that cover admin costs, and what is needed to pay for specific programs). NPR are masters at this with their on-air fundraisers, which I’m sure you’ve heard.

Their asks usually go something like this: ”Sponsors and grants cover administrative costs, but we need your support to make sure programs like Science Friday continues to reach people like you”.

This approach communicates transparency and responsibility – making donors feel confident about how their dollars will be spent.

STEP 4: Tell them what their money will do

$50 will not save all the chimpanzees. But it will help, and it is doable. Tell potential donors exactly how the money will be used, and what outcome will result from their $50. This approach helps donors connect the dots between their donation and the outcome they seek.

Another great example is from No Kid Hungry, In their “Build a Breakfast” campaign, they tell potential donors: “For just $40, you can connect a classroom of 20 children with a healthy school breakfast for an entire month”.

This ask is very specific, immediate, and doable! This gives the donor a sense of realistic, personal impact.

STEP 5: Keep it short

No one has time read a long fundraising email. In fact, most people will just skim it first, then either delete it or keep reading. Here are four tips:

1. 1. Limit paragraphs to 2-3 sentences.
   2. Limit the overall email to 2-3 paragraphs.
   3. Break up the text with headlines.
   4. Enter your email copy into this readability tester.

STEP 6: Ask three times

Don’t forget about the call to action! In fact, make sure you ask three times in your fundraising appeal. But don’t just repeat the same phrase over and over.

Ask different ways. For example, at the beginning of the e-mail you can say “you can make a difference”, linking to your donation page. In the second and third paragraph you can ask again: “Join others like yourself to make a difference”. Also, try asking once in between two paragraphs, in bold text.

STEP 7: Tell them they can say no

A good friend, who’s also fundraising consultant, told me her secret to success: People will often give bigger donations when they feel their personal free will is respected.

According to a recent fundraising study, giving people the choice of NOT donating almost doubles the likelihood that they will donate!

STEP 8: Don’t ask for money in the first email

No one likes to be asked to make a donation if they haven’t heard from you in a while. If that’s the case with your nonprofit, your first e-mail should encourage your potential donor to learn more about the campaign.

For example, charitywater often asks supporters to watch a video or read an article, before asking them to raise money.

Leading off with a powerful story says that you’re not all about asking for money, which helps builds trust. It also helps you connect with your potential donor on an emotional level – where fundraising happens.

The post How to write your best fundraising emails appeared first on Socialbrite.

If you’re like most nonprofits, you will raise most of your money during the last three months of the year, particularly between Thanksgiving and December 31st when the big ball drops.

Now is the time to put all your resources into attracting and retaining as many donors as possible!

Avoid these top five mistakes that could hurt your year-end fundraising on Facebook.

1. Ignoring Facebook altogether

If you’re like most nonprofits, you have at least a minimal presence on Facebook. So does your competition. Not only that but most of your donors are using Facebook.

Facebook isn’t going anywhere, and again, even if you ignored Facebook until November, don’t regret ignoring it during the biggest spike of fundraising you’ll see this year.

2. Bragging about your nonprofit

There’s no doubt that your nonprofit has earned the bragging rights it has. But on Facebook, people want to brag about themselves to their friends. One way they do this is by sharing stories about causes they care about.

Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to create impact stories that make your supporters look fantastic to their friends.

3. Not thanking your donors

Probably the biggest fundraising mistake you can make is not thanking your donors. In fact, Bloomerang found that 19% of donors won’t come back if you don’t thank them.

Thanking your donors on Facebook makes them feel great and more likely to get again. And it also makes you look great to potential donors.

4. Not using Facebook ads

At this point, if you’re not using Facebook Ads, you’re just not serious about using Facebook to reach your audience.

Facebook ads are so incredibly cheap and effective; there’s just no excuse for not making at least a minimal investment.

You can reach people who recently watched one of your Facebook live videos. You can even reach people who have visited your donation page but didn’t give.

And again, if you haven’t used Facebook ads yet, now is the time to try them given that year-end is upon us.

5. Only using Facebook

Last but not least, if Facebook is your only channel to reach donors, you will have profound regrets at year-end.

Direct mail, phone solicitation, email, and face-to-face fundraising are much more effective when used together.

The post Top blunders on Facebook that hurt fundraising appeared first on Socialbrite.

You have big goals you’d like to achieve. But many of these goals have been on your list for the past few years.

If you’re so smart, why can’t you accomplish your goals? You’re smart, passionate and hard-working. But some days, you realize you did nothing towards your important goals.

What does it really take to achieve your goals? If it’s not brains, passion and hard work, what is it?

An 18-minute habit for getting important things done

Check out “18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done” by Peter Bregman.

It’s a pragmatic and entertaining book that can help you focus on what’s truly important, by practicing a simple 18-minute habit:

• Step 1 (5 Minutes) Set Plan for Day. Before turning on your computer, write down a short list of things you will do towards your big goals. Schedule these into your calendar, with the most important items in the morning.
• Step 2 (1 minute every hour) Refocus. Set an alarm to ring every hour. When it rings, ask yourself if you spent the last hour working on the items you wrote down in step 1. Were you productive? If not, recommit to winning during the next hour. Repeat this exercise every hour until the end of the work day. (disclosure, I’ve found that an alrm going off every hour creates more stress than it’s worth, so I checkin and refocus every 3 hours).
• Step 3 (5 minutes) Review. And the end the day, take time to review how you did. How did you find your focus? Where did you get distracted? How can you be more productive tomorrow?

Imagine feeling more happy and productive!

Rituals like the one described above make big changes in our lives because they change how we go about changing.

If you practice this 18-minute habit, I mean actually do it, you’ll get more done AND feel happier and more productive at the end of each day.

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Well, we all knew this day was coming.

Facebook has finally decided to pull the plug on almost all types of public content from pages.

Why?

Because Mark Zuckerberg wants to make a better Facebook. One with less clickbait, engagement bait, and hopefully less fake news.

The News Feed’s goal is shifting from “helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions.”

How is the News Feed changing?

To inspire meaningful conversations, the News Feed ranking will now prioritize:

1. Posts from friends that spark back-and-forth conversations.
2. Videos and news articles that spark back-and-forth discussion.
3. Posts from friends and family over posts from Pages.
4. Posts with longer comments over posts with shorter comments.

Facebook will continue to reduce click bait, engagement bait, and other types of passive content.

Less Buzzfeed quizzes and more posts from mom needing help with Facebook.

Why did Facebook make this change?

First of all, this change shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Pages that don’t engage have had diminished exposure in the News Feed for years.

The bottom line is that without happy users, Facebook can’t sell ads. If your posts don’t inspire, Facebook won’t put them in the News Feed.

What does this Facebook News Feed change mean for your nonprofit?

First of all, don’t freak out.

Nonprofits have a clear advantage over consumer brands and businesses. People talk more about the causes they care about more than the clothes they wear.

All these changes to the News Feed require a shift in your nonprofit’s Facebook strategy.

Here are just a few recommendations:

1. Stop posting passive content: Stop posting content that doesn’t engage. For example, links to your latest blog post, event announcements, or pics from your board retreat (yawn).
2. Inspire meaningful conversations: Posts that ask followers to share their advice and recommendations will naturally spark more meaningful conversations than that link to your latest blog post. Keep in mind, your followers are waiting to share their own stories, their journey. For example, diabetes organizations should publish more posts that encourage followers to share their own diabetes experiences and tips.
3. Focus more on Facebook Groups: Be helpful, put the members first, and create meaningful conversations between members. And if your Group is public, make sure it’s connected to your Facebook Page.
4. Put your Page first: Make sure supporters who want to see your posts see them first in the News Feed. Especially core supporters who might worry about missing posts from your Page.
5. Mix email and Facebook: If you have an email newsletter, you’re ahead of the game. On a regular basic, feature your most engaging post from the previous week. Invite subscribers to join the conversation by commenting on that specific post. Also a great way to grow your fanbase.
6. Use Facebook Live to generate massive engagement: Facebook Live video is the #1 type of content on Facebook, getting 6X more reach and engagement than videos and pictures. During your live broadcast, get people commenting by asking for their tips, stories, advice. Read this post for more on getting started with Facebook Live.
7. Invest in Facebook ads: If you don’t have a Facebook ad budget, you’re really not serious about Facebook. Start investing more in Facebook ads to give your most conversational posts more exposure.
8. Create content designed to make your fans look awesome: People share content on Facebook, whether it’s a video from your Page or a blog post from your website, because they want to appear entertaining, informed, connected, etc. to their friends. Creating content that helps your supporters achieve this goal leads to more engagement and organic reach.
9. Share news your people are already talking about. Create meaningful conversations around trending news your community might already be talking about. It’s much easier to join a conversation than it is to start one.

Facebook will always put friends and family first when it comes to the News Feed. The more you adopt the same mindset with your strategy, the more successful you’ll be with Facebook.

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You already know that Facebook Live lets any nonprofit live-stream fundraising events, breaking news, impact stories, and more, directly from their Facebook Page.

But did you know that Facebook lets nonprofits add a donate button to their Facebook Live broadcast?

How to Use Facebook Live to Raise Money

If your nonprofit is based in the US, and your Facebook Page is verified, you can fundraise within a Facebook Live broadcast.

For example, in this screenshot from Facebook, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals adds the donate button feature to their Live broadcast.

Two things to remember about fundraising with Facebook Live:

1. Your Page needs to be verified. This feature is still gradually rolling out on iOS to admins of verified Pages in the US.
2. Your nonprofit must be approved to accept Facebook payments. You can apply here.

To add the donate button, click on more options at the bottom of the screen (“…”). Next, select your nonprofit from the options (as shown above).

Viewers can donate to your cause during the live broadcast, and supporters who missed the live broadcast can always donate from the broadcast recording.

But is just having a donate button enough? Of course not! Fundraising is about building trust, sharing stories of impact, and growing a community of supporters.

Here are a few pointers as you fold Facebook Live into your fundraising plans.

Use Facebook Live to tell donors about the impact THEY made

More often than not, donors hear about impact second-hand (through your newsletter, website, etc). Rarely do they get to witness, first-hand, the impact of their support.

Facebook Live is a super effective way to bring the impact to your supporters.

For example, Best Friends Animal Society introduces their cutest residents to supporters from all over the world. Without Facebook live (and other live broadcasting tools), supporters would have to travel all the way to Utah to witness, first-hand, BFAS’s impact.

Make donors the heroes

If you want your donors to give over and over again, you need to tell them the truth: that for your nonprofit, they are the true heroes.

Feature donor stories in your broadcast. Tell your viewers the impact that one donor made. Recognize and praise this donor sincerely. Viewers will no doubt want the same praise and recognition.

For example, Stand Up To Cancer broadcasted news about a high school raised money during a “Sports Day For Charity”.

Don’t ask people to “Donate”

This one sounds a bit unintuitive, but let’s face it, asking people to donate money to your nonprofit is a buzzkill.

The reason why is that the word “donate” doesn’t place the donor in the role of the hero.

Instead, ask viewers to make an impact that’s meaningful. For example, ask them to “Give clean water”, “Feed hungry children”, “Stop human trafficking, etc. Each of these asks is associated with a problem that donors ultimately want to solve.

Tell donors when you’re going live

Facebook live isn’t that exciting if no one shows up. Make sure your core supporters show up when you go live.

• Post an update on your page the week before and the day before
• Send an email to your email list
• Share your broadcast date / time in your email newsletter
• Tweet about it immediately before you go live
• Facebook Live Tip #6: Make an outline for your broadcast

Call out commenters by name

The cool thing about Facebook live is that you can see comments as they’re posted real time during your broadcast. Engaging commenters real-time increases engagement even further, creating massive reach for your broadcast.

• Call out commenters by name
• Read their comment
• Reply to their comment
• Say thank you

Ask for action

As your broadcast reaches more users, your viewer count will increase. This is your captured audience. Seize the moment to ask for action!

• Ask participants to follow
• Ask supporters to support an issue
• Ask supporters to sign a petition

Share the recording with your supporters

You’ve put a lot of time and effort into your first Facebook a live broadcast. Congratulations! Make sure this investment goes further by sharing it with your supporters.

• Send a follow-up email to subscribers
• Link to your recent broadcast in your newsletter
• Reshare the broadcast on other social channels
• Embed the broadcast in a blog post

Remember, if you have added the donate button to your broadcast, it will exist in the broadcast recording. As you continue to broadcast stories of impact, you’ll accumulate a whole series of fundraising videos on your Facebook Page.

Repurpose the recording

When you finish a live broadcast, save it to your mobile device. Then open the file in your favorite video editing software and create several videos to be used on other social networks.

Select key moments that are less than 60 seconds but still convey a powerful story. These short videos can be used on Instagram (which requires videos to be less than 1 minute), YouTube, Facebook, etc.

Get inspired by these creative ideas for Facebook Live

If you’re not sure what topics or events you should broadcast, check out this list of 35 Facebook Live ideas for museums, animal shelters, youth organizations, and more.

The post How to use Facebook Live to raise money for your nonprofit appeared first on Socialbrite.

Is your Twitter profile follow-worthy? Or are you unknowingly turning people away, leaving them confused or unimpressed?

Your Twitter profile very is different from many other social profiles. On Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networks, you have lots of space for your bio, links, and other elements.

Not so with Twitter:

• Limited space: Twitter allows for one link, a small profile picture, and a very short bio. In this sense, your Twitter profile is like a business card. You have limited space to make a solid first impression.
• Limited time: You also have just a few seconds to convince people to follow you (or not). Influencers with a large Twitter following are too busy to spend time deciding whether they should follow you or not.

With all this working against you, here are 5 simple ways you can spruce up your Twitter profile to make a better first impression:

1. Update your Twitter profile picture

It’s best to use a picture of something people can connect with. For example a person, animal, or a place.

An immediately recognizable logo is also good, for example Creative Commons:

Also, because profile pictures are so small, design one that uses contrast (colors and shapes) to stand out in Twitter feeds.

2. Update your Twitter profile bio

Most Twitter users regularly search Twitter using specific keywords. Search results include the top profiles that match that search, followed by top tweets.

Make sure your bio includes the most relevant keywords. For example, FightCRC ranks number one when users search for “colorectal cancer cure”:

3. Update your Twitter profile link

Make sure the link drives traffic to a web page on your site, and not just the homepage. For example, an upcoming event, or a welcome page that includes your top tweets.

My Twitter profile link sends visitors to an email subscription page.

4. Update your Twitter profile header

Use your Twitter header to tell a story about your cause, or highlight your current campaign. For example, HRC highlights the current TransBan

You can create a beautiful Twitter header with Canva.com.

5. Pin your best Tweet to your Twitter profile

Make your profile even more attractive by pinning your best Tweets to the top to your profile. For example, this tweet from Vermont Public Radio with a large number comments:

Make sure that you always review your pinned tweet, replacing it with one that’s more engaging, current, and relevant.

BONUS: Verify your Twitter profile

There may be other Twitter users talking about your cause that aren’t nonprofits, or aren’t even who they say they are.

But the blue checkmark (see below) on Twitter lets people know that your account is the real deal. It’s a stamp of instant credibility.

To verify your account, start here.

What next?

Check out these Twitter strategies that will never go out of style, and these pro tips from 25 experts.

The post 5 Simple Tips for a More Impressive Twitter Profile appeared first on Socialbrite.

If you’re like the participants in a recent Harvard study, you work during vacation. You may even skip vacation like the 35% who work over 50 hours a week.

The thing is, we’re not machines. We’re animals. And like most animals, we need to rest, unplug, and reset.

The post How to Manage Social Media During Summer Vacation appeared first on Socialbrite.

In June, everyone shifts into summertime mode. The kids are done with school. Summer camps and vacations are anticipated.And for many nonprofit marketers, work slows down or takes on a different pace.

The post 4 Creative Summertime Fundraising Projects appeared first on Socialbrite.

Haters Back Off is one of my favorite recent Netflix shows. YouTube star Maranda Sings essentially plays herself – a terribly flawed individual hell-bent on fame and fortune, no matter what cost, in the age of YouTube. Two thumbs up.

On her way to becoming famous, Miranda has to deal with haters – online, in her family, and in her mind.

Haters gonna hate

So what is a hater? From the urban dictionary:

A person that simply cannot be happy for another person’s success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.

Hater example:

How to Handle Haters on Social Media

As a nonprofit marketer, you are tasked with growing a community of dedicated supporters, while also creating a safe and respectful place for discussion.

As a community manager, you must have a plan for haters.

Here is my 5-phase plan for haters:

1. Have rules for haters

Set expectations for the community by stating clearly what’s ok and what’s not ok.

Your rules (aka social media commenting policy) should have three components:

1. Set the tone – Encourage lively discussion and invite a variety of differing opinions.
2. Set expectations – Clearly define the line that must not be crossed.
3. Consequences – People who repeatedly cross the line will be banned from posting comments.

Here’s an excellent example of a social media comment policy from the CDC:

A clear social media comment policy sets ground rules for your community while also helping moderators know when to delete comments or ban users.

2. Block hater comments

Protect your community from sticks and stones that haters like to throw.

Black, Jewish, LGBT, disability communities, etc. are all-too familiar with hate speech. Set up filters to block hateful or hurtful language from appearing in the first place!

For example, Facebook allows you to block hateful language in your Page settings:

If one of these words is used in a post or comment, it will not appear on your Page.

3. Ban haters

Many haters are repeat offenders. They feel better about themselves by making your nonprofit the bad guy.

Your rules should include a clear policy for banning repeat offenders.

The Humane Society clearly states theirs on Facebook:

• You can block haters on Twitter by selecting “Block” in the user actions on their profile.
  
• You can ban haters on Facebook by selecting “Ban” after hiding their comment.
  

4. Let your community deal with haters

Trust your community to moderate themselves. They will often deal with haters in strict but respectful ways.

Their responses to haters can range from simply correcting a fact, or taking part in a lively discussion. When this happens, let your community take the lead.

Your community is far more effective at changing minds (or at least defending your nonprofit) than you are.

5. Turn haters into lovers

Or at least likers.

Someone respectfully offering constructive criticism is not a hater. In many cases, they care as much as you do about the cause, but they have a different opinion.

If you shut down respectful criticism instead of engaging in constructive dialogue, you could turn those people into haters.Instead, use your wisdom to:

Instead, use your wisdom to:

1. Take a breath and come from a positive position.
2. Actively listen to those who respectfully disagree.
3. Express appreciation for their comment.
4. Seek to understand their position.
5. Quickly take action to correct or resolve the issue, if needed.

Often, feeling heard is enough to win them over, even though they still might disagree with you.

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