𝗡🚫, 𝗡🚫, 𝗡🚫...𝗔 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻!

Dec 08, 2021

The beautiful thing about the word ‘No is that it’s a full sentence.  No. That’s it.  No explanation or justification needed. The problem is that most of us fundraisers in the nonprofit world aren’t good at uttering that word.  I know I’m not alone on this. And I get it.  We believe if we say ‘Yes more then we can help more people. And while that might be true, in the long run it’s not sustainable. We grow tired and burn out—many quit simply because they can’t keep up with the demands of the job along with the growing demands of life. After all, we’re wives and husbands, daughters and sons, aunts and uncles, dog parents and cat parents, too. While the idea of work/life balance sounds cool, very few master it. 𝗛𝗲𝗰𝗸, 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸/𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗦𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮 𝗵𝗶𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳—𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗼 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹. But I believe you can work less and raise more. And because I know you love your nonprofit’s mission, I want you to stay there for a long time, love coming to work every day, and raise more money to help more people, places, and pets than ever before.


Here
are a few left brain marketing methods that help you work smarter, not harder:

  1. We’ve been learning about Stampworthy mail lately, and I hope you’ll go back and read (or re-read) some of those blogs to get more mileage out of those costly stamps. But I do what the stamp teaches us.  𝗔 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗺𝗽 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗷𝗼𝗯—𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. We can learn a lot from the stamp. Sticking to one thing at a time until it’s done will not only make you feel accomplished, but it prevents you from the false thinking that multi-tasking is good for us—it’s not. 𝗪𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸, 𝘀𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆. We are simply wired to be mono-taskers. Let’s pledge to ourselves that we’ll do one thing at a time and do it better than anyone else. Try that on for size!
     
  2. Quit marketing and stewarding everyone in your database. Seth Godin consistently teaches us about the Minimum Viable Audience. Who are your donors that have both an affinity for your organization and the capacity to give? Steward them and only them! Yes, you’ll have to look at your database and make some tough decisions. But they’ll be worth it in the long run.

  3. Segmenting your donors helps, too. It’s likely that when you tally the donors who have both affinity and capacity, which is still a big number! So, communicating to them in smaller groups that have something in common makes sense. We steward groups of 50—tops. Why? Because we know we can do 50 of anything really well, with a custom touch, and without exhausting ourselves doing it.


And
try these bits of right brain marketing moxie to help you do less, but betterthat’s where creativity comes in!

  1. 50 is our magic number when we do mailings because we can produce 50 of anything, in-house, on our copy machine, at a lower cost, and make it special. Our rule of thumb before mailing is always answering this question—Would I like to receive this in the mail? If that answer is ‘yes’, then we send it. We do this because our donors matter to us. They read what we send because they know our mission matters to them. Besides, if you’re only thinking in batches of 50, your creative juices can really take over and still be do-able.

    Besides, going mass is a big miss. 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘇𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. Yes, you can send thousands of pieces of mail out through bulk mail or a mail house, but no one is excited about that. (You receive mail like that! Has it ever thrilled you?) You’re not excited about creating mail like that and donors are not excited about receiving mail like that. It forces you to water down your message significantly to speak equally to the large group receiving it. If I had to use a word to describe this kind of marketing, I’d say ‘Meh. That watered down message to the masses misses the mark and doesn’t help you connect with your donors. When we can’t connect, we start to burn out. I get why we do it. But I always get why we shouldn’t. 
  2. You control your To-Do List. But, more importantly, you control your Not-To-Do List. 𝑫𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒚𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔. You’re a nonprofit leader, so you know your resources are scarce—there is never enough money or time. But your energy is also a scarce resource. Spend your time on what will have the greatest Return On Investment and forego the rest. Some things don’t have to be done. Many times, we’ll have a grand plan that we can’t pull off for whatever reason—usually it’s a lack of time, money, and/or energy. Guess what? Our donors don’t know what the original plan was; they only know what the end-product they received was. Repeat after me:  We made the plan. We can change the plan. No one besides us knows the original plan was. Say that until you believe yourself and then move on. Monitor your energy just like you monitor your budget. #TheEnergyBudget #SelfCare

  3. 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲. In marketing there is a legitimate rule called The Power of Three. Literally, it’s a rule that tells us not to overdo it. Yet we’re big rule-breakers! Let’s say ‘No’ to that. Using 1-3 fonts, colors, and elements is about all our brains can process without going haywire. So, do your donors and yourself a break by doing less (3 or less) It will save you money, time, and energy—and produce better results.

Let’s make this holiday season one that’s less 𝗛𝗼-𝗛𝗼-𝗛𝗼 🎅🎅🎅and one that’s more 𝗡𝗼-𝗡𝗼-𝗡𝗼 🚫🚫🚫. After all, the holidays are for you, too.  Let your presence be the present you give to your family and friends. They deserve a festive, joyful, content friend and family member—be that person by investing your energy wisely from 8-5. Yes, the end-of-year-giving season can be exhausting, but everything is going to be ok. 𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀!

Give yourself that gift of saying ‘No and check in on your some of your nonprofit friends to remind them to do the same.  To give you a head start, I created a 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳-𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿 of sorts.  It’s a 4-week printable download that can be used any month of the year. It has simple self-care ideas/reminders to get you to slow down, so you can continue being that 𝗮𝘄𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗷𝗮 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗿𝗲 for many years to come. You can 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 and (please) share it with others, too!

Enjoy the holidays, my friend—you deserve it!All My Best,

dawn

P.S. Fundraising is hard, even though you make it look
oh-so easy! ♥

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