📣First, y’all had thoughts: last month’s poll results 📣

Nonprofit phrases you love to hate

• 22% Be their hero
• 18% Now more than ever (me too)
• 18% Transform a life
• 16% Make an impact
• 27% Had another pet peeve

This poll got the most responses of any so far, so these phrases clearly push some buttons. I still haven’t gotten open-ended responses for “other” to work for this polling tool, so I might try asking for replies again….

Keep reading to participate in this month’s poll.

Last November, I made a decent-sized first-time gift to a local nonprofit. There was a need, and I wanted to address it (I'm not trying to name and blame, just share a learning moment).

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Right away: I got my auto-response donation confirmation ✅

Five days later: I got a thank-you email from the CEO promising to share more information on my impact, with a link to "see your impact" (it went to the homepage) ✅

Two days after that: I got an email asking me to make a Thanksgiving gift ❓

Three days after that: I got a high-level impact email with a link to read "stories of hope" 😐

And at the top of EVERY email besides the autoresponder, pretty much the first thing I saw was a big "GIVE NOW" button. ❌

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My gift, which was large enough to be significant to me, was my first interaction with this organization. I have never volunteered there, and I'm not on any sort of email list.
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​This sequence didn't make me feel great. I was clearly dumped into their next appeal before I’d even finished their welcome series.

As you go into the year-end giving season, think carefully about how you're welcoming new donors to your organization. Your goal should be to lay the foundation for a relationship, not pounce for a new gift as soon as possible. If they take you for a nice meal, don't come back with, "hey girl, u up?!"

Instead, invest the time to make a really good welcome series. Use it to learn about your new supporter, and supplement it with storytelling. Send new supporters evergreen content that deepens their understanding of your work.

Crucially, let them get through that before you start hitting them up for the next gift.

And if something critical comes up and you really do need to ask for another gift soon, do it with intention, and acknowledge the fact that they just gave.

I know that takes more work to set up, but it's so worth the extra effort. Instead of being "that place they donated to once," you'll become "that place they always donate to," or "the place where they donate and volunteer," or whatever strong, long-term relationship you build with your donor together. 💙

I’ve recently changed up my service offerings to focus on email. You’ll still get the same relationship-building and writing/storytelling advice you’re used to seeing in this newsletter. If you’re curious, I wrote about why I made the switch.

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​❓What’s the hardest part of building an effective new supporter Welcome Series?

• ​Finding time to map/write it out​
• ​Tech limitations and messy data​
• ​Knowing what content to send ​
• ​Remembering to check and update it every year​
• ​Other (shoot me a reply and let me know what it is!)​

Interesting Nonprofit Link

Speaking of automated welcome series, the team at Avid actually outlined 20 different workflows you can automate to save your team time and make sure no supporter opportunity is missed. Number 6 is one of my favorites, and I’m a firm believer that more nonprofits should be doing #8. Check out the list here.

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Nonprofit Good News

I spent a lot of time on my parents’ Grady-White boat (or strung out behind it on a tube) when I was growing up. So I was pretty pumped to hear that their former CEO decided to use the company to support philanthropy instead of selling it for a big payout. I encourage you to check out his story. It’s pretty inspiring.

See you next month!

Lee O'Connell

nonprofit copywriter and communications strategist
​leeoconnell.com​

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