📣First, a word on last month’s poll results 🤦‍♀️

Welp, last month’s poll on your biggest barriers to creating a new welcome series generated lots of interest but zero logged results. The next time you’re trying to convince your boss to ditch the cheap software for something more effective, feel free to use me as a cautionary tale 😅​
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I’d still love to hear your thoughts, especially since this is a topic I can create something helpful on. Feel free to reply to share your welcome series obstacle.

A. Finding time to map/write it out

B. Tech limitations and messy data

C. Knowing what content to send

D. Remembering to check and update it every year

E. Other

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Keep reading to participate in this month’s poll.

Quick note: I’m going to be talking about year-end appeals for the next couple of months, because I know that’s a big task many of y’all are facing. But if fundraising isn’t your job? File these away for any time you have a big ask push for the supporters you serve—like season subscriptions or volunteer recruitment. The psychology is the same (donors are just people 😊).

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​I’ve got a secret for you. If you want to knock your fundraising appeal out of the park, the campaign should actually start BEFORE the first ask ever goes out the door.

The pre-campaign period is for thanking, conveying impact, and planting seeds for your appeal theme. At a minimum, start this phase the week before asks go out. But you could easily stretch it to a couple of months before you start soliciting gifts.

These are the communications I like to include (at a minimum) in the pre-campaign phase:

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💖 An impact/gratitude touch that goes out to your whole list

The primary goal of this piece is to say thank you. Sure, you can also use it to share some accomplishments from the year. But root the communication in gratitude for the reader’s part in making them possible.

And if you’ve been dealing with challenges, you can be honest about that. Vulnerability doesn’t turn off supporters—it draws them in.

📞 Major donor thank-a-thon

Call all of your major donors to thank them for their generosity, even if you won’t be asking them for a gift. If this is a small list or you have a lot of helpers, you can expand it to include other valuable groups, like recurring donors, planned gift donors, or volunteer-donors.

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✅ What-to-expect communications

Don’t launch your campaign out of the blue. Let your supporters know it’s coming so they can look out for it.

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The week before your appeal begins, send an email and post on social. Let supporters know when the campaign starts and how they can support you. Donating should be at the top of the list, but also include volunteer opportunities, sharing your posts, and reaching out to their networks.

Efforts like this warm up your supporters, making it more likely that the asks will convert when they go out. If you only have the capacity to write so many emails, I would 100% swap some ask emails for communications like these.

If you want to automate some of your warm-up communications, my friend Amanda created a free email challenge that guides you through how to engage your supporters before you ask them for money. She walks you through 5 emails you can use as a welcome sequence, nurture sequence, or re-engagement sequence.

Monthly Poll

What’s your favorite way to show your supporters some love?

• ​Automated email touchpoints that meet them where they are​
• ​Emails with personalized videos​
• ​Phone calls/personalized texts​
• ​Handwritten notes​
• ​Other (shoot me a reply and let me know what it is!)​

Interesting Nonprofit Link

Sarah Lawson put a really interesting spin on the old donor fatigue/”We shouldn’t ask our donors to give during tough times" argument. Her take? Deciding for donors takes away their agency and dignity, just like philanthropic saviorism did for our beneficiaries. Check out her full thoughts, and let me know what you think.

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Nonprofit Good News

When Dolly Parton passed, I saw as much written about her philanthropy as her art. My favorite was this write-up, which pointed out that her generosity was grounded in “her belief in the goodness of people.” I only wish more people shared it. If you want a quick hit of good feelings, read about her full philanthropic legacy here.

See you next month!

Lee O'Connell

nonprofit copywriter and communications strategist
​leeoconnell.com​

If someone forwarded this to you, you can snag your own subscription here.

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