Warm Up Your Fundraising this Spring!

Warm up your fundraising with GiveMN this spring!

This spring, GiveMN is encouraging organizations and donors to "warm up" their fundraising and generosity via an email series! Through early June, we'll be alternating emails each week. For nonprofits and schools, we'll offer ideas and tips for how to make a spring or summer fundraising ask to help power your fundraising cycle throughout the year. And for donors, we'll offer an accompanying call-to-action based on that week's theme.

This page serves as the organization hub for this campaign! Follow-along here as we offer resources and short tasks to help you shake the icicles off your fundraising this spring.

Week of April 17: Warm up your fundraising!

We're revealing our spring fundraising series for organizations like yours! We're starting by sharing why many organizations focus on spring fundraising, offering some ideas to get started, and a friendly challenge to find one ask you can make this spring if you typically don't ask your donors except for once or twice a year.
Accompanying donor call to action: Make a gift to a cause you haven't supported since year-end.

Resource
- Why we're focused on spring giving, and how to make a low stakes ask for support.
Calls to action:
- Update your GiveMN.org administrators
  Now's a great time to make sure the right people at your organization have access to your GiveMN.org features and reports!
  ☑️ Log in to your admin area, then click Settings, then click Admins.
- Dust off your GiveMN.org profile page
  Have you edited your page since Give to the Max Day? We suggest making your page "evergreen" outside of the busy year-end season so donors can see your latest updates, removing any stale language.
  ☑️ Log in to your admin area, then click Organization Page.
- Inventory your fundraising opportunities through the summer
  If your organization has a fundraising plan and calendar in place, take time to inventory the people, assets and tasks it will take to meet your goals. And if you don't have a calendar through the summer, consider a few opportunities to ask your donors for support over the next few months. It doesn't need to be complicated—your supporters are often just looking for cues to join you in your work!

Coach Clara Says

Donor fatigue: myth or reality?

So many nonprofits I coach are worried that they'll annoy their donors if they ask more than once a year. While it's important to be thoughtful about the content and pacing of your communicators, the concept of donor fatigue is unproven, and in my experience, doesn't ring true. Donors want to help because they care about your mission, and are often looking for your cues to make a gift. You might be surprised at how many say "yes!"

Clara Lind is GiveMN's director of coaching. Want to receive individualized fundraising coaching for your organization or to further your professional development? Learn about our RaiseMN offerings and schedule your coaching session! Learn more.

Week of May 1

acquisition

This week, we're focusing on your efforts to engage new donors. But before we get right into tactics, let's take time to understand the donor cycle, and how acquisition plays the role of an on-ramp. Then, think about your current universe of supporters and how to engage them to make gifts, and how you might empower your superfans to spread the word of your work on your behalf.
Accompanying donor call to action: Make gifts to organizations you have never supported before.

Resources
- Article: Acquisition as part of the donor cycle
- Article and worksheet: Hot, medium, cold—classifying your donor prospects
Calls to action:
- Learn more about peer-to-peer fundraising on GiveMN.org
  Peer-to-peer fundraising pages allow your most engaged donors to raise money on your behalf right from their living room couch. These donors are typically happy to help you, and often are just waiting for you to ask them to do so! As part of our partnership with Mightycause, GiveMN.org offers a suite of free personal, team, and event fundraising pages at no cost to you or your donors. Learn more about how they could assist your next strategy or campaign!
  ☑️ Learn more about fundraisers, teams and event features
  ☑️ Learn how to create fundraiser templates to give your supporters a head start
- Inventory your organization's superfans
  Your organization likely has a small group of ultra-dedicated champions who are excellent advocates for your mission. Think about your board, donors who give every time you ask, and repeat volunteers. Often, they will be open to helping spread the word about your cause and your fundraising if you provide a clear ask.
  ☑️ Create a list of your most engaged advocates who may go above-and-beyond if asked.
  ☑️ Brainstorm a list of potential calls to action (like inviting their friends to join an event or volunteer opportunity, or creating a fundraising page) they may take in the year ahead!

Coach Clara Says

Coach Clara: When working to find new donors, start from within

New donors can be tricky to engage, but your biggest asset is your current base of supporters. Ensure that your organization is being consistent with your communications with monthly or biweekly newsletters, emails, and posts. Don’t forget to leverage your current base of supporters and ask that they forward your communications to their networks, too!

Week of May 15

In our last installment, we discussed how to prioritize your prospects in your efforts to acquire new donors. This week, we’re focusing on monthly recurring giving as a way to build your individual giving revenue in a new way, from both new and existing donors. Read on below for this week’s resources and calls to action around creating a monthly gift strategy for your organization—including who and how you might make that ask—and more information around recurring gift management and retention on GiveMN.org.
Accompanying donor call to action: Support the work of your favorite causes year-round by starting a new monthly gift.

Resources
- Article: Get started with a monthly giving strategy for your organization
- Worksheet: Creating your ask for monthly support
Calls to action:
- Learn more about monthly giving on GiveMN.org
  Monthly giving features on GiveMN.org are built for ease-of-use and retention. For donors, it’s easy to create, edit, or cancel recurring gifts with just a few clicks, and our system will send alerts and reminders when credit cards are about to expire or payment information is no longer valid. For organizations, you’ll receive notifications each time new monthly gifts are created and recur, as well as a monthly giving report to see active or canceled monthly gifts, and alerts to when credit cards are soon to expire.
  ☑️ Monthly giving FAQs for donors (via Mightycause)
  ☑️ Monthly giving FAQs for organizations (via Mightycause)
- Brainstorm when and how you might ask for monthly support
  After reviewing the resource above, make a plan for how you might work a monthly giving ask into some of your communications with options for how donors may support your work. Maybe it's a simple mention in an email to all of your donors. Perhaps if you have more time, you could make personalized asks to a list of monthly prospects you've identified with a starting-point suggestion of how much they could give based on their giving history. This is a great mini-project for this summer before the busy end-of-year giving work begins this fall!

Coach Clara Says

Coach Clara: Don't forget your "why"

You might be nervous about asking existing donors to create an additional monthly gift, but you may also be surprised by how many say yes! Even though this may be a new ask, always center your organization’s “why” in any fundraising ask. Then, layer the benefits of a monthly gift on top of that. Start with your long-term donors and encourage them to be the leaders of this program, and remember to build in special quarterly or semi-yearly stewardship of your monthly donors.

Week of May 29

Showing gratitude for our organization's supporters is one of the single biggest ways we can engage them more deeply in our work. Oftentimes, however, it's one of the last areas of a fundraising campaign we consider when planning, or simply run out of steam after the sprint of a major campaign. This week, we offer resources around building a stewardship plan for your organization that is authentic, meaningful, and the right size for your capacity.

Resources
- Article: Five things to consider when planning donor stewardship
- Worksheet: Sample stewardship language for your organization
Calls to action:
- Update your stewardship features on GiveMN.org
  GiveMN.org offers two features for automated and immediate stewardship for your donors when they make a donation! Learn more about how to update the thank you message that shows up on the web immediately after a donation is made, and the thank you message that appears in your donors' email receipt.
  ☑️ Updating thank you receipt message (via Mightycause)
  ☑️ Updating thank you page (via Mightycause)
  ☑️ Both options may be edited under the "Checkout" features in your administrative area
- Feeling behind on thank yous? Make a plan now!
  We get it—work and life can be busy, and you may feel behind on stewardship from recent campaigns or donations. Here's our suggestion: mark some time on your calendar soon to identify donors who could use some appreciation, and then create a plan on how to make it happen! Keep it simple and make it achievable in the near future rather than overly complex. Simple stewardship is better than none at all!

Coach Clara Says

Coach Clara: When in doubt, give thanks

There’s no such thing as too much gratitude. The summer months are a great time to report back on your work the past year, celebrate the work you’ve accomplished together, and make your donors feel valued before the year-end giving season begins!