Fundraising Tip #18: Use Multiple Points of Contact to Secure a Donation

They usually say in fundraising it takes 5 points of contact to secure a donation.  Because of this, non-profits usually do a combination of direct mailings, phone solicitations, in-person solicitations, emails, and advertisements.

Most of us do not have the time or money to push our fundraisers that hard.  But, there are a few inexpensive ways to create multiple points of contact with your potential donors.  We have discussed them in previous posts, but here’s a brief recap and some new ways to contact your donors:

1. Email or Call your closest friends and family first. Tell them what your are trying to do and then ask them to make larger donations in the beginning to get the ball rolling.

2. Send emails out to your broader network of friends giving them details about why you are raising money for this particular cause.

Here’s where it turns into multiple points of contact:

3. After any mass email, follow up with specific groups of friends and make sure they all know who is copied on the email.  This will inspire a sense of accountability.  Use this same email list to follow up a few weeks before your fundraiser closes and again right before your fundraiser closes.

4. Add your fundraiser’s url to your signature line for personal and, if you can get away with it, professional emails.  This is a passive way to spread the word to your bigger network without directly asking for money.

5. Text Message your friends at night to remind them to donate. Most of the donations on our site happen in the evening because that is when people have the time to deal with personal emails.  If you text message people in the evening with the url to donate, they have fewer excuses not to donate.

6.  Last minute phone calls. It’s pretty easy to ignore an email, but it’s hard to ignore your friend on the phone asking for your support.  As your fundraiser draws to a close, call your friends and ask them to give.  Tell them that you just want their support and that you’d be happy with even a dollar.

Remember, people are busy and need to be reminded to do things.  Most likely, they’ve been meaning to donate all along and just forgot, so don’t be afraid to ask your friends and family in more ways than one.