Here are some thoughts to get your campaign going:

• Create a monthly email newsletter which is a ‘light’ version of your regular newsletter. However, you must remember that the rules for layout of email newsletters are different than for printed ones. People skim read email newsletters and tend to get impatient if they can’t find the main point quickly. A good idea is to provide a concise summary of the key points in a contents list as the first thing the reader sees.

• Create at least 10 different leaflets that can be downloaded from your website. Offer these to supporters free of charge at every opportunity. Try not to make them too cumbersome or over full of pictures and images as not every donor has broadband.

• Create an online ‘supporter survey’. The knack here is to make your questionnaire brief – keep to 5 or 6 key questions rather than 20, or you risk losing the reader’s attention.

• Create a standard format ‘supporter alert’ email to send to supporters telling them that a direct mail appeal is in the post. This can be as simple as two or three lines outlining the main trust of the appeal and why it is vital that the reader responds.

• Create a pre – registration opportunity for supporters to receive an ‘early bird’ copy of your annual report. Annual reports are an under – used asset in fundraising and, if well written, focus the reader’s attention on the ‘big picture’ issues the charity is dealing with. Donors are always more motivated by the charity’s vision than details of projects.

• Allow supporters to subscribe to a ‘newsflash’ email which tells them of any urgent news. Then make sure you have regular newsflashes to send as these will help keep the reader ‘warm’ for the next appeal.

• Allow supporters to subscribe to a ‘Chairman’s Circle’ via which they receive a quarterly letter from the charity’s Chairman or Chairwoman giving ‘inside track’ information on how things are going, from the perspective of the charity’s most senior person.

chris stoddard