Four subject lines from the end-of-year in-box:
Christmas Appeal – Consider a gift today!
There’s a soft spot in my heart for literal and straightforward communication, unadorned by the cleverness that so often turns nonprofit messages into secret code.
But this one may go too far, leaving nothing to the imagination. If the organization were extremely well-branded and strongly associated with Christmas (The Salvation Army), it might work. That wasn’t the case here.
And “consider a gift” is just weak in any case. They’ve given away the fact that there’s an appeal for funds in the in-box. They’ve also let drop the fact that this may not be the coolest offer they’re going to see today. Just another boring holiday-season appeal for funds.
Subject lines work best when they entice and promise. This one did neither.
[Organization] Responds to [obscure disaster]
This one makes one of the most common fundraising errors of all: Assuming that because we’re doing it, everyone cares.
It’s not a subject line at all, but the headline on a press release. (In fact, that’s what the content of the email was: a press release.)
News flash: Nobody is interested in press releases. Not even the press. Just announcing that you’re doing something is lazy and lame. If you want people to get involved, you have to involve them.
Bad Start to December Fundraiser
(I saw this one at Nolo’s Fundraising Tips for Busy Nonprofits.)
Bad. Really bad. It is completely self-directed. The for people within the nonprofit, a bad start to a December fundraising is truly a problem. Not for donors. They don’t support us for our fundraisers. They support us for our causes.
Every time you communicate with donors, you must spend some time and effort thinking about what concerns them. You’ll find that what’s bothering you is seldom of interest to them.
This is not tax deductible
(From the Obama campaign.)
This is an odd subject line. Why highlight one well-known, if slightly unattractive fact about their fundraising? There was nothing in the message about the lack of tax deductibility.
I wonder if I was in a test panel. One thing going for this one is its oddness. Odd subject lines often do well. Maybe this fits that category.
Filed under Future Fund Raising Now by on Jan 1st, 2012. Comment. 
I was thinking about Fast Cash Commissions to get a lengthy time and I finaly wrote a brief write-up what I am the most obsessed with. This write-up submit might be covering Product Launch Formula and also goes deep into Fast Cash Commissions.
Do you have plans of starting your own membership site? Awesome, you are in the correct location. This is far from just starting up any ole website. If you begin your own membership site you should think about a few things first. You have to have an open mind in order to get the results that you want. It is not the hardest thing in the world to do, but it surely is not the easiest. If you are not prepared in this aspect, then you may not be successful. This stage of the process is very critical. It’s the make or break time. So, what does it take to do it effectively? This article is going to explain three ways in order to launch a membership site successfully.
If you plan to initiate a membership site, there will be a money requirement. So make sure you have the expenses covered. See how much out of pocket money you will have to pay. The preparation stage is extremely important. If it is not handled properly, then your launch will not be successful. So pay more attention to your finances during this time as opposed to the other changes. When the budget finally pans out, that is when you can make a move. If you don’t do the budget planning then you might just end up spending more than you can digest. Surely, do not want to see this occur? Be knowledgeable about your situation. Understand that your competition will be hitting from all sides. Finding your weakness now is ideal. Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is very important at this stage of the game. This will ensure you are strategically ready for combat. Your competition won’t know what hit them. It is essential that you pay close attention to detail and make calculated moves. Consider the website launch as a game that you can win simply by learning about yourself and your competition.
The membership price should be affordable for everyone. Essentially, you want to make the price affordable from the first day you launch. The more affordable it is, the easier it will be for people to justify signing up. Once they’re in, there’s a lot of up-selling that you can do. Stay focused on signing up new members and earning their trust. Don’t complicate the whole process for them. Provide them with all the information so that they can’t say no to joining. Since you have a lot of great information on your site, you will see people upgrading their membership quickly. If you only take one thing away from this article, it should be that you need consistency to own a successful membership site. The first course of action is to have a successful membership website launch. Consistency is really the key to success here, if you want to make it big. Don’t slack, consistency is what will make or break your site in the long run. Keep providing your members with the value that they depend on. Show your members why it’s in their best interest to invest in your website. Make yourself available to your members so they can count on you, trust you, and continue to purchase a membership with you.
Filed under Chris Stoddard by on Jan 1st, 2012. Comment.
In this article I’m going to show you some amazing tips about ClickOpp and Experts Academy.
You desire to have a business on the net that has meaning, purpose and is strong – try going through the process of making goals and see what happens. There is no way you can avoid testing a market or product and seeing it tank hard; however you should be aware that this is actually fairly normal with any kind of business. It is not enough to just have goals; they need to be created with clear thinking and a sense of purpose before they can perform properly for you.
What most people do is they want to set the online business world on fire, and that is fine, but you have to do it one business/website at a time to achieve the best results. Each of your goals needs to be laser targeted so that you know exactly in which direction you’re moving. When it comes down to goal setting there are many different factors that you need to keep in mind, so that your overall execution of your ideas to achieve your goals is successful. You may find that you have to do some research before you are able to precisely define what you want to do. Prioritize your goals to a great extent because unless you know what you should be focusing your efforts on the most, you won’t see anything happening. Once you have your goals clearly defined, then from that you will have all that is needed in the way of smaller goals and what is priority. In time you will see that you are reaching the smaller goals on your way to conquering the larger one.
Obviously you want to accomplish things that will add to and enrich your life. If you decide to pursue this, then take it very seriously because anything less will produce poor results. Your goal with properly creating and outlining your objectives is to allow the process to be a help to you by giving you direction. You can work to invigorate your life when you follow along with this process, and we hope you do.
There are so many different paths to the top of the mountain, and it all begins with a thought that spreads in your mind. Now, in order to focus on taking action, it’s important that you are sure of the goals that you want to go after.
Goals that have precision in them are significantly more powerful than very generally stated goals. Incorporate a strong sense of discipline because it is daily action taking that makes it all happen.
Filed under Chris Stoddard by on Jan 3rd, 2012. Comment.
The most self-destructive, revenue-killing act nonprofit organizations can make is one a lot of them are tempted to do: A name change.
Typically, a name change hurts fundraising. Sometimes catastrophically.
Cascade Land Conservancy, a venerable and much-liked environmental organization headquartered in Seattle, changed its name to Forterra.
No, that is not a typo. Yes, it does sound like a new erectile dysfunction drug.
And yes, it’s likely to be a fundraising disaster.
The reasoning for the change is given in the press release. It seems the Cascade Land Conservancy opened an office in a county that has no actual Cascade Mountains in it. That and the fact that they have many programs that are not located in or on those mountains unleashed the dreaded “our name limits us” virus.
That’s what explains statement like these that appear in the organization’s literature about the virtues of the new name:
- “a testament to our organization’s continued dedication to the region”
- “represents our holistic approach to land conservation”
- “leaves us room to continue evolving to serve the needs of this dynamic region”
And then, the icing on the cake — here’s what the branding expert whose company visited this disaster on the organization, pro bono, had to say:
Simply stated, Forterra means they are for the earth. It is an open vessel that allows them to continue to adapt to the needs of the community and effectively advance their important and broad mission.
Ah, the old “open vessel” gambit, used to explain something that’s meaningless: Don’t worry about the fact that it’s meaningless; it can mean anything!
Problem is, it actually means nothing.
Just in case there was any doubt that this is an ill-conceived and poorly executed project, take a look at the new logo. It makes the confusing name even more confusing.
That “E” is actually a fancy ampersand. Which makes it look like the name isn’t the somewhat nonsensical Forterra, but the completely wacko FORT & RRA.
If the good people at Cascade Land Conservancy/Forterra were listening to me (they aren’t), here’s what I’d tell them: It’s not too late to escape the disaster. You can go back. Hardly anyone knows you’ve changed your name, so embarrassment and cost of switching back will be low. A lot lower than the revenue crash that awaits if you stay this silly course.
And for those considering a name change: Think twice before you do it. It will probably not go well, no matter what the pro-bono experts tell you.
Filed under Future Fund Raising Now by on Jan 4th, 2012. Comment.
Filed under Nicva by on Jan 4th, 2012. Comment.