Photo credit: https://flic.kr/p/7Q2CdQ
Want to get donors all jazzed up before an online fundraising campaign?
Try the “wins” blog post, a numbered summary of the good your donors made possible in the recent past. I’ve tried this tactic with three clients over the past 18 months, each with excellent results.
Take a look.
American Heart Association
For AHA’s year-end online fundraising campaign, we began with a Thanksgiving email thanking donors for their support and inviting them to see what good their gift did that year.
The link in the email led to a landing page with this infographic. Notice the language focuses on what the donors accomplished through their gifts, not AHA.
The “ask” on this page is soft, at the bottom, yet AHA netted several large donations and went on to have a record year with the rest of its email fundraising campaign.
The infographic was so successful, that it took on a life of its own and was used in a variety of other AHA communications throughout the year.
National Wildlife Federation
This past December NWF cultivated donors with an inspiring wins blog post and early December email (below) with gorgeous photography and donor-centric language.
[NWF] Feel Good. These 12 Wins for Wildlife Were Made Possible by You. by Kerri Karvetski
The blog post garnered tons of traffic and comments, with supporters adding their thanks and hopes for America’s wildlife. It also became the inspiration for the organization’s annual report and set the stage for a great year-end online fundraising campaign.
MomsRising
You don’t have to wait until year-end to try this tactic. MomsRising saw success with a wins post in December, so repeated the tactic for a much smaller Mother’s Day online fundraising campaign. The email + blog post worked again!
Donors were psyched to see the results of their gifts.
Do’s And Don’t for a Wins Post
- DO prepare and send an email linking to the blog post.
- DO make supporters feel good after reading the blog post. Not depressed. Not guilty. Not appalled. HAPPY, PROUD and PUMPED.
- DO make the donor the hero. Not you.
- DO make a soft ask in the email, in the P.S. or sidebar.
- DO make a prominent ask in the blog post, but don’t make it it all about the ask. 90% or more of the blog post should be about the awesome things donors have accomplished through their gifts.
- DO number the list. It encourages people to read the whole thing.
- DON’T make this a Mission Accomplished post. You have so much more work to do. You need donors to help you stay strong, respond to ongoing threats, and make more victories together. Leave room for an ask.
- DON’T give away the store in the email. Tease accomplishments and save the bulk of the wins for the blog post or page.
Have you tried this tactic? How did it go? Share your experiences in the comments section.
