Haiti and Individual Giving – and how it relates to you

I still continue to be amazed and moved by the generosity of so many in reaching out to Haiti and to reflect on the value of individual donors. We as nonprofits work so hard applying for grants when we should be putting that effort towards reaching individuals. In my last post I listed some important truths about giving illustrated by the outpouring for Haiti. What do these mean to your nonprofit?

• Communicate the need
• Communicate why you are effective at meeting that need—build your donor’s trust
• Pursue individual donors
• Make it easy. Make sure donors can give securely and easily through your website
• Look into a text campaign—a good fit for certain events or causes
• Invite people to participate at various levels of giving
• Repeat---Pursue individual donors. Put more energy into this than pursuing corporate donors, foundations, and government grantors.
  

A client recently had their first annual appeal. They raised $12,000 increasing their total contributions by 5%. Not a bad start for their first year. Most of their contributions had historically come from foundations and corporate funders. Tomorrow the nonprofit I serve with is going to look into getting the “donate now” button on our website and we are working on a grant application. I’ll keep you posted on the outcome of each.