Missions to Movements
This isn't just another nonprofit podcast - it's your weekly invitation to think bigger, take bold risks, and create lasting change in an ever-evolving social impact landscape. Meet Dana Snyder, your guide through the evolving landscape of nonprofit innovation. She's on a mission to help change-makers like you push the boundaries of what's possible in nonprofit marketing and fundraising. Each week, Missions to Movements serves as your personal mastermind session, delivering actionable insights and bold strategies that challenge traditional nonprofit thinking. Dive into revolutionary approaches to digital fundraising, discover how to build magnetic monthly giving programs that create lasting donor relationships, and learn to amplify your voice as a thought leader in the social good space. Whether you're reimagining your organization's impact or forging game-changing partnerships, you'll find the ideas, insights, and inspiration to take your mission further than you've ever imagined. Ready to turn your mission into a movement?
Missions to Movements
How to Stand Out on GivingTuesday? Send This ONE Email & You'll Captivate Donors
Caught in the beautiful whirlwind of Giving Tuesday, I found myself reflecting on a vital lesson learned from last year’s campaign.
Imagine the scenario: you pour your passion and effort into creating a memorable GivingTuesday, only to find that the connection with your donors dwindles as soon as the thank-you emails are sent.
This episode draws from my experience with a local animal organization and sheds light on the significance of maintaining donor engagement post-GivingTuesday. Each donation reflects a personal choice amidst millions, and understanding the 'why' behind it can yield invaluable insights for your nonprofit.
In this episode I share a straightforward email template to strengthen donor relations. It’s not about surveys or impersonal data collection, but about genuine curiosity and appreciation.
By simply asking your donors what inspired their gift, you open the door to understanding their motivations, whether it’s a social media post that moved them or a personal connection to your mission.
These stories are treasures that can energize your team and enrich your future campaigns. Tune in to discover how pausing to truly connect with your supporters can enhance both your organization’s narrative and its impact.
The Monthly Giving Summit is BACK February 26-27 - apply to speak and SAVE THE DATE: https://www.monthlygivingsummit.com/
This show is presented by LinkedIn for Nonprofits. We’re so grateful for their partnership. Explore their incredible suite of resources and discounts for nonprofit teams here.
Monthly Giving Awareness Week is May 12-16! Join me, RKD Group, and GivingTuesday for 5 days of FREE resources to help you launch and grow recurring gifts.
Are you still dreaming about building your monthly giving program or refreshing your current one? Applications are now open for my “done with you” Monthly Giving Mastermind. 4 spots are open and we start in July. Click here to apply.
My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab a copy here and learn my framework to build, grow, and sustain subscriptions for good.
Let's Connect!
Hello, hello, happy post-Thanksgiving and happy December. I am a little bit under the weather if I sound a little bit nasally coming to you. Of course this is like a two-year routine in our house right now. My daughter got a double ear infection she's a year and a half a double ear infection and RSV the day before Thanksgiving and of course I'm going to pass that right over to mom. But this was too important to not share with you On the eve of Giving Tuesday.
Speaker 1:I wanted to release this short quickfire episode because of something that I experienced last year on Giving Tuesday and I just want to make sure to put a little bit of inspiration into what I think could be possible this Giving Tuesday to get to know those donors that are going to support you this year. So one just visualize the day after tomorrow being wonderful, and so it's going to probably be a little bit of a whirlwind You're probably in that right now of everything that is Giving Tuesday. So first things first, take a deep breath. Yes, literally right now. Deep breath. I can't really take a deep breath right now, but if you can take a deep breath and let's just picture the fact that you did it Whether your organization is about to raise $100 or $100 million. Y'all showed up, you were telling your story and you invited people to be a part of something bigger than themselves, and people are going to respond. And last year, what I wanted to share is I donated to a local animal organization and I got this lovely email. I don't know if it was mass sent. It looked like it was sent from an individual, from the executive director, from his personal Gmail or Outlook, whatever system they used. And then crickets Nothing happened after that initial thank you, and I have searched spam and trash. Nothing happened after my one-time, first-time gift to that organization, and this is a learning that I think is more common than not. So, and this is a learning that I think is more common than not.
Speaker 1:So, before you dive back into like end of year campaign metrics, start analyzing everything after Giving Tuesday. I really want you to pause and sit with something that we and you know this right Every single donation represents a person who chose your cause specifically on Giving Tuesday, and they could have given anywhere. There are millions of nonprofits out there, but something about your mission, about the email, about a social post, about something in their lives, spoke to them. So this brings me back to this reflection of what happened to me last year and how I can make sure that you don't do something similar. And this is the challenge is we want to just ask your donors why they gave.
Speaker 1:I'm not talking about doing a formal survey, I'm not talking about a focus group in a simple email that you can prep right now to be able to send to your Giving Tuesday donors, or send it the week after. It doesn't have to be crazy complicated right afterwards. I want you to take a breath afterwards. So here's what it's going to say Hi, first name. This is very simple. I'll text. Your gift on Giving Tuesday meant so much to us. But before I share more impact, before I share more about the impact you're making, I'd love to know what inspired you to give, what part of our mission resonates with you personally. Just hit reply and let me know. I read every response personally with gratitude and put your name. That's it. There's no fancy formatting here. There's no buttons, there's no asks. It's literally just a text-only email, just genuine curiosity and appreciation.
Speaker 1:The goal here is it's a reply email and there's nothing more valuable to your email tool system that you use and to you than hearing back from somebody, and the responses might surprise you. Maybe they will mention a social media post that moved them. Maybe they will share a social media post that moved them. Maybe they will share a personal connection to your cause that you would have never known about. Maybe they'll tell you about an amazing staff person on your team who made them feel really seen and valued at an event you recently just had. And these stories, these whys, are pure gold. They will fuel your next campaign specifically to this individual. They can energize your team and I know and trust me, I get it.
Speaker 1:This podcast is the pinnacle of I share, and a lot of times I never hear anything back and I wonder what in the world do people think? So I know you feel the same way when you send out an email. Most of the times you're not hearing anything back. So we want to hear something back here and you're inviting them to do that. So, importantly, these reply backs remind you that fundraising right, it's not just about the transaction of the donation. Yes, that is extremely meaningful, but this is transformational for the people that you serve and for the people who make the work possible. So before, like when Giving Tuesday wraps and I know you want to jump into the metrics and back into your ungiving.
Speaker 1:Take this moment if you do not have an email like this in your thank you structure, take this time to connect, to listen, to celebrate these individuals and the hearts that are behind them. This is strictly coming from my own personal donation experience. You've got this. Your donor has got your back. They want to share these things with you, especially if you can send this in a really timely fashion, where they've just made the gift and they're feeling that inspiration. I share this in my book when I talk about step five, which is share constant joy and gratitude. This is it. They want to share that joy with you. So just an idea Again, I will read the email.
Speaker 1:I will go back to it really quickly. Again, this is what it's going to say. It's a simple email. Send it to your Giving Tuesday donors. Hi, first name. Your gift on Giving Tuesday meant so much to us.
Speaker 1:Before I share more about the impact you're making, I'd love to know what inspired you to give. What part of our mission resonates with you personally. Just hit reply and let me know. I read every response personally with gratitude. Your name Again.
Speaker 1:This is no images should be in there. No buttons should be in there. Ideally, this can be sent from a personalized Outlook or Gmail. There are ways to get fancy smancy and automate this with Zapier, by the way, but if you just want, this is a great task for an intern, dependent upon your quantity of emails that you're sending, or, if you can, just in your already automated flow process, if you can create an email that's like this remove any imagery, ideally, remove. Maybe you can have your logo at the top. That would be like the minimum, but ideally you want this to feel so custom, coming from you or someone on your team. So again, happy, happy, happy Giving Tuesday. I hope you have the best day. Please soak in all the joy and the celebration that is this day and I cannot wait to hear. Please DM me on Instagram or send me a note on LinkedIn.
Speaker 1:Dana Snyder, let me know how this goes and in the following episodes I have one more of the leadership series and then I'm going to be diving into. I did this two years ago and everyone loved it, so it's going to come back. I'm going to share a few of my favorite things, including tools and 2025 trends and strategies that I think that we should really focus on that. I'm also going to be utilizing and I've seen work in my business and I'm going to share those with you, and I have a very special announcement about the monthly giving summit and that it's back, so I'm going to share a little bit about that. So lots of good things to come in the month of December. So thank you so much for being here. If you love the show, please drop a review and make sure that you're subscribed to get the episodes every Wednesday and I will see you next week. Same time, same place.
