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Rachel Bearbower’s 4 Templates That Every Nonprofit Leader Needs To Connect More With Donors And Raise More Funds

#054 – Rachel Bearbower is the founder and CEO of Small Shop Strategies, a nonprofit consultancy focused on coaching nonprofit leaders how to detangle their systems, so they can focus their time and energy on building relationships and raising more for their causes.

In just 3 years, Rachel has built a community where over a hundred nonprofit leaders are showing up for themselves and learning how to boldly fundraise, tell better stories and become even more impactful changemakers.

In today’s episode, Rachel shares the 4 templates every nonprofit leader should have locked and loaded and ready at all times to maintain connection with their donors:

#1 An immediate automated thank you note or receipt;

#2 Within 24-48 hours a heartfelt quick personal email that is NOT the receipt from your CRM that lets your donor know the gift was received and appreciated;

#3 An email or video depicting the impact of their gift and reminding them that you did what you said you were going to do with their gift; and

#4 A Connection email – Ask for their opinion / Send them an article / Find out why they gave

Rachel emphasizes how important it is to ditch transactional relationships and develop real meaningful relationships with your donors – connect donors to the mission, connect them to what their gift actually did.

“Donors don’t want to fund the process. They want to fund the impact. And so you, the organization, you are the process, and so you wanna remove yourself. So instead of saying, help us buy new uniforms, it’s, you can provide a kid with a new uniform.”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear now being a farmer in training helps Rachel be a lifetime learner and makes her a better nonprofit consultant.

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4 Key Takeaways

#1 The best way to connect more and raise is to have a plan;

#2 Communicate as quickly as possible after the donation comes in;

#3 Automate and personalize your communication; and

#4 Make your communication about the donor instead of your organization.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[2:56] The way to get good at thanking, connecting, building relationships, and raising more is having a plan
[5:01] Donors get buyer's remorse as soon as they hit DONATE.
[6:12] Send an immediate automated Thank You note from your CRM
[7:39] Organizations get tripped on being perfect
[8:44] Send a heartfelt Thank You in within the first 24-48 hours of the gift.
[12:30] FREE Thank You Template
[15:34] You're creating those connections because you're meeting the donor where they're at…
[19:11] Connect the donor's gift to an outcome
[21:43] Remind the donor that you did what you said you would do
[24:56] Donors don't want to fund the process. They want to fund the impact.
[30:21] The best time to ask someone for a second gift or a third gift is eight to 12 weeks after their original gift.

Adora Drake’s 5 Step SCALE Framework to Move Social Media Followers to Donors.

#053 – Adora Drake is a professional social media marketing coach and consultant with a knack for creating marketing strategies. She helps leaders establish relationships with their audience by teaching them the tools for attracting the right fit people, becoming a thought leader, and bridging the gap between initial contact to the final transaction.

Adora emphasizes relationship building in via social media. She adds that when it comes to relationships, it is better to go a mile deep than a mile wide. It is better to build deep meaningful relationships with a few people rather than shallow relationships with many.

“So you’re building a relationship. No matter where you are, whatever platform you are, make sure you’re building relationships.”

Adora teaches how we can use her SCALE Framework to convert social media followers to donors:

S – Social Media

C – Content

A – Audience

L – Lead

E- Execution

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear about the welcome series Adora uses in her own business.

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4 Key Takeaways

#1 Master 1 or 2 social media platforms rather than spreading yourself too thin across too many;

#2 Find the platforms where your audience hangs out;

#3 Consistency key; and

#4 Nurture your new members with a welcome series.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[2:28] The SCALE Framework
[8:05] The trend right now is video
[12:13] Make for sure you have some consistency
[14:09] You have to be social
[14:32] So you're building a relationship.
[15:33] Check your social media during your downtime
[17:59] There's a couple of ways you can create a lead magnet
[20:16] They are on your list, now it's time to start nurturing them
[21:02] 80% educational and 20% ask
[0:21] Start your Welcome Series

The 3 Characteristics Of The Most Trusted People, According to Minna Taylor.

#052 – Minna Taylor is a trained actress. After earning her masters degree, she began teaching accent reduction to corporate clients as a side hustle in between acting gigs. That experience is where she found the intersection of speech & voice, body language, and breathing.

“Communication is a physical activity. We think about it as just coming out of our mouth, but our whole body is behind it. And if we go back to that statistic, which is 7% of the information people receive is verbal, 93% is vocal and nonverbal that means our body is doing most of the talking. What I see time and time again and what I saw at the very start of my career was people’s bodies silencing them.”

Minna outlines the 3 characteristics of the most trusted people:

1 Generosity;

2 Curiosity; and

3 Likability

People come to her to increase confidence, to increase capacity, to speak up, to share their voice, to tell powerful stories, to influence people, and to become powerful agents of change.

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear Minna share how giving up a little control and being vulnerable leads to being more trusted.

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4 Key Takeaways

#1 80% of your attention should be listening and 20% breathing;

#2 Generosity is about energy and presence;

#3 Curiosity is less about asking and more about how you contribute without judging; and

#4 We have to like someone before we can trust them.

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear who Minna believes embodies all of this.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[2:24] The characteristics that we look at in the people we trust most are Generosity, Curiosity and Likability
[5:00] Generosity is really about energy and presence
[7:53] Give your full attention on the other person you're talking to
[8:37] The 80/20 rule
[12:19] Breathing exercise
[13:40] Curiosity is engaging in your given circumstances.
[15:58] When we fix things, we fix things from our lived experience
[17:19] Curiosity is less about asking and more how you choose to contribute
[20:27] What's in the box?
[33:39] Be a little vulnerable

A Discussion with Rhea Wong About Her Book – Get That Money, Honey! The No-Bullsh*t Guide to Raising More Money for Your Nonprofit.

#051 – Rhea Wong makes a return trip to the Groupfinity Podcast, this time to discuss her new book – Get That Money, Honey! The No-Bullsh*t Guide to Raising More Money for Your Nonprofit. Rhea points out that that mindset is a big limiting factor in fundraising. We assume people will only give the minimum and we get too emotional about rejection, which impacts our ongoing fundraising efforts.

“I think people get so emotionally tied up in that if they don’t give to my organization, that means all these bad things about me and I’m somehow inferior and less than, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s like, okay, let’s just drop the story. AND how could we do our job better without this disempowering story?“

Storytelling is a key to your fundraising success because we all want to believe that our lives have meant something. We all want to think about legacy and believe we lived on the planet and the world is a little bit better. You need to help your donor see themself as the hero in the story. They are the hero, not you.

Rhea tells why investing in systems is so important. We’re always freaking out about money and not spending it and we end up missing the forest for the trees. Think about how to automate your organization to make you more efficient rather than just the amount of the expense itself.

“If I spend money, it’s either going to be because there’s a monetary ROI, so it’s gonna help me bring more money in, or It’s going to give me back my time, or it’s going to increase operational efficiency. If the expense that you’re putting out doesn’t do one of those three things, I think you really need to think about your expense.”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear what Rhea learned from an FBI hostage negotiator.

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4 Key Takeaways

#1 Evaluate your systems by mapping your processes to where the problems exist;

#2 In Fundraising a story is important because it accesses the empathy part of our brain. And empathy is where generosity lies

#3 Don’t spend your time doing stupid manual things like data entry. Spend the time creating relationships with humans; and

#4 Your meetings should be 75% of them talking, 25% you talking.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[3:02] if we could take the emotion out of the money, then fundraising just becomes fun.
[5:19] We have to recognize there is a system to establish trust.
[10:46] I always assumed people are only gonna donate the minimum amount.
[12:17] The brain is only in one of two states, survival or executive.
[17:16] Expenses should 1) provide a ROI, 2) give back my time, or 3) Increase operational efficiency.
[20:47] We have to understand too that a lot of boards are engaged in risk mitigation.
[22:34] Your accounting systems have to be tight.
[24:57] So don't let the tool dictate your process
[26:59] Don't spend your time doing data entry. Spend the time creating relationships with humans.
[31:56] Your donor is the hero.

Marketing Specialist Lynn Ruby Shares The Email Marketing Mistakes You Are Making And The Changes You Need to Make Get Your People’s Attention.

#050 – Today I am speaking with marketing specialist and strategist Lynn Ruby. Lynn works with small businesses, solo-preneurs and nonprofits who are really good at what they do, but still struggle and get intimidated by online marketing. The pandemic brought about 3 primary changes to email marketing: 1) Email volumes exploded; 2) 75% of us tried new habits and those habits are sticking; and 3) Brand loyalty was shattered.

“…. the volume of email drastically expanded during the pandemic and is continuing to go up after the pandemic. Consumers changed their values, they changed how they’re doing things. Email was a big part of that and they’re changing their loyalties to brands and all of those things are continuing to change”

Lynn shares that if you are not clear and concise, your emails will get lost. You are not competing with other nonprofits, you are competing with EVERYONE your tribe is getting emails from – large corporations with experienced copywriters.

“…if you’re a really small non-profit, if you’re a larger non-profit, if you’re a relatively medium sized business or medium sized non-profit, you’re competing with them because they’re setting the expectations of how email should be done and they do it very well.

They’re clear and concise with their messaging and their visuals. And if we as smaller entities cannot rise at least somewhat to that level that those big brands are doing because that’s who our audience is also seeing emails from, we’re going to be not as effective as we can be.”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear why you should segment and personalize your emails.

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4 Key Takeaways

#1 Email is being used more than ever;

#2 You need to move social media followers to your email list;

#3 You need a subject line that causes the recipient to open it; and

#4 Write the way you talk.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[4:02] The volume of email marketing just exploded during the pandemic.
[6:18] 75% of us tried a new shopping behavior during 2020 because of economic pressures.
[6:52] The third thing that happened is that brand loyalty was just shattered.
[9:42] The social media platform owns your follower. Move them to your email list.
[11:45] Large companies set the bar for email communication.
[13:27] You need a subject line to get recipients to open.
[14:58] Break up your text into scannable chunks.
[17:14] Write the way you talk.
[20:19] Consumers now expect personalization as well as segmentation in their email communications.
[24:20] No email service provider is the best, but there is a best for you.

Can You Really Use Paid Search And Paid Social To Boost Your Email List? Rishi Malhotra Tells Us How To Do It So You Get Better Fundraising Results.

#049 – Today I am speaking with digital marketing specialist Rishi Malhotra. Rishi says there is a lot of interest in using paid search and paid social in fundraising efforts. Rishi has a different perspective, however.

“I’ll probably say I get a lot of questions about using it directly for fundraising, but I would say, the best use case I’ve seen is typically, to use it to boost your, your email list.”

He advises organizations to use paid search and paid social to drive your ideal tribe to a lead magnet – they trade their email address for the promised piece of collateral. The good news is this strategy will not break the bank. In fact, Google provides $10k in monthly grants to registered 501(c)3 organizations.

The application is easy enough, but he says you may want to get a little implementation advice so you achieve your desired results.

Rishi got his start advising small and medium sized businesses on search marketing. Later he went on to hone his non-profit marketing skills at Blue State Digital.

When I asked Rishi if this strategy works for small organizations he said…

“I would say that if your goal is to grow and build your supporters and subscribers, and potentially donors, then I would say, it’s worth doing whether you’re small, whether you’re large, if that is kind of in line with your goals. And I think you should pursue it.”

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear what you should be targeting for cost per click.

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Website
Email – rishirmalhotra@gmail.com

4 Key Takeaways

#1 Include your location when picking your keywords;

#2 Develop a Welcome Series for new subscribers;

#3 Use negative keywords to fine tune your search parameters; and

#4 The Google Grant Program approves most nonprofits, with only some exceptions.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[3:15] The main benefit for paid search and paid social is to boost email list.
[4:07] Get a good landing page.
[4:58] Some people think it costs a lot of money, but it's best to just use the $10k Google Grant Program.
[7:11] The Google Grant application is pretty straight forward.
[7:58] You may want to get advice so you get the results you want.
[8:40] Strategies for picking keywords.
[15:52] Negative keywords.
[16:14] What you should estimate for cost per clicks
[17:34] What keeps most organizations from doing this?

Jess Campbell’s 3 Step Fundraising Outreach Method With a 100% Response Rate.

#047 Today I am speaking with Jess Campbell from Out in the Boons. Jess’ superpower is building meaningful relationships that then turn into donor relationships. The #1 question Jess is asked is – how do I find new donors? Jess is a self described friend-maker, and relationship builder with big dreams. She has developed an outreach method with a 100% response rate that allows her clients to develop new and authentic relationships with potential donors.

“And so the effort to go into a new relationship with authenticity is paramount. And so, yeah, I have this method that I have practiced to date that has a 100% response rate. And thus I’ve started teaching it to my fellow fundraisers so that they can make real relationships that potentially lead to friendships and ultimately donations down the line”.

You’ll have to listen to the episode to hear the steps.

Jess is routinely asked about the effectiveness of sending mass emails vs taking the time to send tailored messages. She says you have to put yourself in the shoes of the recipient. How do you feel when you receive mass emails? Mass emailing may save you time, but tailored messages yield better results.

“When something is tailored and specific people feel very seen and that’s all we want. So I would just counter back that yes, you can do something in the masses that is vague and unspecific and you might get a very low return on investment. Or you can do something that is going to be a little bit more time and a little bit more effort, but it will yield results. And so you just have to choose where you want to put your energy”.

Be sure to stick around until the end to hear Jess’ learnings from the pandemic.

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4 Key Takeaways

#1 The follow-up game is the most important part of fundraising;

#2 Tailored messages are more effective than mass emails;

#3 Sending short messages of value can deepen a relationship;

#4 Research says people have capacity for about 150 relationships- when you remove friends, family, and co-workers, that leaves about 75-90.

Show Notes

**Click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode

[1:57] The number one question I always get asked is just how do I find new donors?
[2:42] I have this method that I have practiced it to date has a 100% response rate.
[3:56] The first step is to consume a piece of content.
[4:28] Next, what I want you to do is I want you to go find that person on social media.
[9:26] And then I want you to send a note that is specific uses gratitude and flattery.
[11:35] When something is tailored and specific people feel very seen.
[15:26] The follow-up game is the game.
[20:47] Every person has capacity for about 150 relationships.
[21:53] Pandemic learnings.

Rachel Bearbower’s 4 Templates That Every Nonprofit Leader Needs To Connect More With Donors And Raise More Funds

Resources

4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

The 3 Characteristics Of The Most Trusted People, According to Minna Taylor.

Resources

4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

A Discussion with Rhea Wong About Her Book – Get That Money, Honey! The No-Bullsh*t Guide to Raising More Money for Your Nonprofit.

Resources

4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

Marketing Specialist Lynn Ruby Shares The Email Marketing Mistakes You Are Making And The Changes You Need to Make Get Your People’s Attention.

Resources

4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

Jess Campbell’s 3 Step Fundraising Outreach Method With a 100% Response Rate.

Resources

4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

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Rachel Bearbower’s 4 Templates That Every Nonprofit Leader Needs To Connect More With Donors And Raise More Funds

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4 Key Takeaways

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Adora Drake’s 5 Step SCALE Framework to Move Social Media Followers to Donors.

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The 3 Characteristics Of The Most Trusted People, According to Minna Taylor.

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4 Key Takeaways

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A Discussion with Rhea Wong About Her Book – Get That Money, Honey! The No-Bullsh*t Guide to Raising More Money for Your Nonprofit.

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Marketing Specialist Lynn Ruby Shares The Email Marketing Mistakes You Are Making And The Changes You Need to Make Get Your People’s Attention.

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4 Key Takeaways

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Can You Really Use Paid Search And Paid Social To Boost Your Email List? Rishi Malhotra Tells Us How To Do It So You Get Better Fundraising Results.

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4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

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Jess Campbell’s 3 Step Fundraising Outreach Method With a 100% Response Rate.

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4 Key Takeaways

Show Notes

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