Fundraising for any nonprofit organization can be daunting. There are various ways in which an organization can go about asking donors for money. However, there is one fundraising channel that has proven to be successful time and time again in terms of engaging donors: direct mail. 

As a marketing tool, direct mail can be more appealing due to its physical format and personalized content. If you or your nonprofit organization have decided to use direct mail to reach donors, you’ve made a smart choice. However, fine-tuning the structure and content of a fundraising letter can be complex and tedious. Here are five best practices that will make your direct mail development manageable while also improving its quality:

1. Customize your fundraising letter templates.

When launching your direct mail campaign, you want to make sure that your fundraising letter is impactful, appealing, and organized. One of the most important aspects of writing a great fundraising letter is choosing and customizing the right template. Most fundraising letter templates include some variation of these six pieces:

1. Salutation
2. Opening
3. Cause
4. Anecdote
5. Image
6. Call to action

When choosing the right template for your appeal, make sure that it represents what you want to highlight for your fundraising. For example, perhaps you’ve already sent out your initial fundraising letter and you wish to follow up with a matching gift request. In that case, use an acknowledgment letter that thanks the donor for their contributions and encourages them to research their matching gift eligibility through their employer. 

The fundraising template you use sets the tone for how you promote your cause. Your fundraising letter, in a sense, is an extension of the brand image that you wish to create for your nonprofit. Regardless of what that image looks like, your template should allow your letter to be concise, easy to read, and attention-grabbing. After all, you want your donor to acknowledge the letter as an exciting opportunity rather than just another piece of snail mail. 

For example, you could include an important statistic relating to your mission or add a quote or slogan that summarizes your cause. Organizing your template ultimately makes it easier to communicate your message and get the response you’re looking for.

2. Include a section about matching gifts.

Matching gifts are essential for maximizing your nonprofit donations. This type of corporate philanthropy consists of donations made by a donor’s employer in response to a gift made by the employee. This is a fantastic way to double (or even triple!) your existing donations, but it’s often overlooked by donors and nonprofits alike. 

Therefore, it’s a good idea to educate your supporters about the prevalence and power of matching gift programs. Usually, you’ll ask them to contact their employer for eligibility and any necessary forms to fulfill the gift request (as each corporation has its own set of matching gift guidelines). However, matching gift software can simplify this process by easily providing donors with information about their employer’s giving programs.

Overall, matching gifts have several benefits for nonprofits, corporations, and donors alike. For the donors, matching gifts come at no additional cost but allow them to see the impact of their donation go twice as far. In addition, the company can get recognition for corporate social responsibility, which improves its reputation and provides them with tax cuts. 

Finally, for nonprofits, matching gifts can increase revenue while also aiding them in segmenting their donor database. By connecting donors to certain companies, nonprofits can obtain valuable insights on how to further customize and curate content for their audience. Make sure you send out your matching gift appeals for these reasons and more.

3. Strategically curate your greeting and P.S.

Curating content is important—especially when the end of the year approaches. It allows you to personalize the direct mail content for your donor. The more you personalize a direct mail letter, the more you motivate your donor in supporting the cause. 

Personalization means not only explaining how the cause is relevant to the reader but also using language and terminology that resonates with them. There are few better opportunities when it comes to personalizing your content than the greeting and P.S. 

When drafting your direct mail appeals, it’s important to recognize that your recipients are likely going to skim the text. And when readers scan a letter, studies show that they typically jump straight to the P.S. after the opening.

Therefore, when writing your greeting and P.S., be sure to effectively communicate the feeling you want to create in your donor. If you want your donor to feel close to your nonprofit, you may adopt an informal and casual tone in your greeting and P.S. Perhaps you want them to read the letter as if they were receiving it from a close friend. You can then conclude your P.S. with a joke that will make them smile. 

This section can also include additional information that can get the donor more involved in the cause. It can be a minor suggestion based on the specific donor, or it can be a reference to a website/organizational resource. In short, the greeting and P.S. are the main components of the letter that donors remember; that’s why it has been used in sales-boosting for so long. Ask yourself what impact you want to have on the donor, and make your opening and closing statements reflect that.

4. Wrap up with a clear and concise CTA.

Once you have explained your cause and its current state, you must bring your letter to a close with a strong call to action (or CTA). The CTA is the most important part of your direct mail when it comes to asking for donations. 

This is where you highlight the exact purpose and importance of your donor’s contribution to the cause. Here you must be specific with what action you demand from your donor. You’ve already detailed the broader scope of your organization’s efforts, and now it’s time to hone it down to one ask. It can be for monetary gifts, volunteer time, matching gift requests, or even event sign-ups. 

Whatever your ask is, just make sure that you tie it back to that larger purpose. State why your intended action is necessary to push the cause forward. For example, you can write, “with your donation of $100 dollars, you can feed a struggling family of four for a month. ” This puts a tangible incentive along with your donation request to make the reader more likely to form an emotional connection.

The CTA can and should be used repeatedly throughout the body of your fundraising letter to improve results. The effectiveness of your CTA depends on how well you get your point across and its sense of urgency. You should make the donor feel like they are an extension of the organization. In other words, they must take action because any choice they make can have a large impact on the cause—and the good of the constituents depends on them. 

5. Work with a dedicated direct mail fundraising platform.

Now that you understand the importance of an effective direct mail fundraising strategy, you must find the proper platform to meet your needs. Specifically, you’ll want to look for a platform that provides the tools and accessibility you need to craft your letter and maximize your ROI. 

When finding a direct mail platform, you will notice how there are several companies that specialize in nonprofit direct mail, each having its own set of pros and cons in their services. Here are some of the features and considerations you may want to look out for:

• Low costs: Using direct mail can come with hefty start-up costs. As a nonprofit organization, you want to minimize the amount of spending on utilities and resources in order to maximize your investment in the cause. With the right direct mail fundraising platform, you can actually save money by paying less than you would on envelopes, ink, and stamps.
• Experience and reputation: An experienced partner is necessary for any nonprofit using direct mail, but especially for smaller organizations that might not have a ton of history in the fundraising space. If funding is low, you’ll need a partner who can guide you in utilizing the right tools to market your organization effectively.
• Tools and resources: Try to find a partner who’s direct mail platform has the right services for your organization. For example, let’s say your nonprofit is looking to increase your matching gift revenue. A company such as 360MatchPro may be a good fit for you since the platform is dedicated to automating the matching gift outreach process and maximizing your corporate dollars. However, if you’re looking for a more generalized direct mail platform, you might want to take a look at GivingMail’s services.

When you find the right fundraising partner for your organization, you lay the groundwork for strategic direct mail marketing success. Plus, you can save time, money, and effort that can then be reinvested into your mission. It’s a win-win!

All in all, direct mail fundraising appeals have significant potential to raise unlimited dollars for mission-driven organizations like yours. When you use customizable templates, promote matching gifts, include strategically crafted greetings, P.S., and calls to action, and find the right fundraising partner, you’re sure to see revenue flying in in no time. Good luck!

This guest post was contributed by Grant Cobb of GivingMail.

Grant Cobb is a fundraising specialist with over 6 years of experience in the nonprofit space. Currently the head of marketing and analytics at GivingMail, he is a huge proponent of data-driven decision making and the push to bring high-level analytics and fundraising to all.

Peer-to-peer events are great moneymakers. If you use matching gifts, your peer-to-peer event can raise even more funds for your nonprofit. Wondering how you can get your participants involved with a matching gift campaign during your peer-to-peer event? Read on for tips from Qgiv on how to successfully integrate matching gifts into your fundraising event.

Market matching gifts on event pages

One simple way to encourage matching gifts during your peer-to-peer event is to ask for them on your event page. Highlight matching gifts as a strategy that makes donations go further. Many of your supporters may not know what matching gifts are. Devote some space on your page to define matching gifts and explain how participants can apply for a match.

If your nonprofit secured a matching gift pledge from a major donor, your board, or from a foundation offering matching gifts, tell your visitors to take advantage of the match! Most matching gift pledges specify gifts are matched to a specific dollar amount. Don’t leave money on the table. Instead, make sure everyone who visits your event page knows that by making a gift, they’re making twice the impact!

If you use Double the Donation to help donors search for matching gift opportunities, embed the search bar on your event page. Be sure to place it somewhere that encourages your visitors to use it. You may even want the matching gift search to appear on multiple pages. Within Qgiv’s peer-to-peer tools, for instance, you could display the search bar on your main event page, on participant fundraising pages, and on the transaction details page if donors gave without searching for a match before submitting their gift. Qgiv even offers an integration with Double the Donation that embeds the matching search widget on donation forms so donors can easily search for a match during the giving process.

Junior Achievement of Chicago uses the Double the Donation 360MatchPro and Qgiv integration to display a matching gift search on their peer-to-peer donation forms.

Incentivize matching gifts

Encouraging donors to put in extra effort to support your nonprofit sometimes takes a bit of bribery (the harmless and rewarding kind!). Incentivizing your matching gift campaign can encourage more matching gifts. Within your peer-to-peer event, you can offer incentives that provide a handicap to teams if your event is a competition. Or you could offer an exclusive prize to participants who successfully match their gifts. Enticing donors to make matching gifts can be a great strategy to boost the number of matching gifts applied for during your event. The trick is knowing what incentives will motivate your donors.

Event-specific incentives

• Special shout outs during the event
• An advantage in a competitive peer-to-peer event
• A digital badge displayed on their participant fundraising page
• Exclusive event merchandise for gift matches
• Prizes customized with the nonprofit’s branding and logo
• An after party for top donors and donors who made matching gifts

Generalized matching gift incentives

• Invitations to future special events (non-fundraisers)
• A shout out in your nonprofit’s donor newsletter
• Membership in an exclusive giving society
• A phone call from the CEO thanking the donor for applying for a gift match

Think about your audience and what would motivate them to make a matched gift. Make the incentive relevant to your event and your supporters.

Make matching gift searches easy

One of the simplest ways to encourage matching gifts for your peer-to-peer event is making the process easy. If your donor has to put in a lot of legwork calling their Human Resources Department, printing out their receipt, and setting up a meeting to verify their donation and request a match, they’re not going to be as likely to apply for the match. Instead, simplify the process as much as possible by making the search for matching gifts easy.

Searching for your company on Double the Donation’s platform is a quick and easy way for employees to find their employer and get the details on applying for a match. Embedding their search tool on your event page makes that process even easier.

Donors can find their employer and then start the matching gift application directly after making their donation. Making a matching gift search the last step in the event donation process can help increase the odds your donors will search for their company and go through the steps of applying for the match.

Recruit fundraisers from companies with matching gifts programs

If you want matching gifts to be a focal point of your peer-to-peer event, it helps to recruit participants whose companies have a gift matching program. Because you can’t guarantee each participant works for an eligible company when they register, recruit local companies that offer gift matches and encourage their employees to participate. If you’re unsure which companies to approach, search for their matching gift programs on the Double the Donation platform.

Instead of hoping that your participants will work for companies with a corporate philanthropy department, pit local companies against one another for your peer-to-peer event. This strategy can be tricky to execute but has the potential to pay off. Set up meetings with each company to discuss partnering together for your event. Explain the format of the event and, most importantly, how participation will benefit the companies involved.

Once you’ve managed to get several companies on board, finish planning your event and open registration and donations. Encourage employees from each company to donate and apply for gift matches through their company’s matching gift program. Honor the company that raises the most money with a top fundraising company award!

To further incentivize giving, ask your CEO if they’d be willing to take part in an activity like a pie in the face if their employees raise the most money for the event. Marketing the event as an opportunity to slightly embarrass your boss for charity can garner more employee participation.

City Year Philadelphia did a great job of marketing their Pie for Progress campaign.

Plan for this with the CEO rather than surprise them with it. You’ll want to make sure whoever “wins” is okay with the incentive their employees are working toward.

Conclusion

You can make peer-to-peer event donations go further by incorporating a matching gift campaign. Just make sure your campaign is highly visible and easy for participants. Further increase the odds of participants matching gifts by incentivizing gift matches with prizes and recruiting participants from companies with matching gift programs. Above all, following matching gift best practices to make the most of your matching gifts program.

This post was contributed by Shay Lessman at Qgiv. Shay is a writer and editor with a passion for helping nonprofit organizations succeed. He has experience in fundraising communications and has written several successful grants. He is also a proud pet parent of two very naughty dogs. When he’s not working at Qgiv, he can usually be found writing poetry, playing games, or listening to podcasts.

Double the Donation and Donately are very excited to announce their technical integration partnership! This duo has come together to bring nonprofits and religious organizations the robust power of 360MatchPro, the industry leading matching gift software. The 360MatchPro tool works with your Donately platform to identify more matching gift opportunities then drive them to completion. This partnership will help target the 18 million individuals who are eligible for matching gift benefits.

“After seeing the 360MatchPro functionality, we understand why it is the industry leading matching gift software,” said Bryan Shanaver, CEO and Cofounder at Donately. “ It fits in perfectly with our Donately standards, meaning it increases revenue, improves donor experience and simplifies the gift matching process. Deciding to integrate with 360MatchPro seemed like a no-brainer.”

360MatchPro identifies match-eligible donors during the Donately donation process using streamlined search tools. Then, you can customize this tool to automate outreach, which educates your donors while providing them with a direct link to their matching gift submission form. This makes it incredibly easy to inform and target the 78% of match-eligible donors who are completely unaware of their matching gift programs.

“We love the innovative Donately platform for its simple and streamlined tools, so we are very excited to offer matching gift opportunities to their clients,” said Adam Weinger, President of Double the Donation. “Through this partnership, we can automate the matching gift process, which will help organizations take advantage of the billions and billions of dollars offered in matching gift revenue. This process is easy and effective so that organizations can spend even more time focusing on the causes they care about.”

The Donately and 360MatchPro integration works to close the donor awareness gap that causes nonprofits to miss out on their matching gift potential. Through education and automation, you can save time while potentially doubling or even tripling your matching gift revenue.

Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!

360MatchPro and Donately fit together seamlessly. To integrate these two programs, simply log in to your Donately account and navigate to the “Integrations” section. Then, access the “Native Integrations” tab and enter your 360MatchPro credentials. That’s all there is to it!

Enter your credentials to activate the integration!

Once you have the integration all set up, your donation form will be equipped with the 360MatchPro search bar. This tool allows donors to easily type in the name of their employer while filling out the donation form. Then, the360MatchPro tool will scan an extensive database of matching gift programs to see if the donor is match eligible. If they are, they can access a direct link to their matching gift form right on the confirmation page.

Identify match-eligible donors during the donation process!

After the donation process, you can configure your 360MatchPro account to send automated yet personalized messages to your donors, making it easier than ever to educate them about matching gift requests and drive their gift matches to completion!

Looking to learn more? Check out our in-depth integration guide to get started!

Drive More Matching Gifts to Completion with 360MatchPro!

360MatchPro uses specialized functionality to fuel your fundraising initiatives! It can:

• Identify more matching gift revenue opportunities: 360MatchPro enables you to automatically collect matching gift eligibility from donors using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email. The more matching gift opportunities 360MatchPro discovers and shares with donors, the more matching gift requests your donors will successfully submit.
• Drive more matches to completion, from form submission to corporate payment: Direct donors immediately to their matching gift forms after the donation process is complete. Then, provide the right information to the right donors at the right time with custom emails based on match eligibility. Target follow-ups drive more completed submissions than ever before, bringing exponentially more matching gift checks from companies through your door.
• Reallocate your time from routine follow-up to your top opportunities: Your time is valuable, so why spend it chasing small dollar-value matching gifts? Let 360MatchPro automate your matching gift outreach while flagging your highest-value opportunities, allowing your team to personalize follow-ups to the most valuable match-eligible donations. Rest easy knowing that 360MatchPro can handle the rest.

Drive matching gift revenue with 360MatchPro!

Ready to get started? Schedule a personalized demo to learn more about how gift matching can drive revenue for your organization.

About Donately: Donately was started in 2013 with the mission to create the simplest online donation solution around. Their platform was designed to be simple but is able to scale infinitely, meaning they offer unlimited fundraising pages and customizable donation forms to a large range of organizations. Donately’s system even allows for quick and easy connections to web apps, such as Salesforce, MailChimp and more. To learn more, visit: https://donately.com

About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The 360MatchPro platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. 360MatchPro integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts. To learn more visit https://360matchpro.com/demo-request/

Double the Donation, the leading provider of matching gift and volunteer grant solutions to nonprofits, is excited to announce the integration of its 360MatchPro corporate matching gift solution with GivingFuel, a fundraising platform dedicated to ease-of-use, affordability, and nearly unlimited options for nonprofit organizations. 

“GivingFuel is dedicated to providing affordable, easy-to-use software with powerful fundraising tools, and 360MatchPro fits our mission perfectly,” says Justin Zoradi, President of GivingFuel. “Teaming up with Double the Donation allows us to create opportunities for nonprofits to raise more funds without putting in more effort, and that’s what we’re about.” 

360MatchPro enables nonprofits to take advantage of the underutilized matching gift space by providing their donors with an opportunity to search their company name, find their eligibility, and get their gift matched by their employer. The automated search tool maps donors’ entries to their employer and the 360MatchPro plugin provides a direct pipeline to the appropriate company gift matching request form. The entire process is automated, freeing up organizations’ time so they can dedicate their efforts to furthering their own missions and causes.

“Over 26 million individuals work for companies that have matching gift programs. But organizations see very little revenue from matching gifts because of how few of those 26 million individuals actually know about matching gift programs or how to take advantage of them,” says Adam Weinger, President at Double the Donation. “Closing the awareness gap allows nonprofits to receive all that revenue companies already set aside for them.”

GivingFuel has enhanced both functionality and customer experience by substituting the previous solution by Amply with the 360MatchPro solution by Double the Donation. With the new integrated solution, 360MatchPro and GivingFuel can double or even triple the value of donations made to nonprofits. 

Activate in Seconds and Start Raising More from Matching Gifts!

Activating the 360MatchPro tool within your GivingFuel forms is simple and quick, so you can get up and running with matching gifts in no time. Adding 360MatchPro functionality is as easy as selecting employer matching, entering your public API key, and choosing the location of your search tool. After that, you’re up and running with corporate gift matching–no complicated IT work required. 

Enter your public API key from your 360MatchPro account to link to your GivingFuel donation forms.

Once the 360MatchPro tool is live on your GivingFuel forms, donors will be able to search their company name and find their matching gift eligibility using the autocomplete search tool. Double the Donation found that a third of donors who are encouraged by the possibility of a match are more likely to donate a higher dollar amount–that’s why the 360MatchPro and GivingFuel integration follow up that eligibility discovery with a direct pipeline to donors’ company matching gift request forms from the confirmation page. Minimizing the steps a donor has to take to get their gift matched maximizes the probability of that match moving to completion!

Donors can find their company name with ease using the 360MatchPro autocomplete search tool on GivingFuel donation pages.

GivingFuel and 360MatchPro work together to make gift matching feel as natural as making an initial donation, allowing nonprofits to take advantage of the $4-7 billion dollars left on the table in matching gift revenue each year.

Looking to learn more? Check out our in-depth integration guide to get started!

Drive Donations to Completion with 360MatchPro!

Corporate philanthropy can have an incredible impact on nonprofits, if those nonprofits are provided with effective and easy-to-use tools. By making the switch from Amply to Double the Donation, GivingFuel has made it possible for your nonprofit to see that impact with 360MatchPro’s powerful gift matching marketing tools. 

GivingFuel offers a simple, centralized, and secure way for your nonprofit to drive donations, and the 360MatchPro plugin follows suit with endless features designed to take the stress out of gift matching marketing.

• Identify more matching gift revenue opportunities: 360MatchPro enables you to automatically collect matching gift eligibility from donors using email domains, within donation forms, on confirmation screens, or by email. The more matching gift opportunities 360MatchPro discovers and shares with donors, the more matching gift requests your donors will successfully submit.
• Drive more matches to completion, from form submission to corporate payment: Direct donors immediately to their matching gift forms after the donation process is complete. Then, provide the right information to the right donors at the right time with custom emails based on match eligibility. Target follow-ups drive more completed submissions than ever before, bringing exponentially more matching gift checks from companies through your door.
• Reallocate your time from routine follow-up to your top opportunities: Your time is valuable, so why spend it chasing small dollar-value matching gifts? Let 360MatchPro automate your matching gift outreach while flagging your highest-value opportunities, allowing your team to personalize follow-ups to the most valuable match-eligible donations. Rest easy knowing that 360MatchPro can handle the rest.

Drive matches to completion so you can focus on what matters most to your organization.

Don’t wait on the opportunity to double your fundraising revenue with corporate gift matching—request a demo today to get started. 

About GivingFuel: One of the world’s simplest and most affordable donation platform, GivingFuel helps people and organizations fundraise to change the world. GivingFuel offers the ability to create beautiful donation pages plus tools like peer-to-peer, event registration, online ticketing, text-to-give, and donor management. Visit givingfuel.com for more. 

About Double the Donation: Automate your matching gift fundraising with the industry-leading solution from Double the Donation. The 360MatchPro platform provides nonprofits with tools to identify match-eligible donors, drive matches to completion, and gain actionable insights. 360MatchPro integrates directly into donation forms, CRMs, social fundraising software, and other nonprofit technology solutions to capture employment information and follow up appropriately with donors about matching gifts. To learn more about Double the Donation, visit https://doublethedonation.com and request a demo at https://360matchpro.com/demo-request/.