tribe of fools

Paying for Dracula

So in the past few weeks I’ve been trying to get 200 people to donate $35 in order to make our $7,000 budget. In order to do this I need to contact as many people as I can. Our donor ratio is approximately for every 10 people asked 1 person donates. As far as donor ratios go, that is a really good one. Most non-profits have a ratio or 20 to 1.

But in order to garner 200 donations I need to ask about 2000 people to donate. The only way to ask 2000 people is to contact people that I only talk to about once a year. What do I talk to them about once a year? I talk to them about donating. So in a sense it might feel like I don’t really keep in touch with them at all.

Each solicitation email I send is a personalized email directly to that person. So its not just a copy and paste email campaign. Obviously some details must stay the same but the emails are more than just solicitations. Ultimately I enjoy the fundraising campaign because it forces me to keep in touch with about 1000 people every summer. I get really nice updates from donors and non-donors alike and it keeps me connected with some people that I haven’t seen in almost 15 years. Its nice. But to some people there is still the idea that I’m only contacting them for money, and that’s not true… but yet it is true.

So here is a question I post to anyone reading this. How can I make these solicitations in the volume I need to and maximize the personal nature of the process? Some of you might think, “well that can’t be done”. Maybe. But it must be done. The asks need to be personal not only for efficiency but also to keep the relationship that Tribe of Fools has developed with a number of our supporters. So I ask again, how do I keep my volume up and the personal nature of the ask intact?

All comments are welcome.
Please post your opinions.
Terry

It would be easier if money just grew.