Your mini guide to individual ask amounts in your appeals


Your donors want that "YOU KNOW ME" feeling. This is the 147th Fundraising Writing Newsletter. If you find value here, please tell a fundraising friend. (Your fundraising friend can ​subscribe here for free.)​


In this issue:

βœ… Your mini guide to individual ask amounts in your appeals

βœ… Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

​

Wednesday, October 2, 2024
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Hi Reader,

You ever get that "dang, Netflix knows me" feeling?

I got that feeling over the weekend when I fired up Netflix and saw this:

Hmm, "Culinary Class Wars," "Unsolved Mysteries," "Outlast," "Dark Winds," and "Wyatt Earp"?

Haven't watched any of them yet, but yeah, sounds about right! What can I say? I'm a mysterious girl who likes the outdoors and food. You got me, Netflix!

It's a good feeling to be known.

Your donors want this good feeling, too.

One way to do that:

Individual ask amounts.

I hope you're already using individual ask amounts, at least in your reply form. If so, great! If not, that's okay.

In any case, I you'll find helpful fundraising nuggets in...


Your mini guide to individual ask amounts in your appeals

Donors tend to give similar amounts each time they donate.

By anchoring your ask amounts to each donor’s previous giving, you acknowledge their established capacity... and you encourage them to maintain or increase their support. πŸ“ˆ

Imagine these 2 scenarios:

You put a $500 ask in front of an annual donor who gave $50 last year. Oof. Not good. 😬 Your donor might NOPE out right there and then.

You put a $50 ask in front of a donor who's consistently given $500. Yeesh. Also not good. You're practically inviting your donor to "reset" their giving to a lower amount. πŸ“‰

Instead, consider the following.

A few effective "ask amount" strategies for your active donors

A Classic Formula: This method respects each donor's giving history while providing options to increase support. This ask string formula is simple, scalable, and (usually) rather easily implemented.

Keep in mind that you can tweak your multipliers and the number of asks in your ask strings.

Here's a tried-and-true ask string formula to get you started:

Ask 1: Last gift amount
Ask 2: Last gift x 1.5
Ask 3: Last gift x 2.5
Ask 4: Last gift x 3.5

Gift Table Approach: In this method, you group your donors by giving ranges. This approach could simplify the math for you (depending on your data and system). While not as refined as the above formula, it can do the trick.

You'll need to come up with your own ask amounts and giving ranges, based on your unique needs.

For example:

$1–$49 last gift: Ask $25, $50, $75, $100
$50–$99 last gift: Ask $50, $75, $125, $150
...and so on

Alternative Anchors: Typically, you'll want to anchor your asks based on each donor's last gift. But you might also consider these alternatives:

Previous year’s holiday appeal amount:
For your year-end appeal, consider anchoring your asks to what each donor gave for the previous holiday/year-end appeal. This will be your "Ask 1" upon which all other asks are based. This approach recognizes seasonal giving patterns and can be particularly effective for annual campaigns.
Median of last several gifts:
This method aims to ask donors at their comfort level, as people tend to give about the same amount each time. It can be particularly effective to help smooth out any outliers in giving history. For example, if Mary gave the following five gifts last year: $20, $20, $20, $5, and $75 . . . then her median (most common) gift is $20. You'd therefore start your ask string at $20.

Don't forget πŸ‘‰ We recommend that you always include a write-in option like β€œMy Best Gift: $____” or "Other: $____" to give your donors more autonomy.

​

Now, what about your lapsed donors?

I think you might like this, Reader.

Last month, Jeff Brooks was our guest expert during the all-you-can-eat Q&A session for Tom Ahern's amazing mega-webinar on appeal writing.

Jeff blew our minds with this nugget about ask amounts for lapsed donors (from the transcript):

What moves the needle is: ask them lesser amounts. In other words, where we typically go to a donor and say we're going to ask them for their last gift, plus we multiply up from there... We go last gift, and we multiply downward from there.
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So in other words, we lower the bar for that group. And that does move the needle. It gets more giftsβ€”lower average gift (but) higher response rate. But getting them back in the door is your job with those people. That's a segmentation that's super easy but makes a difference.

If you’d like to hear even more of what Jeff said about this (1 minute, 35 seconds), click here for the audio replay.

What ask amounts should be on your donation page?

A donation page is its own thing. You may be unclear as to what your suggested gift amounts should be there.

There's no one-size-fits-all solution β€” but I do have a handy formula for you!

You can apply this formula to your single gift AND your monthly gift options on your donation page.

​Watch this video to find out how:

Whew, your donors are really feeling seen now!

Just keep in mind, all this is meant to be a starting point.

YOUR success will depend on continual testing and refining based on your donors’ responses. The more you're on top of that, the more you'll actually know your donors. And once that happens, they'll know it and they'll feel it. πŸ’›


Randomly yours: to inspire and recharge you

For your brain, heart, and funny bone...


Until next time: May your donors always feel known ... because you know them!

Grateful,

​

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We're Julie Cooper and Brett Cooper, fundraising copywriters for great causes. Does your fundraising bring in as much money as it could? You can send donor communications that stir hearts to action. We'd love to help. πŸ’› Start by subscribing to our FREE and fun weekly newsletter.

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