Write for Expert Fundraiser.

Alan Sharpe, our publisher, is ready to pay you a one-time flat fee or an ongoing royalty for putting your knowledge of fundraising down on paper.

If you are an expert in at least one area of fundraising, and if you know enough to write a how-to guide on your topic, Alan wants to hear from you.

If your area of specialization is one that Alan feels is in high demand, he will commission you to write a special report, handbook or ebook on your topic, and pay you for your efforts.

Here are the topics that Expert Fundraiser needs your help with:

• Raising money from local businesses
• Facebook fundraising
• How to run a silent auction
• How to manage third-party fundraising events
• How to use social media to raise money for your next special event
• How to get free radio, TV and print publicity for your charity or event
• How to organize and run a walkathon or run
• How to organize and run a fundraising dinner
• How to organize and run a fundraising gala
• 101 products to sell at your next fundraiser
• How to raise funds with online peer-to-peer tools and team fundraising webpages
• How to use YouTube for fundraising
• Where to look for grants
• How to write a grant proposal

Let’s say you launch a direct mail fundraising letter campaign to raise funds for people in India who have been displaced by an earthquake. After most of your donations are in, tally the results and flag everyone in your database who gave to this appeal.

Now the next time you mail an appeal letter, send a special letter asking these same donors to consider the following:

• giving another gift at the same level to help the same people in India
• giving another gift to help earthquake victims in Honduras
• giving to the victims in India and to the ones in Honduras
• joining your monthly giving program for India
• joining your monthly giving program for earthquake relief

You could include all of these options on the donor reply card (not recommended; there are too many), or you could simply choose one of these options and make that your only ask in the letter. Once your donations are in, you would do some analysis of the results. Your data from this second campaign would help you identify:

• donors who are interested in earthquake relief
• donors who are interested in India
• donors who support emergency appeals in general

What you are doing with this exercise is segmenting your house mailing list into groups of donors who share interests. This knowledge is valuable to your organization because it helps you to customize your appeals to donors based on what they like to support.

Another advantage of segmenting your database is that it helps you increase revenues. Donors who are asked to support only those projects or initiatives that interest them are likely to give you a larger gift than donors who are asked to support your general fund.

You can slice and dice your database as many ways as you want. Using the above example, you could flag all donors who support your work in India, further segment this group into those who support your earthquake relief work in India, and further segment this group into donors who support your medical aid to victims of earthquakes in India.

As long as you have a robust donor tracking software system, competent staff, and time to do this kind of segmenting, you will be in a good position to increase the number and dollar amount of the donations you receive from donors in your house list.

You might be interested in…

Mail Superiority. Learn the proven, step-by-step process for raising funds and friends cost effectively, year after year.

Handbook Number 16 Direct Mail Fundraising Arithmetic Demystified. Master 14 common formulas that help you measure—and improve—your DM fundraising results.

Handbook Number 10 Six Insider Secrets of Running a Profitable Annual Fundraising Letter Program. Proven techniques from the professionals for building long-term relationships with your donors and members.