By Aidan Hijleh, Nonprofit Partnership Liaison, Benchmark Email

Whether your grassroots organization relies on social networks or thrives on face to face (F2F) contact, these five basic tips will help you achieve your fundraising goals more successfully.

Determine your "pricing" strategy

Most directors are not accustomed to attaching a firm price tag to their organization's activities, preferring to adopt an attitude of "donate what you can." Successful major fundraisers such as PBS ask for open-ended donations but also forcefully stress during their Pledge Weeks that "a donation of $60 will get you a CD, $120 a DVD…" and so on. This suggestion of a specific donation in exchange for a set reward or token can be successful for many fundraising organizations. Regardless of your particular grassroots organization's goal or cause, yo'are asking your constituents to make an investment into supporting your ongoing activities, so asking your members to contribute preset amounts in exchange for the direct or intangible benefits you provide will aid in the success of your appeals.

Motivate via incentives

Now that you have your "pricing" set correctly, it's time to present incentives to your donors. These incentives do not have to be tangible (such as PBS's CDs and DVDs) but they have to have a clear value to the donor. Provoking a desired reaction such as atonement, indemnification, reparation, or justification can provide a significant value to your donor that only your organization can provide – and it's worth more than any prize or trinket. Promoting these incentives will motivate your donors to remain engaged with your organization as they can see "what's in it for them."

Conduct a survey

Every director of a charity is well aware that donations are triggered by a desire to assist in a cause and that there must be pre-existing trust in the ability of the organization to achieve that goal. In many ways, the fundraising response acts as a vote on the credibility and image of your entire organization. Polling your supporters and constituents can provide invaluable information to discover the unmet or insufficiently satisfied needs which your organization can help fulfill in order to boost donations. Surveying individuals who are currently not donating to your cause can help you learn:

• Why they are not currently donating
• What you need to do in order to induce them to donate
• What your image is among the donating public
• What competing organizations are doing to raise funds
• Why former supporters are no longer donating

There are many ways to conduct this form of market research, including surveying by email, phone, F2F interviews, public space intercepts, and even setting up focus groups.

Segment your constituents

Proper segmentation of your fundraising email list requires the categorization of donors according to their past donation behavior and future potentials. Your donors may constitute a vast mosaic of different professional and demographic segments, each of which has a different perceived need your organization must satisfy in order to solicit their financial support. Each charity is different so what may be a very lucrative segment for one will be a dud for the next, so pay careful attention to the particular personal characteristics of your historically best donors. Although past donation is never a 100% guaranteed assurance of continued support in the future, it can help you to determine the profile of your typical supporter in order to target them more efficiently.

Get word of mouth flowing

The oldest form marketing is word of mouth, and many grassroots organizations can justifiably claim that it is the most effective. To start a proper word of mouth campaign, develop a "key phrase" of no more than ten words which summarizes your current fundraising appeal that you would like to see every time your organization is discussed, whether in social groups or in the overall media. Then you can develop a set of "message points" which represent the four or five key points you're trying to get across to your supporters. In today's social media age, donations are not restricted to acknowledged philanthropic sources but can arrive from the most unsuspected quarters, so spread as wide a net as possible. Repetition is the key to word of mouth success; ensure that everyone from the executive director down to the casual volunteer manning the phones is completely up to date and trained on the ongoing use of both the "key phrase" and the "message points."

Fundraising through dependence on email and social network marketing can be tremendously successful for grassroots organizations. Commit to the dynamics of this new paradigm and enjoy the boost to your fundraising activities!

Aidan Hijleh serves as a Nonprofit Partnership Liaison for Benchmark Email, a leading permission based email marketing company that caters to the needs of small and large organizations alike.