Right now, I’m hearing lots of rumblings from charities that are very concerned about the impact of global events, fuel prices in Australia, and the cost of living on donors’ giving patterns this year. This is especially a concern as we are all working on tax appeals currently and are depending on this end-of-financial-year income boost.

If you want to beef up your tax appeal results this year, here are some things that you can do. You might notice the overarching theme is to go for what’s personal and authentic. This is so important at the moment, given a number of factors, including:

• the loneliness crisis in Australia
• the fact that everyone feels really depressed at the moment about the state of the world
• and, of course, all the feelings of unease around AI-generated communication, I have a theory that donors don’t mind using AI for efficiencies, but they do mind using AI for relationships.

So here we go.

Simple, friendly language

In all your communications, strive to eliminate jargon and ‘corporatese’. Go for the kind of copy that will make your internal approvals committees complain that it is unprofessional. We really need to make donors feel connected to our causes and to the people that they’re trying to help. We can’t do this by sounding like corporates or politicians or spin doctors. If you wouldn’t say it to your spouse or your grandma, you probably need to get rid of it.

Phone calls

Call your donors and check in on how they’re going. Ask them to give but be sensitive to signs that they may not be able to at this point in time. If they can’t, then just tell them how much you appreciate everything they’ve done for you in the past. In fact, I would even try contacting donors via WhatsApp or SMS, but only if the communications are warm and personal and you have somebody available to actually respond. Obviously, if you have a file of thousands of donors, you can’t do this for everybody, but I would take a list of 50 to 100 and spend a couple of days just trying to talk to as many donors as possible.

Be upfront

Be honest about the fact that the world is kind of crappy right now, similar to your communications during the pandemic. Just because we’re going through a cost of living crisis doesn’t mean that you can’t ask, but you do need to acknowledge that people are going through pain at the moment.

Here are a couple of examples of how you can do that –  just adapt as needed.

Example 1 – For people charities

We understand that it’s not just the people we help who may be struggling due to the cost of living and higher fuel prices. I’m hearing many of our supporters are too. If you can’t give at this time, we understand and just want to let you know how much we appreciate everything you’ve done in the past. You’ve been so kind and generous. But if your circumstances allow it, your gift would make such a difference to INSERT DETAILS.

Example 2 – For animal/ nature charities

Right now, we know public focus has shifted to global events and its impact on higher cost of living in Australia… and this may be impacting our wonderful supporters. However, at times like these, it’s our furry friends/ beauty of nature/ majestic trees/ INSERT RELEVANT DETAILS that bring us comfort/ boost our wellbeing/ help our mental health/ INSERT BENEFIT. If you have the means to do so, it would be amazing if you could help us to INSERT DETAILS.

Beefing up your tax appeal results this year will take personal touches. And you still have a little time to incorporate one or several of these approaches.

Your donors are feeling the weight of all the terrible things going on in the world at the moment. So one final reminder for you… every touchpoint needs to improve donor wellbeing. The primary aim is to make your donors feel really good, because what they need right now is a little more joy and happiness.

Need some help writing copy that beefs up your results? Ask Creagivity to dream up  your next appeal! Get in touch to book an obligation-free meet and greet with our fearless leader, June, at a time of your choosing.