Return to Sender...

If you're like me, you greet the mailbox with baited breath every afternoon after you send out your 100 amazingly awesome fundraising letters. Every day there are three things you can find in your mailbox: donations (yaaaay!), emptiness (booooo!) or even worse than nothing, returned letters (booo! hiss!).

That little stamp on the envelope, giving you the postal equivalent of the finger, pointing back to your return address with the words: "Undeliverable, Return to Sender" really stinks. Hopefully you won't get many, but if you get a 10% failure rate from some old addresses, that's still 10 letters returned!

So here's your action plan for dealing with those returned letters:

1. Do not forget your returned letters.
Stack them up somewhere and process them all together after a few days have passed and it seems like you have gotten them all (or most of them!) back.

2. Match your returned letters against your Excel spreadsheet.
I mark my donor information this way:
- Returned letter, no alternate contact: I color the entire line of info for the donor in red and mark it in bold italics.
- Returned letter, with alternate contact (like email): I only bold/red/italicize the bad information.

3. Start looking for alternative contact information for those donors that you only had an address for:
- Call your family or friends, ask for an email address or a different mailing address. This works well for me: I email my mother the names of the returned letter recipients that she knew. She found addresses from her address book that were newer than mine, and email addresses for some as well.
- Hit up "the Google" and try to find alternate contact information. Good sites for this, beyond Google:
- http://www.switchboard.com
- http://pipl.com
- http://www.facebook.com & http://www.myspace.com are good social networking sites where you might find old friends.

4. Process the envelopes themselves
- You should have self-addressed stamped envelopes in these returned letters: Separate them out and keep them for future letters!
- You might also have business cards or magnets, or other "takeaway items" you included in your envelopes, be sure to save those.
- Save your letter, if it's not personalized to the donor, or doesn't have a deadline that's too close to use anymore.
- Save the notecards that you wrote, in case you find a working address.

5. Make contact!
- Contact each "returned donor by whatever alternative you can find. If it's email, dust off the email you sent out to your friends, and send it to the donor anew.
- Resend your donation letters to donors for whom you have revised mailing addresses. Use a fresh envelope!

6. Use up your SASEs!
After you find new data and send out your fundraising information, find a way to use up any leftover self-addressed stamped envelopes that you still have! If you have four left over, figure out four new people to mail.
- Call your parents again, tell them who you have contacted, ask them for fresh suggestions. When I contacted my mother to ask her for suggestions, even before I told her who I had contacted, she blurted out three names I never would have thought of! You've been looking at your donor list for awhile now, and your brain has probably gotten a little bit stale with new ideas.
- Sit down with your spouse or a close friend and brainstorm with them. Who would they contact that might be a mutual friend of yours?
Reuse any letters that don't have personalization or aren't out-of-date, and send them with your SASE's.

Hopefully these tips will hel pyou deal with returned letters. They're always a downer to find in your mailbox, but remember that a returned letter is just the price of doing a letter-writing campaign. Don't be disappointed, use the returned letter as an opportunity to reach out in a different way, or ask someone else to donate!

Good luck and GO TEAM!

Spring Cleaning to Save Lives

Spring is just a few weeks away (yay!) and with it comes the itch to start "spring cleaning"; clearing out the clutter from your home. Before you donate or toss items, consider how you might use all your excess "stuff" to make a profit and raise funds for your Team in Training event.

Here are some ideas to raise funds using those items you don't need any more. And if you work for a company that provides matching gifts, you can double the funds you raise by donating them through your company's program!

Selling Locally
Examples: televisions, furniture, stereo or home theater equipment, appliances, automobiles, lawn equipment, home gym equipment, recreation equipment (bicycles, skateboards, punching bags), office equipment

Summary: These are items you'll want to unload locally, either because shipping is too expensive, the items need to be "test driven" by buyers, or because you just find it easier to sell to buyers who live near you.

Sites for Selling Locally:

1. Craigslist: http://www.craigslist.org
2. Cheapcycle: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Cheapcycle_Groups/
3. National Thrift Store Directory: http://thethriftshopper.com/
4. eBay Motors: http://www.motors.ebay.com/
   

Books, CD's, DVD's, VHS Tapes
Examples: random books you have around the house, text books, out-of-print or hard-to-find books, compact discs, movies on DVD, movies on VHS

Summary: We all seem to acquire books that we read once and never read again. The same goes for CD's and movies. It's incredibly easy to unload these items on the Internet. Shop around the sites below and sell items at the places that will give you the most money for your "stuff". Put all of your unwanted media up for sale, and after your event, donate the unsold items to charity.

Sites for Selling Media:

1. Half.com: http://www.half.ebay.com/
2. Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/gp/seller/sell-your-stuff.html
3. Powell's Books: http://www.powells.com/
4. Barnes & Noble Textbooks: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/frames/selltextbooks/index.asp
   

Original Art Work
Examples: Photography, drawings, illustrations, stained glass, homemade jewelry, paper or beads, other homemade crafts, designs for postcards or t-shirts

Summary: Do you have a creative streak? You can sell your original artwork or handmade crafts online in a number of places and in a variety of ways and donate your proceeds to your event.

1. Etsy: http://www.etsy.com
   
2. Zazzle.com: http://www.zazzle.com
3. Cafe Press: http://www.cafepress.com

Event Tickets
Examples: season tickets, individual sports tickets, event tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets

Summary: If you have season tickets or event tickets on hand that you don't plan to use, they can help you make money for your event! If you don't want to give up a full season's worth of tickets, select the specific games or shows you aren't interested in, and sell just those.

Sites for Selling Tickets:

1. StubHub: http://www.stubhub.com

Everything Else
Examples: Anything and everything! Clothing, small appliances, hobbyist equipment (photography, stained glass, computers), software, sports equipment, collectibles, memorabilia, electronics

Summary: There is one place where you can unload everything under the sun. Anything, and I do mean anything, that you can't sell from one of the above sections, should be considered for eBay. If you haven't used it, give it a whirl. Listing items is incredibly simple, and there's a reason why it's the world's largest marketplace. You might be amazed to find who's interested in buying that vintage "Rush" concert t-shirt from the mid-1980's!

1. eBay: http://www.ebay.com

Selling the stuff you no longer need is a win/win situation. You can clear the clutter from your life, make someone else happy, and raise money to fight blood cancers at the same time! As spring approaches, take a fresh look at all the junk lying around your house and think about how you can use it to raise money.

As always, good luck and GO TEAM!

How to Say Thanks

The natural progression of fundraising is simple:

1. You grovel for money.
2. People give it to you.
3. You thank them.

#3 is not optional.

The quality and timeliness of your thank you notes can make a real difference in your fundraising. That might seem surprising - after all, if you've already received a donation from someone, how can the way you thank them make a difference in your numbers?

It's simple, really. Toward the end of your fundraising and training, you will get to the "grovel zone". The grovel zone is where you send out an email to everyone you've ever contacted, because you are ---><--- thiiiis close to your fundraising goal and every dollar counts. And if you're well past your fundraising goal, consider raising it so you can get to the grovel zone, because every dollar you raise past your minimum makes an even bigger difference in the lives of those fighting blood cancer.

And when it comes down to it, the people that you've graciously thanked will be more tempted to pony up an extra $5, $10 or more for your cause either this time around, or for your next event.

Online Thank You Notes/Emails
The easiest thank you note to write is the one you write online. Team in Training's fundraising portal makes it easy for you to track your thank you notes for all the donations you receive online and I recommend you use it. Here are 4 tips for your online notes:

1. Only use TNT's standardized thank you note as a guideline - customize your own.
   Write your own note, and keep it as a template that you can refer to for later notes. The standard thank you text is far too generic in my opinion. Spice up the letter to make it more your own, and then save a copy on your home computer, or email it to yourself, and use it as a starting point for all of your notes. Be sure to always thoroughly reread every letter before you send it to make sure that it still works for the person you're thanking and that you didn't accidentally leave someone else's personalization in it. (Aaaawkward!)
   
   
2. Only 1 person per thank you note/email.
   TNT's portal allows you to send your thank you note to multiple people. Don't be tempted to do this. If you're thanking more than one person at a time, you're not tailoring your thank you note. It will sound like a form letter, and you already hit them with a form letter when you asked them to give you money. Personalize the thank you.
   
   
3. Send your thank you emails at the same time every day and within 24 hours.
   I have a routine where I send out my thank you notes every morning after I've gotten dressed for work but before I leave for the office. I'm in more of a writing mood in the morning, and I have fewer distractions before I settle in for work. Find a time of day when you can take 5-10 minutes without distraction and send out your notes at that time every day.
   
   
4. Cc: yourself on your thank you email.
   The TNT portal doesn't save the emails you send, so copy yourself on your emails. Your recipients won't see that anyone besides them received your thank you note, and this way you can keep track of exactly what you said to each person you thanked and when you thanked them.

Offline Thank You Notes
You will want to send offline thank you notes to people who mail checks to you. I also make sure to send an offline thank you note in addition to the email I sent online for people who donate more than $25. Here are 5 tips for writing thank you notes offline:

1. Create and use a base template.
   Just like an online note, put together a few words to refer to as a standard template, and then customize from there. You'll probably write a shorter handwritten note than you'll have for your email thank you notes, so pull out your best phrases and make sure they work in a handwritten note.
   
   
2. No good at physically writing letters? Type it up before you write.
   Whenever I totally wing it in my head, I end up scribbling something and then wanting to scratch it out and write over it. This is a mess in a thank you note. So I take that base template, type out a few words of personalization around it, and then I put pen to paper and transcribe it, word for word, into my note. When I'm done with the note, I remove my edits and start fresh on the computer with the next note.
   
   
3. Send thank you notes for your mailed-in donations first.
   If you're sending thank you notes to people who donate more than $25 online, as well as to everyone who mails you a check, send the thank you notes to those who mailed you a check first. The others can wait a little while if need be because you've already thanked them online.
   
   
4. Pace yourself!
   Brides can tell you about this firsthand. Thank you note fatigue is no fun and when a bunch of them pile up, it can seem overwhelming. The stress of having to say thank you can kill your gratitude. So stay on top of your notes and pace yourself.
   a. Bring your blank notes (and your base template) with you to the office and wherever you go. Anytime you have 5 minutes, slam out just one note. Don't try to do them all at once.
   b. Restrict yourself to a maximum of 3 notes in one sitting.
   
   
5. Note "Goodies" - Consider them!
   Consider some note "goodies" for your written thank you notes, particularly for those who generously donated to your event. These little extras can serve multiple purposes: They can remind your donor why you're riding or they can be a little something your donor can distribute to friends who might be interested in donating. Or they can simply be a nice way of saying "thanks". Consider the following possibilities:
   a. A picture of you with your honored teammate, or you out training with your team.
   b. Magnets with your picture, or your honored teammate's photo on them and your website URL along with a simple "Thank you for your donation!"
   c. Moo cards

Going back to the well for additional donations is always possible when you've taken the time to properly thank your donors. And a good thank you is especially important if you want to do another TNT event. Hopefully these tips will help you write out all those thank you notes without getting overwhelmed.

Good luck and GO TEAM!

5 Tips to Getting a Sponsorship

We're 2-3 weeks past kickoff, and your fund raising efforts should be kicking into high gear. Reaching out to local businesses in your community is crucial to raising money in sizable chunks. The key is to reach out to everyone you can think of, and to make it hard for them to say 'no'!

To get to 'yes', I suggest that you customize your fund raising letters, and add on to TNT's standard corporate sponsorship with customized sponsorship levels and benefits of your own. Really sell your local business owners on what you will do to help promote them in return for their dollars. If you show them how donating money to you will help their bottom line, they'll be much more likely to sponsor you.

1. You pay 'em? You ask 'em!
   Send a letter, with a #10 (full-sized) security-lined SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) to every single business person that you can recall paying, for as far back as you can remember. Hit up your dry cleaner, your masseuse, your mechanic. Everyone! I did this, and I just received a $100 check (in my SASE) from a seamstress I've hired a few times over the past couple of years.
   
   
2. Include the corporate sponsorship proposal with your letter.
   Do not make a business reach out to you to ask for a copy of TNT's corporate sponsorship proposal. Include a copy with each letter you send to businesses. (Print on both sides to save paper.) And while you're at it, go ahead and make sure your name is already printed on the "Team Member" line.
   
   
3. Do the legwork for them.
   If your corporate sponsorship proposal includes directions for the sponsor to mail a check to LLS, and mail the sponsorship proposal to your local chapter, offer to do the legwork for them! Include a #10 (full-size) security lined envelope, self-addressed and stamped. Over the directions for mailing back the paperwork on the proposal, attach a Post-It note, handwritten with the following: If you mail the proposal back to me before (date) I will handle distribution of your check and paperwork with LLS. Thanks! - Yourname.
   Be sure that your "return by" date is far enough in advance of the deadline your chapter sets for corporate sponsorships for you to manage processing their check!
   
   
4. Offer businesses all options!
   $500 is the minimum buy-in for a corporate sponsorship on our proposals, but I make sure to include in my letter another alternative: "Want to help but can't participate as a full sponsor?" in nice bold letters, followed by instructions for making a regular donation, will do wonders. Not all sponsors can afford $500 - $1,500.
   
   
5. Create your custom sponsorship levels!
   Our local Team in Training chapters offer standard sponsorship benefits at the $500 and up range, but be sure to include something that might entice those who can't afford a full sponsorship. This goes hand-in-hand with #2. Consider this kind of blurb in your letter:
   
   Want to help but can't participate as a full sponsor?
   
   Thank you for your generosity! I would love to partner with you for my event! While standard Team in Training benefits start at the $500 level, I am excited to offer these personalized options for all sponsors donating at least $100:
   
   
   
   1. Sponsor a Mile: I will be promoting 26 sponsors on my "Sponsor-a-Mile" page and on my fundraising page! Pick your mile! I will link to your site and promote your business throughout my training.
      
   2. Personal Promotion Package: I've asked for your help because I love working with your business and your service has always been exceptional! Sponsor me and together we'll come up with a personal promotion package! I can write three honest reviews of your business on three different review sites to promote your business while you help me fund my run! Other options are available, just ask!
      
   3. Sponsorship Spotlight: Each week I feature one of my sponsors in a Sponsorship Spotlight on my blog! I will link to your site, include information about your business, and tell all of my readers, many of whom are local, about my wonderful experience with your business and your generous sponsorship!
      

You can raise money for your event without sponsors, but it's so much easier to hit your fund raising goal with larger donations from sponsors that it's really worth the effort. And it's rewarding too! If you solicit businesses that you trust and value, then you can really make your sponsorship work as a partnership for the both of you, which is good for your fund raising today and also for your relationship with your sponsor -- and future fund raising efforts!! -- down the line. Build and nurture these relationships and you will be able to go back to the well for another sponsorship for your next Team in Training event.

Good luck with the fund raising and go Team!

Mastering the Donor List (Part One)

So, you've signed on the dotted line and committed to your event, and now you're looking at that large figure on your Team in Training fundraising page and wondering how you're ever going to raise that much money. Where do you even start? The figure can be so overwhelming that you put off thinking about it for a few more days, but deep down you know you've got to get started sometime.

First things first, you should assemble your list.

The list is your foundation for raising money. Professional fundraisers will tell you that their success depends on high quality, complete information. If you expressed any interest in a presidential candidate last fall, you probably were placed on someone's list. You may have gotten emails, letters, or targeted phone calls based on whatever data the campaign had about you. President Obama shattered fundraising records because the quality and vastness of his "list" was breathtakingly huge.

Fortunately for us, our list will be much more simple.

Some people prefer to keep their lists on paper, but the most successful list is one that's easy to update and can be viewed anywhere at any time. I recommend that you use a spreadsheet to track every name on your list, and as much information as you can about that potential donor. Here's a link to a Google Spreadsheet that I've created that's based off fundraising lists I've used. If you'd prefer, you can export this spreadsheet into Excel:

View Donor List Example

Some tips to help you assemble your list:

1. Write down everyone you can think of. Don't worry about sorting or ordering anyone's names yet, you can do that later. Roughly group each person into a "Contact Type", such as Facebook (or MySpace, or LinkedIn), Home, Work or Business (not shown in this example, but you should include it). Use your imagination and use as many Contact Types as you can think of.
2. Brainstorm for each Contact Type. When you've done your first pass, go through each Contact Type and brainstorm again. Think about every person and think about someone they might know. For the "Facebook" group it's easy, you can just look at your friends list. But what about other groups?
   - Work: Go through your email Inbox and folders, including archived folders, to find and add new names. Check out your IM list and add names from there. Actively brainstorm through your company directory for more names of people you might have inadvertently left off your list.
   - Home: Go through your home email and look for names. Do you have an aunt or a mother who sends along emails and never hides the address list? Look through her old emails for friends or relatives you might have overlooked. Check your sent folder for any names you might have missed.
   - Business: Look through your checkbook to make sure you've added every local business that you have written a check to. Look through your online billpay service for the same information. If you use Angie's List, log in and look at your past reports on companies and add them to the list as well.
3. For each contact, write down whatever contact information you know about that person. Either their email address, or their home address. Or if neither make a note. We'll delve in finding contact information in a later entry.
   
4. Once you've assembled your list, keep it up to date. Remember the phrase, "Garbage In, Garbage Out". Whenever someone donates to you, update the list. Copy their address from your eTools fundraising site into your donor list spreadsheet. Check your data against what your donor entered in eTools to make sure that your information is correct.

Once you've created your list and gotten into the habit of regularly updating it, you'll be able to move on to crafting your fundraising letter, and brainstorming the best way to reach and consistently interact with your potential donors.

Good luck and Go Team!!

Coming Soon: Mastering the Donor List (Part Two) will cover how to find information, including addresses, of people on your list.

5 Tips for a Successful Fundraising Letter

There are many ways to solicit donations for your event, but few are as effective as a letter. No, not an email. A letter - a real piece of paper.

There's a reason why your chapter emphasizes writing letters and getting them out early. An email will sink to the bottom of your recipient's Inbox, along with everything else they get. Your friends expect to receive email. A well-done letter is unexpected. It's a nice surprise to find in the middle of a stack of bills at the end of a long day. If it's someone you've fallen out of touch with, imagine their surprise when they see your name on that envelope. Curiosity alone will make them open it and pay attention to it.

In fact, our local chapter has an early bird letter writing special: They will pay for the postage for each participant's first 100 fundraising letters. At 42 cents for each First Class stamp, that's a $42.00 gift to you and your fundraising efforts. Unfortunately, a lot of participants skip out on writing letters, because they aren't comfortable with writing, or because they don't "have the time". In this economy, every participant should be taking the time and effort to send out all 100 letters. If your chapter's deadline has passed, ask if they can grant you a grace period of 2-3 days, and spend your weekend working through this.

Here are five tips to get the most out of your letter writing campaign:

1. Gather everything you need just once. You don't want to have to keep going back to the store for supplies. Buy the following:

1. 100 #10 security lined envelopes (always use security lined). They're usually sold in boxes of 80, so buy 2 boxes. These are your main envelopes.
   
2. 100 #6 3/4 security lined envelopes. These are your self-addressed stamped (SASE) envelopes. You will also likely need 2 boxes of these.
   
3. 5 books of stamps, or 100 stamps on a roll. (Save your tongue, buy self-adhesive.) These are for your SASEs.
   
4. 100 Business cards (see tip #4) either purchased online, or Avery style business cards to print on at home.
   
5. 100 Note cards or sheets of note paper for your personalized notes (see tip #3).
   

2. Start with clean, well-organized data. We'll cover this in-depth in a future blog post, but an Excel spreadsheet is the best way to track everyone you want to contact about fundraising. Use your spreadsheet to track your letter-writing campaign.

3. Hand write a note to include with every letter! I cannot emphasize this enough. Don't shake your head at me. Don't mutter about how that's impossible. I've done it. You can do it. Don't you hate getting form letter Christmas cards, where the sender hasn't bothered to even say, "Hi Sally" or sign their name? It's rude. So is asking for money without taking the time to personally make the ask. It doesn't have to be a novel. It's a note. Nothing more. Write it on a 3x5 card. Write it on flash cards. Get fancy and print up your own postcards on your home printer with an image and a TNT logo on one side, and your website listed on the back. Use these for writing your notes.

Stuck on what to write? Don't be. Here are a few sample lines. Remember, this is a note. 3-5 sentences max, totally informal. You don't have to ask for money in the note, that's what your fundraising letter is for. The note is there to be the first thing they see when they open up the envelope, to show that you're thinking about them, and to soften the fact that you're sending them a form letter.

• Hey Bob! So glad we've reconnected on (Facebook | LinkedIn| MySpace) and I'm thrilled to see you doing so well! Give my love to your beautiful family! - Sue
• Hi Larry - I hope 2009 has gotten off to a great start for you. Don't be a stranger, keep in touch! Take care - Mike
• Susan - Of all my friends, I know you understand this challenge the best, having run a marathon yourself. I hope you're doing well! Love - Amy
• Your doctor: Dr. Wilson - Thanks for the referral last month and for all of your help this past year.
  
• Your realtor: MaryBeth - We still love our house, thank you so much for helping us find it!
  
• GM of your local car dealership: Dear Eric, We love our new car and your dealership's great service. Thanks for taking the time to check this out.
  

4. Include a business card or Moo card with your letter. You can buy them online for cheap, or if you don't have the time to wait for them to be delivered you can find several varieties of templates that you can make yourself at home. You want everyone to have a small takeaway item, separate from your letter, with your Team in Training fundraising URL on it. You can ask them to give it to a friend, or they can put it by their computer or in their wallet to remind them of where to visit your site. Use both sides, and make it beautiful if you can. If you're running in Alaska, put a gorgeous picture of Alaska on it. Give them a reason to want to look at it.

5. Include a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your fundraising letter. Your letter should mention two ways to make a donation: your website, or via a check sent in the mail back to you using this envelope. You can expect that most people will make a donation via your website, but there may be a few holdouts who aren't comfortable with online transactions. Regardless, including a SASE with your letter says, "I'm serious enough about needing your help to invest in the stamp and envelope to get your donation back to me."

Good luck with your letters! Go Team!