Mentoring E-Mail # 3

This is my third email to my "mentees":

Well, hello, my fine group of TNT Participants,

‘Tis I, your artful mentor, with another weekly message for you! I know you are excited by this! You have been impatiently waiting and wishing for this message to arrive. You are thinking - What will I learn this week? What mysterious new TNT secrets will be revealed to me? Will there be a contest where I might win something?

Well, I don’t know about the first two questions but the answer to that last question is YES! I am going to look at each of your web pages tonight, and record how much each of you has raised to date. Then, whoever raises the most between tonight and 12/31/2008 will win the contest and the prize that I have in mind. So what is this prize, you ask? Could it be a two week deluxe trip to Paris? C’est domage, mais non, mon petites. Could it be a 54 inch high definition TV? Well, I suppose that is possible, although the odds of each of you all winning the Virginia lottery tonight is probably more possible. Could it be a nifty TNT item? Well, that is possible, too. The one who raises the most over the next 36 days will just have to wait and see. So to clarify, it doesn’t matter whether you have raised $2,000 as of right now or $20 – the winner will be the one who raises the most over the time period. Make sense?

We have a new participant, Dave, who joined our merry marathon team this week. Look for him at training. I will have to miss this coming Saturday, but will plan on seeing you all next week. And before that, please enjoy Thanksgiving. Then burn off that extra piece of pumpkin pie on Saturday!

Please make sure you read Jen’s note that arrived today. As always, she has provided a lot of great information and I am not going to repeat any of it other than to give you a quick reminder.

She discussed these topics:

* Silent auction information
* Shoe clinic information
* Fund raisers that your teammates are doing
* A great mission moment

Also, remember that Jen is happy to meet with each of you one-on-one if you have any questions or ideas you want to bounce off her. And of course, I am very willing to as well – just let me know how I can help.

Last week, I spent much of my note discussing your letter writing campaign. This week, I am going to stress on-line fund-raising. For me, on-line fund raising with email solicitations is my #1 fund-raising method, my bread and butter so to speak. I use the other methods as well, but really count on this one. So I will share some of my techniques in case they resonate with you.

* I customize my web page. I think most or all of you have done this, but you should have a photo that is germane to your message, and you should write text that is specific to your quest. Why are you doing this? What event? What do you hope to accomplish? Are you doing this for an honoree or honorees?

* I like to add links to my event site, my blog, the list of honorees on my blog, and a link to email me names of donor honorees.

* I put training and other updates on my blog. Last year I tried to give brief updates at the end of my web page – usually one a week. If I didn’t have a blog I would do that again this year, keeping the most recent update at the top.

* I changed my photo weekly last year, so the web page had a fresh look, but this year I will change it less frequently since I have the blog for updates.

* If I have your email address, you are going to get my solicitation emails. The only exception is TNT contacts who have not specifically asked for updates. Family, friends, co-workers, vendors who dropped off a business card, former co-workers, people I’ve met on the job – you name it. Raising the kind of money that each of is trying to do is largely a matter of numbers, and reminders. Assume that only some percentage, let’s say 75% of friends and family and 25% of anyone else, will donate. So the more people you ask the more donations you will get.

* I send out frequent email updates. Unlike my letter campaign, where I only send one letter, I don’t need to support the US Postal Service with each e-mail. So I send ‘em out every two to four weeks.

* I don’t just resend the same email each time. I write each one separately. I word the email reminders as (1) an update on how I am doing (2) a thank you for all who donated (3) a reminder that donations are welcome (4) a link to my TNT URL and (5) some kind of a message specific to that email.

* If you go to my blog, I have posted every solicitation email from last year’s Arizona campaign and every donor email to date in this year’s County Music campaign. Some of these may have ideas that you can use. In my blog, I have recently added an area on the right to search my post by labels. The label that says “note to donors”, if clicked, will bring up all the posts that show my emails that I have sent out to prospective donors. There are 14 of these to date (4 from this season and 10 from Arizona). You may have not any use for them, you may have your own ideas and approaches that you want to use, but they are out there for you if it is helpful.

* My next donor email will go out next week, and I will remind people that they can donate in the 2008 tax year or 2009 and get a tax deduction in whichever year suits them.

* When people donate online, I always send them a thank you email, even though the web site automatically sends them one. By the way, when people donate by check I always send them a thank you letter or a hand written note, along with information on LLS and the gift receipt.

My blog URL:
http://racn4acure.blogspot.com/

Well, I think that is about it, other than wishing each of you a Happy Thanksgiving. I know that I have a lot to be thankful for, and I hope that each of you does as well. I will end my message with a quote:

“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944)

GO TEAM!
Art