S1:E8 Disaster Response Fundraising
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[00:00:00] Jeremy: What's good? What's good? It's the Jeremy Haselwood show. What's good? What's good? Let's get ready to go. Welcome to the Jeremy Haselwood show. Plug in, turn it up. Let's go. Hey, hey. Welcome to the Jeremy Haselwood show. Push play, let it roll. Let's go. What's good? Welcome to my show. In three, two, one. Let's go.
[00:00:31] Jeremy: Welcome to today's episode, where we will be talking all about disaster response fundraising. This is How to Build a Disaster Response Fundraising Program. But before we get started, make sure you tap, click or smash the follow or subscribe button, so that you'll be notified when each new episode drops. Today we have a lot to go over, and this is an episode that is. Very near and dear to my heart.
[00:00:56] Jeremy: I'm actually from the state of Oklahoma, that's where I was [00:01:00] born and raised and come from a land where there are a lot of tornadoes. And I live in Atlanta now. And just, gosh, over the years, I've seen so many. Disasters ravage different parts of not only the country, but the world. And with my experience in fundraising, serving nonprofits, I find that so many times nonprofits do not have a plan in place.
[00:01:22] Jeremy: Whenever disaster strikes, we treat disasters like they are an if and not a, when disasters will happen. I want to make sure that you are ready and that's why today, if you follow the tips and suggestions, You're going to be so much more prepared when it comes to disaster response fundraising. Let's talk about why this is so important for one. It saves time when a disaster happens.
[00:01:46] Jeremy: It doesn't matter what kind of disaster, whether it's a flood, a fire. Hurricanes. Blizzard, whatever the case may be. It could be an explosion, something. Unimaginable. Whenever that happens, it is chaotic. [00:02:00] Most people are not prepared. Like how can you really be fully prepared for. Natural disaster or a disaster of any kind.
[00:02:07] Jeremy: It's hard. It's you know what might happen, but the more prepared you are from a fundraising standpoint. The more time you can save, because when we look at the impact of when a disaster first strikes versus the time that elapses afterwards, the time that is closest to the disaster is the time where you will raise the most money for your organization.
[00:02:27] Jeremy: And I don't want you to approach this through a lens of being opportunistic during a disaster, because that's not at all what this series or this program, this episode is about. But it is about you being a nonprofit and you having needs and being able to respond and serve the communities that you serve during a disaster .
[00:02:46] Jeremy: And you do need that burst of financial assistance when a disaster strikes and the quicker that you can respond financially or from a fundraising perspective. The more opportunity that you will have to be able to [00:03:00] serve or to better serve your constituents. And those that are impacted by the resources that you raise.
[00:03:06] Jeremy: So this allows you as a nonprofit, not only to save time, but to be proactive instead of being reactive, because I have seen countless times a disaster happens and then clients are scrambling. We don't have an email in place. We don't know what to do. Should we post on social media? How can we get an ad campaign set up?
[00:03:24] Jeremy: There's so many questions that you're trying to. To answer along with just how do we implement our services and how do we support the communities that we were set up and designed to serve in the first place there's so much going on. So it saves time. You're proactive instead of reactive, it maximizes that giving impact. And then amidst the chaos.
[00:03:46] Jeremy: It does create some kind of stability for you as an organization because you have peace of mind knowing, okay. If a disaster strikes or rather I say, when a disaster strikes, we're ready to go, we have a game plan in place [00:04:00] and we can implement that within minutes instead of hours or days. If that sounds like something you might be interested in, just keep on listening here.
[00:04:07] Jeremy: The first thing that I would do, and this really does require you to take some time out, put some time on your calendar to make sure that you take care of the important planning aspect of this. Even boiling it down to a SWOT analysis and SWOT is strength, weakness, opportunities, and threats, and do a SWOT analysis of your fundraising program.
[00:04:26] Jeremy: So a strength like what's already in place for your disaster response fundraising. If there's nothing, then maybe you don't have that as a strength, but maybe you have somebody on your staff or maybe you're the person that can put it together. So let's look at our resources and maybe our resources, our personnel are the strength.
[00:04:43] Jeremy: We have the know how to do it. If that's not, get with a consultant, get with an agency, somebody to help out with this, the weakness like what's hurting or slowing you down during your disaster response planning. Opportunities. What are the things that you can get better at? So maybe you have some areas that are ready for [00:05:00] disaster response, but there's a few things that you need to tweak in order to be more successful. And then look at threats, what needs to be addressed that is holding you back.
[00:05:08] Jeremy: If you don't have anybody on staff, if you don't have any assets. If a disaster were to strike, like that's a threat. Also what are competing organizations doing? Take a look at some competing organizations. Whether they're directly in your community or maybe on a national level and understand what they're doing, during disaster, there are certainly some national organizations that will come and swoop in.
[00:05:30] Jeremy: They've got their plan ready and they will be doing some fundraising on behalf of a disaster that impacts your local area. But those funds that are raised may not always go back to your local area. However, you being perhaps a local or regional nonprofit, those resources that you raise can go and directly impact your community. So let's talk about some objectives for your disaster response planning.
[00:05:54] Jeremy: There's really three phases of this whole process of really, of the whole fundraising for disaster [00:06:00] response. One is the before piece, before disaster strikes, you have to maximize your preparedness and I'll walk you through some of the things that you need to do for that. The second piece is during the disaster and during the disaster, this is when you need to optimize any and all fundraising opportunity. And then the third phase is the after the disaster. And after the disaster is over, this is when you want to recognize and engage your donors.
[00:06:26] Jeremy: And you also want to respond back to the community and stakeholders and let them know what the updates are in terms of how you've been able to continue to assist in response to that disaster. So when I look at two different kind of strategies for disaster response, The first one is to enact speed.
[00:06:45] Jeremy: You want to create a plan and assets now to minimize the delay in the deployment. And that is creatively and that is organization wise. A lot of what I'll talk about on today's podcast is really from. A creative, like creating your fundraising campaigns [00:07:00] and what all assets that you need to go with your disaster response planning.
[00:07:03] Jeremy: But in addition to that, and really hand-in-hand with that is an organization. And I'm not going to get into that on this podcast because. The organizations vary so much, and I'm not the organizational expert on your nonprofit, but I do challenge you that as you're creating this fundraising plan, that as an organization, we recognize what the roles are in disaster response, who is assigned to what who's assigned for services.
[00:07:28] Jeremy: Who's assigned for marketing, who is the point of contact for the media, all of these different things. Who's going to deploy emails. So who you need to understand all this, not just from fundraising, but as an organization. The second strategy is what I like to call, build and bridge. So before a disaster strikes. You're building your audiences up.
[00:07:50] Jeremy: And this is through email acquisition. This is through your social media audience. This is you collecting mobile phone numbers, so you can reach out via SMS, text [00:08:00] messages, and then you want to bridge that audience. So you're building them up just through your natural email acquisition. Program. And I actually have a whole episode on that during the season.
[00:08:10] Jeremy: So you can learn all about email acquisition in that particular episode, but those different tactics will help you have an audience. So when it is time to deploy and mobilize. Your disaster messaging it's already in place. So that is the bridge part. You're building up your audience and then you're bridging it over to the marketing and the communication of your disaster response program.
[00:08:31] Jeremy: Okay. We are going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to talk about things that you can do before a disaster.
[00:08:42] Jeremy: And we're back on the Jeremy Haselwood show. We are going to get into before a disaster strikes. What are some things that you as an organization should be doing? The first one is growing your email list. Now you may be an organization that does not encounter a lot of disasters, or you [00:09:00] may be an organization that is not affected by disasters.
[00:09:03] Jeremy: And what I mean by that is the populations that you serve may not necessarily be impacted that. Some obvious ones that are impacted to be like rescue missions, animal care, ones that involve immediate life, immediate human life. There could be opportunity, not opportunities, but there could be situations where your building is in a flood zone or something like that.
[00:09:25] Jeremy: So even though you have a non-profit that has a cause that is not around human or animal life. Your building may physically be affected by a disaster, and you may have to do some disaster fundraising to help restore and allow you to gain operations so that you can do more good in the world based on the causes that you serve.
[00:09:42] Jeremy: So you want to grow that email list. Now if you are an organization and you're in an area, that number one is impacted by natural disasters. More frequently. Or the people or communities that you serve. We'll immediately be affected by natural disasters. You might consider adding [00:10:00] a disaster response track to your email segments. And this could be something that has done through a survey and asking people to opt into this kind of messaging.
[00:10:11] Jeremy: So that is an idea that you could employ with your email program. I'm also doing other email acquisitions organic having boxes that pop up on your website that are. Asking people, if they want to be notified during disaster or learn about disaster preparedness, things like that.
[00:10:28] Jeremy: You can download a PDF of disaster response tips, and this could be something very popular. If you're in an area that's impacted by tornado season or hurricane season or something like that, downloading a helpful PDF with tips. And as they're downloading it, they're also opting in to receive disaster response messages from you. Now in the same token, you can also grow your mobile phone list and you can make this as an optional field on an email subscribe.
[00:10:55] Jeremy: You can make it as an optional field on. Your donation page. [00:11:00] And you can also make this something that's part of your welcome series. When you get a new donor or a new email subscriber, there could be a call to action to go complete another form and allow people the opportunity to leave their phone number, to receive messages from your organization about that. So you also want to email subscribers every now and then if they are on this separate disaster response track. About things that are related to disasters, whether it's preparedness tips. Whether it's maybe the services that you do offer, maybe it's walking through the day in the life of what you all do during disaster.
[00:11:34] Jeremy: And these are things that may be good to do when it's not disaster season. Just people understand what your role is with disaster and understand why you're a good resource in that you're able to respond to your community's needs during times of disaster. Also before disaster, you want to have an internal communication plan. This is something that should be documented and shared with people in your organization.
[00:11:56] Jeremy: Again, going back to the roles and knowing who is responsible [00:12:00] for what, during times of disaster, not just for the marketing and fundraising, but also just for the operations. The next piece is that we'll talk about when we look at before the disaster, and this is more from a fundraising perspective. You want to create templates that are semi-finished for different types of disasters.
[00:12:18] Jeremy: So for example, like hurricanes floods fires, Explosions things like that. You want to have several different versions of templates already created. And when I say templates, I'm not talking just about. Images, I'm talking about. Emails that are written that you have maybe 80 to 90% complete because when you think about it, there are. Certain kinds of disasters that do have a higher frequency.
[00:12:46] Jeremy: If you live in a area of the country or of the world that is hit by. Tornadoes typhoons hurricanes earthquakes on a regular or semi-regular basis. Again, it's not a matter of if this [00:13:00] disaster will strike. It is a matter of when. So based on your geography, what those types of disasters would be. So create a template and this may mean you create a template for fires and floods and hurricanes, depending on where you live. And your language is somewhat boiler point language, and you're filling in the name of a hurricane when it actually happens.
[00:13:21] Jeremy: The needs you already know are going to be the same, that you need to raise this money because it affects the lives that you help to support. So you can have most of this already done. In fact, you can use tools, even chat GPT to get some thought starters on writing an email series. Another thing that you could consider that I've seen some organizations do is creating a disaster catalog of equivalencies.
[00:13:43] Jeremy: And this goes a little more in depth, but you could open a Shopify store and think of it almost like an Amazon shopping experience where. People can connect with your nonprofit and they can quote unquote. Purchase certain things that are [00:14:00] equivalencies like blankets or meals or shelter, food items, canteens of water. These are different things that have different. Dollar amounts associated with them. For example, let's say maybe you're buying 10 blankets for $20, $2 a blanket.
[00:14:17] Jeremy: I don't know if this is reality or not, but just we'll use this as an example. And so you have a picture of blankets. You talk about the good that it can do. You show canteens of water and how this can help people that are affected that have no access to water. Maybe it's generators that are a higher dollar amount making sure that if you do market it this way, A lot of nonprofits, most nonprofits are not set up to necessarily. Do this one to one, if you buy the blankets that will a hundred percent go to the blankets.
[00:14:47] Jeremy: So make sure that there is a disclaimer. On this catalog that says this is a catalog of equivalencies. And the money that is raised during this time will be used where the greatest need is to help respond to the disaster. [00:15:00] Some kind of language around that. So you want to look at what are some different items that could be useful during disaster when it strikes and you can create again, a whole catalog and you can link that up to your website.
[00:15:11] Jeremy: There can be a whole page on your website for disaster response, and I would actually recommend you doing that. It may not be one that gets a lot of traffic right now, but just having that page ready to go is a huge win. Going through more of the creative assets that you can create in advance and have templates and ready to go would be a three to seven part email series version for each type of disaster.
[00:15:35] Jeremy: That means if you're doing one for hurricanes and flooding and. Power outages, for example, that you create. Three to seven times three. So that may be me and that you're creating 21 different emails, but these are different. Emails that you're creating for each different type of disaster. Now, along with this. You want to have also website banners for each kind of disaster type.
[00:15:59] Jeremy: So [00:16:00] maybe some that show damage from a hurricane or from a flood or something like that. When this disaster actually happens, you can create these in Canva, which I would recommend. If you do not have a Canva account, you can get one there's at least as of right now, you as a nonprofit, you can get a free. Canva account where you have access to all the pro features on there.
[00:16:20] Jeremy: So do a Google search for Canva, for nonprofits. What I love about this is that you can create different folders for different disasters, and you can have everything versioned and ready to go that way. When it's time to deploy this, you can just export these out of Canva, pop them in your emails and be ready to go.
[00:16:37] Jeremy: Now you could be a step ahead of the game and keep somewhat generic banners for your email and already have those imported and have your email templates ready to go again? I say three to seven and there's different scenarios for those. So let's talk about one scenario, one. One would be, if you are in an area where there's hurricanes or typhoons. Generally you have a few days heads [00:17:00] up as to when that is going to affect your area. So when it becomes part of the new cycle and things are trending where you are directly in the path, maybe it's three days out.
[00:17:11] Jeremy: You can send that email out and let your donors know. Hey, we're in an area where we're expected to be impacted. We just want to let you know, we may need some assistance coming up. It's we're going to be all hands on deck if, and when this disaster hits our area, so be ready. And maybe you're also sending out some disaster preparedness tips for people who are in your area because your donors might actually be affected as well.
[00:17:35] Jeremy: So maybe that first email is some tips for your donors or subscribers to be careful of and mindful of as they may also be impacted by the disaster. You also want to have a, a. Campaign donation, page set up and version again for each disaster. If there's hurricanes have that page version with some imagery of hurricanes and the copy on there. Version doubt four hurricanes.
[00:17:59] Jeremy: So [00:18:00] you want that ready to go? Additional assets that you would want to do would be having a disaster ad kit. And what I mean by that is having Facebook ads built and ready to go already written, already have images. Again, you could create images in Canva and just pop those in. As soon as you can on Facebook, there sometimes can be a delay in Facebook from the time that you submit those ads to when they actually go live.
[00:18:25] Jeremy: So this is one area where I would say have some ads already ready, already approved that are very generic for specific types of disaster. That way, when a disaster hits, you can actually turn those ads on. And in the meantime, while those ads are generating revenue for your fundraising efforts, you can create new ads that are more specific to that particular disaster that you're experiencing at that time.
[00:18:49] Jeremy: But this way you win the speed game and you're able to unlock more generosity and really. Take advantage, not in a bad way, but take advantage from a non-profit where you can actually [00:19:00] better serve your community and those people that really depend on you. The other creative assets, again like that disaster catalog.
[00:19:06] Jeremy: I mentioned having a Facebook cover image already for different types of disaster, having pre-written social media posts and images. If you're doing like Facebook and Instagram. All of these things you want to have. Pre-written also SMS text messages. If you are using an SMS provider. This is a wonderful way to raise funds during disaster, so already having this laid out.
[00:19:30] Jeremy: So I know I've gone through those a little bit separately, so let's run through each of these real quick, the different creative assets. You want three to seven emails. Email series version for each type of disaster. You want website banners? For each type of disaster and website would be like your hero images on the homepage.
[00:19:48] Jeremy: Also pop up images, have those ready to go. You want to have a campaign donation page version for each disaster? You want to have Google and Facebook ad kits ready [00:20:00] to go? Disaster catalog, Facebook cover image. Pre-written social media posts, pre-written SMS messages, and I would also recommend. An impact landing page. And we don't know what this is going to be just yet, but think about it like this.
[00:20:17] Jeremy: If there's a really bad disaster that creates. A lot of damage in your area. And I don't know how to quantify that necessarily. So we're just going to say a lot of damage. What is very helpful for people who donate and even community stakeholders is to have what I call like a report back page. And this is something where you update it. Every couple of weeks or once a month, maybe over the course of six months or even a year, maybe the one year anniversary of that disaster happening.
[00:20:46] Jeremy: But what you're doing with this is you're providing updates to that particular page. And this gives you another reason to reach out to your donors and. Email subscribers and let them know, even though this disaster has gone three months later, w this is what we're still [00:21:00] doing, and this is what you've allowed us to do.
[00:21:01] Jeremy: So it gives you another reason to affirm the donor for the gifts that they gave during that disaster. And also people may want to make additional gifts because they see their donations working in their community. So I will call this a report back page. You can have that up and really template it out and ready to go. But of course that will fill in over time.
[00:21:22] Jeremy: The details of it will fill in over time. So these are all the things to do before the disaster. And that's like most of the work now during the disaster, one of the things I'd recommend is that you have like a war room setting. If you're able to, you may not be able to, because your actual facility may not be operable, but what I've experienced in the past that some of the disasters that I've been a part of is it's an all hands on deck. We're all in a room where we have the different news stations on.
[00:21:49] Jeremy: We have our computers up. We're on social media. We're talking about what we're doing, boots on the ground, what our needs are, how people can help out. If we're able to get any [00:22:00] images or videos, we're putting that out on social media. We're also, again, this is not the fundraising side, but the services side, letting people know where they can go to get assistance.
[00:22:10] Jeremy: So I would look at a war room. Type of environment also during the disaster. This is when you're going into all of those assets that you updated or that you created. And now you're updating them with specific details about this disaster. So at this point, 80% of that work, 80 to 90% should already be done.
[00:22:28] Jeremy: So again, we're gaining speed. During the disaster, because so much has already been created. And then you want to deploy those emails, deploy those website banners, deploy the online ads, deploy your social media posts. So during the disaster is when you're really heavy into the whole deployment piece. So that can happen over the course of a day, depending on the disaster or several days. You have to determine what the nature of that disaster is and how engaged you need to be as an organization within that particular disaster. [00:23:00] All right now, after the disaster, things have calmed down a little bit. Things are not back to normal just yet. But they're getting better. What you want to do after a disaster is. Let me start with this.
[00:23:13] Jeremy: What you do not want to do after a disaster is not communicate with your donors or provide any updates. Like to me, that is just borderline unethical. You've really raised his flag and had this siren going during disaster to raise this money, but then you don't even report back what's going on. And I think that's a disservice as a nonprofit.
[00:23:34] Jeremy: So if you are doing disaster fundraising, Your disaster fundraising plan can not stop the moment you get the gift. You have a responsibility as a nonprofit to reach back out and communicate with your community, with your donors, with your subscribers. What you are doing with that disaster. So my advice would be to follow up, do a follow-up email series. After the disaster is over, it could be one week, one [00:24:00] month, six months, or on the anniversary.
[00:24:02] Jeremy: It could be all of these. Maybe you do a one week update one month update, six months. And an anniversary. This would give you several touch points. Not only to let your email subscribers and donors know how you've been helping out. But it keeps you relevant. It keeps your brand top of mind, and it really connects with them to let them know that you still care.
[00:24:22] Jeremy: And again, that you're affirming. The reason that they supported you in the first place. Now, if you get new donors during the disaster, I would also consider very seriously a disaster, donor welcome series. So all those new donors, they've never given to your organization before, they gave through a specific donation page.
[00:24:42] Jeremy: You can build out a disaster welcome series, and this could be a general one. It doesn't necessarily need to be specific to the disaster. I would just do a three to five part email welcome series and just say, thank you for helping us during our greatest time of need. Here's what you've been able to help us do. And [00:25:00] invite them to connect with you on social media, maybe share a blog post with them about your disaster recovery disaster recovery efforts. And engage them because they cared enough to help you out during a disaster. Also after a disaster, you want to provide social media update posts and it could follow a similar pattern or similar calendar as your emails.
[00:25:21] Jeremy: It could be one week, one month, six months anniversary. You could probably do it more frequently because it is social media. And then going back to that landing page that reports out the impact. I would update that pretty regularly. Especially closer to the disaster. Maybe a week out, two weeks, three weeks.
[00:25:37] Jeremy: It could be weekly. It could be every couple of weeks for the first couple of months. And then maybe you go to every month or every two months.
[00:25:43] Jeremy: We're going to pause for a quick break and I'll be right back to talk about disaster fundraising. 365 days a year.
[00:25:53] Jeremy: . And we're back. Disaster response. Fundraising is not just something that happens when a disaster [00:26:00] strikes. You should be doing this 365 days a year. Following those three areas of pre disaster and post disaster in the pre disaster. You're looking at how to plan, how to prepare, how to engage your donors and how to raise funds.
[00:26:16] Jeremy: Now you're not going to raise nearly as many funds pre disaster because the chaos is not there. The urgency is not there, but you can still put out messages in preparation for a disaster because depending on where you. Our disaster is going to occur and it's likely going to happen this year, depending on where you are. During the disaster you want to activate, execute. Communicate and raise funds. Post disaster.
[00:26:43] Jeremy: It's important that you communicate, you analyze your results, you analyze your new donors. And you also are continuing to raise those funds. Again, this is something that is happening year round, not just during a disaster.
[00:26:57] Jeremy: A few things to keep in mind. One is [00:27:00] accounting for all disasters, your area faces, and you have your major ones that, you're more likely to experience. When you think about those, create your general disaster assets for other ones. So if you're in like tornado or hurricane or earthquake, you already know those are the ones you're more, most prone to. So if there is a fire or something like that's not necessarily a disaster that you experience very often and you maybe you never have.
[00:27:25] Jeremy: So you can create kind of general disaster assets, maybe not something specific to fires, but just general disaster messaging and how you need help. One other thing to keep in mind. And this is really like the summary of what I want to say the most, this takes time, but it is completely worth it. It is worth investing your time putting in the week or two to create these assets.
[00:27:51] Jeremy: And again, if you don't have the resources within your organization, reach out to a consultant, reach out to an agency, reach out and have [00:28:00] somebody help you with this because this is going to help you so much. When a time of disaster comes, and if you're listening to this and you've ever been through a disaster, the value and the importance, you probably look back and said, I wish I had all of this together.
[00:28:13] Jeremy: And if you did, it would have helped you so much. It would have given you some peace of mind, amidst the chaos. Also keep in mind that you have to create and load a lot of these assets for deployment in advance. If you're doing it the day up, you may run into some issues. especially like with Facebook ads, because those can take time to get approved and actually go live.
[00:28:33] Jeremy: The last thing to keep in mind is keeping documentation and your assets for your disaster program in one place. There's nothing worse than when a disaster strikes and you don't know where everything belongs. So this needs to be in a central location that is communicated within your organization. And at this point, all you're doing is just. Hitting the go button or updating some copy, updating a quick image and running with it for your [00:29:00] fundraising. That pays alone by itself is something that's going to save you time and headaches and heartbreaks.
[00:29:05] Jeremy: When a disaster strikes. I also want you to remember, and this is a really touchy subject because a lot of your donors may be going through this disaster with you, and you may hesitate to do disaster fundraising because you don't want to offend potential donors. And I think it's okay. And I've actually seen. Campaigns where you have to be very intentional about the language that you use. It's something along the lines of, Hey, if you're impacted, please take care of yourself.
[00:29:34] Jeremy: But if you are in a position to help, we really need the assistance. So keep those kinds of things in mind because it is sensitive. It is delicate. You don't want to offend your donors. You also want to let them know that you're there for them. If they can't donate, like that's fine.
[00:29:48] Jeremy: If you need help from us, reach out to us. And if we can help you in any kind of way, we're going to do that. This is an overview on how to create your disaster response [00:30:00] program. I ran through a lot of different tips here. The crux of all, this is being prepared and having this ready to roll out is going to help you generate more funds, to have more impact with the cause that you care about the most.
[00:30:14] Jeremy: And that my friends is how to build a disaster response fundraising program. This is crucial to the lifeblood of your organization during a disaster it allows you to raise more money and release more impact when you need it the most.
[00:30:28] Jeremy: And when the people and animals or. Your community needs it. The most, you're able to show up for them in a way that you wouldn't be able to, if you don't have this plan in place. So I thank you for tuning in to the Jeremy Hazelwood show today for this episode, if you did enjoy today's episode, don't forget to follow or subscribe so that you're always up to date. When the latest episode drops.
[00:30:50] Jeremy: And also if you're digging this, make sure that you leave a good review because reviews help other people to find this podcast. So until next time. Keep following your [00:31:00] dreams to find your purpose.
