Wanna get local media to cover your agency’s next event or shout out about your latest success?We’ve got some sage advice to share on making the perfect pitch from the ASPCA’s Elizabeth Estroff, Senior Vice President, Communications, and Jess Todtfeld, President of Success In Media.
Do a Background Check
Learn as much as you can about a reporter before making your pitch. What does this reporter write about? What’s his or her tone? Does he or she cover animal-related stories? Do a Google search and see what comes up. And take note, says Estroff, “If you’ve made multiple pitches to the same reporter and never get a response, you may be pitching to the wrong reporter!”
Pitching a Story Over the Phone? Make Sure You Do This
1) Identify yourself. 2) Ask if it’s a good time to talk. Newspaper reporters often have a deadline around 4 pm, so you may want to avoid that time — or be prepared to call back later.
Pitching a Story Via email? Then Do This
Keep your email short, and make your first sentence the most relevant one. Remember, you don’t have to include a lot of detail in your pitch!
Adds Todtfeld, “Cut to the chase. Skip ‘For Immediate Release’ and put your contact information at the bottom. Lead with a very brief paragraph that gets to the heart of the matter. Include greater detail farther down or link to a full press release.”
The Subject Line = Your Best Friend
Take time to refine your subject line. You don’t want to be too cutesy, but being too matter-of-fact may not entice the reporter to open the email. Advises Todtfeld, “Make sure the subject line lets the recipient know why your story might work for their purposes. Be clear about what’s in it for them.”
Practice Non-Attachment
Don’t send your press release as an attachment. Busy reporters won’t take the time to open it—and if they’re using a Blackberry, they probably can’t open it.
Shelters, what tips would you add to the list?
Austin Humane Society's got perfect pitch! Every December, volunteers and staff don their jammies, set up a dog park in the auditorium and let the kitties explore outside of their condos during the Texas agency’s annual Shelter Sleepover. “It’s a fun event and we typically get a lot of media coverage,” says AHS' Lisa Starr tells us, “but the message to the public is serious—that more than ever, these animals need a warm and cozy place to call home.”
Last winter, the ASPCA partnered with Subaru to match local shelters across the country with Subaru dealers. Over 100 shelters held adoption events as part of a “Share the Love” Contest. At these events, communities and businesses were invited to “Stuff the Subaru”–cars were stuffed with pet food, toys and even monetary donations. As a result, these agencies saved over 1,000 lives, raised over $100K collectively and increased traffic to both the shelters and the dealerships. (Can you say win-win?!)
Here to awe and inspire you are the “Share the Love” events of the winning shelters:
Winner! First Prize ($10,000 grant): Animal Allies Humane Society, Duluth, MNThe event: AAHS partnered with three neighboring humane orgs to hold a two-day adoption event at the local Miller Hill Subaru dealership. The result? 126 cats and dogs were adopted! “The event was the most successful adoption event ever held in Duluth, and set a new precedent for partnering with other local shelters for greater animal adoptions,” says Madeleine Robins, AAHS Development & Communications Director. No wonder AAHS landed in first place—at the event they waived cat adoption fees, held a free microchip clinic—75 owned animals were microchipped!—and hosted holiday pet photos with Santa.
Secret to their success: Robins attributes their win to the unique partnership between Miller Hill Subaru, local media stations and the four participating humane societies. Check out this awesome media coverage!!
And the grant goes to… “The money will be split up between the humane organizations to help offset lowered adoption fees and to help cover spay/neuter for shelter animals,” says Robins.
Winner! Second Place ($5,000 Grant): The Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region, Colorado Springs, COThe event:HSPPR, in conjunction with Heuberger Subaru, held “Adopt till you Drop” adoption events throughout the holiday season. “When it was all said and done, we raised $7,905, and adopted out 724 animals!” says Erin Carroll, HSPPR Communications Manager.
Secret to their success: According to Carroll, the success of “Adopt till you Drop” is a testament to their community’s commitment to helping animals. “The community quite literally stuffed the Subaru with donations,” she says. Get a load of this serious booty:And the grant goes to… “We are using the money to create more happy endings for homeless animals,” says Carroll. “Monthly adoption specials will be held to help increase adoptions, particularly for cats.”
Winner! Third Place ($2,000 Grant): SpokAnimal C.A.R.E., Spokane, WAThe event: SpokAnimal held their event at Lithia Camp Subaru. Staff from both the shelter and the dealership posted frequent updates on Facebook, which helped drive many to the event—and it could be why they were out of animals before noon! “Since we had advertised the event as lasting until 4:00 pm, we decided we could send for more!” says Rebecca Mack, SpokAnimal Development Director. They contacted their partner shelters, and more animals were promptly whisked to Camp Subaru. “Every single animal we brought was adopted: 17 cats and 26 dogs!” says Mack.
Secret to their success: Mack chalks it up to their legions of volunteers—and the involvement of the Camp Subaru staff. “One guy from the finance department had donned a volunteer T-shirt, and was chatting up adopters and making matches! By the end of the day, three employees had adopted animals,” she says.And the grant goes to… “We will use the funds for transfers of pets to Daze of Camelot, transfer of cats to Seattle, fee-waived adoptions for cats and feral cat surgeries,” says Mack.
Winner! Third Place ($2,000 Grant): Centre County PAWS, State College, PAThe event: PAWS held their event at Stocker Subaru. “We brought 15 animals, and found homes for 8 of them as a direct result. Many more people came in after hearing about the event; the good public relations was a large part of why we consider the event to have been a success,” says Erin Ridenour, PAWS Co-Director of Publicity.
Secret to their success: “The volunteer turnout and presence of adoptable animals made it a very positive, community-engaging event,” says Ridenour. “Even the people who didn’t adopt left with a good feeling about adopting an animal, and hopefully specifically adopting an animal from Centre County PAWS.” And the grant goes to…“Half of the grant money was put toward our veterinary expenses, and the other half into our spay/neuter assistance program fund,” says Ridenour.
BIG congrats to the other 3rd place winners that received a $2,000 grant!!! They are:
Kingdom Animal Shelter, St. Johnsbury, VT
Irvine Animal Care Center, Irvine, CA
Protection of Animals in Wakefield Society, Wakefield, MA
By now we’re guessing you can see the benefits of partnering with a local Subaru dealership—so if you’re interested in getting your agency involved, get the full details here. You can also contact sharethelove@aspca.org.
P.S. Have you partnered with a Subaru dealership and want to share your experience? Please do so in the comment box!
First of all, I want to thank those of you who responded to my request last week for exciting event ideas. There were some great suggestions there, all of which will be fodder for our committee meeting tonight.
But as I stress my way through the year-end madness, I really want to take a minute to breathe and think about why we’re doing this in the first place. We fundraising types slog away, usually behind the scenes with few opportunities to be part of the happy endings our work makes possible. And, since we always need MORE MONEY to alter, shelter, feed, restore, re-home – in short, to SAVE more animals – it often feels as if we’re slogging in place. But we’re not. We’re making amazing progress.
Here at PetFix, we’re celebrating over 4,500 surgeries in our little mobile clinic this year. That’s 500 more than we budgeted for. Yet we have money in the bank and our year-end appeal is hitting new records. And all across the country, groups like ours – little rescues, mid-size humane societies, big municipal shelters, high-volume stationary clinics and tiny mobiles – are having their own successes. It’s all adding up.
I’ve been so inspired by the participants in the ASPCA $100K Challenge. Look what they accomplished! And in October at the Best Friends No More Homeless Pets conference, I sat in a room with over 1,100 animal advocates representing every state and several countries to hear Maddie’s Fund CEO Rich Avanzino predict, with the stats to back it up, that we could, within five years, save every healthy and treatable animal in our shelters nationwide. Reading the blogs from the Challenge, I absolutely believe it.
So, as soon as I finish this post, I’ll start fretting about the next appeal, the next event, the next grant proposal, convinced that there aren’t enough hours in the day to get it all done. I know you’ll be doing that, too – and that’s precisely why, even though there’s a blizzard in Cleveland, I’m wearing shades. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger and brighter every single day. Together we will get it done.
Here at PetFix, we have a wonderful fundraising committee, willing and able to take on just about anything, but after five years of coming up with series of successful benefits in a highly competitive market, we’ve hit a bit of a wall. Actually, we spent the past few months looking into a new event we hoped to launch next fall, but have reluctantly concluded that it would be too much of a financial risk. The committee will be getting together next week to select a substitute. We’re all doing our research beforehand. For me, that means asking for your best event ideas. Since I’m a great believer in tit for tat, let me share what’s worked for us so far. I’ll be happy to give more information to anyone interested.
When we started our mobile spay/neuter clinic five years ago, we really didn’t have much of a funding base. Few people knew who we were, and spay/neuter was not a popular cause except among the most sophisticated animal welfare supporters. To get things started, we came up with a series of girls’ night-out events called “Fixations” – designed not so much to attract animal people, but rather to attract an audience interested in fashion and beauty. Once we got the women in the door, we planned to introduce them to our fixation – ending pet overpopulation. We also made the decision early on that all of our events would feature the word “FIX” in the hope that it would become ingrained in the popular consciousness.
The first “Fixations” featured mini-makeovers and consultations by the experts from the Nordstrom cosmetic department. Lots of free samples; signature drinks like the Meowy Wowy, Sterile Feral, and Dirty Muttini; fancy food stations, and a silent auction featuring spa packages, jewelry and other luxury items rounded out the evening. Probably the most popular feature, however, was the Shelter Dog Makeover – before-and-after appearances by dogs from one of the agencies we serve glammed up by a local groomer. They all got adopted!
“Fixations” was an instant hit, clearing about $20K for operations, so we did it again the following year, with few changes. The third year, we turned to Aveda, changed the name to “Fixations Green and Gorgeous: an evening of earth-friendly pampering,” moved from an urban setting to a spa-like club in the country, and added henna tattoos and a series of wellness activities. Again, the women loved it and we made our goal – but the committee decided it was time to invite men to the party. So, in 2009, we offered “Fixations: His and Hers,” keeping all the girlie stuff and adding instruction from a golf pro, a “Pitches for Stitches” corn hole tournament, scotch tasting and a beer garden. The silent auction, good food, and, of course, the Shelter Dog Makeovers remained. We netted just over $30K that year.
But we felt we just might have exhausted the Fixations theme, so this year we held our first “Fix, Rattle & Roll,” a “rockin’ good party” at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (yes, it’s in Cleveland, the HOME of rock and roll, but I digress). It was a great event and one we think can grow, so we’ll be repeating it in 2011 with a goal of $40K net. What we’re looking for now is a second event – one to bring in just about $10-15K.
OK, that’s my story. Now I’d love to hear yours. What’s the very best event you’ve held to raise funds for your organization?
This handy little e-book written by Kivi Leroux Miller, founder of The NonprofitMarketingGuide.com, and distributed by Network for Good, is chock full of tips for improving our online writing, but the tip that caught my attention was Number 9: “Test and Track.” I know testing is important, especially as we try out new strategies, but I have to admit, as a team of one, I never seem to get it done.
The split-testing strategy Leroux Miller recommends for determining the success of email subject lines is so simple, however, that I can’t see any reason not to give it a try. This is all there is to it: Create one e-newsletter or e-blast and come up with two different subject lines. Send each version to a small percentage of your mailing list – say 10%. Wait 48 hours and send the version with the better open rate to everyone else. Or, if waiting 48 hours won’t work for you, just send each version to 50% of your list. Check out the open rates and see which one performs better.
Here are some things Leroux Miller says we should think about as we write those subject lines: Is shorter better than longer? Is more detail better than less? Does coy and mysterious beat straightforward and to the point? She offers advice which she describes as “what seems to work for most people most of the time,” but her point is that we have to know what works for us – and the only way to find that out is to test.
I can give her some immediate feedback. When I saw the subject line “9 ways to write better e-mail subject lines (free book),” I clicked and downloaded without hesitation. An offer of specific information directly related to what I’m doing right now – and it’s free? What could be better than that?
Now I just have to come up with a couple of seemingly click-worthy subject lines to promote our event and give them a test. Stay tuned.
We’ve got some sage advice to share on making the perfect pitch from the ASPCA’s Elizabeth Estroff, Senior Vice President, Communications, and Jess Todtfeld, President of Success In Media.
