Never think of your event as a stand-alone. That’s a waste of your time.
Always think in terms of “What’s next?”
You must always be cognizant of moving folks along a relationship continuum.
From awareness… to interest… to involvement… to investment.
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What prompted me to write this article was a recent post by Matthew Sherrington on the 101 Fundraising Blog about the dangers to the public benefit sector posed by erosion of trust. We’ve known for some time that whenever there’s a charity scandal, the bad behavior of one player can become detrimental to all. But over the past year in the U.K. the problem has become even more challenging. Could it happen here? Matthew says “yes.” And I concur. Trust is a fragile thing.
In the U.K what happened was a perfect storm of perceived over-solicitation and insufficient outcomes, exacerbated by a barrage of media that sounded an alarm about nefarious practices. Trust plummeted. A wake-up call, for sure.
But what does it mean?
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This is important.
It’s about a new report that may change how you do fundraising.
It should.
Let me explain.
By tending to focus more on expensive, staff-intensive acquisition strategies like direct mail and special events, charities are bringing in one-time donors who never give to them again.
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Ever hear of “A.Word.A.Day” with Anu Garg? I hadn’t. Until a friend recently shared with me that day’s word. She said, “this one’s all about you!” The word?
Clairaudience.
It’s a perfect word for fundraisers, because it’s precisely what you must do – a skill you absolutely must have – if you’re to succeed with sustainable fundraising.
It means the ability to hear what is in people’s hearts and minds.
It’s a lot like clairvoyance, but it brings in the audience perception. It’s the ability to “hear” what is inaudible — by getting a read on what folks are thinking and feeling on the inside. Despite what they may reveal on the outside.
Guess who is good at this?
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You’ve got to make donor retention more of a priority. It’s one of the top five things your nonprofit must do to survive and thrive in today’s competitive nonprofit marketplace.
Research shows the average nonprofit in the U.S. loses 77% of donors after the first gift!!!!!
To make matters worse, the probability that a donor will make five consecutive gifts is only 10-15%. These numbers are just not sustainable for most organizations. By the time you’ve added a new donor most of your previous new donors are out the door.
Allow that to sink in a moment.
Do you know what your donor retention rate is? If you do, there’s hope for you to improve it. Read on. If you don’t, you don’t even know there’s something that needs fixing!
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There are two reasons you should do a donor survey.
Donor surveys offer you a “twofer.” One is for you (useful information); the other is for your donor (a way to usefully participate other than giving money).
Let’s begin with the latter reason.
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Want to keep more donors? It’s simple really.
What it all boils down to is one key idea. YOU.
You and the role you play in assuring your donor gets lasting satisfaction from their gift.
A prompt, personal thank you is a beginning. Yet it won’t have lasting effect.
You must go above and beyond the “donor receipt” —
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Did you participate in #GivingTuesday last year? I’m hoping it was a great success from your perspective, but what about your donor’s perspective?
What did you do to assure your donors felt like the heroes they are for making your mission possible? What can you do?
What about thinking about what’s called #GivingTuesday a bit differently?
What if, instead of asking donors to give to you, you decided to use this occasion to give to them?
What if you and your organization do the giving? Are you grateful to your donors for making your mission possible? Show them.
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Donor needs vary and evolve, depending on where they are in their own life cycle and their life cycle with your nonprofit. Do you ever wonder how you might help them meet their needs? How you might reward them for giving? You should — if you want to keep them as donors.
You may be familiar with Maslow’s “Theory of Human Motivation” where he breaks needs for human development and contentment down into steps that form a pyramid. Maslow suggests the basic human needs such as food, shelter, and sleep are required before you can pursue higher needs such as security, love and belonging, esteem and the need for self-actualization.
Sadly, just giving to charity doesn’t necessarily meet these higher-level needs. Donors may give out of guilt, fear, peer pressure (which doesn’t feel so good). Some give to be praised (meets esteem need, but only if you praise them). Some give to be accepted by peers (meets love & belonging need, but only if you offer opportunities to connect and feel loved)… and so forth. You see, giving is not always it’s own reward.
Donors, like all human beings, are on a continual quest for meaning. It’s the existential search to be all that one can be. To feel self-actualized.
In non-psychological or theoretical terms, at the self-actualization pinnacle donors just feel darn good. They carry around a warm glow, representing the realization of their potential and inner peace.
This feeling is very powerful – and we human beings naturally seek it out. It’s one of reasons why even very poor give outsized proportions of their income to charity.
Another way to describe this is the search for meaning in life. For most people, meaning is deeply intertwined with community connections. Victor Frankl in his famous chronicle on the search for meaning wrote: love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Humans want to feel a sense of connection and a sense of purpose to life. Giving (time, money, and energy) is a central way that we strive to find meaning.
I know this may sound silly, but I sometimes like to think of my donors as clothing.
Huh?
Well, shopping is one of my favorite activities so I think about clothing a lot. I think about the many ways I can use it, repurpose it, mix and match it, show it off and even share it with friends and family. I treasure my clothing, and have a great deal of difficulty letting go of any of it (yes, my closet is stuffed to the gills)!
So, how are donors like clothing?
Unfortunately, most nonprofits are much too cavalier about letting go. It’s expensive. It’s a waste of time. It’s completely irresponsible if you care about your nonprofit’s future – so I want you to STOP IT!
In Part 1 of this article I’ll discuss the first two ways. The second two ways will be covered in Part 2.
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