Giving Tuesday. What’s it all about? Read about the origins here. It’s one of those things that sounds good on paper, but in actual implementation it can be less than ideal. Why? Because it comes right smack dab in the middle of most folks annual campaigns. So there’s often little time to do it right. And it can cannibalize other fundraising efforts.
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Do you know about The Donor’s Bill of Rights? Does your staff know about it? Your board of directors? If you do know about it, do you heed it?
You should.
For the sake of your donors. For the sake of your nonprofit. For the sake of the entire social benefit sector.
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When it comes to improving donor retention, I often try to guide organizations through the process of shifting their thinking – and the culture of their organization – in the direction of gratitude rather than greediness toward their donors.
What’s important about making this philosophical shift is that it forces you to think very specifically about what you’re grateful for.
You aren’t simply asking your donors for money. Similarly, you aren’t thanking your donors for money.
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Why and How to Invoke the Power of Thank You
My mother was known for having impeccable manners. At her memorial service, it seemed as if every other person who shared a memory talked about her manners. They did so not in a nitpicking way, but in a loving way. It seemed she always knew just the right thing to do to show her appreciation.
Maybe that’s why I love writing thank you notes. Seriously, it’s my favorite thing to do in all of fundraising. And it’s undoubtedly why, when I first heard Penelope Burk speak in 2001, it completely changed my approach to the practice of development.
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If you’re not retaining as many donors as you’d like, you’ve no one to blame but yourself. And I’m here to tell you why.
I’m serious. How you handle donor acknowledgements is that important. Yet, sadly, most of you do an absolutely rotten job of showing your donors how much they mean to you.
Part of the problem is due to focusing on acquisition at the expense of retention. Most executive and development directors don’t even know their retention rates without looking them up.
DUDES! Your retention rates should be on the tips of your tongues! If you don’t know how you’re doing, how can you improve?
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Donor retention has continued to plummet every year for the past seven years. It’s really, truly an awful problem. For some unknown reason, all that hard work you put into acquiring new donors is, seemingly, being wasted. Why?
I recently asked folks what ONE word they would use to sum up what is needed to transform donor loyalty. I received some interesting answers and thought I’d share them with you, along with my comments, here. First, let me remind you of my own Big Secret — the one principle I’ve found that makes the greatest difference to long-term, sustainable fundraising success:
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In a recent post about building donor loyalty I promised to reveal my personal #1 SECRET – the one principle that makes the greatest difference to long-term, sustainable fundraising success.
I’m going to share that principle here; then I’m going to turn this principle into a word – actually three variations of the same word – that you can use to transform the way you’ve been doing business.
Are you ready?
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You’ve probably heard this advice before. “Make your donors your heroes.” It’s a lot easier said than done.
As Jeff Brooks opined in You and your donors: Who’s the sidekick?, too often we get it backwards and tell donors how awesome we are; then we ask “How’d you like to be my sidekick?” Rather, we should think of ourselves as their sidekick.
One nonprofit director who truly understands this is Julia Wilson, E.D. of One Justice. [A former client of mine, I keep my eye on them like a proud Mama hen watching her little baby chick fly boldly off on her own). After their most recent, highly successful fundraising event, Julia wrote to me saying:
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Do you know why your dog is not only your best friend, but your exuberantly best friend – a Best Friend Forever on steroids?
Can anything be as joyous and lovingly loyal as a dog? Picture Snoopy doing the ‘Ode to Joy’ dance. Unbridled ecstasy. Happy, happy, happy. What makes Snoopy Charlie Brown’s BFF? My guess is that it’s the same thing that makes your pooch pop with pleasure as you poke yourself across the threshold at the end of the day.
Chances are 9 out of 10 that your doggie is your BFF because you are hers. You treat your pet like royalty. How are you treating your donors?
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If you’re not using social media to get and retain more donors, be afraid. Be very afraid.
Social media has ceased to be a nice little “toy.” An “add on thing.” It’s the thing. If you’re not hanging out where the majority of your constituents are getting their information, you may as well fold up your tent and go home. David Letterman didn’t “do social media.” ( See “Do you use the Twitter device?” ). He’s going home.
Letterman may be ready to go off into the sunset. But you shouldn’t be. You can learn new tricks!
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